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Stephen is brought up on charges and answers by attacking some of the foundational identities that the religious elite had been claiming.   (Supplemental material)

Acts 5:27-6:7   Verses 5:27-42 Acts 22:3 shows where Paul was educated by Gamaliel. The account in chapter 5 introduces Gamaliel who was “held in honor by all the people”. Key verses: “38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You mi...

Acts 5: 11-32

In three different scenes this week, we see generosity and deception. We learn some principles of the deity of the Holy Spirit and we are reminded of the way that God has always intended for us to look out for each other. And, not emphasized as much in the teaching, there are some very good principles as to why tithing is a good guideline: It is a good guideline. It's easy to calculate It means th...

Acts 2:39-3:11   Introduction 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 4...

Peter's amazing sermon uses texts from Joel and the Psalms and "puts it all together" for the people who were gathered there. He says that the way to claim the promise is to repent. The parallels to Moses' call to covenant renewal in Deuteronomy 29 are highlighted.

The amazing things that happened the day the Holy Spirit was more fully revealed.

Introduction to Acts Dan Berry Purpose: To record early church history and show that the gospel message is based on historical fact To show that the gospel applies to all nations and classes of people It gives us hope that we can all be saved Outline The church in Jerusalem The church in Judea and Samaria Paul’s mission to the Gentiles Paul in Jerusalem Paul’s journey to Rome Peter and Paul The fi...

In this final section of James, we see the author comment on proper Christian conduct, attitudes, perspective, and community. We see that if we have an awareness of what's going on around us then there is going to be advice about what to do about it in a way that pulls God more and more into our lives.

The focal passage is Luke 24 and is commonly called the account of "The Road to Emmaus". To watch the video of Larnelle Harris and Sandi Patty go here . (Fact check -- Mohammed was born around 569 AD, not BC)

Judging your neighbor "There are some Christians that I don't necessarily like . . . but God says you have to love 'em." The importance of attitude -- in the back of his binder -- Chuck Swindoll's word on Attitude "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than...

James 4: 1-10

Going through the next section of James' teaching on the tongue, the focus here is thinking about how the tongue can be so many things at different times: controlling, powerful, and unpredictable. The "forgotten" point was to amplify the fact that to control the tongue is truly a hopeless effort without the Holy Spirit -- self-control (of the tongue) is a fruit of the Holy Spirit's work in our lif...

During this study James raises a question as to what is saving faith -- "Can this faith save you" (2:14)?  A study of this passage led pastor and teacher Dr. Warren Wiersbe to write an extensive list of questions that might help a person find evidence of saving faith. Put another way, this is a useful guide for some Christians who struggle with doubt about whether they've truly been born again.  ...

Why is it wrong to "judge a book by its cover"?  For starters, we're actually not very good at it.  More important:  it's not what God does and it's not what a true Christian does.

James 1: 9-15

Wisdom is needed so that we don't miss out on understanding what God is trying to do in the midst of our trials. Faith is needed to ask God for more wisdom. "No doubting" might indicate someone who truly doesn't believe God can help. Several examples of "Faithful doubters" are discussed where someone could be weak in their faith but still be in a posture of belief where their actions show the auth...