Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

In this chapter, we should notice a few introductions, and a notable contrast. We are introduced to John Mark, the author of the second gospel, in which he served as Peter’s “secretary.” We are also introduced, obliquely, to James the Lord’s brother. And the contrast is between how the angel of the Lord treated Peter over against Herod.

The number of rival stories to the Gospel are legion. You are confronted with a host of competing salvation stories. All of these rival stories are powerless to save. Their allure is found in their escapist fantasy. Escape from responsibility. Escape from consequences. Escape from accountability. Christ’s Resurrection is the true story of restoration, true salvation, and life.

The philosopher Leibniz put the problem into a nutshell when he asked “why is there something rather than nothing at all?” That is one of the fundamental questions, is it not? But for the believer, because God is the eternal I AM, the idea that there could ever be nothing is nonsensical. It could have been the case that there was no created thing, but an absolute vacuity is absurd. God is the livi...

Culturally we have a relatively strong liturgy for Christmas but a weak liturgy for Easter. This is an area where recovery and reformation are needed. That reformation must start in the church. One way to begin this is to become very familiar with the story itself. Just as you should read and re-read the Christmas story, read and re-read the account of Christ’s final days on earth. Scripture spend...

In the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, we see that the cross is very much in view. At the same time, it is still appropriate to call it a triumphal entry because the resurrection is equally central. We might even say that the death of Christ is surrounded by resurrection.

As we continue to work our way through the book of Acts, we are not going to spend very much time on the retelling in verses 4-14. But we are not setting this repetition aside as unimportant because Luke obviously intends to emphasize it. He wants us to note it. He tells the story in chapter 10, and then repeats it in detail in chapter 11. Then there is a strong reference to this episode at the Je...

So we need to begin where we left off, which was at the house of Simon the tanner. Simon Peter was somewhat settled there, and it was there that God spoke to him about how he should not consider Gentiles unclean when God had declared them clean. This was hard for Peter because he had never eaten anything common or unclean, and God’s instruction to him about the Gentiles came in the form of telling...

This episode is the second time in Acts when the Lord makes a point of introducing two people to one another by supernatural means. The first time was in the previous chapter when He appeared to Saul and said that Ananias was coming, and then appeared to Ananias and told him to go minister to Saul (Acts 9:11-12). Then an angel of the Lord arranged for Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8: 2...

We are now reading about the very beginning of Saul’s Christian life, and his apostolic ministry. We are looking at just 21 verses, and in that short span we see two distinct attempts on his life. The thing that infuriated them against him was the fact that he was so powerful in his proclamation and reasoning. In fact, it was the very same response that Saul had earlier given to Stephen. Saul was...

We are now reading about the very beginning of Saul’s Christian life, and his apostolic ministry. We are looking at just 21 verses, and in that short span we see two distinct attempts on his life. The thing that infuriated them against him was the fact that he was so powerful in his proclamation and reasoning. In fact, it was the very same response that Saul had earlier given to Stephen. Saul was...

We come now to Luke’s account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Remember that Saul is not his non-Christian name, but is rather his Hebrew name. Paul is his Roman name, not his Christian name. He goes by Saul for some years after this event. But such was the nature of this remarkable appearance that we still routinely refer to any surprising conversion as a Damascus road conversion. One moment...

Many passages in the Bible speak of the glory of God’s creation. Psalm 19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 95 says, “The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Psalm 104 says, “How many are your works Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teemi...

Remember that the Lord had said the gospel would progress from Jerusalem to Judaea, to Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. The books of Acts begins in Jerusalem. After the murder of Stephen, the disciples scatter into the province of Judaea, and also Samaria. Philip went to Samaria and ministered there. An angel then sends him into the wilderness toward Gaza, but does not tell h...

Charles Spurgeon once offered a humble recommendation for how to defend the Bible. He kept it quite simple, “Let it defend itself.” His statement gets to the heart of our problem. We want to hold up the Word of God, forgetting that it holds us up. We want to cut with the Sword of the Spirit rather than have it cut us. We treat the sword like it is an inanimate object in need of the living to wield...