Garden City Church

This week Pastor Dennis continues our Acts series by focusing on Acts 10:1-23, the story of two people (Cornelius and Peter), two prayers, two visions, and two sets of guiding instructions from Jesus. Many of us struggle to pray. We’ve been disappointed and disillusioned in prayer and, for some of us, there’s even hurt and trauma from unanswered prayers and what that might mean about our faith or...

Julia Allan walks us through Acts 9:32-43 where Peter heals a man named Aeneas and raises a woman, Tabitha, from the dead. Julia focuses on Tabitha’s story and her gentle, quiet, and humble faithfulness in caring for the widows in her community. And, Peter’s willingness to travel ten miles to Joppa, where he steps into a situation much like he had watched Jesus step into (the story of Jairus’ daug...

This week Pastor Shaq Hager and Pastor Dennis Allan talked through Acts 9:13b-31. Together, they worked through the story of Saul's ministry and the threats on his life in both Damascus and Jerusalem, and how Barnabas risked his reputation in advocating for Saul with the apostles in Jerusalem. Both Saul and Barnabas risk and sacrifice in order to proclaim the good news of the Gospel. Are we willin...

Pastor Shaq Hager continues our study of the book of Acts by talking through the story of Saul’s conversion along the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-10 NIV). Just one chapter earlier the author of Acts introduces Saul into the story of the early church, reporting that he “approved” of Stephen’s killing. Saul is a zealot who believes that by identifying and persecuting Christians, even when it means murde...

This week Pastor Dennis walks through Acts 8:26-40 (NIV), the story of Philip being sent by an angel of God to an Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch represents a new ethnic and racial group that God wants to reach with the Gospel. And, culturally, the eunuch is considered to be gender non-conforming, neither male nor female. In fact, God’s people have been taught that eunuchs, whether they became eunuch...

This week Pastor Dennis Allan walked through the story of Stephen being stoned by the Sanhedrin (Acts 7:54-60 NIV). Throughout chapter seven we’ve traced Stephen’s trial before the Sanhedrin. And while the the trial is a sham, Stephen has poked at the Sanhedrin’s idols: the law, the temple, and the land. They gnash their teeth, a sign of their uncontrolled fury and rage, drag Stephen out of the ci...

This week, Pastor Shaq focused on Stephen's trial before the Sanhedrin, recorded in Luke 7:1-53 (NIV). Stephen, who has been charged with blasphemy for speaking against the temple and the law of Moses, speaks with conviction and courage to the Sanhedrin. He identifies three idols: the temple, the law, and the land. In a sense, these are idols of the Jewish religious state. And because Stephen spea...

Julia Allan walks through Acts 6:8-15 (NIV), the story of Stephen on trial before the Sanhedrin. The Jewish religious leaders enlist people in bearing false witness against Stephen who, in his conversation with the Sanhedrin pokes at some of the people's religious idols: the temple and the law. Luke ends the passage by saying of the Sanhedrin, "...they saw that his [Stephen's] face was like the fa...

This week, Pastor Shaq Hager walks through Acts 5:17-42. It's a story about the apostles being brought before the Sanhedrin. This is becoming a regular occurrence for the apostles - trials before the Sanhedrin, questioning, veiled threats, and now a physical beating. All because they continue to heal people and teach the crowds the Gospel of Jesus. What does it mean for us to face and endure perse...

This week Pastor Shaq Hager discusses Acts 5:12-16. It's a brief and descriptive passage in which Luke describes the ways the Spirit is at work through the apostles to bring physical healing and restoration to people's lives and bodies. And not just for people within the nascent church community, but also people outside the community. The Spirit's healing activity was not just reserved for the fir...

Pastor Dennis Allan continued our Acts study by walking through the story of Ananias and Sapphira recorded in Acts 5:1-11 (NIV). Ananias and Sapphira want to be leaders and hold positions of honor in the early church, and so they devise a plan to deceive Peter and the apostles. They want to appear good without doing the work of becoming good. They want to create a shortcut to leadership and influe...

This week Pastor Dennis continued our study on the book of Acts by leading a conversation on Acts 4:32-37. It's a summary passage in which Luke describes the way the early church met the needs of vulnerable people until, according to Luke, "there were no needy persons among them." What values and ethics did the early church embody that we need to pay attention to today? Is a church's willingness t...

This week, Carrie Buckner continues our community's study of the Book of Acts by focusing on Acts 4:23-31. It's a story about the way the first followers of Jesus gathered together after Peter and John were questioned by the Sanhedrin and ordered by them to no longer speak or teach about Jesus. We see the early church prioritize prayer in the face of opposition. Their first impulse was not to stra...

This week, we return to our Acts series. Pastor Dennis walked through Acts 4:1-22, the story of Peter and John and the Sanhedrin Council. In the story, the Sanhedrin, Judaism's most powerful legislative body, appear threatened by Peter and John and the "power" with which they healed a lame man and taught crowds of people. And that's what the story is about: who can have power, how power is distrib...

In the heart of the battle, we are never alone. In the midst of our battles, we are carried by the victor. Pastor Dennis Allan talks through Matthew 28:1-10 (NIV) and the story of the two Marys holding on to hope that Jesus might just do what He said He would do and, on Sunday morning, finding an empty tomb. Jesus' disciples, though, seem to have lost hope. They're in hiding, mourning and grieving...

Palm Sunday 2023. Pastor Shaq Hager talks through the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as told by Matthew. It's a story with a historical precedent. Jesus wasn't the only "conqueror" to ride into Jerusalem for whom the townspeople laid out palm branches. They've already performed this ritual once, years prior. The story calls into question the desires of the people of Jerusalem, as w...

Pastor Dennis Allan continues our study of the Book of Acts. This week, we talked through Acts 3:9-26, focusing on four words: wonder, amazement, astonished, and surprised. Four words in four verses that inform the way every follower of Jesus is intended to live their lives. Our neighbors don’t need more Christians who prioritize religious obligation over people. Our neighborhoods don’t need more...

Pastor Shaq Hager talked through Acts 3:1-10, the story of a lame person carried every day to a Temple gate where they were left to beg for support. On this day, Peter and John were walking to the Temple to pray, something that they, as righteous Jewish men, did three times each day. And yet, this person called out to Peter and John who stopped, looked at the person, saw them in their need, and of...

Julia Allan discusses Acts 2:42-47, a picture of the early church living their lives in community with one another, ensuring that every person’s needs are met. It’s all reminiscent of a lyric in the song, “You Are Welcome in this Place,” by Maverick City: “Now that you are here, we have everything we need / Now that you are here, we give everything we have.” The Spirit leads the earliest Christian...

Pastor Dennis Allan continues our study of the book of Acts, this week looking at Acts 2:14-41. It’s the story of Peter explaining to the crowds what the Spirit is doing in and through the apostles. It’s a Gospel proclamation, a sermon, that leads the crowds to the question: “Do you believe Jesus is Lord and Messiah?” It’s a question that every person in the crowd on that day needed to answer, and...

Pastor Dennis Allan continues our study of the book of Acts, this week focusing on Acts 2:1-13. It’s the story of the Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost, fulfilling Jesus’ promises and Old Testament prophecy. The Spirit arrives and takes up residence in the apostles’ lives, empowering them for mission and service. The Spirit doesn’t pull the apostles inward, but pushes them out to proclaim the good new...

Pastor Shaq Hager continues our series on the book of Acts. In Acts 1:12-26 we see the disciples as they do the work of replacing Judas with Matthias, and as they wait and pray together. It’s a group of people (over 100 in total) who are doing what Jesus told them to do - go to Jerusalem, wait, and pray. In our modern, American approach to life both waiting and praying can feel like inaction. But,...

This week, Pastor Dennis Allan taught through Acts 1:1-11. Katie Long read our passage; view it by clicking here. In these first eleven verses we find a resurrected Jesus presenting Himself to people to help convince them of His resurrection, giving an intensive forty-day class on the Kingdom of God, and then ascending into Heaven. And through it all, Jesus makes clear the apostles are to wait to...

Pastor Dennis Allan walks us through the final week of our “mini-series” focused on the three passages in the New Testament where Jesus cries. In Hebrews 4:12-5:8 we’re encouraged, like Jesus, to approach God in prayer with confidence. But, not primarily so that we can get the answers we want. Prayer, it seems, is more about deepening relationship and building obedience than it is getting results....

Pastor Dennis Allan walks through two passages in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus is patient, grace-filled, forgiving, and grieved regarding the sin of His people. In these two passages we begin to discover we aren’t haunted by an angry God; we’re pursued by a God of love. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and prays for the people who crucify Him. Yet, for many Christians, we think of God as angry, almost...