Passion Creek Church

The last third of the book of Acts shows Paul in chains. After being falsely accused of starting a riot and desecrating the temple, Paul will face imprisonment, two assassination attempts, a shipwreck, and then house arrest. And yet, Paul knew all of this would happen. The Spirit consistently warned him that going to Jerusalem would lead him straight into hardship, but he’s still told to go anyway...

In Acts 20, Paul models what a church pastor should be by speaking directly to the elders in Ephesus. He tells them how he’s pastored, inviting them to follow his example in humility, service, vulnerability, and courage. He also warns them that, should they neglect their calling, the people they shepherd will be vulnerable to wolves. For us today, being a part of a church means submitting ourselve...

In the second half of  Acts 19 , Paul starts a riot. After confronting the false idols and spiritual powers in Ephesus, some of the local businessmen revolt. While Paul escapes and the church in Ephesus grows, just a few years later Paul has to write to them reminding them to continue following the way of Jesus intentionally rather than being formed by the idols of Ephesus unintentionally. Today,...

There are two major encounters with the power of God in Acts 19. The first involves some of John the Baptist’s disciples who have heard about Jesus but haven’t experienced the fullness of His presence. Paul meets them, prays over them, and they get saved. The second involves some Jewish sorcerers who hear about Paul performing miracles and attempt to wield the power of God for their own gain. Thei...

As bold, committed, and seemingly successful as the apostle Paul was, he wasn’t immune to discouragement. After his time in Athens, Paul goes to Corinth where he continues preaching the gospel to a city with mixed responses. However, after years of both fruitfulness and rejection, Paul has grown weary. God meets him in a dream to offer encouragement and a promise that he’s still doing what he’s ca...

In  Acts 17 , Paul finds himself in a city very different than what he’s used to. Grand temples, pagan altars, and false idols fill the great city of Athens. When he begins sharing the good news of Jesus with the people of the city, he’s mostly ridiculed. But eventually, he’s invited to share his beliefs in front of a small crowd in the Areopagus court. As Paul explains who the true God really is,...

As a church planter, Paul was always on the lookout for “foxes” that can ruin the good soil of the Kingdom — things like cynicism, gossip, and bitterness. But when he meets the Thessalonians and the Bereans, he encounters something different. Rather than brushing him off or blindly accepting his message, the Bereans model healthy skepticism. They are students of God’s Word who orient their lives a...

In  Acts 16 , Paul and Silas finally reach Europe. As they arrive, they encounter three different people in different seasons of their lives, yet all in need of the gospel. Lydia, a successful businesswoman, reorients her wealth and resources toward God and his Kingdom. A demon-possessed Slave Girl is set free by the power of Jesus. A Roman Jailor about to take his own life finds both physical and...

Most of us know what it’s like to receive a dream from God — we have a sense of purpose, direction, and perseverance to walk in the calling God has laid out for us. But at some point, we hit resistance. Rather than bring us through upward mobility, our God-given dreams bring us through disappointment, difficulty, disagreement, or detours. In these moments, it’s tempting to give up on the dream alt...

As good, true, and beautiful as the gospel is, there has always been resistance to it. In  Acts 15, we  see the natural human inclination to fight against the reality that God forgives us simply because of our faith in Jesus — some Jewish leaders began forcing extra rules on new Christians. Peter, Paul, and the rest of the apostles give a wise response to these new Christians: they tell them to gu...

Acts 14  tells a story of Paul and Barnabas living out Kingdom principles while experiencing a tough situation. After miraculously healing a disabled man, they’re hailed as gods before eventually being run out of the city and nearly killed. But even in the midst of these strange circumstances, Paul and Barnabas never abandon the Kingdom way of living. Rather than accepting the peoples’ worship, fi...

In  Acts 13 , Paul confronts a Roman governor and a Jewish sorcerer. Both of these men have power. One has magic, the other has politics. But neither of these powers is strong enough to keep the power of God’s Kingdom from spreading. Paul demonstrates this Kingdom power, and the gospel continues to spread. As followers of Jesus, we must respond to Jesus as a King who comes to earth announcing a Ki...

All of us have different feelings and attitudes when it comes to giving money to a local church. For some of us, it’s a regular and assumed part of our discipleship. For others, it’s a financial goal. And for others, it’s an exploitative way for churches to get more money. Regardless of how we feel about tithing, it’s difficult to be a generous person who lives out the way of Jesus without a regul...

In  Luke 16 , Jesus tells a perplexing parable. It’s a story of a dishonest manager who uses his master’s wealth to serve those around him. While Jesus’ doesn’t praise the manager’s dishonesty, he credits his ingenuity. This manager saw himself as a steward, not an owner, of his master’s possessions. When we examine our own perceptions regarding our money, most of us view ourselves as owners — we...

Like all our beliefs, the attitudes and dispositions we have toward money are largely shaped by our past – our family of origin, our cultural background, and our church experiences. In Luke’s gospel, we see at least 4 different ways of viewing money. Like the Rich Fool in  Luke 12 , some of us believe that the good life is found when we hoard the most for ourselves. Others of us live more like the...

Fewer sins are as deep-rooted and hard to detect as greed. Not many of us would admit to being greedy or materialistic, but greed, by default, lives inside each one of us. Jesus makes this clear in Luke 11 when he confronts the Pharisees who hid their greed from others and projected generosity instead. While they appeared holy and generous on the outside, Jesus calls out their inner attachment to...

As our church looks ahead to the rest of the year, we want to pause and remind ourselves of the vision we started the year with: to make friends and love other people. However, most of us have realized by now how difficult this really is. Jesus holds us to a high standard by commanding us to love our enemies in  Luke 6 , and so does James when he tells us to confront our bitter jealousy and selfis...

When most of us think of prayer, we think of talking to God. While this definition of prayer isn’t wrong, it can sometimes feel formulaic. We begin to assume that if we ask God for the right things in the right way, we’ll get what we ask for. But in  Acts 12 we  see God’s people contend with God in desperate prayer that doesn’t fit a formula. As Herod begins to intensely persecute the new church,...

When Peter walks into the house of Cornelius, a Roman Gentile who follows the Jewish God Yahweh, everything about the gospel movement changes. Until this point, the gospel was good news for the Jews; their long-awaited Messiah had come to the world to rescue them from Sin, Satan, and Death. But now, this good news is opened up to include even the worst pagan Gentiles. Jesus isn’t just the Savor of...

As one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter knew what it meant to reorient his life around the love, lifestyle, and leadership of his Rabbi. He led like Jesus, and he lived like Jesus, but Peter still had to learn how to love like Jesus. In  Acts 10 , Peter is confronted with his next marathon: overcoming his prejudice. As a Jew, Peter believed that the gospel was only good news for his own people. But when...

In  Acts 9 , Paul experiences his moment. He encounters the risen Jesus in an instant and his life is forever changed. But then, Paul begins his marathon. Rather than jumping straight into the work of the ministry that we know him for, Paul spends years cultivating a slow, gradual, and deep relationship with God. From Paul’s life, we learn that God always works slowly in us before working extraord...

In Acts 9 we meet Saul, a murderer and enemy of the new Christian movement. Saul has built his life around what he believes is the righteous way of God: zealously eradicating evil from the world. But then, in a moment, Saul is transformed. He meets the risen Jesus and learns that the righteousness of God doesn’t come by our earthly power, violence, or force. Instead, it comes through Christ. God i...

Acts 8:26-39

In this message, we learn about one of the first false converts of the early church: Simon. Acts 8:1-24

The final part of peacemaking involves making peace with who we really are and who God made us to be. At some point in our lives, our perspective shifts. We realize that we aren’t the hero of our story in the way we thought we’d be. We make mistakes, poor choices, and few of us experience life exactly the way we thought we would. And yet, God can still redeem the lowest parts of our story. In fact...