Ecclesia Outside the Auditorium

The auditorium is so bitter sweet. It is sweet because there is nothing like having that many Christians together (which is what ecclesia means – “assembly”) worshiping God. It is bitter because some equate the worship hour with what church is. How do we get people to drop the old facility mindset and take on [...]

Effective Evangelism – The Difference Between Conversion and Subversion

One of the things that gets people in trouble when it comes to evangelism is trying to subert people rather than convert them. The word subvert comes from a combination of the words sub – from beneath and the Latin vertere – to turn. The word convert is similar but rather than turning from beneath [...]

Role of Prayer and the Holy Spirit in Acts

I love the book of Acts. It is action packed and so inspiring on how driven those men were to do the will of God. I love that we get so much great information from it on the church, church leadership, fellowship, giving, and all kinds of wonderful examples that we can follow today. As [...]

Big Buts in the Bible

But is a very important word. In Greek it is the word “alla” (αλλα). There are times in scripture where you are glad for that small three letter word. Here are some examples that without the “but” we would be in bad shape. Imagine where we would be if Paul, Mark, Peter, or others didn’t [...]

Perspective Issues with the Law and the Old Covenant in the New Testament

For years I had a major perspective issue when it came to understanding the law and how it related to first century Jews. This also applies to what happened to the law in the New Testament as we have been discussin. When we read scripture we tend to find what we want to find. The [...]

Were Gentiles Allowed in the Church After the Jews Rejected Christ?

Growing up I heard on numerous occasions that in order for the Gentiles (that is, non-Jews) to be allowed to become Christians the Jews first had to reject the offer of Christianity. The story goes something like this – Jesus died and rose again. The offer of salvation through Christ came first for the Jews. [...]

Understanding the Law Under the New Covenant

I am wrestling with Romans 2 & 3 right now. When you work through these texts you cannot help but wonder what is going on in Paul’s head when it comes to the Law (Torah) and its applicability to first century Jewish Christians. Growing up I always heard that the law was done away [...]

What Happened to the Law for Jewish Christians in the First Century?

I am teaching Romans 3 tomorrow in the men’s class and I have some questions that you might be able to help me with. I don’t want to spend much time on this in the class but I do want to make sure that I am not just making assumptions on some things about what [...]

Wake Up Call on Evangelism

I am starting to see a parallel between the last 100+ years of evangelism and Acts 1:8. In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells his disciples that they will be witnesses in Jerusalem – Judea – Samaria – and the ends of the earth. The last 100 or so years of church growth has been a lot [...]

Small Group Curriculum – Acts of the Apostles

This is a series of lessons that we just finished up last month in our LIFE groups. Again, feel free to use these in any way that is helpful to you and your ministry. I only ask that these not be published for profit.
Introducing Acts (Acts 1)
Cut to the Heart (Acts 2:1-41)
The First Church (Acts [...]