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Nov 20, 2023
Good News | Acts 28:23-31
With All Boldness
Paul is in chains, but he is still sharing his faith. He creates opportunities to share his faith, takes time for conversations, and is clear about a person’s choice for or against Jesus. Then, the story ends abruptly with a single word of hope: unhindered.
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- Have you ever spoken up about Jesus and had people insult or ridicule you for it?
- How do you feel about the possibility of being insulted or injured for speaking about Jesus?
- Stephen raises the issue of idols. What’s the problem with idols? What idols do people worship in our day?
- Do you have a clear picture of what happens at the end of your life? Yes or no, explain what you believe.
- Does the image of Jesus standing mean anything to you? Do you think this could apply to you?
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Recent Sermons
Paul never recovered from God including the Gentiles in the salvation invitation.
Like some of us, perhaps, he felt like some people should be excluded by virtue of where they were born or how badly they have behaved.
More than included, Paul instructs that former ‘outsiders’ should be treated as precious insiders, treated even better than we would treat ourselves. What would it look like if love came to town?
Human beings need reminders about how to get along, and Christians are no exception. We especially need reminders about how to love each other while we disagree. Paul draws the believers' hearts and minds back to what Jesus has done, and that paves the way for loving each other well through conflict.
How do we live with Jesus in a society that opposes him? Paul tells us to wake up to our resurrection hope. When we do that, loving others and rejecting sin in our own lives makes sense.
Romans 12 is the description of what happens when God’s mercy overflows in a church’s life. Lifelong attitudes change, love becomes genuine, mocking enemies are not met with equal and opposite force but, quite the opposite, with peace and gentleness. Be praying even now for how God will speak uniquely to your small group.
All along, we’ve been saying that God’s heart is to see us INCLUDED. That’s why Jesus came, and that’s the subject of Paul’s letter to the Romans. At times, Christians forget God’s radical inclusion of them and go back to the old patterns of competing and comparing. Sadly, that was happening in the Roman Church. Paul has one powerful dose for that sickness.
The resurrection changed everything! The story includes an invitation, a blessing, and a commission for the first witnesses … and for us today.
