Sermon Overview:In this sermon, C. J. draws our attention to the great disturbance in Acts 20. Paul’s preaching hasthreatened the economy of Ephesus by reducing the worship of Artemis and the sale of idols.The idol craftsmen whose trade is suffering incite a mob against Paul. However, the ones callingfor the arrest of Paul and others were threatened with disturbing the peace and rioting by thetown...  Read More

“The Crowd Is Untruth, is both profound and prophetic. In it, he captures brilliantly both the power of the anonymity of the crowd, where personal responsibility, accountability, and identity are surrendered to the larger group. He pinpoints that which became all too tragically true in the subsequent century, the ease with which a talented person can manipulate a crowd into doing the most terrible...  Read More

“Every text has a divine intention in our lives, which means everytext has a contribution to make in shaping us. That shaping intentis more obvious in some texts than it is in others, but it is alwaysthere and always at work.” Jeff Purswell“In a word, they were still living in the Old Testament whichculminated with John the Baptist. They understood neither thatthe new age had been ushered in by Je...  Read More

Sermon Overview:In Acts 19, Paul meets a group of disciples from ‘John’s baptism,’ who know nothing of Jesus Christ. Paul shares the gospel with them, and upon hearing, they believe and are baptized. This is followed with a ‘mini-Pentecost’ moment when the Spirit uniquely evidences their new birth with signs and gifts. Some Jewish exorcists try to use Jesus’ name to cast out a demon from a possess...  Read More

Summary:Acts 18 moves the gospel’s stage from global advancement to next door neighbors. While Actsdetails critical events in the life and development of the early church, those developmentsinvolve many individual lives changed through Jesus. We see the effects of the gospel in theselives as it moves forward one person at a time; the gospel does this by producing threequalities: community, hospita...  Read More

“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this… We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ. What does this mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ. It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means, third, that in Jesus Christ we have be...  Read More