Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Confrontation of the Gospel

Today at MCC, we talked about how the apostles spread the gospel message to the people in Acts 3,4,&5, and what the reaction was to that message. We saw how their message was essentially the same in all 3 chapters: that the Jesus you killed, rose from the dead; repent and believe in Him so your sins will be forgiven. So many people believed in their message that the leaders persecuted the apostles.

So how does this content of the gospel message go over in West Michigan? Are we ever persecuted for our faith? I can't think of a time where I have been overtly persecuted for sharing my faith, can you? I think an indirect example of persecution that happens is when people consider people of faith to be naive, and they discredit our opinions or devalue our worth.

Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

posted by Jewels @ 8:50 PM 3 Comments

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The Acts 2 Church

Today, Pastor Amy read from Acts 2 and talked about the characteristics of the early church. Verse 42 tells the 4 things the Christians in the early church were devoted to:

1. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. They did as the apostles taught - to repent and be baptized and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

2. They devoted themselves to fellowship. The community in the early church was unique because of the grace they were encouraged to share and it made it a safe place to be.

3. They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread - to remember the forgiveness of sin.

4. They devoted themselves to prayer. Prayer is woven into the life of the church and through prayer, lives are transformed, direction is given. It's the way we talk to God.

I have found each of these aspects to be comforting in different times of my life. I think the hardest one for me has been prayer, and I am so thankful to be part of a church that is so strong in prayer.

posted by Jewels @ 9:35 PM 0 Comments