Next

Next #5 - Wearing the Name

Next - Title .png

You can’t stop the gospel. After Stephen was stoned (Acts 7), a great persecution broke out but so did a mighty witness from God’s people. You can’t stop the gospel. In fact, when the church was divided and, then, scattered, it only served to multiply the witness of the church. The gospel went like gangbusters - to Judea, to Samaria - to Jew and Gentile. The gospel made it all the way to Antioch and now to the ends of the earth. You can’t stop the gospel.

This weekend, we want to ask consider what it means to wear the name of Christ. We carry the name of Christ! It was given to us at our baptisms. We are Christians, little Christs. You might even say that we are Christ’s. What does it mean for us to wear this name? We’ll be looking at Acts 11:19-30.

Next #4 - Growing Pains

Next - Title .png

This young church in the book of Acts faced many challenges. They weren’t even a few years old and they faced the arrest of its leaders. They were still just getting started and there were mixed and even false motives among their members; you might even say that this early church was already full of hypocrites. They were just getting started and great persecutions were about to break out against them. This young church in the book of Acts faced many challenges.

This week as we continue our series in the book of Acts, we see that the church is at the same time resilient and wise as they faced these challenges. Racial tensions and divisions might have divided them. They could have ignored the problem and continued on as normal. They could have addressed the problem and created another. But the church did neither. They faced the problem and continue on aggressively with their God-given ministry.

Mount Lebanon is hardly a young church, but we still face many of the same challenges that this early church did. It’s good for us to see this church make its way through the mess and emerge resiliently and mission-focused. We’ll be looking at Acts 6:1-8.