Stephen understands something that we often forget: faithfulness is not simply believing the right things. Faithfulness is knowing where your life fits within God’s larger story.  Read More

The church had committed itself to living as one family in Christ. That meant caring for one another, especially the most vulnerable. When widows were neglected, the witness of the church was threatened. The problem had to be addressed.  Read More

God’s movement is not controlled by our preferences. The Spirit is not limited to our comfort zones. The risen Jesus keeps calling, sending, healing, forgiving, restoring, and disrupting whatever stands in the way of the good news.  Read More

The problem was never that Ananias and Sapphira kept some of the money. Peter makes it clear that the property belonged to them. They were free to give all of it, some of it, or none of it. The issue was the lie. They wanted the reputation of sacrificial generosity without actually being sacrificial. They wanted the appearance of holiness without the reality of it. In a church filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, that kind of deception could not remain hidden.  Read More

The believers in Acts did not build their prayer around their fear. They built it around who God is and what God had already spoken. They began by calling upon the God who created heaven, earth, sea, and everything in them. Then they remembered the words of Psalm 2, which describe the nations and rulers resisting God and his anointed King.  Read More

We may not have stood beside the empty tomb, but we have experienced his grace. We have known forgiveness when we were carrying shame. We have received strength when we thought we could not continue. We have found hope in grief, peace in uncertainty, and a new direction when our lives had wandered far from God. Have we grown so familiar with grace that we have stopped talking about it?  Read More