ACTS 11 multiply

ACTS 11:1-3 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

ACTS 11:7 Get up Peter, kill & eat them

ACTS 11:15-16 “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

ACTS 11:17-18 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

gospel starting to break out of it’s Jewish roots

what now?

from Adam to Abraham to Israel to Jesus to the church

understanding the plot of scripture

Act 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5 CreationFallIsraelJesusChurch Improvise our story New Creation

WHEN DO WE MEET? 24/7 intentionally on Sundays at 10:00am

WHAT DO WE DO? Love God. Love others. Tell the story.

STANLEY HAUERWAS & WILL WILLIMON, RESIDENT ALIENS “…the preacher makes clear that he or she preaches what he or she has been told to preach. That is important because it makes clear that the story forms us. This is the church’s way of reminding itself of how it subverts the world.”

ACTS 11:19-20 Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

ACTS 11:20-21 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

ANTIOCH

ACTS 11:19-20 Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

ACTS 11:20-21 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

ACTS 11:26B It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.

ACTS 11:27-28 During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

ACTS 11:29-30 So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.

DISCIPLESHIP

discipleship is a lifelong journey

ACTS 11:22-23 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

ACTS 11:24-26 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch.

ACTS 11:26 Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)

DISCIPLESHIP

EUGENE PETERSON …all Christian [life] … is the living of everything we know about God: life, life & more life. If we don’t know where we are going, any road will get us there. But if we have a destination – in this case a life lived to the glory of God – there is a well marked way, the Jesus-revealed Way. Spiritual theology is the attention that we give to the details of living life on this way.

CHURCH… …isn’t a place that you show up to …isn’t a service …isn’t a building …is people who are followers of the way of Christ …is people who inaugurate the kingdom of God …is a group of people who live with a king who is God

MAKING DISCIPLES… …living kingdom lives together …helping people look more and more like Jesus …so our lives are centered around kingdom values

What do followers of Jesus Christ look like? How do people who are committed to the Kingdom of God act ?

ROBERT CAPON [The church] is a sign to the world of the mystery by which the Light has already lightened the whole shooting match, by which the divine Leaven has already leavened the whole lump of creation.

being the church

SO ORILLIA | THE WORD SEES… love not hatred forgiveness not revenge grace not greed

OCC… … experience something about God … help shape & form desires into those of the Kingdom … inviting people to join us in being formed & shaped by God

Are the things that I am doing in my life shaping & forming me to be the kind of disciple that I am called to be?

Am I living out the story of the Kingdom ?