Romans 8:38-39, Acts 2:42-47, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 17:11-19, Psalm 68:19
Deacon or other leader With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord, saying "Lord, have mercy." For the peace from above, for the loving-kindness of God, and for the ...
Acts 7:55-60, Luke 9:22, Luke 12:8, Acts 2:34, Mark 1:14-15, Luke 23:34, Acts 8:1, Acts 9:1, Mark 9:40, Romans 5:6-11
Preaching Commentary Preaching Angle: Jesus’ Crucifixion, Stephen’s Martyrdom When Stephen saw “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God,” the surrounding crowd of God’s people should have...
Acts 10:34-35, Acts 2:1-12, John 4:1-42, Romans 12:10, 1 John 4:20-21
God and Father of all, in your love you made all the nations of the world to be a family, and your Son taught us to love one another. Yet our world is riven apart with prejudice, arrogance, and pride....
Psalm 119:103, Luke 22:19, Psalm 34:18, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:16-17, Matthew 6:9-13, Numbers 6:24-26, Matthew 25:36, Psalm 33:12, Romans 8:26, Acts 1:8, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Acts 2:42
We praise and thank you, O Lord, that you have fed us with your Word [and at your table]. Grateful for your gifts and mindful of the communion of your saints, we offer to you our prayers for all pe...
Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 2:1-20, Luke 2:13-14, Luke 2:8-20, Romans 15:13, Luke 1:46-55, Psalm 96:11-12, Luke 2:20, John 1:9, Luke 2:29-32, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Matthew 4:16, Matthew 5:14-16, Acts 2:1-4, Isaiah 11:6-9
Leader: Tonight old dreams die and new dreams come to life. The Promise is fulfilled! People: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. Leader: Hope gives way to joy and prayer to proclamati...
Holy Trinity, Community of Love, Draw your children together Across human boundaries Across denominations Draw us together in your creative light Awaken us to collaboration and mutual callings Quick t...
Preaching Commentary Setting the Context: After the introductory tag from 2:14a this week’s text begins with “therefore” in 2:36 (Greek oun , which is the second word in verse 36 in the Greek text...
Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 10:29-30, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 10:38-42, Matthew 25:14-40, Acts 1:1-11, Acts 2:32-47, Acts 9:1-19, Acts 13:42-52, Acts 28:28-31
Nearly 200 years ago there were two Scottish brothers named John and David Livingstone. John had set his mind on making money and becoming wealthy, and he did. But under his name in an old edition of ...
Almighty God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We ask Your blessing on the people in this place. May the despairing find hope—and proud be humbled. May the doubting find faith—and the anxious be encouraged...
Matthew 25:34-40, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 21:12-13, Luke 10:25-37, Romans 12:2, Matthew 5:13-16
To focus our expectation in an otherworldly salvation has the potential to dissipate our resistance to societal evil and the dedication needed to work for the redemptive transformation of this world.
Writing to his parents while imprisoned on the day of Pentecost, the German Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this: At the tower of Babel all the tongues were confounded, and as a result men could no longe...
Acts 2:29-40, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 Peter 1:3, Ephesians 1:18-19, Romans 6:4, Colossians 1:13-14
Pastor: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. People: Amen. Pastor: Alleluia! Christ is risen! People: He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Pastor: ...
Plain text is for one voice. Bold text is for all voices. Holy Spirit, come again as cleansing fire, Burn away all that is false and fruitless Come, Holy Spirit Holy Spirit, come again as guiding...
Acts 7:55-60, Luke 9:22, Luke 12:8, Acts 2:34, Mark 1:14-15, Luke 23:34, Acts 8:1, Acts 9:1, Mark 9:40, Romans 5:6-11
Preaching Angle: Jesus’ Crucifixion, Stephen’s Martyrdom When Stephen saw “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God,” the surrounding crowd of God’s people should have begged him to explain ...
John 19:38-42, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:4, Acts 2:24, Colossians 2:12, Isaiah 53:9, Luke 24:6-7
They took the body down from the cross and one of the few rich men among the first Christians obtained permission to bury it in a rock tomb in his garden the Romans setting a military guard lest there...
Setting the Context: After the introductory tag from 2:14a this week’s text begins with “therefore” in 2:36 (Greek oun , which is the second word in verse 36 in the Greek text), making it especially...
Pastor: In You alone we put our hope, God the Father, Creator and Sustainer, People: who gives all good things, seen and unseen. Pastor: In You alone we put our hope, God the Son, Savi...
James 1:27, Hebrews 13:2-3, 1 Peter 2:12, Galatians 6:10, Romans 12:13, Acts 2:44-45
The fourth-century emperor Julian (AD 331-336) feared [Christians] might take over the empire. Referring to Christians as “Galileans” and Christianity as “atheism” (because of their denial of the exis...
Leviticus 25:10-12, Isaiah 58:6-7, Acts 2:44-45, Micah 6:8, Luke 4:18-19, Matthew 25:35-40, Acts 4:32-35, Romans 12:9-21, 1 John 3:17-18, 2 Corinthians 8:1-4
From the outside Calvary Church in Holland, Michigan, looks like a typical large church that many Americans attend. The church developed the typical way: it started small and then began to grow. As th...
Ephesians 3:18-19, Acts 2:42-47, John 13:1-17, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 103:11-12, 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:38-39
I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and heig...
Pastor: As Christ’s Church here on earth, we are invited to be a part of a bigger story, welcomed as members of a larger community, and called to a greater mission. In humble repentance we must ack...
One key difference between much of the early church vs. the church of today (at least in the West) was the belief in, and regular experience of, miracles. As Joel Green, the noted professor and writer...
Matthew 22:39, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Corinthians 10:24, Romans 15:1-2, Galatians 6:10, Romans 12:10, Acts 20:35, Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 58:6-7, Proverbs 19:17, Luke 10:30-37, James 2:15-16, 1 John 3:17, Proverbs 31:8-9, Matthew 25:40, Acts 11:29-30, 2 Corinthians 8:13-15, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-35, 1 Corinthians 12:25-26
Pursuing the common good has been a strong marker of the Christian church from the very beginning. The early church had many habits that they became known for, of course—including meeting frequently, ...
We were created to communicate, to speak truth fully to one another, so that we might be members of one another. To be members of one another means we must learn to trust one another. Trust, like trut...
Acts 7:54-60, Psalm 23:4, Acts 2:1-4, John 14:26, Luke 15:11-32, Romans 5:8
In His free grace, God is for man in every respect; He surrounds man from all sides. He is man's Lord who is before him, above him, after him, and thence also with him in history, the locus of man...
An attempt to wrest from God the prerogatives of absolute freedom and infinity leads to the inversion of Pentecost and what is in effect a new Babel. 'Postmodernism' represents that Babel perf...
Far too many people, especially within evangelicalism, think that the individual is all that matters, and that the corporate dimension is a distraction or diversion. Of course Christianity is deeply p...
1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:15-16, Revelation 3:1-3, James 2:17, Matthew 16:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:4-5, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 3:9
The story goes about a young man (or woman!) with dreams of growing a small church nestled in rural Oklahoma. Despite his relentless efforts, the church continued to teeter on the edge of extinction a...
Almighty God, by our baptism into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, you turn us from the old life of sin: Grant that we, being reborn to new life in him, may live in righteousness a...
Acts 2:42-47, 1 John 1:3, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 John 1:7, Romans 12:4-5, Galatians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level. “They met constantly to hea...