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The blessings we enjoy invite us to give thanks. The suffering we endure teaches us to cling to His unfading promises. And in both, it’s the Word of the Lord that guides us as we walk by faith. Because faithfulness is not about simply arriving at the right destination. It’s about how we live along the way. We don't know what the road ahead holds. We don't know what burdens we'll be called upon to carry in the coming week. But we know the One who has promised to bring us home.

There's a deep question underneath this passage that requires a level of honesty that can be uncomfortable, as it challenges us to come to terms with whether we're asking Jesus to bless something that He is asking us to put away. And it brings us to a place where we need to wrestle with what it means to truly surrender.

In the age of content creation, it's easy to think we're merely distracted from spiritual formation, and forget that anything and everything we give our attention to is actually forming us. So, what Paul does in Athens, a place that is full of idols and very religious, is he recognizes how sin has distorted and deformed their worship, and points out how people made to image God have become people who make gods in their image.

The Church is not a community built on our sameness. It's not a community held together because we're just so naturally compatible. But we're a new creation community in Christ, created by a grace powerful enough to cross the boundaries that would otherwise define us. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. Grace reaches beyond the world's ordinary divisions and gathers us into a new creation community together in Christ.

Following Paul and Timothy in this passage, we see in real time how the gospel frees us to surrender our preferences and our plans. And it helps us to remember that sometimes following Jesus means surrendering something good because Jesus is leading somewhere else, and that faith doesn't require knowing why every door closes. Faith requires knowing Who is leading.

Acts 15 shows us a poignant picture of the brokenness and wreckage that still exists in the Church. But what this passage reminds us is that the wreckage never gets the final word. Because the brokenness of Christ's people cannot stop the faithfulness of Christ to His people. Jesus is more faithful than His servants are broken.

Legalism says that Jesus isn't enough - you need Jesus and something else. And then License says that Jesus doesn't really change anything - so you can just remain as you were. But the gospel doesn't say either of those things. What the gospel says is that God in grace receives us as we are - and then begins the work of making us what we're created to be. And the mess in church around us doesn't mean that grace has failed, but that grace is still at work.

Everyone puts their hope in something. Everyone is trusting in something for their life that they are counting on to give them meaning, purpose, security, significance, and even their identity. And what we see in Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14 is that they have set their hope on the Lord such that the rejection of the crowd doesn't destroy and the applause of the crowd doesn't define.

Saul, also called Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark are called to Cyprus. They go where the Holy Spirit who fills them up has sent them. They go faithfully to proclaim the gospel and by their obedience they witness the Holy Spirit saving others. Let the church today, walk in step with the Spirit of the Living God.

James has been killed, Peter is in prison asleep, and the believers are found unbelieving when an angel sets Peter free and he shows up outside their door. In reading Acts, we can relate to the early saints. They often tried their best, we found failing, or experienced hardship. But the point of Acts, the point of the church, the point of the gospel - is Christ alone. He is the hero, not us. Therefore we pray, we have faith, and we trust in Him to keep advancing His kingdom.

The Lord saves His people, not because we're good, but because He's a Good Savior. Cornelius did everything in life right, but still he needed Jesus. God draws far off people close and makes them by His grace to belong in His family.

Jesus Christ, through Peter, heals Aeneas and raises Dorcas back to life. The miraculous power of Jesus points us toward His ultimate healing, of saving sinners to everlasting life. Jesus is alive, He is the Head of His Church, no one is too far gone from His healing power, and He is indeed making all things new. Christians are to share what Jesus has done in their life, so that others would turn to Him.

The conversion of Saul is all about Jesus. No one is beyond the Lord's reach of salvation and His grace not only brings life but also trajectory. For all believers, the old is gone and the new has come. Now as disciples, we are called to go and make disciples and share the gospel with everyone - even if uncomfortable and in ways we are afraid to go.

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch provide an active parable for Christians today. The eunuch was a man whose life was full of barriers and exclusion, but now he's been brought into transformed life. And Philip helps the eunuch to understand his position and the text of Isaiah. Today, the marks of the church include pursuing the Lord in His Word, responding obedience, and witnessing our faith in Jesus.

The church faced persecution, the first martyr Stephen is buried, and still the gospel spreads. In going to different regions, the disciples proclaim Christ. Even in the region of Samaria, a place where the apostle John was rebuked by Jesus for wanting to destroy, there are converts and signs being done. Through struggle and trial, the people of God are united. The gospel is available to everyone by faith, it cannot be bought or earned as Simon the magician tries to do, but by grace through faith alone in Christ. The same is true for the church to grow today.