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In 701 BC, King Hezekiah of Judah is faced with only bad options: -Surrender to the Assyrian Empire and lose the kingdom and see God’s people taken into exile; -Or refuse to surrender and see his people starved and slaughtered. It is a lose/lose situation. What do you do what all you have are bad options? The simplistic, immature answer: “Just trust God.” The profound, wise answer: Just trust God.” Let’s talk about the difference.

Jesus calls us to a faith that refuses to stand on the sidelines. In the story of the Good Samaritan, we discover that love goes first—crossing boundaries, meeting people in their places of need, and bringing the hope of Jesus with us. God has uniquely placed each of us in this world with a purpose. The question is: What will you do with the life God has given you?

Jesus, drawing on the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, says that there are two kinds of people: People who use their ears and actually *hear* the gospel message and people who don’t. The people who don’t use their eyes and ears and heart to respond to God might as well be stone statues. But the people who actually *hear* the gospel? Jesus says the results will be shocking. In a good way. “Do you have ears? You need to use them."

Life is just strange. Good people sometimes die young, bad people sometimes seem to prosper. The best team doesn’t always win. Human life comes and goes quickly, and the world just keeps on turning. The Book of Ecclesiastes is about life’s strangeness. It’s like the dissenting opinion of the Bible—the Bible’s minority report. And it’s for anyone who has ever wondered, “Why is life so strange?”

Mortality is all around us. Everyone is aging, things are decaying, death seems everywhere; whether in decades or days, death is coming for us all. And yet, even as we are surrounded by mortality, it is possible for believers in Jesus to become more and more alive with each passing day. This is the message that Paul wants the Corinthians to understand in his well-known “weight of glory” passage. Every breath is proof: God’s not done yet.

What has your attention? This question matters because what you give attention to will shape your life. In the age of the smartphone, this has become an urgent issue for all of us. The good news is that the Lord has told us what to do, by giving us a way to reshape our attention.

The world is crazy these days. What should God’s people do about it? When Israel found itself in exile in Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah relayed a surprising word from the Lord: Make the city you find yourself in better. Or, to put it another way, “Leave it better than you found it.”

Some people think that America is moving from being a high-trust to a low-trust society. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira lie to the church, and the penalty is severe: death. It seems as if the one thing that will kill the church is deceitful speech. What will it take to be a person of truthful speech in a culture of deceit?

Over the summer, it just hit me: Jesus is really bullish about the future. Imagine if someone told you to “plant a tree.” The implication would be that that person believed that the long, slow work of tree planting and cultivation was a worthwhile endeavor. It would be a really hopeful instruction, since tree-planting is a hopeful act. That’s what hit me over the summer: right there in his final instructions, Jesus lets on that we should have hope for the future. “Make disciples” is about as hopeful a command as there could be. It means that Jesus isn’t finished yet! No matter how bad things look, there is a future that God believes in.

One thing we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history. What was true in ancient Israel was equally true in the Roman Empire - idols were everywhere. On Paul’s missionary journeys, he would have encountered idols of every kind. In Acts 17, he visited Athens, where he would have seen numerous temples, altars, and statues dedicated to various false gods. He was deeply distressed by what he saw. Idolatry is when something or someone becomes a rival to God’s exclusive glory. We are surrounded by it in our culture today. When we see it, are we deeply distressed like Paul was? Do we defend the name of the Lord and want idols in our culture erased? Or have we grown comfortable with them, tolerating them with very little resistance. And what about you? Is there anyone or anything in your life that has become a rival to God’s exclusive glory?

When we open the Book of Acts, we are entering a world saturated with religion. Every city had its temples. Every household had its idols. Every culture had its gods. Worship and devotion were prominent in the first-Century. However, the people were not worshipping the One who could offer them forgiveness. They were not devoted to the One who had victory over death. They had settled for spiritual imitations–gods that could not save them. When the apostles preached about Jesus, they weren’t introducing another religious option. They were proclaiming that the real King had come, lived among them, died, and resurrected. And that changed everything. Every person had to answer the same question: is Jesus the real deal? The message of the apostles is now our message, and there are people all around who are wondering if Jesus is the real deal. Will you tell them?

You've likely heard Pastor Andrew say, "God has more for you." But what does that really mean? Experiencing the fullness of God isn't just about receiving more blessings; it's about becoming more like Christ and being prepared for His purposes. Throughout Scripture, God develops His people through seasons of formation, discipleship, and intentional relationships in the local church. After Saul's dramatic conversion, God didn't immediately launch him into ministry. Instead, He used mentors such as Barnabas to encourage, equip, and prepare him for what lay ahead. Later, Paul would do the same for Timothy, passing the faith and leadership to the next generation. If we truly desire more of God, we must embrace His design for spiritual growth through mentorship. The question is: Are you allowing God to prepare you for more, and are you ready to invest in someone else's faith journey?

Acts 9 recounts Saul’s conversion. The Holy Spirit speaks to Saul and Ananias. Acts 9 shows some of the reasons God speaks to us today.  Relationship requires communication. And communication requires speaking and listening. In some ways, it is like going from noticing that a bird is singing to being able to identify a particular bird’s song. This sermon will help you learn to tune in to the distinct sound of the Lord’s voice in your life.

The Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen from birth, and he used the rights and privileges of that citizenship for the purposes of the gospel. American citizenship is a gift from God. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of America, we would do well to remember the tremendous privileges we American Christians have received by virtue of that citizenship. Will we use it for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel?

In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council makes a fateful decision: Gentile Christians do not have to become Jewish before they can be saved. Rather, the Council realizes that all along God’s plan was to save the nations through Jesus. The reason this matters is because it means that the church will be made up of lots of different cultures, each bringing their best to God. In other words, heaven will be a lot like the World Cup….