Ccf Sunday Messages

As we finish out Acts chapter 21 and into chapter 22, Paul is finishing his fateful journey into Jerusalem, immediately meeting with the church elders and leaders and describing his travels and the work of God in Asia and Europe. Given the tensions between Jew and Gentile, the leaders have a plan for Paul to reaffirm his Jewishness which leads to a major confrontation in the temple! Listen in as Pastor Steve teaches the beginning of a long section through Acts as we follow Paul's arrest, trials, testimonies and travel to Rome.

In Acts 21, Paul is finishing up his missionary journey, making several hops as he is determined to go towards Jerusalem, staying with believers along the way. He has already been warned about what awaits him in Jerusalem, but along the way even the people of the churches beg him not to go and more prophecies of what await him are given. But, undeterred, Paul is determined that the Spirit is guiding him there, even knowing what awaits. Pastor Steve talks through this passage about knowing God's will and the fact that His will is not always the easy path.

Closing out Acts chapter 20, Pastor Steve teaches through Paul's tearful goodbye to the elders from the church plant at Ephesus on the beach at Miletus. Paul's final words are filled with encouragement, love, and also warnings about wolves that will come in to deceive and attack the sheep. Listen in as Steve asks and thinks through what we would say if we had one last chance to give a message to a group of Christian leaders and pastors.

Entering chapter 20 we are now following Paul's travels on his third missionary journey, specifically picking up with the events after the uproar at Ephesus as Paul retraces his steps back through the churches that have been planted. We end up at an interesting story of a late night sermon that leaves a young man falling asleep and falling out of a third story window at midnight! Listen in as Pastor Steve covers this story as well as a parallel with spiritual "wakefulness" and slumber!

Kishor Pandagade, a great friend of CCFluvanna and a missionary with Advancing Native Missions (ANM), shares a message from the letters to the churches found in Revelation; specifically the letter to Ephesus. In this letter we find a commendation and a warning; a warning to those who have "good deeds" but have lost their first love. Kishor shares the heart of God to see the church return to Him and become victors as we await his second coming.

After two quiet years of ministry in Ephesus, finally a disturbance occurs around Paul. We've seen this before: as Christ transforms a culture by the gospel, the "locals" get angry when it begins to impact their ability for profit. In this case the idol makers are losing business when people stop buying their silver shrines to Diana! Listen in as Steve talks more about the impact of culture and the role of the Christian to not be passive in our current cultural shift.

Continuing in Acts chapter 19, Paul is going to remain at Ephesus for a couple of years. For once he isn't run out of town and after spending some months debating with the Jews in the synagogue, he focuses his ministry on the Gentiles, starting a church there with the group of young believers. In the midst of this pagan city with idolatry and demonic activity, there are many exorcists, and some decide to try and use the powerful name of Jesus as part of their "incantation." Listen in to hear what happens in Ephesus through this wild experience, which ends up leading to real revival in the church in Ephesus!

As Paul concludes his second missionary journey and begins his third, we come across two stories recorded in Acts that reveal the difficulty of a church before the Bible. There were those who knew of John's teaching/baptism of repentance but hadn't full understood the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In the case of Apollos he was a powerful teacher and expositor of the Word, but thankfully was humble enough to be taught by Aquila and Priscilla. Even today, with the Bible easily accessible and so much teaching, there are Christians today who don't realize they are missing the fullness of what God has for them through the filling of the Holy Spirit. Listen in as Pastor Steve teaches through these two experiences of early believers being provided the "rest of the story" by being baptized with the Holy Spirit!

Paul moves on to Corinth and ends up staying for around 18 months. After all the pain and trials he has experienced on these missionary journeys, God gives him an amazing promise that he will be safe here, and can minister without the threat of being beaten, jailed, or attacked! During this time, he builds a strong friendship with local tentmakers Priscilla and Aquila. A young church is founded here, and grows as Paul turns his attention to the Gentiles as the Jews reject the message again in this city.

Entering the last half of Acts chapter 17, Paul arrives in Athens, a city of great importance to Greek culture, architecture, learning, and religion. It is here that Paul goes to the marketplace and sees all the idols the Athenians worship and is urged within himself to share the gospel message to this heathen people. Pastor Steve uses this context to talk about the importance of bringing Jesus to the marketplace of today's ideas and how God wants to use us to share the message, understanding that some will reject it, but some will receive it and be transformed just like Paul himself was by Christ!

Continuing our study in Acts, Pastor Steve continued into chapter 17, as Paul and his traveling companions continue their journey into Europe, specifically in ancient Macedonia. In the first part of this chapter he continues to reach out to the Jews and God-fearing Greeks through the local synagogue. In Thessalonica, there is a great response, followed by attacks and persecution again. Continuing on to Berea, Paul finds a group of receptive Jews who "search the scriptures" to see whether Paul's message is true. In both these instances, we see Paul use a conversational style, listening and interacting with the local people in a way that invites them to dialogue. Pastor Steve taught about our own way of interacting with non-Christians and our great need to be good listeners and open a dialogue with those around us.

On Easter Sunday, Pastor Steve took us to John 14, part of a long conversation that Jesus had with his disciples on the night of the Last Supper before he was betrayed in the garden. When we talk about resurrection, sometimes we only think of it in terms of our own resurrection after death. But Pastor Steve points out the expectation that we live a resurrected life *now* while we are still living. A picture of this life is also found in Psalm 1; the tree planted by streams of living water, flourishing and growing with the nourishment of the Word. Listen in and be challenged and encouraged to live that resurrected life on Resurrection Day!

What would you do if you were thrown into the inner prison in ancient Greece with your legs fastened painfully in the stocks? I think we can all agree that prayer and singing at midnight is probably not where we would end up! But, before we dismiss Paul and Silas as "super-Christians" we need to know that with God's spirit we can have that kind of response to difficulty and trials! Listen in as Pastor Steve takes us through the end of Acts 16 where things take a turn for the worse in Philippi, but God has a plan to save some people along the way!

As we enter Acts 16, Paul is setting out on his second missionary journey, and due to his falling out with Barnabas, he is taking Silas with him this time. They meet Timothy a young believer at Lystra, who Paul also includes in their journey, and from the language, we believe Luke, the writer of Acts joins them as well. It is at this point that they seem to hit opposition to their plans and directions. Instead God seems to have a plan for them to go over to Greece and bring the gospel into the continent of Europe. Pastor Steve teaches through this passage the importance of listening to God and being able to submit ourselves to his plans, even giving up good or godly plans that might just not be *God's* plan for us!

In the closing sections of Acts chapter 15 we see the final result of the Jerusalem council--drafting a letter that will share their decision with all the churches, and then Paul, Barnabas, and Silas return to Antioch bringing the good news as well as continuing to teach, exhort, and build up the body there. It's at this point that we see a relational conflict that divides Paul and Barnabas over the status of John Mark on their next journey. Listen in as Pastor Steve teaches through this section, finishing up Acts chapter 15.

Acts chapter 15 opens as Paul and Barnabas have returned to Antioch from their missionary journey, and now some Jews have come and started to teach that Gentile believers must be circumcised and fall under the law of Moses to be saved! Of course this flies in the face of what Paul and Peter have experienced in God pouring out his Spirit on Gentiles, and so a council is convened to deal with this rift and difficulty in the early church made up of Jews and Gentiles. Pastor Steve teaches a message of grace using this first big test of the early church as a backdrop. Grace is what will make us the church that God wants us to be, working together and giving grace to one another as we do God's work in unity.

David Barton, president of Wallbuilders, an organization dedicated to preserving America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional foundation, presented a message titled "Know Your Bible" showing the incredible familiarity with the Bible and its content that was assumed and expected at the time of the foundation of our country. Dr. Barton called for the church to reinvest themselves in knowing God's Word, challenging them to read it from cover to cover each year as many of our founding fathers did.

Moving on in Acts 14 through Paul's first missionary journey, they have arrived at the city of Lystra. After teaching there, Paul is led to heal a lame man, which leads the people of the city to think that Paul and Barnabas are gods worthy of worship! After convincing the locals not to worship them as gods, the Jewish resistance shows up and convinces the crowds to stone Paul! Instead of dying as they thought, Paul awakens outside the city and he and Barnabas return to the city before going on to Derbe. The chapter ends with them retracing their steps through all the cities, strengthening the young believers in each place and appointing elders to care for these small new churches in each town.

In this message, one of our elders, Todd Giszack, encourages us to consider the corporate blessing of our individual salvation. God's plan for the church is clearly seen in Scripture, and while the Lord calls us to Himself one by one, as Christians we should recognize that we are also members of this corporate, worldwide body of Christ called the church.

Who or what is your first love? Is your first love God, or has He been replaced by someone or something else as the highest love and priority of your life? Pastor Tom takes us through Revelation 2:1-7 in this message, pointing us to this timely application for our lives today. Let's examine our hearts in the light of scripture and see if we need to remember, repent, and redo the first things that expressed our love for Jesus. He desires to be the first and primary love of our life!