A Visual meditation on Galatians 2:11-21. Paul is outraged that a group of Jewish Jesus followers are telling Gentile Jesus followers that they must first become Jewish before they can be true disciples of Jesus.
What do Acts 15 and the first two chapters of Galatians have in common? They both talk about the first big debate over ethnic identity in the church. Some of the early Christians said you had to be circumcised and assimilate into the Jewish culture in order to be a true disciple of Jesus. They debated the topic in Acts 15 in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul was very opposed to this teaching. That’s what he’s talking about in his letter to the Galatians.
Abram began to doubt God’s promise. God took Abram under the night sky and said “count the stars” that’s how many children you will have. Abram’s “Amen” needed reassurance. He said Amen and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
This sermon steps through the story of Paul in Philippi in Acts 16:11-40 and demonstrates how the Kingdom of God intersects with the Kingdom of Human Power Structures. What is the Good News in these difficult times?
The Apostle Paul wanted to visit Rome. He probably never imagined that he would have to first sit in jail for two years and then be carried there as a prisoner in order to fulfill this plan. Have you ever had plans disrupted? How do we deal with it when our life gets thrown upside down? Where is God in all of the chaos? This sermon explores those things as we look at Paul’s story in Acts 25:1-12.