Tag Archives: Acts

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“You Will Be My Witnesses!” A Sermon on Acts 1:1-14

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Our reading today is from the first chapter of the “Acts of the Apostles.”  Acts is the second book of Luke’s two-part work. Luke’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus’s earthly ministry, and Acts tells the story of the ministry of the church after Jesus ascends to the Father. Acts begins as Luke’s Gospel ends, with the commissioning of the disciples by Jesus and Jesus’ ascension. Both books are in the form of a letter and the addressee is a man named Theophilus, which can mean “lover of God” or “beloved of God” which means this letter can be read as addressed to us. Continue reading →

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Christmas Eve Reflections

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I lead a little weekly Bible Study on Zoom and yesterday we had the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke Chapter 2. The Christmas story is a good one in which to ponder how we read Scripture since it is so familiar to us. After nearly a half century of studying Scripture for preaching I am still finding discoveries in texts that I thought were “settled.” The Christmas story is one such text.

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“Breaking chains, Opening Doors” A Sermon on Acts 16:16-34

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Today is the Seventh and final Sunday in Easter and we have had several readings from the Book of Acts that emphasize the power of Jesus’ resurrection during the rise of the early church. Continue reading →

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“By the River” A Sermon on Acts 16: 9-15 and Revelation 22: 1-5

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You may have noticed there is a lot about rivers in the service. A river is featured prominently in both our readings for today. One is an actual river in the ancient city of Philippi, where Paul went to pray, and where he met Lydia. The other river is from John the Divine’s vision of the New Jerusalem, where a river runs through the heavenly city. Continue reading →