Highlight On the surface, Paul’s encounter with Lydia seems to be a random, providential event. However, there is far more intentionality in their meeting than we realize without knowing the Jewish traditions of the day. Jews had a system for when a synagogue would be formed in cities outside of Israel. If there were ten male heads of households who could be in regular attendance, then a synagogue would be formed. If this was not possible, then a ‘place of prayer’ would be established under the open sky and near either a river or the sea.  Read More

Highlight The conversion of Cornelius and his household is a massively important event in the history of the early church. Up until this point, every person whose conversion we have looked at has been either Jewish or closely related to the Jewish faith. Cornelius and his household are the first Gentiles (non-Jews) who accept Jesus without any move towards becoming Jewish first. God knew this would be controversial in the early church (this will become clear further into the Book of Acts and features prominently in Paul’s epistles), so He made their acceptance very clear by repeating the same event that the original disciples experienced on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Acts 10 is the Gentile Pentecost.  Read More

Welcome Welcome to Week 3 of the 2023 Faith Promise - Vision Week Reading Plan. This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about right here. This is a series focused on how our church responds to the commission that Jesus gave all of his followers to reach people far from Him. This commission is called the Great Commission and is found in Matthew 28:18-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This reading plan will be designed to help us align our hearts with God’s heart for the lost. We will spend the next few weeks reading stories of people whose lives were changed by the love of God.  Read More

Highlight The conversion of Saul is unique from the other conversion stories we have looked at during this Reading Plan. The main difference is that up until this point the examples that we have looked at largely fall into the category of people who knew they were sinners and found grace and acceptance in Jesus. But Saul was different in that he believed wholeheartedly that he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do! He believed himself to be aligned with Jewish heroes like Phinehas, whose story is found in Numbers 25. Phinehas put to death those who were tempting others into sin and idolatry and his actions were celebrated by God as just and appropriately zealous. So God’s grace to Saul is unique in that God is pursuing someone who doesn’t believe they need to be pursued. He is saving someone who doesn’t believe he needs to be saved from anything!  Read More

Highlight As we mentioned yesterday, Acts 8 focused on the gospel spreading out from Judea to Samaria, just like Jesus said it would in Acts 1:8. This involves the gospel saving and restoring people who were traditionally excluded from being able to engage in worship of Yahweh at the Temple. The story of the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch is amazing on the surface, but when we understand the religious subtext of what’s happening the redemption of this man only grows in its beauty!  Read More

Highlight Acts 8 begins the story of the scattered church, where God uses the persecution that the church is facing to accomplish his original goal of the gospel spreading from Jerusalem to Judea, then to Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Philip, one of the Hellenistic Jews empowered to serve by the Apostles in Acts 6, leaves the region of Judea and takes the Gospel to Samaria. So the events recorded in Acts 8 are focused on the Gospel starting to cross some of the barriers that previously excluded people from being able to engage in worship.  Read More