Gospel Growth

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I am perplexed!

The Acts of the Apostles provides us as readers with an account of the development of the early church – the first Christian church. Acts 1 sets the context following the resurrection of Jesus and then gloriously recounts his ascension to the right hand of God. Acts 2 logically follows with the coming of the Holy Spirit as the apostles led by Peter start doing what they were called to do – proclaim Jesus.

Then Chapter 3 through to 6:7 hit us, and at first, seem to be a random assortment of events stuffed all together presumable for the readers benefit. Where is the logic that we have become so accustomed to from Luke?

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Gospel Facts and Gospel Response

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Dear 5pm Church Family,

What is the gospel?

This seems like a basic question to ask such a learned group that we are at 5pm Church! I ask, not because I fear that we have got it wrong, but because I fear we are a risk of putting the cart before the horse!

Acts of the Apostles

We have started this ministry year with the Acts of the Apostles. There appears to me to be four overlapping themes underpinning the first section from Chapter 1 through to 6:7 – they are:

  1. The ascension of Christ – now ruling at the right hand of God.
  2. The coming of the Holy Spirit – enabling the apostles to proclaim Christ.
  3. The witness of the Apostles – continuing on the ministry of salvation.
  4. The growth of the Church – as many respond to the gospel.

The 5pm Church sermons over the last two weeks (and the next two) have/will touched on the sermons of the Apostle Peter – Chapter 2:14-39; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; 5:30-32. Allow me to make two quick observations.

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Gospel Bite: The Problem of Pain and Suffering

A ‘Gospel Bite’ – a short answer to a commonly raised objection to the gospel.

The question of suffering looms large in the modern mind, particularly in light of disasters such as the 2004 tsanami in Asia, or the earthquakes in Christchurch, or the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. Many of the issues need to be dealt with philosophically (does suffering disprove God’s existence?) or theologically (is God powerless to do anything?).

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Gospel Bite: ‘All Religions are the same!’

A ‘Gospel Bite’ –  a short answer to a commonly raised objection to the gospel.

Pluralism – the belief that all religions point to God – is one of the major challenges put to modern Christians. It appears in so many forms: ‘You Christians are so arrogant as to think you alone have the truth!’ or ‘My own view is more open: I like to think of all religions as containing their own truth’, or ‘What makes your religion so special when there are so many Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in the world?’

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Gospel Bite: ‘I haven’t got much time for religion; it often seems so judgmental and self-righteous.’

Gospel Bite: A Criticism of Self Righteousness

Last ‘Gospel Bite’ we looked at how we could use Luke 7:36-50 to answer a question about sin and forgiveness. To demonstrate how flexible a ‘gospel bite’ may be, this week we are going to use the same passage to respond to a different criticism. Please read the passage before reading on.

How might you respond to a friend who declares:

‘I haven’t got much time for religion; it often seems so judgmental and self-righteous.’?

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God’s Shepherd and his Sheep

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I was at the Adelaide Show and somehow found myself in a sheep pen!

Well, not quite in the pen, but in the hall where they were auctioning off the sheep – merino bulls to be exact.

Reading Ezekiel 34 – God’s Shepherd and his Sheep got me thinking. Is it derogatory to be compared to a sheep? After all, in Ezekiel 34 it is clear that there was the one true Shepherd and that would be Jesus – and he cared for his flock – his sheep. Now if we each are following that shepherd, then we are the sheep! Is it a bad thing to be labelled a sheep?

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