THE CHURCH AND THE CONTINUATION OF THE WORK OF CHRIST (1 OF 56)
Scripture: Acts 1:1-5
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The Church and the Continuation of the Work of Christ (1 of 56)
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 1:1-5
Read Acts 1:1-5
Once upon a time, many years ago, into the dark and pagan world of the first century, a world of violence, tyranny, slavery, and ignorance, a new people emerged. Their presence was, at best, tolerated with bemused irritation or, at worst, despised and plotted against. They were a strange people and they had strange ways. The faithful members of this new group sounded like madmen. They refused to offer incense to the Emporer as a god, claiming instead that they could only offer praise and offerings to the one true God of Heaven and earth. They practiced a strange kind of classless society: the poor and the wealthy were treated the same and were seen to be of equal value. They valued those elements of society that society at large saw as irksome reminders of human weakness: the sick, the infirm, the impoverished, the outcast, the undesirable. When respectable Roman women had babies they did not want and followed the custom of putting the baby in the wild to be consumed by wild animals or the elements, these odd people would go, gather them up, and raise them. They acted as if people had intrinsic value, not value conferred by status or earned by accomplishment. They called for peace and the end of violence. They suffered bravely when persecuted and did not complain. The conferred the title of ''brother'' and ''sister'' to those who were not of their biological family, thereby redefining the very nature of family.
Their beliefs strained credulity. They claimed that God had become a man and had been born in Palestine, of all places, to a virgin girl. They claimed He worked miracles and healed the sick. They claimed He announced the coming of a new Kingdom, a Kingdom of which He was King and a Kingdom populated by all who would come to Him in repentance and faith. When this God-Man was nailed to a cross and killed, they ...
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 1:1-5
Read Acts 1:1-5
Once upon a time, many years ago, into the dark and pagan world of the first century, a world of violence, tyranny, slavery, and ignorance, a new people emerged. Their presence was, at best, tolerated with bemused irritation or, at worst, despised and plotted against. They were a strange people and they had strange ways. The faithful members of this new group sounded like madmen. They refused to offer incense to the Emporer as a god, claiming instead that they could only offer praise and offerings to the one true God of Heaven and earth. They practiced a strange kind of classless society: the poor and the wealthy were treated the same and were seen to be of equal value. They valued those elements of society that society at large saw as irksome reminders of human weakness: the sick, the infirm, the impoverished, the outcast, the undesirable. When respectable Roman women had babies they did not want and followed the custom of putting the baby in the wild to be consumed by wild animals or the elements, these odd people would go, gather them up, and raise them. They acted as if people had intrinsic value, not value conferred by status or earned by accomplishment. They called for peace and the end of violence. They suffered bravely when persecuted and did not complain. The conferred the title of ''brother'' and ''sister'' to those who were not of their biological family, thereby redefining the very nature of family.
Their beliefs strained credulity. They claimed that God had become a man and had been born in Palestine, of all places, to a virgin girl. They claimed He worked miracles and healed the sick. They claimed He announced the coming of a new Kingdom, a Kingdom of which He was King and a Kingdom populated by all who would come to Him in repentance and faith. When this God-Man was nailed to a cross and killed, they ...
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