We celebrated 5 years as a church just a few weeks ago, and in this message, we look ahead to what’s coming down the road for the next five years. Updates on the building, potential hiring opportunities, sabbaticals, etc
Peter begins to share the gospel with Cornelius, and before he is done speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles, and the game has shifted for the rest of human history - Gentiles are included in the promises of God!
Resurrection Sunday 2024 – In Philippians 3, the apostle Paul is unsatisfied with knowing ABOUT Jesus – he wants to press on, reach out, and pursue KNOWING Jesus, which includes, knowing the power of his resurrection.
Peter is sitting down to eat lunch one day, when he falls into a trance and sees a heavenly vision about eating unclean animals. After the vision, some unclean men arrive at the door asking him to come with them. The Lord instructs Peter to go with them “with no doubts.” And he ends up in the home of a Romans centurion. The “bridge” that is the church of God is starting to come together in Christ!
2019-2024: River City celebrates five years as a church with a special service full of history, testimonials, and the gospel of Jesus
Peter leaves Jerusalem to check up on new believers, and along the way he has opportunities to see Jesus at work through him.
Now that he has met Jesus face to face, Saul's entire outlook on scripture and Jesus has changed. He now begins preaching Jesus as the Messiah to the very people he used to work with, and twice they try to kill him. He heads for the Jerusalem believers and they aren't so sure either. Only one guy, an encourager named Barnabas takes him in.
Persecution is taking place in and around Jerusalem with the aim of taking out the church and shutting down the name of Jesus. One of the leaders of the movement against the church is on his way to arrest believers 135 miles from home when all of a sudden his story is interrupted by the grace of Jesus.
Acts 8 opens with Philip heading into Samaria and seeing a revival of sorts taking place, and then suddenly an angel speaks to Philip and tells him to head South with no explanation. But what started out as an unknown directive ends up in a gospel interaction with a specific man that ended up being the first African to come to faith in Christ.
In Acts 8, two kingdoms collide as one kingdom’s representative (Philip) interacts with the other kingdom’s representative (Simon). In the verses that ensue, and Simon apparently switches teams, the question soon becomes, “Where does his allegiance really lie?” Does he actually want Jesus, or does he just want the power to do some cool things?