Sermons from April 2016

Turning the World Upside Down

April 18, 2016
Rev. Brad Barton
Church, Controversy, Evangelism, Faith, Kingdom of God, Persecution
Acts
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For certain people – people with power – in the time of the Apostles, followers of Jesus represented a real threat. The ushering in of the kingdom of God represented a real threat. If God’s kingdom became a reality on earth, those who wielded power in the Roman Empire, in the kingdom of the world, stood to lose everything.

Continuing Jesus’ Ministry

Y’all, isn’t that what Church is supposed to be like? Us meeting the needs we encounter by using what God gives us to meet them? God making such a big difference through us that thousands of people every day are brought to praise God and become followers of Jesus? THAT is what Church is supposed to be. But what have we become?

Wait

Y’all, God’s vision for First Christian Church, Grand Junction is an Easter vision. It is new life, life practiced and experienced differently from the ways of the world all around us. Life practiced in a way that might seem like foolishness to the ways of the world. But, like the disciples and their vision of a Holy Spirit poured out upon them, we must wait for this vision to be realized in God’s time, not our time. So we must wait. But let us not get discouraged in the waiting. Instead, let us wait actively, doing everything God asks and requires of us in this time. And let us enjoy the present moment in which we live, instead of pining for a future moment. God offers plenty of reward, right here, right now. And let’s trust in God that God’s great vision will take place at the appropriate time.