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The four gospels funnel into Acts. Acts is then a too oft ignored bridge from the life of Christ into practiced and practical Christianity.

Does any other preacher look back at your old sermon notes and get mad at yourself? I do! Looking at good material preached forty years ago aggravates me. What disappoints me is my misuse of good material. Here is the...

Many pastors enjoy what they do. Yet, some who felt called to preach, in time, abandon the ministry. It is an unfortunate and tragic loss to the body of Christ.  During Pastor Appreciation month, my blogs will focus on putting...

Discipleship is a difficult thing when a church functions as a closed circle or group. The phrase,  "closed set" is mathematical, so I will be misusing the term is this blog.  A note, if you have not given thought to...

La visión de Isaías para Israel incluía tanto la "raíz como el fruto.” Echar raíces hacia abajo y dar fruto hacia arriba. (Isaías 37:31)   ¿Qué aspecto tiene la fruta?   Gálatas muestra el "fruto del espíritu.” Esto será parte...

El difunto G.A. Mangun fue mi pastor por solo unos cuantos meses. Fue nuestro presbítero por más de 50 años. Aprendí de él—por observación, lo que me llevó a mis pobres esfuerzos de duplicarlo.   Aprendí: recibe el mensaje y...

  Isaiah’s vision for Israel included both “root” and fruit.” Take root downward and bear fruit upward. (Isaiah 37:31)   What Does Fruit Look Like?   Galatians showcases the “fruit of the spirit.” This will be part of a mature...

Perhaps without him realizing it G.A. Mangun was influencing the following generation in an "outsized" way. I wish I had paid more attention and had more time. There is so much more I could have learned. A few things I gained from this man of evangelism and prayer.

1. Get the message - stay on the message!
2. Don't let negative things affect your worship or your leadership.
3. Reaching out to sinners is more important than almost anything else.
4. God's work doesn't have to be vanilla.
5. Plan to see people won EVERY week. Preach in a way that it happens!
6. Don't let a small crowd deter you from being God's man in that moment.
7. The local church you lead is the main thing.
8. Love the saints. . . love people

Las plantas plásticas se ven verdes y bonitas, pero nunca producirán frutos. La forma en que Dios hace las cosas es un poco más lenta, pero produce resultados. Varias veces la Biblia dice:   Tomar Raíz hacia abajo y dar...

Plastic plants look green and good - but will never produce fruit. God’s way of doing things is a bit slower, but produces results. Several times the Bible says:      Take root downward and bear fruit upward.    ...

Many see depression as something a Christian should not experience. If depression is discussed, it is spoken of in whispers. Because of religious and cultural taboos, many people do not understand that depression is a real disease. Why is depression...

A tidbit of some of the necessary concepts on providing pastoral care for the 21st century.

The book of Acts covers approximately thirty years. Understanding the time involved gives a sense of the time in Paul becoming a convert, a disciple, and then a student of the scripture. It helps see the development of Peter as the apostle preaching the first gospel message to the Jews and nine years later to a Gentile.

 

Acts contains an experiential theology of salvation whether dealing with those who conspired to commit murder (Acts 2); a prayerful and honest-hearted Roman military official (Acts 10), or an Ethiopian who had traveled to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8). How to be saved is found in the book of Acts!

 

Step by step the gospel message moves from Jerusalem to Rome. The missionary effort was not easy. Persecution, personal disagreements among leaders, and people backsliding did not stop the missionary effort.

The church in the book of Acts is shown as a spiritual entity. At their best, the Christians in Acts were indwelt, empowered, and guided by the Holy Spirit.

This view sees Acts as a pattern. Acts is thus like the Lord's command to Moses regarding the tabernacle. "...Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shown thee in the mount." (Exodus 25:40)

 

Acts has much divine activity. God was breaking in on people of various cultures and backgrounds. Luke was especially concerned that his readers understand this.

 

The Acts of the Apostles is unique. It is the only God-inspired history of the early church. Acts tells the story of the church's progress. It also reports failure, dissension, and error.

The Acts of the Apostles continues in the same vein of the gospel of Luke as Luke (the author) begins to share the "teaching" and "doing" of the followers of Jesus.

Some chase ministry, or a church that allows them to relax without significant responsibility. What if there was only ONE to chase after? The ONE we sought without exception being JESUS!