Last week, we talked the story of Ananias and Sapphira. While this is a tough passage, we discovered that their sin was not mere greed, but rather hypocrisy. We talked about this passage again during our small group on Monday evening and had a great discussion. I would challenge you to grapple with this difficult passage with a group of friends, small group, or Sunday school class. We asked a few questions together that I thought I would post in the blog.

1. Were Ananias and Sapphira Christians?

For the past few weeks, we have been studying the story of Pentecost in Acts 2. This study includes the coming of the Holy Spirit. His presence manifest itself in the wind, fire, and sound of various languages being spoken in understanding. As this miraculous situation occurs, some determine that they are drunk with wine. Peter stands up to address the crowd.

Last Sunday in worship we concluded the first chapter of our study called Acts: Chronicles of the Church. The Book of Acts in our New Testament is a history of the early church. In fact, Acts is pretty much our only history of the earliest years of the church, though we can glean much from the other New Testament writings. I approached the study last Sunday by answering the conventional questions of who, where, when, why, and what.

I received a nice email this week. One of our members (Al Coffey) wrote to say that she is enjoying the journey through Acts with us. She does elder care for a family member and is often unable to be in our sanctuary on Sunday mornings. So today I am celebrating the world of technology that allows her to listen to the Sunday messages, read our blogs, and hear our studio podcasts. Because she is using our online resources, she is as up-to-date with our study of Acts as those who attend our services each week.

In our small group (20 somethings...yea, I am the old guy), we are studying the book of Acts along with the sermon series. Actually, we are looking at various stories/scripture that go along with where we are in the series. This past week, we looked at the story of the two guys on their way to Emmaus. I love this story! It may be one of my favorite stories.
We had a great discussion over the dynamics in the story. I thought that I would post a blog about some of the things we noticed. You may want to read the story to supplement your study of Acts.

Reg and I began the Acts series just a few weeks ago and we are now beginning to answer questions and add content from the series onto the Web site. I want to take a few minutes to talk about the book of Acts. Some of this information may seem a little basic, but I have a hunch that someone reading this blog may not have a clue about the things that you learned in Sunday school. Anyway, here it goes...

Importance of Acts

On Sunday, March 30, 2008, we began a new teaching series in worship. Our series is entitled Acts: Chronicles of the Church. We will study the Book of Acts in the New Testament, moving sequentially verse by verse through each chapter.