While most cultures recognize the power of intentional relationships between someone with mastery in a particular field and an apprentice, this approach for development is often neglected here in Denver. Investing in another person can be time consuming, messy and threatening when those we train excel. In this message we explore Paul’s commitment to apprentice Timothy in order to discover some compelling reasons to engage in apprenticing others as Paul and, more importantly, Jesus did.
Sermons from October 2015
People disagree. Conflict results. Anger builds. Fellowship breaks. And it’s often with the people we’re closest to. Yet God, in his infinite wisdom and power, is able to use our fractured relationships for his purposes. He intended us to live at peace with one another. Sometimes restoring peace happens quickly. Other times, it takes years. And even when it seems as though it will never happen, we know that relationships will be part of the restoration of all things.
Do we enter the family of God based on what we do for Him or by trusting in what He has done for us? The good news (gospel) is that God sent His Son Jesus because He loves us apart from what we do or do not do for Him. After we believe this message by faith, our process of transformation begins in His way and His timing as He conforms us to become more like our Lord Jesus. This is amazing grace. In today’s message from Acts 15 we discover that this unconditional love of God is so foreign to the human way of thinking that people often add requirements beyond faith in Jesus. When people do this we must follow the example of Jesus’ first disciples by lovingly, yet firmly, affirming, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” for God’s sake, our sake and the sake of the world.
God often leads disciple making communities to send and support specific people to show and tell the good news that Jesus is Lord of all beyond their own city. In our recent journey through Acts 13 and 14 we have seen how God called Paul and Barnabas from their church in Antioch to take His message of grace throughout Galatia. In our message today, we learn that after their journey God led them to circle back to their sending partners in Antioch in order to “declare all that God had done with them.” Today we hear a brief summary of this text followed by a report from Don and Janet Guizzetti. Don and Janet are followers of Jesus and partners with Hope who have who have recently returned from their second missionary trip among the people of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (West Africa).