We begin a new worship series this week on the New Testament Book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles is a colorful book of the New Testament which shows the Gospel expressing itself through the lives, speech, struggles & adventures of some of Jesus’s earliest followers. We encourage everyone to spend time reading the entire Book of Acts over the next few weeks and experience it for yourself.
Outline: The Book of Acts
November 8: Acts 4:32-37 Community
November 15: Acts 9 Old Boundaries Erased
November 22: Acts 23:1-11 Heroics
“The Book of Acts emphasizes the disruptive character of the Christian gospel and shows how Acts repeatedly describes God as upsetting the status quo by changing people’s lives, society’s conventions, and our basic expectations of what’s possible.” ~ Matthew Skinner.
Read Acts 4:32-27.
“Giving to the needy does not earn salvation, but it demonstrates that a person has come to grasp what the economy of Christian salvation is all about: relinquishing one’s real and perceived advantages and entering into true solidarity with others. Barnabas and the others in the story who give money to sustain the culture of mutuality do not give because they are ‘sowing seeds’ of faith that will allow them to reap material gain down the road. Nor do they give because their leaders demand a share. Rather, they give because they understand their united existence, sharing a single ‘heart and soul,’ as so tight that radical sharing of possessions seems a natural outgrowth.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-l-skinner/on-why-people-give-money-_b_8012068.html)
In what way does your Deep Commitment and giving generously to The Table upset your basic expectation of what is possible? In what way does making your Deep Commitment change your life? How do these experiences promote unity within our faith community?