ROOTED & RENEGADE | WEEK 1 | ACTS 1:1-5
What’s the purpose of church history and what is our role in that history? Join us as we launch into our new series, ROOTED & RENEGADE, and see our place in the never ending story of church history!
It’s all about Jesus!
Date: September 12, 2021
Series: Summer in the Psalms
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Sermon Extras
THE REST OF THE SERMON | Rooted & Renegade | Week 1
Join us today on The Rest Of The Sermon as we are joined by our newest staff member, Kids Side Director, Nikki Mouser! Tune in and get to know more about Nikki and her family and the journey they’ve been on with Jesus and how they’ve faithfully served at West Side over the years!
Pastor’s Comment
Thank you so much for listening in here at West Side. We often say that we love the word of God because it points us to the son of God. We hope these messages encourage you and equip you to love Jesus more. We also want you to be apart of a local church, we believe these messages are only supplemental, being apart of a local church is essential. Blessings.
SERMON NOTES
Rooted and Renegade: Acts. Acts 1:1-5
INTRO> WE start a new book of the Bible today! This past year, our son Roman has really gotten into family history. We has been asking family members questions, we even went to the Kennett Library and spent an entire morning in their ancestors archives with their historian and specialist, then Roman got connected with the resource ancestory.com The tag line and statement on their website is this, “Every family has a story” This seems to be striking a chord with many people because ancestry has had 26 million people take their at home DNA test… Why? Because history shapes our identity. This is a universal truth that is true of our nation, the world and even your family of origin but especially true of the Church…
CONTEXT> You see, that’s what the book of Acts is for us as Christians, it is our ancestory.com it tells us about our family of origin and the past in order to shape our identity in the now in the future. But we need to be careful, how are we to study this book? Is it just some historical information about the past? Generally speaking, there are three types of people who study the past, historians, admires and soldiers.
How do we study Acts? (Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts)
- Not like cold historians
- Not like casual admirers
- Like committed soldiers The goal is not to just study church history. The goal is to study church history so we can continue to make church history.
Introducing the Book of Acts:
- Author: Luke. 2 Volume work.
- Date: 70-80 A.D
- Purpose: For that we actually have to go back to Luke’s first volume and look at Jesus’ last words, “46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:46-49 Acts shows the ordinary people of God, filled with the Spirit of God proclaiming the kingdom of God to their neighbors and nations.
Why study acts?
*IlL> Maybe this illustration will help. Do you remember the old school 80’s movie, “The Never Ending Story” The film came out in 1984 and is an adaptation of the book. In the beginning of the story, the Boy is in the book store, talking to the owner about the book he is reading… Carl Conrad Coreander: Your books are safe. While you’re reading them, you get to become Tarzan or Robinson Crusoe. – Bastian: But that’s what I like about ’em. – Carl Conrad Coreander: Ahh, but afterwards you get to be a little boy again but this story.. never ends…”
APP> By studying the book of acts we find our role in the never ending story that God is writing.
*DRAW THE TIME LINE OF CHURCH HISTORY AND WEST SIDE ON THE WHITE BOARD.
- 33 AD Jesus death, burial and resurrection
- 40 days Pentecost
- 49 AD First Church Council Acts17
- 69 AD St Ignatius is installed as Pastor
- 300 AD Constantine Romes national religion
- 325 AD Concil of Nicea
- 397 AD Carthrage Council (Bible)
- 451 AD Council Chalcedon Jesus diety
- 800 AD Split Rome Church
- 1000 AD Russian Orthodox Church
- 1200 AD Crusades
- 1492 AD Columbus sailed the ocean blue
- 1517 AD Martin Luther Protestant Reformation
- 1529 AD Church of England, Anglicans
- 1730 AD 1st Great Awakening
- 1776 AD Merica!
- 1780-1820 Second Great Awakening
- 1920 AD Revialist moment in America
- 1950 AD Billy Graham
- 1964 AD May- Margaret Ted Cross
APP> The question now is… “What’s next?”
Really quickly I want to leave you with one big idea today… just one… ready….
Big Idea > Disciples are rooted in the words of Jesus and renegades in the continued works of Jesus.
Do you see it right there in the v1… “all that Jesus began to do…” I love what John Stott says… “Luke’s first two verses are, therefore, extremely significant. It is no exaggeration to say that they set Christianity apart from all other religions. Others regard their founder as having completed their ministry during their lifetime; Luke says that Jesus on began his. True, he finished the work of atonement, yet that end was also a beginning. For after his resurrection, ascension and gift of the Spirit he continued his work, first and foremost through the unique foundation ministry of his chosen apostles and subsequently through the most-apostolic church of every period and place. This, then, is the kind of Jesus Christ we believe in: he is both the historical Jesus who lived and the contemporary Jesus who lives. THe Jesus of history began his ministry on earth; the Christ of glory has been active through his Spirit ever since, according to his promise to be with his people, “always, to the very end of the age”- John Stott, pg 34
You see the key is in the Balance!
*Draw the Rooted and Renegade Matrix
Application Question:
- What is the Spirit saying to you.
- What are you going to do about it?
Big Idea > Disciples are rooted in the words of Jesus and renegades in the continued works of Jesus.