Two men go up on a roof. David sees a woman and sends for her; Peter goes to pray and is given a vision he refuses three times. Dr. James Smith III sets the passages side by side and asks what a person does with a high place and some solitude.

Same passage, second week, question turned outward: what did those four devotions actually produce? Pastor Adam argues social change in Acts 2 does not begin with outward-facing programs but downstream of a body devoted to teaching, fellowship, bread and prayer.

Acts 2 describes the earliest church in startlingly concrete terms: teaching, the fellowship, bread, prayer. Pastor Adam argues that is devotion rather than attendance, and asks whether devotion to a local body is genuinely required or merely encouraged.

Some form of the word encourage appears eight times in Acts, twice as often as anywhere else. Pastor Adam builds the case on Barnabas, who vouched for Saul when the disciples were afraid of him, and argues much of the New Testament exists downstream of that.

Acts 16, where the Spirit repeatedly blocks the road until… read more

Acts 14, and a lesson in what to do when… read more

Acts 14:1-7. There is always a plot afoot — the… read more

Acts 13 and the turn to the Gentiles: rejected in… read more

Acts 13:1-3. The church at Antioch is worshipping and fasting… read more