Truth Seekers and Jesus

ReactionsBrock Graham
Written By Olivia Zurawski

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Acts 17:1-15 | Sharing the gospel will elicit different responses from different people. 

There is the "This is Awkward, Change the Subject Guy" who will just quickly look to talk about anything except spiritual things. 

There is the "I Just Want to Pick a Fight Guy" who, by just your mentioning of Jesus, will want to get into an intellectual wrestling match of name calling. 

But then there are the refreshing reactions of "I Just Want to Know the Truth" people. These people listen to understand. They ask questions to clarify. You see the wheels turning in their brain and the Spirit pulling on their heart.

In this passage, we come across "I Just Want to Know the Truth" people as we make our way with Paul and Silas to a new city. Through our study of these people, we are going to learn three things truth seekers do when confronted with the message of Christ.  

Got any people in your life who are wrestling with whether to follow Christ? Anyone who is doubting their faith? Want to know how to witness to those people who seem to keep asking hard questions that you don't always know how to answer? Let's wrestle through these things together.

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Sermons
Disruptive People
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Disruptive People
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Acts 19:21-41 | A disruption is defined as a disturbance that interrupts an event, activity, or process.

So the question is: Should a Christian ever be known as a disruptive person? Someone who creates a disturbance that interrupts?

In every city that Paul proclaims the gospel, a disruption happens. This week we look at one of the most volatile examples of this as a riot starts in Ephesus. As we study this, we will be encouraged to live a life of peaceful disruption for the glory of God. We will acknowledge that the nature of walking with Christ is to walk against the current of culture, and anytime we do this, disruption is inevitable.

We don't have to fear being a peacefully disruptive people in society. In fact, some of the greatest Kingdom influencers in the history of Christianity have been powerfully, yet peacefully disruptive forces in the hands of God.

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The Power of the Name of Jesus
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The Power of the Name of Jesus
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Acts 19:1-20 | Many of us have learned during our lives that there can be power in a name. There are few things more awkward than calling someone by the wrong name, but few things more beneficial than knowing the right names at the right times in the right circumstances.

As Christians, we know that there is one name that is above all names: Jesus. In fact, at Harvest, we often sing about the power of the name of Jesus. But what are some of the specific ways that this power is manifest in our lives?

In this message, we open God’s Word to Acts 19 and find Paul returning to the city of Ephesus as he begins his third missionary journey. And as Paul begins an extended time of ministry in Ephesus, we will see specifically how the name of Jesus has an extraordinary impact on individual lives as well as the entire region. One of the events, in particular, is definitely not something you will read about in the “Precious Moments Bible.”

Reactions, Mark Wiley
A House God Can Use
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A House God Can Use
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Acts 18:1-28 | If you asked someone who was familiar with the Bible to list the key players of the book of Acts, the list might go something like this, "Paul...Peter...Barnabas...Timothy...Silas..." And they would be absolutely right in listing these names. But this week we stumble across two people who would probably never make the "Who's Who List" of the book of Acts and yet have a profound impact on the early church. These two people are a husband and wife who we are introduced to for the first time in Acts 18, and then show up quietly throughout the rest of the New Testament. In this sermon, we are going to learn what it looks like to have a quietly mighty Kingdom impact from this couple. And as we look at this, I believe we are going to be surprised by the 2 simple mottos that made this couple so effective in the hands of God... mottos every single one of us can live by as well. Who is this couple? What did they do that made them so useful to the Lord? What can we learn from their lives so we can have a quiet yet powerful Kingdom impact as well?

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Part 2 - Destructive Idols and How They're Destroyed
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Part 2 - Destructive Idols and How They're Destroyed
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Acts 17:16-34 | In Part 1, we left this story in the heaviness and tension of the reality that we are prone to worship idols and idols will destroy our soul.

In Part 2, we leave the valley and head to the mountaintop. We gaze on the goodness of glory of the One True God. We see how our understanding and worship of God roots out and destroys the idols of our heart.

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Part 1 - Destructive Idols and How They're Destroyed
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Part 1 - Destructive Idols and How They're Destroyed
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Acts 17:16-34 | I remember my first trip to New York City. I had never experienced anything like it. The atmosphere--its sights, sounds, the energy, the smells--all of it is such a vivid memory for me. Each block we turned had its own culture. Each block we turned had new sights to behold. Each block we turned also revealed powerful pictures of the idols of our culture. This was Paul's experience as he stepped foot in Athens. Athens was the intellectual and cultural mecca of the empire, but what Paul saw grieved him. As he took in the wrongful worship of idols, it led to him boldly telling the Athenians of the One they were really seeking to worship. This week we talk about idols. What are they? How do they form? What is at stake if we worship them? And how are our idols destroyed and swallowed up by the greater glory of the One our hearts truly long to worship?

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Truth Seekers and Jesus
Reactions, Brock Graham
Truth Seekers and Jesus
Reactions, Brock Graham

Acts 17:1-15 | Sharing the gospel will elicit different responses from different people. There is the "This is Awkward, Change the Subject Guy" who will just quickly look to talk about anything except spiritual things. There is the "I Just Want to Pick a Fight Guy" who, by just your mentioning of Jesus, will want to get into an intellectual wrestling match of name calling. But then there are the refreshing reactions of "I Just Want to Know the Truth" people. These people listen to understand. They ask questions to clarify. You see the wheels turning in their brain and the Spirit pulling on their heart. In this passage, we come across "I Just Want to Know the Truth" people as we make our way with Paul and Silas to a new city. Through our study of these people, we are going to learn three things truth seekers do when confronted with the message of Christ.  Got any people in your life who are wrestling with whether to follow Christ? Anyone who is doubting their faith? Want to know how to witness to those people who seem to keep asking hard questions that you don't always know how to answer? Let's wrestle through these things together.

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Olivia Zurawski https://www.makerscc.com
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Part 1 - Destructive Idols and How They're Destroyed
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Rejoicing in Suffering