This weeks Sermon May 11th @ First B Jackson

In one paragraph

Acts 15 brought the Jerusalem Council to First B Jackson on Mother's Day weekend. Pastor Mark worked through the passage verse by verse, showing how the earliest church wrestled with a question that still matters: are people saved by grace through faith, or do they have to take on the works of the law as well? The answer the apostles landed on still defines what it means to be the church. The...

Read together

1. Acts 15 the main text of the sermon, the Jerusalem Council
2. Acts 10 Peter's vision of the sheet and his visit to Cornelius's house, cited to show God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile
3. Galatians 2 cited as a parallel account of the Jerusalem Council meeting
4. Amos 9 James quotes from it about rebuilding the fallen shelter of David and all nations called by God's name
5. Jeremiah 12 blended into James's composite quotation about restoration and bringing them back
6. Isaiah 45 blended into James's composite quotation, 'who has long since declared it, is it not I, the lord'
7. Ephesians 2 briefly noted as not yet written at this point but referenced as the source of saved by grace through faith

Talk about it

1. Peter told the Jerusalem Council that God 'made no distinction' between Jewish and Gentile believers, cleansing their hearts by faith. Where in your own life have you been tempted to add requirements on top of faith in Jesus, either for yourself or for others coming to faith?
2. The sermon described the Pharisees who raised the circumcision question as 'well meaning people' with 'good intentions' who practiced a holy life intently. How do you guard against letting sincere religious commitment drift into placing burdens on others that go beyond the gospel?
3. Peter asked why anyone would put on new believers 'a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear.' What does it look like practically when a church loads new believers down with expectations before they have had a chance to grow?
4. The four guidelines the Jerusalem Council sent to Antioch were chosen largely so that Jewish and Gentile believers could live and worship together without causing each other to stumble. Where do you see that same principle of considering others ahead of yourself at work in your own congregation or relationships?
5. The sermon closed by saying that unity in Christ is possible, but only by the Holy Spirit, and that 'at least one of you is not listening to the Holy Spirit' when believers are in disagreement. What does humble, Spirit-led listening look like in a real conflict between brothers and sisters in Christ?