{podcast id=49}
6. The Old Idea Again Acts 13
Series: A Mission without Leaders or Plans Acts 8-14
Sermon preached at Dongara Anglican on 13 September 2015
Bible Readings: Isaiah 49.1-7; Acts 13
Prayer, the Spirit, the Message, the Evangelist
{podcast id=48}
5. What Will Stop the Mission? Acts 12
Series: A Mission without Leaders or Plans Acts 8-14
Sermon preached at Dongara Anglican on 6 September 2015
Bible Readings: Isaiah 28.14-19; Acts 12.1-24
Herod, Peter, the Church and the Gospel. The Lord is in charge and nothing stops him even if damage is done to the believers
{podcast id=47}
4. Out of Control Acts 11.19-26
Series: A Mission without Leaders or Plans Acts 8-14
Sermon preached at Dongara Anglican on 30 August 2015
How the gospel spread to Antioch and Who did What
Bible readings: Isaiah 25. 6-9; Acts 11.19-30
It’s a Miracle!
How do you know something is a miracle? That depends of course on what you mean by miracle. If you have an old dictionary published in the mid 20th century it will tell you a miracle is an amazing or wonderful event.
If you look up a modern dictionary you will see the definition has changed. It is now an event that is contrary to the established laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural cause.
This is a significant change in meaning. The old definition followed the meaning of the idea in the Bible. The new meaning has developed from a skepticism about the events described in the Bible. Although most of our Bibles use the word miracle, it is actually a translation of words that mean a wonderful event, or a powerful work. Certainly some of the events described in the Bible are hard to explain using the “established laws of nature”. But most aren't.
But did any of these “wonderful events” happen? Can you believe it? Here is another twist in the meaning of words. Faith in the modern dictionary is “strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” But that is never the definition in the Bible. Faith is always based on knowledge. It is based on a foundation that is reliable. So if we want to know whether the “wonderful events” happened, we need to check out whether the stories are reliable.
The disconcerting thing about most of the stories of Jesus is that they turn out to be both reliable and confronting. They don't say what we think they should and don't do what we expect. Believing Jesus turns out to be quite a miracle itself.
Dale Appleby
{podcast id=46}
3. A New Old Idea Acts 10-11
Series: A Mission without Leaders or Plans Acts 8-14
Sermon preached at Dongara Anglican on 23 August 2015
What happened and How it happened when the gospel went to the Gentiles
Bible Readings: Isaiah 42.1-9; Acts 11.1-19
{podcast id=45}
2. Who is Running this Mission? Acts 1-8
Series: A Mission without Leaders or Plans Acts 8-14
Sermon preached at St John the Baptist Dongara on 16 August 2015
Bible Readings: Isaiah 52.13 - 53.12; Acts 8.26-40
How the message spread without planning or leadership
{podcast id=44}
1. Start Here: Joining Jesus Luke 24
Series: A Mission without Leaders or Plans Acts 8-14
Sermon preached on the occasion of a baptism at St John the Baptist Dongara WA.
Bible Readings: Isaiah 2.1-5; Luke 24.36-53
How and why we come to benefit from the baptising with water and the baptising with the Holy Spirit
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