Connection Church Sioux Falls

Luke gives us in the Book of Acts a fast-paced account of the Gospel spreading throughout the known world. From time to time we see in greater detail how this movement creates a people marked by exhortation, generosity, perseverence, hospitality, and even new life. We also see the origins of some of the practices of the early and present-day church.

As the Good News of who Jesus is and what He has done is shared, Effectiveness and Persecution usually go hand in hand; since an effective church is a bold church loyal to Jesus above all, and a bold church is often a church made strong through suffering.

The proclamation and belief in the Gospel has always travelled alongside powerful and miraculous spiritual signs, and it always exposes that which is false in order that the life-giving Word of the Lord might multiply and the name of Jesus might be held in highest regard.

Now that we are in Christ, we not only believe differently, we also behave differently. This often means letting go of old ways of thinking and acting that have no ability to give life and growing in our understanding of the Gospel such that the Good News of Jesus is carried on by His people.

Since God has many people to be won by the Gospel in the city, we will not be prevented by hostile action from continuing our missionary work until God’s purpose is complete.

God is knowable, and He desires that every person on earth should know Him; so we now join His Mission to declare this unchanging Good News into an ever-changing culture.

God has sent messengers to proclaim the light of His truth to a lost, sin-darkened world; and this message is met with different responses - from anger, to curiosity, to life-transforming joy.

God’s sovereign rule brings good results out of bad circumstances, especially when His people experience persecution. As a result, they are able to praise Him in any and all circumstances, because He saves, protects, and preserves.

The Spirit of God directs the movement of the Gospel in such a way that lives are changed and people are liberated to new life in Christ.

The nature of the Gospel is that we do not do things to earn God’s favor. Yet the nature of the Gospel is that since God has given us his unmerited favor in Jesus Christ, we take steps to seek to win the favor of others for the sake of the multiplication of the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul asked to take this young man named Timothy along with him directly into harm's way for the sake of the multiplication of the Gospel, and his mother, passing on her rich heritage of sincere faith, actually let him go!

It is our desire to let the Gospel be our central focus so that our inclination is toward going and sending, our approach is to make disciples, and our personnel love the Mission more than getting their own way. The result will be Gospel-Centered Multiplication.

What Jesus began to do and to teach is continued by the Holy Spirit in the Church. The work of the Holy Spirit in both the Church and in the world is unstoppable. He has an unwavering zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ. Everything He does is measured by Jesus and glorifies Jesus.

Sometimes we do not get the thing that we hoped for, because are hopes are simply too high; but other times we do not get the thing we hoped for, because are hopes are too low. To place our hopes in Jesus is to never have your hopes too high.

Jesus is alive! The response to this great truth takes two forms: One in which keeping it a secret seems more profitable, and one in which Jesus commands us to take that truth to the whole world.

To consider the possibility that death did not have power over Jesus will change the way we feel, think, and live. Forever.

Jesus comes to His people as a kind, gentle, humble king who uses lowly, ordinary means and people - with their selfish, superficial, fake, fickle tendencies - to bring himself glory by saving them in spite of themselves.

Jesus has transformed the identity of His people, and this changes how communicate with God, what they communicate to the world, the way they communicate by their actions, and the tone in which they communicate with everyone.

Now that we have been united with Christ, we not only put off that which is sinful; but we also put on that which is consistent with our new position. This must take place especially in our closest relationships.

It's Jesus' job to put sin to death completely, but we are invited to put off sinfulness by always digging deeper into it and applying the Gospel at the deepest level. Then, we dress accordingly.

The great joy of the Gospel is found in that which Jesus - our Lord and King who is seated at the right hand of God - has accomplished for us and is realizing in our newly transformed lives.

To define ourselves by what we've done more so than by what Christ has done for us is to miss the Good News of Jesus Christ.

God shapes His people by His Word. As we begin spending the next 8 weeks walking through Paul's letter (Epistle) to the Colossians together, it is good to think about why we would read a letter to someone else written almost 2,000 years ago.

Very early on in the Gospel of Matthew we are introduced to the powerful, life-changing themes of repentance, God's kingdom, baptism, confession of sin, and God's pleasure in us in Jesus Christ.

While we celebrate Christmas by welcoming Jesus, the Gospel's tell us that Jesus was, in fact, made to be unwelcome after his arrival. There was no room for him in the inn, and Herod wanted him dead; and yet God's Will to redeem His people through Jesus is not thwarted.

What we are willing to bring to Jesus reveals what we believe about Jesus. The story of the Wise Men and the gifts they bring to Jesus teaches us amazing truth about Jesus and what made these men so "wise."

While "So-and-so begat so-and-so" might be the most dreaded words when reading the Bible, there can be found incredibly good news in Jesus' family tree.

The birth of Jesus isn't the first thing mentioned in the story of Jesus by Luke. Instead, he gives us a picture of what preparing for the coming of Jesus looks like.

Jesus seeks to restore us to our God and Father - both those of us who have dishonored Him in rebellious disobedience, and also those of us who have dishonored Him in self-righteous religiosity.

Every time we lose something and seek to find it, we are reminded of the Good News that God seeks to save those that are lost.

Jesus illustrates the Good News of the coming of God's Kingdom by telling a story of another farmer, an adversary, a seed, some yeast, and a Loving Father who is King.

Jesus paints a picture of the Good News of the Kingdom He is bringing; and instead of illustrating it with military or political terms, he tells us about a Farmer planting seeds.

The First Followers of Jesus witnessed amazing signs and wonders as the Gospel spread and changed lives, including a unique account with a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. In this passage, the first enemy of early church was internal and, in this particular case, lethal: Hypocrisy.