ACTS: You Will Receive Power - Newsong Fellowship

The Subversive Kingdom In Plain Sight

September 22, 2024 • Dave Romoser

Luke concludes his work in the book of Acts, having described the birth and expansion of the Way of Jesus as it moved throughout the known world, just as Jesus had instructed. His final chapter closes with a scene in which Paul is under house arrest in Rome "proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance". But his final words reveal a subversive plot that's just getting started in this new movement.

Surviving A Storm

September 15, 2024 • Grant Romoser-Claunch

What do you do on your worst day? How do we get through the storms of life, when it feels like everything is up in the air, even like life itself is unraveling at the seams? In Acts 27 Paul is at sea, arrested and on his way to Rome and his certain death, when a weeks-long storm strikes and threatens the life and security of all on board. Reading this story allegorically, and seeing ourselves within it, we are invited to reflect on our own experiences and the grace of God at work around us.

All Sons and Daughters

September 8, 2024 • Dave Romoser

Paul arrives in Jerusalem and is soon confronted, beaten and arrested over a declaration he's made about the gospel of the Kingdom that that, once again, enrages the religious leaders... one that often provokes the same reaction in religious circles to this day, although much more subtly yet equally divisive and alienating.

Don't Leave Your Joy On the Table

September 1, 2024 • Dave Romoser

As Paul prepares to leave his beloved friends behind after three years of serving them and teaching them about the Way of the Kingdom, he gathers them and offers final words with profound implications.

A Strange Way To Start A Riot

August 25, 2024 • Dave Romoser

As Luke ventures further into his writing about the early Church, we continue to be made aware of some of the patterns of the early leaders like Paul both in terms of how he approaches what and how he will share the Good News of the Kingdom with the cities he visits as well as the more subtle and often overlooked patterns he's teaching the new followers of "the Way"... patterns of living that provoke a city-wide riot

In The Middle of the Night

August 11, 2024 • Dave Romoser

In the 16th chapter of Acts, Luke tells a story familiar to many. It's the story of Paul and Silas imprisoned for their determination to continue to announce the good news of the life available in the living Jesus. And what's fascinating about the story is their demeanor as they await judgment. Luke says it was "In the middle of the night..." and tells us that Paul and Silas are praying and singing songs of praise. Sooner or later we all have our "In the middle of the night" experience when the outlook is dark and sorrow and fear seem to be close at hand. How is it that Paul and Silas have the capacity to experience a sense of peace that breaks forth in song?

It Seemed Good...

August 4, 2024 • Dave Romoser

When trying to decide whether to continue to uphold a practice commanded by God as an integral part of His covenant with Abraham some 2000 years earlier, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem have one of the unexpected reasons for their decision to no longer require it for those who choose to follow Jesus...

The Abstinence of The Apostles

July 21, 2024 • Grant Romoser-Claunch

As Paul and Barnabas' missionary journeys continue to expand the ekklesia into other parts of the Roman world and cultures, the apostles are faced with a very practical problem: As Jewish people extending God's invitation to Gentile people, what will be required of the Gentiles as they join God's community of believers?

Tell Me More

July 14, 2024 • Dave Romoser

We pick up Luke's story in Acts 14 as the scene shifts from the descriptions of what life in the new gathering, the ekklesia, looks like to the intentional journeys that will carry Saul, now called Paul, and others to the gentiles for the very first time as "New Creation" begins to take shape.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

July 7, 2024 • Dave Romoser

Luke continues to unveil the story of the growth of the subversive Kingdom that undermines and overcomes even the greatest kingdoms the world has ever seen in ways they never could have anticipated nor will ever be able to defeat.

They Were First Called Christians

June 23, 2024 • Dave Romoser

As the good news of the Kingdom begins to be shared with those outside the Jewish faith, the followers of the Way in Antioch begin to be referred to as "Christians" for the very first time. The question is, what do those on the outside of faith see in them that causes them to make the distinction?

A Seismic Shift

June 16, 2024 • Dave Romoser

As Luke introduces the story of the visions of both Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and Peter, what ensues in their encounter is nothing less than one of the greatest seismic shifts in the story of the expansiveness and inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God.

A Twist of Faith

June 9, 2024 • Dave Romoser

One of the great challenges for the religious is how deceptively easy it is to let the rule-based nature of their faith drive them to a place where their zeal for "what is good and right", even with best intentions, turns into judgment and/or justified violence towards the other. Blind to that reality, Saul was a prime example, until his encounter with Jesus gave him a vision of the Truth.

Water On A Grease Fire

June 2, 2024 • Grant Romoser-Claunch

Picking up in Acts 8 Stephen has been killed, persecution is breaking out against the followers of Jesus' Way in Jerusalem, and many of the disciples of Jesus flee to nearby cities in order to save their lives. Amidst the chaos, fear, and turmoil how might God be expanding the Kingdom?

A Watershed Moment

May 26, 2024 • Dave Romoser

Every so often there comes a moment when something happens and it changes the direction and path of the way things were in unexpected ways. Luke invites us to witness one such moment as tragedy makes way for triumph.