Dove Creek Bible Church's Podcast

Why don't Christians keep a Saturday Sabbath? Did the Sabbath change to Sunday? What is to be the main focus of ministry? These and other questions are answered in Acts 20.

Description: Is everything that is described in the Bible prescribed? Is it appropriate to merchandise prayer cloths and things of the like for fundraising purposes? How should we engage in spiritual warfare? Does magical thinking often masquerade as faith? These and other questions are addressed in this sermon on Acts 19.

Gospel belief is tethered to Gospel behavior.

In Acts 18, Paul arrives in Corinth a beaten and fatigued man. However, God took steps to encourage Paul in order to give him the strength to keep going forward. It is easy for us to believe when we are experiencing mountaintop experiences that God is the God of the mountains...its a little more difficult to accept that God is also the God of the valleys. What will God do in Acts 18 to show Paul the God of the mountain is still God in the valley?

Should we get our teaching from more than one well? How do we decide which teachers deserve our listening to them and which ones we should ignore? Are worldly philosophies ever truly satisfying? Today's text tells us how and why we should handle and examine the Scriptures as well as why worldly philosophies are hollow and empty.

How can we be strategic in our missionary and ministry efforts? Why is is important to establish a beachhead? How do we keep from merely reacting to our circumstances? In today's text we see how God established a beachhead in Europe and how Paul and Silas chose to be thermostats instead of thermometers.

How come Calvinist theologians have such strong disagreements with non-Calvinist theologians? How could charismatic and non-charismatic Christians reach such different conclusions? Why are there so many different opinions about baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Sometimes sharp disagreements arise among sincere Christians...so is that good or bad or does it just depend? Also how should we determine God's direction and guidance? Is the best way through outward signs and inward impressions...or is there another way?

In Acts 15, certain people suggest that for one to truly be saved they must be circumcised and for one to truly be sanctified they must obey the Law of Moses. The church forms a council in Jerusalem to discuss this matter. Ultimately they decide a supplemented Christ is a supplanted Christ.

In Acts 14, Paul is warned about the possibility of being stoned in Iconium so he escapes and then he is not warned about the possibility in Lystra whereupon he is stoned and presumed dead. Why the warning in Iconium, but not in Lystra? Should we also expect the same shade of grace? Paul was told he would suffer hardship in bringing the gospel to the Gentiles and here in Acts 14 he preaches "Through many hardships we enter the kingdom of God". That's a message that's not getting a lot of play these days now is it? What gives?

Did I choose to believe in Jesus because I became persuaded He was my only hope and source of salvation or did God make me choose to believe in Jesus by divine appointment? Some verses seem to indicate the choice is mine to make; others seem to indicate the choice has already been made for me…before I was even born. Sometimes the two concepts are presented in such close proximity that it is confusing and hard to reconcile. In Acts 13, both salvation by persuasion and salvation by appointment are presented. How can both things be true? Also in Chapter 13 we are told the leaders fasted and prayed. Is fasting a religious or spiritual discipline we should encourage? What's the difference, if any, between fasting and praying and merely praying?

Some people pray for a spouse...a child...a healing...and then they have a dramatic providential story of how that prayer was answered. However, we all know people who prayed just as earnestly and they never found that spouse...never had that child...never received that healing. Answered prayer seems so arbitrary sometimes it's difficult to pray with expectancy...so why should I pray? In Acts 12, the church prays earnestly for the Apostle James and the Apostle Peter, but they receive two different answers. The Apostle James is martyred and the Apostle Peter is released. No doubt they prayed just as earnestly for James to be released as Peter, but James was beheaded. Why did the church receive different answers to their prayers? This sermon discusses the power of unbelieving prayer.

We live in sexually confusing times and the Bible's stance on sex seems very outdated. Why should we live a life of sexual purity? How do we navigate through the treacherous waters of current opinion on sexual matters? This text addresses these issues.

Do you think you have any prejudices? Most of us like to think we have moved beyond prejudice and pride...but have we really moved on? Sometimes the Lord reveals to us, like He reveals to Peter in Chapter 10 of the Book of Acts, that we are not quite as far down the road of tolerance as we like to imagine ourselves to be. Leslie Allen said "A Jonah lurks in the heart of every Christian". Is there a Jonah lurking in your hear and do you have the courage to ask God to reveal to you your prejudices?

Christianity's greatest adversary has now become its greatest ally in the conversion of Saul. Surprisingly, Saul is colossally ineffective when he first sets out to preach the gospel...why? Meanwhile, Peter mistakenly believes he has for the most part overcome his pride and prejudice. Shortly he will discover that is in fact not the case.

The conversion of Saul on the Road to Damascus is a pivotal moment in western history. Why did God choose the legalistic self-righteous Pharisees to become His great Apostle of Faith? What can we learn from God's choosing of the unexpected to do the inexplicable?

Acts 8:26-40 tells of of the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. What do we learn about personal evangelism from this encounter and what does this encounter tell us about those with diminished opportunities of hearing the gospel?

When are people most likely to change? Sociologists say people are most receptive to change during a period of crisis. Crisis forces us out of our comfort zones like nothing else. God allowed persecution of the church because they had grown comfortable in Jerusalem. However, God had commanded them to scatter and spread the gospel. The thing that got them to moving to fulfill the Lord's command was persecution. The church adapted and changed outreach strategies, because it was essentially forced to do it. Why did God scatter the gospel through persecution? Acts 8:1-25 explores why this was necessary.

Acts 6:8-7:60 concerns the martyrdom of Stephen. Stephen's sermon, the longest sermon in the Bible by a person other than Jesus, is not a sermon which calls people to repentance. Instead, his sermon warns of judgment and explains why such judgment is coming. The most remarkable thing about the sermon is the prayer at the end. While in the act of being murdered Stephen prays that this sin against him will not be taken into account by the Lord. Did the Lord answer his prayer? And what flood of grace was released upon the world by this prayer?