Jonathan’s Perspective

In Acts 15, the Jerusalem church faced a crisis. Jewish believers who had come to faith in Jesus were insisting that Gentile converts — people Jesus had already accepted and the Holy Spirit had already filled — must also be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. These

Your kid came home with a phrase you didn't have an answer for. "That's my truth." "Love means accepting everything." "The church is always on the wrong side of history." "Believe what you want, but don't judge me." These ideas spread fast because they sound liberating. But if you've been trying to raise a family in the

Right in the middle of the most generous offer in his sermon, Paul stops and issues a warning. “Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you.” He then quotes the prophet Habakkuk: the scoffing world, trained to dismiss what it would never believe even if Right

When Paul reaches the center of his sermon, everything turns on two words.

“But God raised him from the dead.” (Acts 13:30)

He doesn’t offer the resurrection as a metaphor or a spiritual feeling. He stacks evidence: names,

When Paul stood in that synagogue in Pisidian Antioch and walked his audience through the story of Israel — from Abraham through Moses to David — he wasn’t giving a history lesson. He was making an argument. And the hinge of the argument was a single word. He said God had

On a Sabbath morning in Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas walked into a synagogue, took their seats, and listened as the Law and the Prophets were read aloud. When the leaders turned to them and said, “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak,” t

There is a detail in Acts 13 that is easy to read past, but it changes everything about what happens next. The Holy Spirit does not speak to Barnabas and Saul during a planning session. Not during a leadership retreat. Not while someone reviews a ministry opportunity spreadsheet.

On the first Easter Sunday, two people were walking away from Jerusalem — away from where everything had fallen apart. Seven miles out on a road heading to Emmaus, they were still talking, trying to make sense of a world that had stopped making sense. One is named Cleopas. The

Two weeks ago the St. Patrick’s parade rolled down the street in front of our church. One hundred and sixteen floats. Cabbages flying through the air. Beads, cups, carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, lemons — everything you need for an Irish stew, caught by parade goers lining