Christ Church (Moscow, ID)
Religion & Spirituality
About
Welcome to the new podcast feed for Christ Church (Moscow, ID). Here you can find sermon and conference messages from Douglas Wilson, Toby Sumpter, and other men. Visit https://christkirk.com and download our app (https://bit.ly/christkirkapp) for more resources and information.
Episodes
- A Very Fruitful House Arrest
This episode details the final leg of Paul's journey, tracing his voyage from Malta to Syracuse in Sicily, then to Rhegium and Puteoli in Italy, before reaching Three Taverns, where he met fellow believers who accompanied him to Rome.
- Adventure at Sea
This episode discusses the Apostle Paul's fourth shipwreck, an event mentioned in the book of Acts. The description notes Paul's resilience and references his mention of shipwrecks, including this one, in 2 Corinthians.
- Defense Before Agrippa
This episode analyzes Paul's evangelistic message, detailing the core content of the gospel he shared and the methods by which unbelievers were converted to faith.
- Paul, the Faithful Roman
The episode discusses Paul
- Lying is What They Do
The episode discusses how lying is not exclusive to childhood, observing that increased responsibility, particularly in civil and ecclesiastical leadership, can amplify the incentives and pressures toward deceit, turning deception into an…
- Within Cupped Hands
We see in this passage how the sovereign God moves all things in accordance with His purpose and will, and He turns the machinations of the wicked back upon them. God had told Paul that he was going to bear witness to Christ in Rome; he ne…
- Three Accounts of the Glory on the Road
The Lord saw fit to give us three distinct accounts of Saul’s conversion on the way to Damascus. The first (Acts 9:1-19) is a third-person narrative by Luke. The second is our passage here today, a first-person defense to an angry mob (Act…
- Just Like Ephesus
As it happened, all the warnings that Paul had received on the way to Jerusalem came true, almost immediately. If the thing was going to happen, there was apparently no sense in delaying it. We have before us the account of Paul’s attempt…
- Many Farewells
So Paul is resolved to go to Jerusalem, and apparently a sense of destiny rests upon him. He is repeatedly warned what will happen if he does, and Luke records the warnings carefully. This is not to make us think that Paul was disobeying t…
- A Ministry in Retrospect
The great apostle had invested much of himself in the course of his ministry at Ephesus. It was one of his most successful ventures, and he had poured himself into it. He was about to let go, departing from them, commending them to God for…
- The Fall of Eutychus
As Paul traveled around the Roman world, he had made numerous disciples in various places. They were all regular people, and they all had different home towns. But they began to congregate around him, and the truly international nature of…
- No Small Gain, No Small Stir
Mammon is frequently a behind-the-scenes god. The celebrity goddess has an impressive sacred space dedicated to her, which cost a lot of money, but that was just the investment, the outlay. The returns come in the form of the merch. The sa…
- Episodes in Ephesus
Ephesus was one of the places where the apostle Paul invested a goodly amount of time. On this occasion, he was there for two years, and you should recall that he had visited earlier in Acts. It was a port city in western Asia Minor, and t…
- The Grace of Believing
As we continue through Acts, we come to a passage that is filled with a number of interesting details—details which spread out in different directions. And although various subjects are addressed here, we will come to see that all of it re…
- And Gallio Cared Not
The next city that Paul came to was Corinth, which came to be the home of one of the more important churches in the New Testament. Corinth is about 48 miles southwest of Athens, and is situated on the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow strip of…
- Sparrows in the McDonald's Parking Lot
So Paul was in Athens, waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. While he was waiting, he found himself greatly vexed and provoked over the rampant idolatry there. Athens was disease-ridden, and their sickness was imag…
- Eagerly Skeptical
Thessalonica was a major city in Macedonia. It had a huge harbor and was situated on a major trade route. It had been established by a Macedonian king named Cassander in 315 B.C., who named it after his wife Thessalonike. Paul was supporte…
- Prison Acoustics are Best
This is the place where Luke joins up with Paul’s entourage (v. 10). He may have been the man in the vision, but regardless, we know that he joined them here. When they cross over to Macedonia, this is the first recorded evangelistic foray…
- Enter Timothy
In this portion of the book of Acts, we are first introduced to Timothy, Paul’s companion and co-worker over the course of years. As we get to know Timothy, we are going to get to know Paul better, and we are going to see some areas where…
- Barnabas and Paul, and then Silas
The early church, no less than ours, was a church that was filled with personalities. Sometimes those personalities clashed. Sometimes it was messy. And still the Word of God grew and flourished.
- To the Holy Spirit and to Us
This is the moment where all the trouble that has been brewing finally comes to a head. And remember that John Mark deserted them in Pamphylia and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13), the place where the resistance to Paul’s mission was mos…
- Battle Joined
As the gospel slowly spread out from the center at Jerusalem, it began to be accepted by various representatives of the variegated Gentile world. Remember . . . Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). Th…
- The Tenacious Apostle
A business leader once commented that nothing worthwhile “was ever accomplished by a reasonable man.” In this passage, we see once again how dedicated and how tough the apostle Paul was. And, some would say, how unreasonable. But look at w…
- And So Spake
Having departed from Antioch, Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium, another significant town in Galatia. The ministry here was one of the most successful missions that they engaged in, and the results were predictably tumultuous. But in the c…
- Envy Rises
We know that the Lord Jesus was turned over to the Romans by the Jewish leaders because of envy. Pilate had been around political posturing long enough to be able to detect it when he saw it. Pilate wanted to release Jesus, in part because…
- The Sure Mercies of David
We are here given an outline of the sermon Paul preached in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch. The sermon was preached to Jews and Gentile God-fearers both. Remember that by this point in history, the faith of Israel was mighty attractive…
- Serious Gentile Territory
We are now accompanying Paul on his first missionary journey, together with Barnabas and their associate minister, John Mark. Now remember the theme of the book of Acts—that being the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem at one end to the u…
- Struck by an Angel
In this chapter, we should notice a few introductions, and a notable contrast. We are introduced to John Mark, the author of the second gospel, in which he served as Peter’s “secretary.” We are also introduced, obliquely, to James the Lord…
- The Primitive Gospel
As we continue to work our way through the book of Acts, we are not going to spend very much time on the retelling in verses 4-14. But we are not setting this repetition aside as unimportant because Luke obviously intends to emphasize it.…
- The Plain Gospel Intent
So we need to begin where we left off, which was at the house of Simon the tanner. Simon Peter was somewhat settled there, and it was there that God spoke to him about how he should not consider Gentiles unclean when God had declared them…
- The Holy Spirit Works the Room
This episode is the second time in Acts when the Lord makes a point of introducing two people to one another by supernatural means. The first time was in the previous chapter when He appeared to Saul and said that Ananias was coming, and t…
- Healing for George Washington
We are now reading about the very beginning of Saul’s Christian life, and his apostolic ministry. We are looking at just 21 verses, and in that short span we see two distinct attempts on his life. The thing that infuriated them against him…
- On the Street Called Straight
We are now reading about the very beginning of Saul’s Christian life, and his apostolic ministry. We are looking at just 21 verses, and in that short span we see two distinct attempts on his life. The thing that infuriated them against him…
- The Great Turnaround
We come now to Luke’s account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Remember that Saul is not his non-Christian name, but is rather his Hebrew name. Paul is his Roman name, not his Christian name. He goes by Saul for some years after this e…
- Ethiopia Stretches Out Her Hands
Remember that the Lord had said the gospel would progress from Jerusalem to Judaea, to Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. The books of Acts begins in Jerusalem. After the murder of Stephen, the disciples scatter into th…
- May Your Money Perish With You (Acts of the Apostles #19)
After the apostles had laid hands on the seven men who were to help administer aid to the widows, two of those men come to the forefront as powerful preachers and miracle workers. We have considered the story of Stephen, who face his marty…
- Quicksilver Evangelism (Acts of the Apostles #18)
The early church father Tertullian once famously said that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” This aphorism has been proven to be true in countless ways down throughout the history of the church. And the great Augustine…
- The God of Glory Appears (Acts of the Apostles #17)
We have already looked at the overall theme of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, which is that God’s presence is not locked in a box somewhere. He is not a freeze-dried god, and not contained or bounded by anything that we might say, do,…
- In the Place of Moses (Acts of the Apostles #15)
One of the hallmarks of worldliness is when the curators of museums subvert the legacies of the men they are ostensibly honoring. The Lord Jesus referred to this common pattern when He said that the men who build memorials to deceased prop…
- The Word that Grows (Acts of the Apostles #14)
We see in this passage the formation of the Christian diaconate. The noun for deacon is not used here, but the context makes it pretty obvious. There was a daily distribution of food to widows and some inequities in that distribution were…
- The Honor of Dishonor, the Grace of Disgrace (Acts of the Apostles #13)
One of the more remarkable blessings that the presence of the Holy Spirit brings is the ability He gives to believes to suffer scorn gladly. This is a remarkable thing in the moment, but it also serves as a portent of what it is to come. I…
- The Unchained Word of Life (Acts of the Apostles #12)
The Founder of the Christian faith, the Lord Jesus, was murdered by the authorities. This is a fact that cannot be emphasized too much. After He ascended into Heaven, the second generation of Christian leaders all found themselves in jail…
- Great Grace, Great Fear (Acts of the Apostles #11)
We come now to the famous story of Ananias and Sapphira, the moral of which is sometimes thought to be “what happens to chintzy tithers.” But actually, that is not it at all. Many more layers are involved. It is also worth noting that we c…
- God's Hand and Determinate Counsel (Acts of the Apostles #10)
The God of all creation is, of necessity, the God of all history. It is not possible to separate the two, and any attempts to separate the two will only land us in chaos and confusion. God is God, and that is the end of it. This is how the…
- No Other Name (Acts of the Apostles #9)
The foundation of the Christian church was the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and because His execution had been perpetrated by the authorities, this meant that Christianity was established in defiance of the established authoriti…
- Times of Refreshing on the Threshold of Doom (Acts of the Apostles #8)
Jesus Christ was a murder victim, killed by the ungodly men who ran the ecclesiastical machinery of ancient Jerusalem. They thought that they had dispensed with the Christ threat, but He exploded their plans by coming back from the dead. N…
- Healing at the Beautiful Gate (Acts of the Apostles #7)
Faith in the power of Christ is not the same thing as faith in the power of faith. In this passage, Peter says explicitly that it was not through their own power or holiness that this remarkable healing was accomplished. Rather it was the…
- Gladness and Singleness of Heart (Acts of the Apostles #6)
The evildoers running the Sanhedrin were now confronted with a real problem. The man they had unjustly murdered had come back from the dead—His greatest miracle. He ascended into Heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit on His twelve disciple…
- The Day of the Lord (Acts of the Apostles #5)
We saw last week that the gift of tongues was a marvelous blessing for those who had ears to hear. For believers, the point was all about the grace of God, and the wonderful works of God. But we also saw that for unbelievers, the reality o…
- Two Layers of Meaning (Acts of the Apostles #4)
In the second chapter of Acts, we have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, resulting in the gift of tongues, a powerful sermon, and a massive in gathering of new believers. As we read about this stupendous gift of tongues, we might have the…