Sermon Transcript November 1, 2015

Transcription

1 RESURRECTION It changes everything. Sermon Transcript November 1, 2015 Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere Acts 10:1-11:18 This message from the Bible was addressed originally to the people of Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church on November 1, 2015, at 511 Maple Street, Wethersfield, CT, by Dr. Scott W. Solberg. This is a transcription that bears the strength and weaknesses of oral delivery. It is not meant to be a polished essay. An audio copy of the sermon on CD is available by request at (860) An audio version of this sermon may also be found on the church website at 1

2 Acts 10:1-11:18 1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. 9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14 But Peter said, By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, What God has made clean, do not call common. 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. 17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? 22 And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say. 23 So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up; I too am a man. 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me. 30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, Cornelius, your prayer 2

3 has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. 34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. 44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. Acts 11:1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 8 But I said, By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, What God has made clean, do not call common. 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household. 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit 3

4 Introduction fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. The theme of our series on the book of Acts is, Resurrection: It Changes Everything! Indeed it does. Our entire faith hinges on the testimony that Jesus has risen from the dead. Historically speaking, it is generally agreed upon that at the very least, there was an empty tomb. Admittedly, there are varying opinions as to why the tomb of Jesus no longer contains a body. But as professing Christians, when we look at the evidence, we are persuaded that the best explanation for the empty tomb is that this Jesus rose from the dead. If that is true, it really does change everything. Here is what we are discovering as we make our way through the book of Acts and as we concentrate on the first messages and the first sermons preached by the early church. They didn t just all give testimony to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Rather, it was the resurrection of Jesus that formed the climax of their argument. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead became the validating point for everything else they had to say. You even see this in our passage this morning when Peter is giving testimony of Jesus to Cornelius in Acts 10. The climax of his argument comes in verse 40 when he proclaims, but God raised him on the third day and made him appear, not to all people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses. Then, Peter concludes that because Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead. And furthermore, because Jesus rose from the dead, Peter concludes, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. From this one testimony you can see that the resurrection of Jesus is what forms the foundation of everything we believe. So yes, the resurrection does change everything! For example, if the resurrection of Jesus is true, it changes how you view Jesus. It tells us that he is Lord of all! That is what Peter says in verse 36. He is not your average person. He is the Son of God. He is God in the flesh. But then the resurrection of Jesus also tells us that the death of Jesus on the cross was sufficient to atone for our sin. When you go to the grocery store and buy a big watermelon, you can t fit the watermelon in a grocery bag. So when it passes through the cashier, they take an orange sticker and put it on the watermelon. The sticker reads as follows, Paid For. That is what the resurrection of Jesus is. It is God placing his stamp of approval on Jesus and declaring that his death on the cross was enough to pay 4

5 for our sins. Through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, our enemy death has been defeated. Therefore, through faith in Jesus crucified and risen from the dead, we wear the orange sticker that says paid for and we can be sure that though we die, yet shall we live. We have hope. Furthermore, we are comforted that there is purpose and meaning in this life, even when we suffer because as we walk by faith we know that there is a glory that awaits us that is far greater than the suffering we face right now. In fact, we are told that our present suffering is working for us a glory that is yet to be revealed. How do we know that? It is because Jesus, who also suffered, rose from the dead! With this in mind, as we look at Acts 10 and Acts 11 this morning, I want to take things up a notch this morning. I want you to get an upgrade in your understanding of the resurrection this morning. I want you to trade in your Resurrection 4 for a 6s version of the resurrection. I did that with my phone last week. What a difference. My previous phone kept dropping calls and people couldn t always hear me. When I made my first call on my new phone, I couldn t get over the improved clarity of the voice on the other end. That is what I want for you with your upgrade on the resurrection. I want you to have an improved clarity on the meaning and the importance of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Yes, the resurrections tells us that Jesus is Lord and that sins can be forgiven and death has been defeated. But this morning, I want you to see a shade and a nuance of the resurrection that gives you greater clarity to the significance of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There is more to it than what we tend to see. The Inaugurated Kingdom Here is the upgrade I want to add to your understanding of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus inaugurates the coming of the kingdom of God in this world. It is the beginning of the answer to our prayers when we pray from the Lord s Prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In our country, when a president is elected in November, the following January he or she is sworn into office. We call this event, the Inauguration. It marks the beginning of their four year term of office. That is what the resurrection is to Jesus. It inaugurates and ushers in the good reign of Jesus and the saving purposes of God in this world. In fact, that is the thrust of the first message preached in the book of Acts. In Acts 2, following the instructions of Jesus, the apostles are in Jerusalem waiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that they would have power to give witness to the resurrection of Jesus. As you know, the Holy Spirit comes in dramatic fashion and the next thing you know, the apostles are proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the 5

6 dead and they are speaking in the native languages of those gathered in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire. And so the people want to know what this means. They can be heard saying in Acts 2:11, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God... What does this mean? And so Peter steps up to the platform and he tells them that what they are witnessing is what the Old Testament prophet by the name of Joel said would happen in the last days. When the Old Testament prophets spoke of the last days or the latter days they were speaking of hopeful days when God would restore this broken world. We like to talk about the good old days of the past. The Old Testament prophets liked to speak of the good new days of the future The Prophet Isaiah said it this way in Isaiah 2:2, It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it. The message of Peter on the day of Pentecost is that those last days that the prophets of old spoke of have finally come. How do we know that these days of hope have come? Jesus rose from the dead! He ascended to the right hand of the Father! The Holy Spirit has come! Right now we are living in this inaugurated kingdom. We are in the inaugurated kingdom because the resurrected king sits at the right hand of God as the exalted king. Right now we are in the last days. We don t know how long these last days will last, but because of the resurrection of Jesus, these days we live in are days of hope. Can you embrace that this morning as you watch the news and deal with your own issues that face you this morning? Can you view these days as days of hope? There are two things that anchor us in hope this morning because of the resurrection of Jesus and because we live in the inaugurated kingdom. First of all, because the resurrected Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit upon us, all of God s people are enabled by his Spirit to announce the fulfillment of God s saving plan and promises when they proclaim Christ. 1 In other words, everyone of us are empowered to bring the hope of Jesus to people in this world who are lost and are trying to find God and whatever they are trying they just can t find rest in this life. But in these last days while living in this inaugurated kingdom we are empowered by the Spirit of God to bring hope to this world by pointing people to Jesus. The second thing that is true about these last days because of the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of his Spirit is that we are empeopled. (I made up my own word here!) We are empowered and we are empeopled. 6

7 At the end of Peter s message on the day of Pentecost about 3,000 people repented of their sin and turned in faith to Jesus. Do you know how the chapter ends? It ends with a wonderful description of the community of God s people that is formed as a result. It is a picture of a restored community who have received the Spirit. This is a picture of a people devoted to God s word and expressing unity and devotion to one another through sharing food, possessions and meeting needs and praising God. 2 This is what the Old Testament envisioned would happen when in the latter days God would restore his people. We call it the church. Because of the hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus we now know God s love and we now have capacity to express that love to each other. As imperfect as the church is, we are a slice of heaven on earth. May the prayer of the church ever be, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven It is among us, the church, where the will of God ought to be reflected on earth. We have been empeopled and we are a community where we taste the love of God through the people of God. We are the temple where God dwells. All of this is because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the inauguration of God s kingdom! This brings us now to the critical story of Acts The critical question that is answered in this story is who is part of God s restored people? Here is what Peter and the Jews are going to discover through the story of Cornelius. The people of God is a far more diverse and inclusive group than what they had anticipated. They anticipated a restored house of Israel. God has empeopled a people for himself made up of people from every tribe and nation. Peter puts it this way in Acts 10:34, Truly I understand that God shows no partiality. Thus he concludes in verse 43, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. The story of Cornelius tells us how Peter made this wonder discovery. Anyone, Anytime, Anyplace With the story of Cornelius, we come to a critical turning point in the book of Acts. You can see how critical it is to the story of Acts by how much space it takes. It is a story that continues into Acts 11. It is a story that gives us insight as to what to expect as we live in this inaugurated kingdom that has come through the resurrected Jesus. It is a story that tells us that anyone at anytime from anywhere can be part of God s restored people. We are introduced to Cornelius at the beginning of Acts 10. Very quickly, we discover that he is not Jewish. Broadly speaking, he is a Gentile. He is a military man, a centurion who is a commander over 100 men in the Roman army. It says in verse 1 that he is part of the Italian cohort. So perhaps he is Italian. (Next week you are going to 7

8 learn an Italian word. That is all I am going to say.) This week, you meet perhaps the first Italian convert to Christ. As the introduction to Cornelius continues, you discover that he is a devout man of faith. What is implied here, is that though he was a Gentile, perhaps while being stationed in Caesarea, he became a worshiper of the God of Israel. He was praying at the ninth hour of the day which was one of the three prescribed hours for Jewish prayer. He was known for giving alms to the poor, which was a primary expression of Jewish faith. In fact it says of Cornelius in verse 22 that he is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation. While Cornelius was praying at the ninth hour on this particular day, we read in verse 3 that an angel appeared to him in a vision. The angel told Cornelius to send some men to Joppa, about 30 miles away, where they will find Peter. They were to get Peter and have Peter come with them to the home of Cornelius. Now this is no small task. As you continue to read this story, you discover that it was not customary for Jews to enter into the homes of Gentiles. How many times did we see in the four Gospels when Jesus was dealing with the Jewish religious leaders of his day, how their traditions kept them from the things of God? Because of their traditions, it was impossible to enter into a Gentile home without becoming unclean and therefore you couldn t participate in the activities of the temple. That is what Peter says in verse 28, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation. In fact, in Acts 11, Peter s visit to the home of Cornelius becomes public knowledge. It says in Acts 11:1-3, Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also received the word of God. And so in calling Peter before their council, there were some who accused him by saying, You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them! The point is, just because these men from Cornelius show up at the house where Peter is staying and ask Peter to come with them, does not mean that Peter is willing go to the house of Cornelius. It wasn t customary. So what does God do? As the story unfolds, we discover that the next day, about the sixth hour Peter was up on the rooftop and he too was praying. This is the second Jewish prescribed hour for prayer, which is at 12:00 noon. It explains why he is hungry in verse 10. It doesn t help that he can smell people preparing food in the house. While he is in prayer, he too has a vision. And it has to do with food. A sheet comes down from heaven and it is filled with all kinds of animals. In the vision, Peter is told to Rise, kill and eat. The only problem is that the animals before him in this vision are not kosher and are forbidden by Jewish law. And so Peter, even though he is hungry, says, By no means, Lord; for I have never 8

9 eaten anything that is common or unclean. In response to Peter s objection, a voice from heaven says, What God has made clean, do not call common. This vision was presented to Peter three times. As Peter was trying to figure out this vision, standing at the door of this house were the men sent by Cornelius The Spirit instructed Peter to Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. Like Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, we see that while God is working on the heart of Cornelius, he is also moving Peter at the same time to bring the hope of Jesus to him. So when the Spirit of God is prompting you to reach out to a certain person, who knows what God is doing in that person s life. God may be calling you to plant the seed, or water the soil or harvest the crop. Don t forget what we just affirmed to be true about the inaugurated kingdom. We are all empowered by his Spirit to announce the fulfillment of God s saving plan and promises. We are all agents of hope in this world. The other thing you discover in this story is that even though Cornelius was a devout man who feared God with all his household - something was still missing. He still needed to know about Jesus. There have been reports coming out of Germany over the past several years, where an unusual number of Iranians, Muslims, have been coming to faith in Christ. And the pattern is very similar to Acts 10. They see a vision of Christ and they are directed to a pastor or a priest or a congregation or a house church. In fact, that is what is fascinating about it all. Churches of various denominations have experienced these people coming to them having seen these visions. It is then that the gospel is shared with them. One Lutheran pastor put it this way, God sticks to the Reformation doctrine that faith comes by hearing the Word through Scripture and preaching. In these dreams, Jesus never engages in hocus-pocus, but sends these people to where the Word is faithfully proclaimed. 3 That is what happened to Cornelius. Peter came to this home of this Gentile and told him about Jesus. Cornelius needed to hear about the crucified and risen Jesus. When Peter arrives at the house, having had his own vision, he hears what Cornelius experienced just a few days prior. Thinking back to the vision he had of that sheet that came down from heaven of what Peter once thought to be unclean, he concluded in verse 34, Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, everyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Then he told Cornelius all about Jesus. He told him about the life of Jesus, his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Then looking at Cornelius, he came to the conclusion in verse 43 that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. The hope that comes through the resurrection of Jesus in this inaugurated kingdom is that anyone at anytime 9

10 from anywhere can become part of the restored people of God. This is a turning point in the story of Acts, and quite frankly becomes a sticking point in the early church. The embracing of the Gentile into the restored people of God was not an easy transition for the early church. But it was undeniable. Starting in verse 44, we see this Gentile family receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and just like the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost, they too are heard speaking in tongues. God was confirming for these Jewish believers that in this inaugurated kingdom, the empeopling of God s people includes anyone who turns in faith to Jesus. This was such a startling and disruptive discovery, that they convened a council in Acts 11 where Peter gave testimony as to what happened in the home of Cornelius. After hearing the evidence, they were left to conclude in verse 17-18, If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. As you read through Paul s writings in the New Testament, we know that the empeopling of the Gentiles into one body with the Jewish believers was not an easy transition. It took some time to make this transition. In fact, this call for unity in the body of Christ was a main topic of some of Paul s letters. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:11-14, Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you at that time were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. In other words, through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the inauguration of the kingdom of God in this world, we are part of a restored people of God. As we response to God s love for us by loving one another, we become a little slice of heaven on earth. Resurrection Upgrade and WEFC I hope you got your resurrection upgrade this morning. When we say that Jesus has risen from the dead, we are not just saying that he has conquered death, as good as that is. But in addition to that, we are recognizing that through the resurrection of Jesus, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated in this world and through the Holy Spirit working through us, God is forming a restored people of God. That is what we are here 10

11 at WEFC. As we grow in the fruit of the Spirit and as we love one another, we get a little taste of heaven on earth. This week we launched our new website and I was asked to write a summary of statement of who we are as a church family. It had to be brief. I wrote this statement before I put this sermon together. But as I was putting this sermon together, I realized how appropriate this statement was. You can find this statement on the About Us page. Here is what I wrote to describe us. As a local church, we are a diverse group of people who come together because of our common faith in Jesus Christ. As we live out our faith together, we find purpose for life and strength in difficult times. As a result of the encouragement we receive from knowing God and being part of a church community, it is our joy to express God s love by extending mercy to people in need. I love our growing diversity here. We are growing in our racial diversity. We are diverse in age. We are diverse in background. We come from different parts of the country and some come from other countries. But this is life in the inaugurated kingdom. Through faith in Jesus, who has risen from the dead, we become part of the restored people of God. This is what the Old Testament prophets said would happen in the latter days when the Son of David comes and reigns over God s kingdom. He empeoples us and anyone at anytime from anywhere who repents of their sin and turns in faith to Jesus, becomes part of the family of God. That is what the story of Cornelius tells us. I am so glad for this little taste of heaven on earth called WEFC and I pray that we would be agents of hope in this world. We are empowered in the kingdom of God to announce the fulfillment of God s saving plan and promises. And we are empeopled to give to this world a little taste of heaven on earth. Therefore, may we heed the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:1-3, I... urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 1 Alan J. Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 2 Ibid 3 Matthias Pankau and Uwe Siemon-Netto The Other Iranian Revolution July 17, 2012 in by Dr. Scott Solberg - All rights reserved 11

12 Sermon Title: Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere Sermon Text: Acts 10:1-11:18 Sermon Date: November 3, 2015 Getting To Know Me Questions 1. How many times did you move growing up? Describe your experience and how it impacted you. 2. What do you think are some methods God uses to communicate to people? What role do you think the Bible plays in God communicating with us? Why? Read Luke 16:29-31 What does this say about the Bible and how God communicates with us? 3. Is there anything from Sunday s sermon you would like to discuss and talk about? Diving Into The Word 4. On Sunday, we talked about the resurrection and the inauguration of God s kingdom in this world. Read Isaiah 2:2; 44:3; Ezekiel 36:27; 37:14; Acts 2:16-21 How did the Old Testament prophets talk about our day in which we are living? How can we better demonstrate the hope we have in the risen Jesus? 5. Read out loud the story of Cornelius in Acts 10. How do you see the empowering work of the Holy Spirit to give witness to the resurrection of Jesus in this story? How are you becoming more aware of the empowering work of the Holy Spirit in your life as you seek to give witness to the resurrection of Jesus? How has the Holy Spirit been prompting you and who is the Holy Spirit placing on your heart? 6. Read again Acts 10:34-48; 11:17-18 Discuss the lesson Peter learned through his encounter with Cornelius. Discuss why was this a difficult lesson to learn. Share with the group what lesson you are learning through this story about Cornelius. 7. Read Ephesians 2:11-22 and discuss how this applies to Acts Read Ephesians 4:1-3 and discuss how the church becomes a little taste of heaven on earth. Taking It Home 9. Share with the group one thing you are taking with you from your discussion. 10. Where do you need to grow more? Is it in the empowering of the Spirit to give witness or the empeopleing of the Spirit to love others in the church? Explain how you would like others to pray for you. 11. Continue to work on memorizing your verse for the week, 1 Peter 1: