46: Getting a City's Attention

The Neighborhood Church

What happens when a church gets a city's attention? What happens when it affects their wallets? What does this have to do with *our* wallets? Listen to this wild scene in Acts 19 as the transformed lives of the Way transform their city... and upset the status quo. NOTES -- // SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Acts 19.23-41 // 2 QUICK CONFLICT PRINCIPLES -- 1. Sometimes you should listen to your friends when they tell you it's not worth the fight. 2. Most times you should keep it about what the issue is really about. // If Jesus is Lord of my life, is he Lord of my wallet? // BIG IDEA: These followers of the Way confronted the cultural, spiritual, and financial status quo not with publicity stunts but with holistically transformed lives that transformed the world around them. // Our sharing and giving is a tangible pledge of allegiance to a King and kingdom. // The message of American consumerism is that what we have is not enough -- not big enough, not new enough, not fast enough. The gospel is an economy of (more than) enough. // QUOTE -- "The world says, the more you take, the more you have. Christ says, the more you give, the more you are." (Frederick Buechner) // REFLECT -- Does our current spending look different than our "B.C." spending? // REFLECT -- Are we raising disciples with a healthy idea of "enough" or are we raising consumers with a faulty view of "success"?