by Matthew Borgstrom | Aug 20, 2018 | Biblical Fruit, Hating Christ, Heart Motives, Holiness, Killing Sin
In Acts 13:45, Luke specifically identifies what led the Jews to their hostility against the apostles–they were filled with jealousy. The leading Greek dictionary defined this term as intense negative feelings over another’s achievements or success.[1] We saw...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Aug 13, 2018 | bible preaching, Bible Study, Biblical Fruit, Word of God
As we think about the fork in the road that was put forth to the people in Paul’s sermon in Acts 13, here’s a great question with which to direct our thoughts: When the message comes to us, what do we do with it? I’m not referring to a one-time acceptance of...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Aug 6, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Bible Study, Biblical Fruit, Expository Preaching, Faith, Faithfulness, Following Christ, Heart Motives, Humility, Obedience, Sanctification, Trust
It’s our sin, rather than God’s stinginess, that creates a blockade separating us from God’s promises. But we know that Christ has remedied our sin problem, removing the condemnation that we deserved and granting us the power that is necessary to meet God’s...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 30, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Bible Study, Church, Word of God
Even though you are armed with the teachings of Christ, do you feel deficient or ill-equipped in your witness for Christ in this world? Perhaps you might be tempted to think that you are in charge of carefully strategizing how to make the gospel relevant to someone. ...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 16, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Biblical Fruit, Church, Expository Preaching, Missions, Pleasing Christ, reformed Baptist, Reformed Theology, Word of God
Let’s summarize how Luke describes the process of Barnabas and Saul leaving the church of Antioch at the beginning of Acts 13. The Spirit sets them apart, v.2, then the church releases them, v.3, and finally the Spirit is said to have sent them out, v.4. The church...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 9, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Child-like Dependence, Dependence, Expository Preaching, Faith, Faithfulness, Following Christ, Obedience, reformed Baptist, Reformed Theology, Trust, Unbelief, Word of God
After seeing how God advanced the gospel through the removal of a king in Acts 12, we need to ask ourselves: In what area do you doubt the power of the gospel? It could be the conversion of someone who has remained hostile or even indifferent to the truth of Christ. ...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jul 2, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Biblical Fruit, Church, Compassion, Faithfulness, Following Christ, Loving One Another
In light all that we have learned today in the Antioch church’s love towards the church in Judea from Acts 11:29, it’s helpful to ask: At what point does our love for others cease; in other words what are the barriers that we refuse to cross in order to...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 25, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Bible Study, Biblical Fruit, Equipping the Saints, Expository Preaching, Faithfulness, God's Glory, Obedience, Pleasing Christ, Word of God
These Christians in Acts 11:20 didn’t categorize people as churched or unchurched, meaning they didn’t treat mankind’s main problem as poor church attendance. Instead, it’s obvious that they classified everyone as either being reconciled to God through faith in...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 18, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Biblical Fruit, Discipleship, Equipping the Saints, Expository Preaching, Faith, Following Christ, Fruit Bearing, Holy Spirit, Killing Sin, Obedience, Perseverance, Pleasing Christ, reformed Baptist, Reformed Theology
It was very obvious in the early days of the church to identify when someone had fallen away from the faith. They left the real church and went to follow false teachers who clearly were not sanctioned by the apostles. In our day, they just hop around to different...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 12, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Bible Study, Expository Preaching, Faith, Following Christ, God's Word, Obedience, Pleasing Christ, reformed Baptist, Reformed Theology, Sanctification, Word of God
There’s no doubt we experience the Spirit’s work, for instance the transforming power of the rebirth and ongoing sanctification. But is this merely a feeling or is it objective realities that can be measured by God’s word? Think about it this way—if someone just...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jun 5, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Expository Preaching, Pleasing Christ, Reformed Theology, Spiritual Gifts, Word of God
Prophecy was essential for the life of the early church, for if they despised prophecy, they despised God’s revelation and cut themselves off from any knowledge of the truth. However, the problem in our day is that our charismatic friends accuse us of blatantly...
by Matthew Borgstrom | May 20, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Partiality
It’s a tragedy when those in the church are more about their self-promotion and self-protection than getting behind what God is doing. When this happens, the church becomes more of a social club and full of cliques, rather than a group of people serving and...
by Matthew Borgstrom | May 13, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Obedience
The wording Peter uses in Acts 10:29 provides a clear association of general application for all Christians. In order for us to properly obey Christ, we cannot object or dispute with his word. We are called to rely upon God’s revelation by faith and not by feelings...
by Matthew Borgstrom | May 6, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Holiness, Sanctification
God is all about conforming us to Christlikeness and we can know exactly what that looks like by observing Christ in the gospels and reading his teachings in the entire NT. Perhaps the most descriptive passages of what holiness looks like are found in the Beattitudes...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Apr 22, 2018 | Bible Exposition, bible preaching, Repentance, Salvation
From the texts, which highlight unbelievers turning to the Lord, we can gather that it’s a turning of a life lived with oneself as the central object of worship unto a live lived set apart unto God. And when one turns to Christ, there is an initial and immediate...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Apr 15, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Humility, Persecution
What is a necessary component of being used by God to fulfill his purposes on this earth? Difficulty, leading to humility. And it almost goes without saying that for an apostle of Jesus Christ, it would take massive humility to be able to be used to that kind of...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Apr 8, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Salvation
The Apostle Paul writes in Rom. 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. This power of God is on full display in Acts 9 and it will cause us to consider: How much do we believe in the saving power of God? This will be...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Apr 1, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Evangelism, Salvation
By the end of Acts 8, the gospel has come to the despised Samaritans and then a pious eunuch on a deserted road. One group was steeped in false religion and even had an affinity for the magic arts. The other gentleman was wealthy, educated, important and religious. ...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Mar 25, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, False Convert
When we think about the self-exalting reasons why Simon wanted to be in the church in Acts 8 and then also reasons why people are attracted to the church in our day, it becomes clear that involving oneself in the movement called Christianity has the potential to be...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Mar 18, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, God's Word, Heart
What Stephen puts forth during his sermon in Acts 7 becomes the fundamental difference between all people who have ever lived: The heart’s response to Christ and His Word. Instead of bringing their wills under the authoritative revelation from Christ, some put...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Mar 11, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, God's Word
In Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7, he demonstrates that repudiating God’s messenger of the truth is repudiating God himself. This principle helps us in a couple of ways. First, if we bring the truth to someone and it is rejected, we are not ultimately the ones...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Mar 4, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, God, God's Glory
One reason the Christian message must begin with the God of glory, just as Stephen does in Acts 7, is because sin is ultimately a mighty offense against this God who is glorious and listen how Paul describes sin in Rom. 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Feb 25, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Marriage
In 1 Peter 3:7, the initial command given to husbands is to live with their wives according to knowledge. Here are some further considerations with regards to this: –Living with one’s wife according to knowledge does NOT mean that the relationship expectations...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Feb 18, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Marriage
We must consider our marriage as incredibly bigger and more significant than just the union of two people. God’s purposes transcend the personal fulfillment of two people in marriage. Do you view how you serve, talk, act and even think about your spouse with a...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Feb 11, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Church Leadership, Deacons
Now as we have been introducing this subject of deacon qualifications, some of you might be thinking: “I don’t have any plans to become a deacon, so why do I need to hear these things?” There are at least a few reasons: First, as we work through these qualifications,...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Feb 4, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Word of God
In thinking about this statement at the end of Acts 6:2, we must realize that the apostles have a very unique calling regarding the word of God, as laid out in John 14-16, so if they get sidetracked from their responsibilities, even by a good thing like tangibly...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jan 28, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study
How is it that the apostles leave rejoicing in 5:41, after getting beaten and ordered to be silent? That can’t be right. The scribes of our Bible translations must have gotten that wrong and there has to be a discrepancy of different words among the manuscripts,...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jan 21, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Holiness
Any man-centered thinking brought to the biblical text blows a fuse at Acts 5. Why did God treat the lying of Ananias and Sapphira as such a threat? What’s really at stake here? Would anyone else even know? It’s hard to say. Would anyone be hurt be this...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jan 14, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Giving, Grace
How did Luke know that great grace was being poured out in Acts 4:33, since grace does not visibly fall from heaven like rain? Grace was evident because all needs in the body were being met. Those less fortunate were not being ignored because any who owned land or...
by Matthew Borgstrom | Jan 7, 2018 | Bible Exposition, Bible Study, Boldness
What led these Christians in Acts 4 to press on through hostility and not take a step backwards and cool it? The content of their prayer provides the answer. They had a proper biblical expectation in that if the world took a raging disposition against the Messiah,...
