As we head into fall, many of us will turn our attention to getting back to school, anticipating cooler days and nights, and making predictions on what the Razorbacks might do this season (I’m saying 6-6 and going to a bowl! We’ll see…).

At Christ Church, the beginning of fall also marks a new sermon series and Community Group Study – a four-month journey through the Book of Acts. And we couldn’t be more excited! Acts is one of the fastest-paced, most exciting books of the New Testament, if not the whole Bible. It’s written by Luke, the disciple of Jesus. He wrote Acts as a sequel to his “Gospel of Luke,” as he tells us in the opening line of the book…

“In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus BEGAN to do and teach…” (Acts 1:1, NLT, emphasis mine).

The Gospel of Luke was the beginning of the story and Acts tells of the ongoing life of Jesus and His work in the world – this time through His disciples who are empowered by the Holy Spirit (I LOVE a good sequel, don’t you?! Can’t wait!).

Sometimes I hear people say, “I wish we could be more like the early church, like the church in the Book of Acts.” But as the old saying goes – “Be careful what you wish for.” Because as we will see, the church of the Book of Acts was messy. Instead of having it all together and life being predictable and smooth, following Jesus for them meant uncertainty, waiting, difficulty, constant prayer and desperate dependence on one another and on Jesus.

But it also meant the indwelling presence of the promised Holy Spirit – the spirit of Jesus living His life and ministry through these ordinary people, leading them on the grand adventure called faith. Life was not easy, but the disciples lived in the confidence that the Resurrected Christ was with them and living IN them.

For us, nothing has changed. As disciples today, if we seek to truly follow Jesus, it can be messy. There will be times of uncertainty and waiting, difficulty and hardship, a life of desperate dependence on Jesus.  But it’s also the greatest journey imaginable, defined by the presence of our Savior living in and through us. It’s a life that’s not smooth or easy or put-together, but one filled with peace and joy and purpose.

Man! That’s the kind of life I want to live, messiness and all! Don’t you?

So – buckle up, Christ Church! It’s going to get messy, but it’s going to be fun! And let’s go together. There’s no one else with whom I would rather travel!