The Fifth Act | Spiritual Multiplication - Suzy Silk

This Sunday, Pastor Jon kicked off our Fall Sermon Series, Making Sense of Church, by asking the question: Why do we still bother with the Church? The reality is that the Church is a dysfunctional family, but it is still key to the mission of Jesus being carried out in the world, and it cannot be disregarded. We cannot make excuses for the failures of the Church, but also cannot deny the beauty and redemption it has brought; the only question that remains is which future of the Church will you tell with your life? The Church is God’s idea, and it has endured through every time and place since its inception. You need the Church for your growth, and the Church needs you, faithfully living as Jesus’ hands and feet in your context, believing this can be the Church’s finest hour, not its greatest failure.

This week, Pastor Ralph Castillo closed out our Summer sermon series, The Fifth Act, with an in depth look on the Apostle Paul’s final remarks to the Ephesian Elders in Acts and a call to finish well. Throughout his ministry, Paul endured great suffering for the sake of Christ, undergoing intense persecution and opposition nearly everywhere he went. However, at the end of his life, he was able to confidently say that he finished the work set out for him. Paul’s life challenges us to focus on finishing well, not in our own strength, but by anchoring ourselves in Christ, committing to submit to the Holy Spirit, and by loving what Jesus loves, His Church.

This week, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our Summer sermon series, The Fifth Act, with a sermon on Acts 18 and the ministry of Priscilla and Aquila in the Early Church. By studying their twenty year ministry journey with Paul and other disciples, God shows us that we are not meant to do life or ministry alone. We must ask God to help us be fruitful disciples that lay down our lives to see Him glorified, and faithfully carry the Gospel wherever we go. 

This week, guest pastor, Ben Stuart, continued our sermon series on The Fifth Act by preaching on Acts 19 and the impact of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. Paul’s time in Ephesus invites us to ask: how does the Gospel take root and expand in a powerful and influential city—and how can we mirror that in New York? When we give God our unrivaled affections, His Gospel goes out in power. Pastor Ben encouraged us to release idols we cling to for comfort and control through confession and repentance, and allow our delight in God to transform our lives and impact the world around us.

This week, Pastor Tim Brown continued our series in the Book of Acts with a look at Paul’s time in Athens and exploring what it means to engage a culture like ours with the Gospel in 2025. In many ways, Athens mirrors New York City today: a place of great beauty and creativity, but also deep brokenness, competing worldviews, and misplaced worship. Pastor Tim challenged us to follow Paul’s example, seeing our city through God’s eyes, feeling His heart for the lost, and stepping into both familiar and unfamiliar spaces to reason, build relationships, and proclaim the Gospel, the only message that can truly transform lives.

This week, Pastor Ralph Castillo continued our series in the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, with an exploration of Acts 16 and the diverse group of people God welcomes into His unfolding story. As the Gospel spreads beyond Jerusalem, we meet Timothy, Lydia, a slave girl, and a Roman jailer. Each person came from a vastly different background, displaying the power and reach of God's redemptive work, and that the Holy Spirit guides, frees, and saves all kinds of people who say "yes" to His leading. Whether God is calling us to a consecrated life, to open our hearts to Him, to surrender sin, or to trust Him in difficult circumstances, every “yes” helps close the gap between what we read in Scripture and what we experience in our world today.

This week, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, by teaching on Act 15 and the critical role it can play in defining the time in history we are currently living in. The Early Church was still a primarily Jewish community, and as the Gentiles began to be integrated in, it disrupts their normal practices, despite Gentiles receiving the same gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 10. A council of elders and leaders is called in Jerusalem to discuss how they should handle the influx of Gentile brothers and sisters, and the conclusion they came to should shape how we see people becoming Christians today: salvation is given by grace through faith in Jesus the Messiah—there is no other requirement.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon Tyson continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, with teaching on the history altering birth of the church at Antioch in Acts 11-13 and the roles Barnabas and Saul played in expanding the Kingdom from there. Following the rise of persecution in Jerusalem, followers of Jesus not only began to go to the ends of the earth, but to try and make disciples of all nations as Jesus commanded them, now that the Holy Spirit had been given to the Gentiles. Antioch marks the first place that the Gospel was actively being shared beyond the Jewish community, and it led to a radical move of God that transformed a nearly godless city to the place where believers were called “Christians” for the first time.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, with a message from Acts 10 and 11 on the radical, history-altering gift of the Holy Spirit for all believers. In one of the most pivotal moments in the Early Church, we witness the Spirit of God falling not only on the Jewish believers, but also on Gentiles, revealing that salvation through Jesus is truly available to all. We are living in the fulfillment of what generations of believers only hoped for: the Spirit poured out on all flesh, making the unclean clean, and drawing people from every nation into the household of God.

This Sunday, Pastor Keithen Schwahn continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, with a teaching from Acts 9:36-43, the story of Peter taking a risk of faith that resulted in raising Tabitha, a faithful disciple of Jesus also known as Dorcas, from the dead. The early disciples were not motivated by reputation but by a desire to imitate Jesus, and the same Spirit that empowered Jesus and the Early Church is available to us today.