Trinity Church of Lake Nona

When Grumbling Enters the Church Part 2 | Acts 6:1-7

This Sunday we return to Acts 6:1–7 to finish what we began last week. We've already seen how grumbling can enter even a healthy, growing church — and how the enemy uses real pain, real concerns, and real overlooked people to fracture what the gospel has joined together. We saw how a small complaint, left to ferment in side conversations and suspicion, can do what an army at the gates could never accomplish. And we saw why the apostles refused to let the complaint pull them off the calling Christ had given them. This week we get to the response. We'll see how the apostles meet a moment of potential division not with better systems or sharper management, but with Spirit-filled servants — men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom, drawn from the very group that had been overlooked. And we'll see the surprising fruit of that response: a fracturing body knit back together, the Word of God increasing in Jerusalem, and even priests — the very ones who had condemned Jesus — becoming obedient to the faith. If you missed last week, you'll still be able to track with us.

When Grumbling Enters the Church | Acts 6:1-6

Sometimes the greatest things fall from the smallest causes. Troy stood for ten years against the greatest army in the ancient world — and fell to a gift its own people pulled inside the gates. A submarine isn't destroyed by what's fired at it, but by a wrench dropped on a steel deck. A Florida house doesn't fall to the hurricane — it falls to the termites. And the church of Jesus Christ — the church that has outlasted empires and persecutions — does not usually fall to the army outside. She falls to what gets inside. In Acts 4, the church faces the army at the gate. In Acts 5, the enemy gets inside through the heart of a lying couple. And in Acts 6, the attack changes again. No soldiers. No scandal. Just a complaint. A murmur. A small ripple of dissatisfaction at the back of the room. It looks like a footnote. It is actually the third movement of the same battle — and one of the enemy's most effective strategies against the church. We'll see how Christ protects his body by raising up Spirit-filled servants right in the middle of the wound, and what it looks like for grumbling to be transformed into growth.

Full of It | Acts 9:36-43

Kids on the playground know how to land an insult: "You're full of it!" It's funny because it's true — of all of us. The question is what the "it" is. The Book of Acts keeps using one peculiar word to describe people: full. Some are filled with jealousy, deceit, or even the schemes of Satan. Others are filled with the Spirit, with faith, with grace and power. Luke wants us to see that we are not neutral containers. Whatever fills the heart eventually shapes the life. This Sunday — Mother's Day — we'll meet a remarkable woman named Tabitha. Luke calls her something he calls no other woman in the New Testament: a disciple. And he tells us she was "full of good works and acts of charity." Her sewing needle, of all things, became evidence of Pentecost. When she dies, the widows of her town gather around the apostle Peter, weeping and holding up the tunics and garments she made for them. Her spirituality had taken material form — in cloth and thread and quiet, daily mercy. What happens next is one of the most astonishing scenes in Acts. Peter kneels, prays, and speaks two words that echo Jesus' own voice raising a little girl in Galilee: "Tabitha, arise." The risen Christ is still at work — through dependent prayer, through ordinary disciples, through resurrection power already breaking into the present age. Tabitha's story is not just a miracle account. It is a portrait of what the Spirit-filled life actually looks like when it takes root in a real human being. This is a fitting passage for Mother's Day, because Tabitha represents the kind of holiness our culture rarely celebrates: unnoticed, embodied, hidden, faithful. The kind that shows up in meals made, clothes mended, prayers prayed, children nurtured, and saints quietly sustained. The kind that looks like Jesus — because it has been filled with Him.

True Greatness | Acts 4:32-5:11

This Sunday, we're in Acts 4:32–5:11, and Luke shows us something surprising about what a great church actually looks like. Not the kind of greatness the world measures — visibility, influence, admiration — but the kind that shows up when Christ is truly present among His people. Luke gives us three marks: great power, great grace, and great fear. All of it flows from Christ Himself. But right in the middle of that passage, there's a line that's easy to miss: "There was not a needy person among them." Most of us read that as a statement about resources. I don't think it is. I think it's a statement about a posture toward the world. No one was "needy." And it raises an uncomfortable question: if Luke were writing about us, could he say that? Not about our bank accounts. About our hearts. How "needy" are you? Because many of us are still hungry for something Christ has already given — approval, security, significance, control. And as long as we're trying to get it somewhere else, we'll keep clinging. We'll keep calculating. We'll never be truly free. We will always be "needy." The good news is this: contentment isn't something you manufacture. It's something you receive. And Christ is in the business of making His people full.

Acts 4:32 - 5:11 | Harmonious Community: Displayed and Disrupted

Do you ever look at the early church and get jealous of all the things they were able to experience? There is no doubt that they saw God do incredible things! They even went through incredible growth and unity early on. However, it is precisely because of their incredible growth and unity that Satan had a target on their back. When the earth is being filled with worshipers, Satan becomes increasingly active. When we examine Acts 4:32 - 5:11, we notice that it's very possible for us to mirror the efforts of the early church. We can still come to a supernatural unity by looking away from ourselves and focusing on Jesus. It's also very possible for Christians to lose focus, to give into the ensnarings of Satan and our flesh, and for division to arise. This week, we will explore the portrait of a harmonious community that Luke gives us. In these passages of Scripture, Luke paints a beautiful picture of what the church can be. This diverse group of people lived in community with one another while displaying a beautiful harmony with one another. We also see two examples of people living out this reality. Barnabas embodied everything Luke challenges us to be. However, Ananias and Sapphira smeared this picture through greed and deception. What can we learn from these two examples? Join us tomorrow to find out!