It started with 100-to-one odds. In 1987, the Minnesota Twins were the biggest underdogs in baseball — outscored during the regular season, dismissed by every expert, and picked by nobody to win. They won the World Series anyway. Lead Pastor Jon Stoe opens part three of Acts: To the Ends of the Earth with that story to set up something even harder to explain: how a small group of ordinary people with no Bible, no building, no army, and no institutional backing turned the entire world upside down.

Jon takes us into Acts 2 to look at the origins of the early church — what they were actually devoted to, how they lived together, and why it worked. Along the way he doesn't shy away from the hard stuff. He names church hurt directly, calls out what happens when a church loses its way, and then brings it back to Jesus's one command that was supposed to prevent all of it. The local church, Jon says, is the hope of the world. There is no plan B. And whether you love the church, left it, or aren't sure what you think about it, this message is worth your time.

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.

George Whitefield crossed the Atlantic in 1738 with nothing but a message and a willingness to preach it in the open air. No army, no institution, no platform. An estimated 50,000 people were transformed in New England alone. In part two of Acts: To the Ends of the Earth, Lead Pastor Jon Stoe uses that story to ask a question that lands closer to home: what if God wants to write a volume three through ordinary people like us?

Jon walks through the opening chapters of Acts to show that everything happening in the early church, from the choosing of the apostles to the healing at the temple gate to Peter's jaw-dropping boldness in front of the religious leaders, was divine activity working through completely ordinary people. The religious leaders themselves said it. They looked at Peter and John and saw unschooled, unremarkable men. And they were astonished. Jon argues that the same offer is on the table today, but it starts with one question: are you available?

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.

If your faith has ever felt shaky, or you've watched someone you care about walk away from the church, this message is worth your time. Lead Pastor Jon Stoe opens the new series Acts: To the Ends of the Earth by asking a question most Christians have never seriously sat with: if the first followers of Jesus never owned a Bible, never read one, and still turned the world upside down, what exactly was the foundation of their faith? The answer isn't what a lot of people assume.

Jon traces the explosive beginning of the early church through Acts chapters 1 and 2, from Jesus' final conversation with his disciples before the ascension to the moment the Holy Spirit fell on Pentecost and 3,000 people converted in a single day. Along the way he takes on the new atheists, compares how Christianity spread against Islam and Judaism, and lands on something that's both historically defensible and personally urgent. The foundation wasn't a philosophy or a set of teachings. It was a single, verifiable claim: they saw a dead man walking. And that, Jon argues, is still the only message with enough weight to hold the next generation.

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.