Prepare For Sunday | October 4th, 2026
When Jesus Ruins Your Life
Acts 17:1–10; 1 Thessalonians 1–3
What happens when following Jesus makes your life harder instead of easier?
Many of us carry an unspoken version of Christianity: add Jesus to your life, and your life will work better.
He'll make you a better spouse, a better parent, a more peaceful person.
Then we meet Jason.
Within days of Paul arriving in Thessalonica, a mob attacked Jason's house, dragged him before the city authorities, accused him of treason, and took his money, while the missionaries who brought him the gospel slipped out of town in the night.
Imagine Jason giving his testimony: “I met Jesus, and within a few days I was attacked by a mob, had my house vandalized, was dragged through the streets, accused of treason, was the victim of extortion, and the pastor who led me to Christ skipped town in the middle of the night.”
Jason wasn't an apostle or a gifted preacher. He had a house, and he put it under the authority of King Jesus.
That cost him something real.
Yet when Timothy returned to check on this battered little church, he found them not merely surviving but thriving: working in faith, laboring in love, enduring in hope, and spreading the word of the Lord across the region.
For Jason, opening his home to that message cost him his safety, his money, and his reputation, and from the outside it looked like his life had gotten worse.
Yet the church that met in his house became an example of faith, love, and hope throughout the region.
Jesus doesn't come merely to improve our lives; he comes to take them over and sweep them into something far larger. And we can trust him with our plans, because the King who asks for our lives is the King who already gave his life for us, rose again, and is coming again. This Sunday we will examine what Jesus ruins when he comes into our lives.
Here is our outline
He ruins your illusion of control. "There is another King, Jesus." (Acts 17:1–4, 7)
He ruins your carefully protected life. "Jason has received them." (Acts 17:5–9)
He ruins your small definition of the good life. "The word of the Lord sounded forth from you." (Acts 17:10; 1 Thess 1:2–10)
Call to Worship
Psalm 47:1–2, 6–8:
“Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.”
Confession of Sin
Leader: Almighty God, You have given us Your Son, Jesus Christ, as Savior and King.
Congregation: Yet we confess that we often want Your salvation without Your rule. We want Jesus to comfort us, but not command us; to bless our plans, but not change them.
Leader: We cling to our comfort, our possessions, our reputations, and our carefully constructed lives.
Congregation: We have loved our little kingdoms more than Yours. We have been slow to trust You when obedience is costly and reluctant to place all that we have into Your hands.
Leader: Forgive us for the ways we resist the gracious reign of Christ.
Congregation: Have mercy on us, O God. Turn our hearts from our idols to serve the living and true God. Teach us to trust our King, to give ourselves freely to His kingdom, and to wait with hope for His Son from heaven. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Hear the good news: the King we have resisted is the King who came to rescue us. Jesus Christ suffered for sinners, died in our place, and rose victorious from the grave.
Though we have rebelled against His reign, He has not cast us away. He gave Himself for us so that we might belong to Him. And now, as Scripture declares, we have “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven…Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
People of God, in Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Your King has died. Your King has risen. Your King is coming again.
ALL: Thanks be to God!
Songs of Worship
I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever
Canvas and Clay
Draw Me Close
Be Thou My Vision
