PAULSGROVE BAPTIST  CHURCH

THE BOOK OF ACTS

A TOPICAL SERIES

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Through the months of May, June, July and August 2018, we looked at the book of Acts, not chronologically, but topically, so there was a little jumping around some passages.

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The theme is “Power” based on Acts 1:8, where Jesus told his disciples: ”You will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”

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Following our series in Ephesians where we saw God’s pattern for a new community called the church, we will start the Acts series seeing how God gave the early disciples the power to be that new community in both boldly proclaiming the Gospel and in caring for each other.

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This will lead us to see how God changed lives of people who heard the Gospel, demonstrating that in our service on 20th May with a number of our young people getting baptised as a public testimony of changed lives today.

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The reality of living a Christian life in a community of forgiven people does not mean all ran smoothly, so we shall see how the early church faced and solved internal crises with the power of God’s wisdom, and had the God given power to face the inevitable opposition and persecution.

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One of the biggest challenges facing these early Christians was understanding God’s heart for a wider community that he was calling into his church. So for a mainly Jewish mind set, learning to accept gentiles into their Christian family was only achievable with God – given power to adapt their thinking. This led to a great missionary movement where the church began to take the Gospel to different cultures and countries, in fulfilment of Acts 1:8, where Jesus promised his power to be his witnesses eventually to the whole world.

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