In Acts 20:17-38, Paul passed the torch of ministry to the elders of the church in Ephesus.  In his speech to them, Paul described the character of elders and their work of ministry.  With a few such elders as Paul described, the church has the team it needs to fulfill the mission that God has given it.

As the number of non-Jewish believers in Jesus began to overwhelm the original Jewish Christians, some wanted to make it harder for non-Jews to become Christians.  As recorded in Acts 15:1-31, the church met in Jerusalem to discuss the matter and reaffirmed that both Jews and Gentiles receive salvation in the exact same way: by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.

In all times, and especially during a pandemic or persecution, it is better for churches to focus on making disciples, not on building and maintaining structures. However, some structure is necessary to send out missionaries to make disciples elsewhere. In Acts 13:1-5 we meet the first church that sent out its own missionaries.

Although there was one lone Ethiopian who became a Christian, in Acts 10:1-48 a whole house full of non-Jews heard the gospel, believed it, and was baptized.  Their conversion was a big surprise to the first Christians, all of whom were Jewish.  Yes, God loved those people too.

It is hard to imagine what the world would be like without Saul of Tarsus (the apostle Paul), but it would have been harder to imagine that such a violent persecutor of Christians would become a Christian and a missionary. His conversion and call, recorded in Acts 9:1-22, teach us not to despair of anyone or of ourselves, because God’s grace is sufficient for them and for us.

In Acts 8:26-40, God took Philip from a growing church to a deserted place to talk about Jesus with one African man who came from the ends of the earth.  Then God guided Philip to a Scripture text about Jesus.  These are the two elements we need in order to evangelize: people and a message about Jesus.  To whom is he guiding you today?

When were the glory days of the church: perhaps when it was being persecuted, or maybe when it held sway over the culture? In an excellent sermon on Acts 8:1-25, Pastor Robbie Crouse shows Christians how we should act in both of these situations and in every other situation as well.

The explosive growth of the church in Jerusalem led to the first threat of division between two groups, as recorded in Acts 6:1-7.  Wisely the apostles recommended that the church choose a few good men to handle the urgent need that had arisen.  These seven men freed up the apostles to preach and pray, and the church grew even more.  The threat to unity and the way the church handled it can teach us how we also can maintain unity and promote continued growth in our church.

Before he returned to his Father, Jesus told his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promised Holy Spirit.  About a week later, as recorded in Acts 2:1-24, Jesus poured on his Spirit on his people, and they began to proclaim the mighty deeds of God in different languages.  After some from the crowd made fun of them, Peter explained that the gift of the Spirit indicated that the last days had arrived!

In our summer series, we will be looking at critical events in the book of Acts, starting with Jesus’ commission of his “sent ones” in Acts 1:1-11. The goal is for our church to become more like the original Christian church. We first need to reorient ourselves to the task that Jesus gave us for the time between his departure and his return: to be witnesses to the end of the earth.