Mission - The Early Church in Jerusalem
THE EXPANSION OF THE CHURCH
Gathering to be Empowered
The Message of the Changed Lives:
The testimony was effective because the change was evident!
The testimony was complete because the challenge was made!
God wants us to share stories of changed lives to challenge others to believe!
When a church faces a serious problem, this presents the leaders and the members with a number of opportunities. Problems are opportunities!
The WITNESS of the Church
Proclaiming the Name of Jesus Christ – Acts 5:17-42
Bringing Authenticity Back to Our Beliefs
Acts 4:32-5:16
The Early Church
The MISSION of the Church
The EMPOWERING of the Church
The FUNCTION of the Church
The BOLDNESS of the Church
The LOVE of the Church
The Boldness of the Early Church
Being Bold with Compassion (3:1-10)
Being Bold with the Truth (3:11-26)
Being Bold in the Light of Opposition (4:1-22)
The Prayer for Boldness (4:23-30)
The Blessings of Boldness (4:31-37)
The Empowering of the Church
The Church Waitng for the Spirit – 2:1
The Church Worshipping the Lord – 2:2-13
The Church Witnessing to the Lost – 2:14-40
The Church Walking in the Spirit – 2:41-47
The Church Waiting for the Spirit
What is Pentecost?
Why is it significant?
Parallels between Judaism and Christianity
What does Jesus promise his followers?
He promised them the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit.’
This means that the Holy Spirit would come and empower them to live righteously and serve faithfully.
What do his followers think?
In the disciples’ minds, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the coming of the promised kingdom were closely related and the Old Testament often connected these concepts.
They concluded that Christ was about to establish His kingdom here on earth, but that was not God’s plan. (v. 7)