Peter begins to share the gospel with Cornelius, and before he is done speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles, and the game has shifted for the rest of human history - Gentiles are included in the promises of God!
Peter is sitting down to eat lunch one day, when he falls into a trance and sees a heavenly vision about eating unclean animals. After the vision, some unclean men arrive at the door asking him to come with them. The Lord instructs Peter to go with them “with no doubts.” And he ends up in the home of a Romans centurion. The “bridge” that is the church of God is starting to come together in Christ!
Peter leaves Jerusalem to check up on new believers, and along the way he has opportunities to see Jesus at work through him.
Now that he has met Jesus face to face, Saul's entire outlook on scripture and Jesus has changed. He now begins preaching Jesus as the Messiah to the very people he used to work with, and twice they try to kill him. He heads for the Jerusalem believers and they aren't so sure either. Only one guy, an encourager named Barnabas takes him in.
Persecution is taking place in and around Jerusalem with the aim of taking out the church and shutting down the name of Jesus. One of the leaders of the movement against the church is on his way to arrest believers 135 miles from home when all of a sudden his story is interrupted by the grace of Jesus.
Acts 8 opens with Philip heading into Samaria and seeing a revival of sorts taking place, and then suddenly an angel speaks to Philip and tells him to head South with no explanation. But what started out as an unknown directive ends up in a gospel interaction with a specific man that ended up being the first African to come to faith in Christ.
In Acts 8, two kingdoms collide as one kingdom’s representative (Philip) interacts with the other kingdom’s representative (Simon). In the verses that ensue, and Simon apparently switches teams, the question soon becomes, “Where does his allegiance really lie?” Does he actually want Jesus, or does he just want the power to do some cool things?
Guest Preacher Brooks Simpson (Grace Community Church, North Liberty, IA) joins us with a message from Mark 11 on how Jesus is not the king we all want, but he is the king we need.
Peter and the other apostles find themselves back in front of the Sanhedrin, this time as a full group, and they are in danger. The Sanhedrin has decided to kill all 12 of them because they continue to preach in Jesus’ name, even though they were told not to. The only thing that keeps them alive is a Pharisee named Gamaliel who has a better idea… do nothing.
Acts 5:12-42 – A memorable event had just happened in the life of the new Church in Jerusalem, with the news of Ananias and Sapphira's "untimely" death. So people weren't sure what all this new group of believers was all about. But the Lord kept bringing people to faith, and the apostles continued to do miracles, healings, casting out demons, and it led to jealousy from the Sanhedrin. Pastor Steve Hall turns our attention to our own hearts, and how jealousy can very easily take root in us.
