Sermons on Acts (Page 2)
Acts
Last Words
Acts 20:17-38 As Paul farewells the elders of the Ephesian church, he presents his own ministry as an example for them to follow and reminds them of the task to which God has called them. Church leaders must heed Paul’s words here. They have been entrusted with the responsibility of caring for those who have been purchased by God with his own blood – a weighty responsibility indeed!
Evangelizing a Pagan Culture
Acts 17:16-34 Today’s world is full of idols that people ‘worship’ … things like money, possesions, power, sex and drugs. But do they satisfy? In the first century AD, Paul found himself in Athens, the intellectual and cultural capital of the world at that time. What he found was a city full of idols to the Greek gods. But the only true God was missing. So he took the opportunity to tell them, even getting an invitation to the Areopagus,…
Good News for All!
Acts 10:34-48
The Spark that Ignited the Church’s Mission
Acts 6:8-8:3 Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin shows just how clearly he understood that the Old Testament points to Jesus. For this, very sadly, he became the first martyr of the early church. But his death was not in vain. In this message we see how God used this event in a wonderful way to scatter Christians beyond Jerusalem, and in the process spread the gospel and grow the church. And the ripples of that day are still being felt…
Handling Hostility
Acts 4:1-31 When Peter and John are put on trial by the religious authorities, Peter boldly proclaims the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. In today’s message, we consider the content of Peter’s message and think about what this passage teaches us about how we should respond when we face hostility for proclaiming the message of Jesus. CNBC Proclaiming the Risen Lord Jesus – Michael Howell, 14 June 2020 from City North Baptist Church on Vimeo.
When the Spirit Comes in Power
Acts 2:1-41 Today we begin a new series on the main sermons/speeches in the book of Acts. Peter’s message to the crowds in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost takes us to the heart of all the public speeches in the book as he fearlessly and powerfully preached the Lord Jesus – His life, death, resurrection and ascension, and how He fulfilled the OT prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. The result? 3000 people repented of their sin, believed…
No more barriers
Acts 8:26-40 The Ethiopian could say, “what can stand in the way of my being baptised?” because he had come to understand that nothing stood between him and God. As we celebrate baptisms, let us rejoice in the fact that in Jesus, God has removed all the barriers that exist between us and him.
Greg Beaumont: Confident evangelism
Evangelism is the kind of topic that often induces fear into the hearts of Christians – even mature Christians. Yet it is something that we are all called to – Acts 1:8 tells us that we are all called to be Jesus’ witnesses to the world. We often fall down in this area because we lack confidence. Some of us are just not outgoing people, we have different levels of biblical knowledge, and others of us have a real fear of rejection and don’t want to feel a sense of failure if the person we share our faith with reject Jesus. So how are we to overcome these reasons for our lack of evangelism? How are we to evangelise with real confidence? The beginning of Acts tells us that we can have confidence, but not in ourselves! Instead we can have confidence in our message, in the power behind the mission, and in the success of the mission.
Ben Peacock: Keep calm, Jesus is on the throne
The book of Acts describes the ripple effect of the good news of God’s Kingdom launching in Jerusalem and spreading throughout Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The Church of Jesus Christ grew significantly during this time, however, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There was also significant opposition, suffering and persecution that rose against the Church. As people who live in a ‘post Christian’ society, it’s very easy for us to fall into the trap of either running away from suffering or fighting against it. However, the book of Acts reminds us that God will grow his Church in spite of opposition to His Gospel message. The true hope that the Church has is found in Jesus’ promise that He will grow His Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
A discerning leader with the gift of encouragement (Barnabas)
Jesus, of course, is the only perfect leader, but God seems to have used many different types of men and women to take the lead in His work. In this message we encounter Barnabas, an early Christian convert and trusted leader in the church at Jerusalem. Sent to Antioch by the apostles to check out what was happening in the church there, he quickly realised that God was doing something special, and soon co-opted Saul (later Paul) to help him in teaching the Bible to these young Gentile believers. Next, he and Saul were commissioned by the Antioch church to go out as the very first formal missionaries to the Roman empire. His ability to see what God was doing, get on board, and encourage others to do the same was inspirational.
Living dangerously (Stephen)
How much risk or danger should a Christian expect to face in the normal course of life? Of course, that depends on where you live. As Christianity is increasingly pushed to the margins of western society, there is a growing antagonism which is forcing many modern-day believers to take a risky stand for Christ. Surely Stephen, the first martyr of the church, is a wonderful model on how to do this. Whether by his godly life, his fearless courage or his inspirational death, he shows us how to live and, if necessary, die for the glory of God. May God spare us from a safety-first, comfortable Christianity that costs nothing and watches on apathetically as Jesus is mocked and rejected today.
Ground-breaking evangelism (Philip)
How does anyone become a Christian? By hearing the message of Jesus from another person (Romans 10:17). And each generation is responsible for passing that message on to the next generation. Otherwise Christianity will die out within about 50 years. Philip, the evangelist, is the classic example of a man who was passionate about telling others about Jesus. Threats and dangers didn’t stop him. And God was clearly directing and using him. Wherever he was, he had one message… and it was always about Jesus. Let’s not over-complicate evangelism. Some people have a special spiritual gift of evangelism. But for most of us it’s a matter of sincerely and simply telling others about Jesus.