In this sermon we again dive into the rich and beautiful saga of the early church’s attempt to come to grips with the relevance of their new life in Christ and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  In this text we learn a few things.  First, our contemporary experiences with the Holy Spirit, if Biblical, are valid, legitimate and life-changing.  God still works in believers in magnificent ways.  Secondly we learn that when understood holistically throughout the New Testament, the Holy Spirit baptizes those who put their faith in Christ at the moment of belief, granting the fullness of the Holy Spirit as the seal of His redemption, and yet He is pleased afterward to supernaturally “fill” believers at any time, for special reasons and in life-changing ways.  This colorful narrative of Philip in Samaria and on the southern desert road again has as its hero God himself, who is involved with His church, leading them in truth, validating their wise decisions and perhaps most importantly, protecting them from unforeseen danger, division and deception.

As the first of the seven servants mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, the narrative of Acts now focuses in on Stephen, a man described as being “full of grace and power.”  His speech is the longest in the book (fully one third of the book is contained in speeches), but what is his point?  In this study we find Stephen speaking directly to his accusers and drawing illustrations from Israel’s history and theology.  He says, “just like your fathers disowned Joseph and Moses, yet God saved the nation through them, you have disowned your Messiah.”  Stephen’s trial and execution are also cast in the shadow of Jesus’ trial and execution.  Finally, the Son of Man stands to receive him.

This week we experienced some significant technical difficulties in the sermon recording.  This is the reason for the delay in the post.  We sincerely apologize.

With this sermon, Teaching Pastor Scot takes us from opposition to the twelve apostles as a group to the appointment of seven “servants” in the church.  As in every episode in Acts, we see clearly that God is the main character, active and involved, showing his favor and his providing power through His Spirit.

Sometimes you just run out of it!  That’s what happened to Teaching Pastor Scot Pollok as he discussed the two episodes in this passage.  What we find is that the story of Ananias and Sapphira is really about God and His chosen ambassadors, the apostles.  The next episode is linked as God continues to intervene for the sake of the apostles, even as they are jailed and flogged.  We should be careful not to abuse this principle with “untouchable” modern-day “apostles,” as some have taught.  That’s not what it meant then, and it doesn’t mean that now.  We should, most importantly, spend time meditating on our truthfulness, our promotion of the truth, our suffering for the sake of the gospel and our trust in the Father’s care.

Today, Teaching Pastor Scot Pollok takes us through the long episode of the healing of a lame man and the outcome of this miracle.  In the previous chapter we see the church enjoying “favor with all the people,” as they go to the temple day by day and see the signs and wonders at the hands of the apostles.  We see all of these specific things in this next episode except the young church no longer enjoys “favor with all the people.”  Religious leaders rise up against Peter and John and command that they no longer speak “in the name of Jesus.”  They cannot agree and pray to God for boldness.  God validates the entire scene by visiting them with another filling of the Holy Spirit and an answer to their prayer for boldness and courage.

A century ago in England, weavers spoke of the fabric in their loom as the warp and woof.  We use the phrase today to speak of the foundation of something, its basic essence or cornerstone.  Teaching Pastor Scot Pollok resumes our study of Acts today by looking at Acts 2:42-47, which describes the warp and woof of the first church in Jerusalem.  The four devotions and eight results in this passage are as beautiful as they are indicting.

With this sermon our study of Acts brings us to one of the most important single chapters in all of our New Testament.  In Acts 2 we see the birth of the church.  Jesus had instructed his followers to wait for the promise of the Father, and in this chapter the Father delivers.  This promised gift is His Holy Spirit.  He comes on this group of over 100 believers with a great noise, visible fire and miraculous languages.  A crowd gathers and the church is born and grows.  This promise of power fueled the testimony of these followers of Christ, and the Holy Spirit continues to do the same thing with us today.

Today we began our study of the Acts of the Apostles with a look at Acts 1:1-12.  This unique and critical book is actually a “part 2″ written by Dr. Luke after he penned the Gospel of Luke.  It begins in the same way the Gospel was and picks up where it left off.  In this first episode we see Jesus’ instruction to his eleven best friends.  While they were preoccupied with some misplaced curiosities about their errant emphasis on timing, Jesus resets their course with a focus on MISSION.  Our application puts this all together: mission is the cure for misplaced curiosities.