UNSTOPPABLE

Acts 1:1-11

UNSTOPPABLE

This sermon series is the start of about a 6-month series through the book of Acts.  We will take 1 chapter per week, for 28 weeks and work through this book together – similar to how we worked through the Gospel of John.  I am encouraging everyone at RCM to read all of chapter 1 in Acts this week.  Maybe even several times throughout the week – read the whole chapter.  And later in the week, jump into one of our small groups that will discuss the chapter each week.

When I read the book of Acts – the word that overwhelms me is the word UNSTOPPABLE.  The book of Acts is the story of God’s Unstoppable Gospel, the Unstoppable Power of the Holy Spirit, the Unstoppable nature of the Church.  So for the next 6 months we’ll be seeing the unstoppable Gospel, Spirit and Church – how the Gospel spreads in like 30 years from a small group of misfits; a tax collector, a couple of fishermen, a Pharisee; how the Gospel spreads from a handful to millions of people.

As we look at this book, and take an extended period of time to walk through it 1 chapter at a time – couple of things we need to keep in mind.  This is a story that unfolds over 30+ years.  It’s a narrative story, historical fact, of the Unstoppable nature of the Gospel, Spirit and Mission of the Church.  It’s important to keep in mind – not everything  we read in the book of Acts happens still today – there is a difference between “DESCRIBING” what happened and “PRESCRIBING” what should happen.  Said another way, some things are descriptive and other things are prescriptive.

But what we will see, in the next 6 months, we will see this incredible transformation of people that were running scared after Jesus’s crucifixion to men boldly proclaiming the truth of Jesus as Messiah at the cost of their lives. 

• We will see how, when a group of people, committed to the Word of God, committed to the Ministry of Prayer, empowered by the Holy Spirit turned the world upside down.
• We will see how churches handle conflict, and raise new leaders so that the church is able to maintain the priority of preaching and praying
• We will see how God used suffering, and continues to use suffering to advance His purposes in the World
• We will see how a group of ordinary, unnamed followers of Christ plant a church, that would then send out the greatest Christian missionaries the church has ever known (Paul & Barnabas)

Christian – if you have turned from your sin and are trusting in Jesus – let me tell you, you have the Spirit in you.  You have been immersed in this same Spirit as that the apostles were told to wait for.

God’s mission is unstoppable.  Will you join him in it?  By the Power of the Holy Spirit, will you join God in His mission?

That first step – getting on team Jesus.  A few months ago, I had this incredible privilege of baptizing a young lady in our church.  And the language we used, was that she has turned from her sin, and is trusting in Jesus, and is ready to tell the world she’s on team Jesus.  See, the starting point in joining God in His mission, is making sure you’re on his team.