Our sermon series for Autumn 2018 was through the book of Acts in the New Testament. The previous year we journeyed through the story of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus using the Gospel of Matthew as our guide. And so in 2018 we carried on this story by looking at what happened next.
Jesus is about to leave his disciples to return to be with his Father in heaven, but before he leaves, he issues them a command to go out into their towns and cities, into the countryside and ultimately to the ends of the earth. And what is their mission? To proclaim the gospel truth concerning Jesus Christ.
So over 8 months we moved slowly through this incredible story, observing the exponential growth of the early church, learning from the fiercely courageous efforts of those early day believers (often in the face of extreme persecution), and we learned the significance of the power of the Holy Spirit who enabled these simple followers of Christ to carry out his work in the world.