Many of us want to share or pass on our faith to our kids, our grandkids, our friends, and any others God brings across our path. But when we think carefully about it, do we understand what we’re trying to achieve? If not we can easily and unwittingly undermine our efforts.
Because faith in Christ isn’t about morality, doctrinal precepts, or church traditions, sharing our faith is not about passing on a set of morals, doctrines, or church traditions.
Instead, we want to pass on love for the Lord. By changing our question from how do I pass on my faith to others? to how do I live so as to cultivate a love for Christ in others? we shift our focus.
Change is one of life’s rare certainties! We aren’t exactly the same people we were last week, and we won’t be exactly the same next week, either. With each day and each experience, we grow to become different people.
God’s miraculous power might seem distant or theoretical at times, but it’s not. It is real! The Acts of the Apostles proves it, teeming with true stories of supernatural encounters and glorious surprises. In this lesson, we discover how God used intercessory prayer to perform an incredible miracle in the life of Peter, the fisherman-turned-apostle.
In Acts 9, Saul was in hot pursuit of Christians located miles away from Jerusalem, in Damascus. Saul was in hot pursuit of Christians, but God pursued him even more relentlessly. Saul’s own words in Acts 22:3 to 5, Acts 26:9 to 11, Galatians 1:13 and 14, 1 Timothy 1:13 serve as a confession, as he describes his former ruthlessness in stark relief to the great grace of God.
The apostles certainly had their share of adventure! After receiving the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, they embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Empowered and emboldened by the Spirit, they preached the Gospel and performed extraordinary miracles, touching others’ lives as they went. Let’s take a look at how they effectively ministered to others so we can discover some positive principles to use in our own lives.
Acts 2 marks the successful delivery of more than three thousand “baby” Christians! It was the miraculous, Spirit-fuelled birth of the church. What an adventure! A large gathering of people witnessed the incredible, supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and heard the life-changing Gospel message preached by Peter and the other apostles. Birthday: Pentecost.
In the first chapter of the book of Acts, the apostles were gathered in Jerusalem, waiting and even a bit confused. Would the kingdom of Israel be restored now that Jesus had risen from the dead? What was the nature of the kingdom of God? What did Jesus mean when He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”?
We’ve probably all been in situations—maybe on a plane or at a convention—when the topic of religion came up and we had to face the inevitable dialogue with a nonbeliever. We’ve usually ended up feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and we've walked away wondering, What could I have said or done not only to win a hearing but to keep a hearing? Acts 8 has some answers for the apprehensive evangelist.
Over the decades, the people have not changed but the ministry has. There has been an undeniable pressure to adjust the model of church.
For me the documentary was a sobering reminder that sometimes our best intentions and even the plain truth can’t convince people to change. All we can hope in is the transformative power of God.
In reality, we all come before the mirrors to do business! We gaze hard in that painfully honest reflection with the purpose of doing something about what we see.
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