Acts 2 tells the story of a time when the Holy Spirit affected a sermon Peter preached where over 3,000 people came to faith. And the Holy Spirit is just as powerful today as He was at the time of Pentecost.

Jesus poured His life into 12 men, teaching, coaching, warning, and mentoring. And when He ascended into heaven, these disciples were not abandoned! The Spirit of God took over and became the fuel they desperately needed.

When you read your Bible and you come to a word you don’t understand, this can be a great time to learn something new. Bible dictionaries and concordances are excellent tools to help you do serious Bible study.

Many of us can readily recreate a mental picture of the church we grew up in…the building, the people, and the preaching. Chuck Swindoll invites us to go back much further, to examine an original snapshot of the very first church.

One of the most remarkable eras in the history of the church occurred during the first century. Shortly after Christ had left the earth, His disciples (who became apostles) led congregations into new and exciting vistas of faith. Though young and relatively inexperienced, the believers who comprised the first-century church showed evident marks of maturity…the children were now growing into adolescence!

Pastor Chuck Swindoll will guide us through the great story in Acts 4, when the apostles Peter and John boldly stood up against all the religious authorities of their day. With uncompromising integrity mixed with fearless courage, Peter and John refused to stop proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter the cost.

In Micah 6:8, the bold prophet answered the question many people wonder about today: What does the Lord expect of us? Micah's answer is comprehensive: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. The first of these three expectations means to do what is right, regardless of the consequences. This kind of courageous obedience is illustrated for us in the lives of the first-century apostles.

Before Paul put the final period on his first letter to the Thessalonians he issued a double-edged command: “encourage…and build up one another” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). In a world more sinful than saintly, such a command is necessary because the spirit of discouragement is dangerous.

In this message on Acts 5 and 7, Pastor Chuck Swindoll introduces you to Saul, the chief of all sinners. His dark past is full of shocking surprises.

How would you define hope? In what way would your definition apply to a local church? What if hope were missing from a congregation? Would anybody notice? We’ll think about these and other things as we allow Peter’s words to guide us into the truth about hope. These passages of Scripture suggest several ingredients that must be present if hope is to remain a vital part of a church’s life.