"Launching Out: Paul's First Missionary Journey" - Message

“Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.” (Acts 2:46-47). “And the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly . . .” (Acts 6:&). “So the church throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.” (Acts 9:31). “So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.” (Acts 16:5). “So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.” (Acts 19:20). WOW!! Just about on every page of the book of Acts we see the amazing story of THE TRIUMPH OF THE GOSPEL even in the darkest of times. So what did the early church as described in Acts have that the modern church today doesn’t have? Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! God has given to us today the very same thing that He gave the early church. As we begin our journey into this faithful and carefully written history of the early church by Doctor Luke, let’s pray that God will instill a new excitement and joy for what He has done and can continue to do by His Holy Spirit through the Church of Jesus Christ today, so that the TRIUMPH OF THE GOSPEL can be experienced even now in the dark days in which we live.