We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sin and was raised to life 2000 years ago and today we celebrate His rising from the dead. In doing so we are being witnesses, we’re telling the world that He is alive, but are we doing what He told us to do? Is gathering on Easter and celebrating with food and drink fulfilling His commandment to us? This Easter we look at how Jesus first appeared to His disciples and what He took them through before sending them out as witnesses. If we are witnesses, then we must learn from them and do what they did.

This morning, we come to Good Friday, the day that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. This is a story we talk about all the time as Christians, but when we stop to take a look at it carefully, the mysteries of our creator are too profound to ponder. We pick up the story this morning, where Jesus is hanging on the cross. He has been tortured and shamefully mocked. And now we see no less than 5 miracles: darkness, then after Jesus’ victory cry, the tearing of the temple curtain, an earthquake, the opening of graves of some of the saints, and the saints walking around in the city. But what do they all mean? They all point to the divine love of God for His Son and His people. And it’s too wonderful to behold!

Have you ever gone through a season of struggle, wondering if it will ever end and asking “does it always have to be like this”? Are you waiting for things to get better so that you can get on with life? The Bible shows us that life is full of trouble, and that we can’t wait for it to get better before we get on with living to the full. Jesus’ life was a constant struggle, but never let it delay Him. He fought on, winning the most awesome victory for the Glory of God and for our eternal blessing. He also showed us how to keep fighting through it all.

Are we paralyzed by the fear of man or mobilized by the fear of the Lord and the comfort of His Holy Spirit? The Church is a living, breathing body that grows when it’s healthy, but it will not grow when we who are the living stones making up it’s walls are are trapped in fear. Peter shows us four things to focus on to walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit so that the Church may live and grow as she should.

Last week, we saw Saul’s dramatic, extraordinary conversion to “The Way.” The scripture dealt with the importance of purpose, the inate human desire to have purpose, and what purpose means from a Biblical perspective. Today continues that message, showing us that walking in Christ’s purpose is hard. And today, we will see what it means to walk in our purpose, what we can expect, and what God does for us along the way.

There’s a popular saying that nobody is as blind as those who don’t want to see. Paul was like this, he had all the intellect, education and opportunity to know and follow Jesus, but he couldn’t. Instead, he persecuted Jesus and His followers. Jesus had to intervene and bring together everything He’d been preparing for Paul to save him. Paul didn’t even know that he was spiritually blind until Jesus made him physically blind for a time. We can also be blinded spiritually. We can depend on our physical abilities and material things, and ignore what really matters - or learn from Paul and plead with the Lord Jesus to open our eyes to what really matters.

Have you ever wondered why you’re here, or what value your life has? God has purpose for all of us and values us because He created us. We can never realise that value or discover that purpose until we start to respond to His guidance and obey His voice. When we do start doing that wonderful things happen. Philip and and Ethiopian official show us how simple obedience leads to a great understanding of our value and purpose in Jesus Christ.

The Church faces many attacks from outside and within. We’ve seen these attacks through the infancy of the Church and how Jesus Christ turned them around to grow the Church. Today we see how false messiah’s can infiltrate the Church and how they need to be dealt with. Simon the magician was always after power and attention, yet he joined the Church and instead of repenting of his pride and selfish ambition, he saw Jesus Christ as a way to get what he wanted. We need to be aware of Simons in our Church, but also examine our our faith and make sure that we are not like him.

What do we see when we look at the early Church in Acts? We may see the persecution and the pain, but then there’s the growth and healing. Where there’s scattering there’s a great harvest, mourning comes with joy, death brings new life, It’s all a matter of perspective and when we look carefully, we can’t but see a magnificent plan falling into place. Perhaps we need this lens to relook at our own lives and the world we are living in, is it falling apart or is God’s plan falling into place?

Last week, we met Stephen for the first time. Along with other noble Christians, he was selected to serve the church. Clearly, he was a good man, well respected, trustworthy, and faithful. In today’s scripture, we see even more of his character on display, when he is falsely accused by the Jews, just for standing up for the truth of the Gospel (does that sound familiar to you?). And just like Jesus, Stephen tells the truth under tremendous fire, and he does not falter. Let’s take a deep dive into this man's life as we know it, and see what lessons we can learn and apply in our lives today.

Christians, like everyone else, have to face conflict. It happens outside and inside of the Church. Conflict often accompanies growth, but what if it is an opportunity for growth, especially for those most affected by it? Understanding why conflict arises in the Church helps us to prioritise our response accordingly and allows the Lord to turn that conflict into growth. Acts teaches us how service can addresses conflict and how to apply it in our own congregation.

Acts 5 has revealed much about the fear of God, how valuable, and what a blessing it is. The second arrest of the Apostles contrasts the fear of God and it’s transformative power with the fear of human beings and is debilitating consequences. The weak are raised up by fear in God and the strong and wise (by wordly standards) are crushed by their fear of human beings. The current powerlessness of the Church proves that we need to repent of our lack of fear of God and plead with Him to restore it.

The early Church went through an extraordinary growth which, according to Acts 5, was accompanied by an atmosphere of great fear of God. We often think of fear in a purely negative sense, but can fear be a good thing? Does God actually require us to fear Him in order that we may have the very best relationship with Him and realise His most powerful works in and through us? What if God is not working through His Church because we’ve lost our fear of Him?

This week, we pick up where we left off in Acts in 2024. Last year, we saw how the early church had everything in common. They sold their possessions and laid them at the apostle’s feet. They were sold out for Christ. Now we read the tragedy that is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They saw what was happening in the church and they wanted in. To get in, they have to choose from two gates. One leads to life, and the other to death. Here we see what happens when we take the wide gate.

Baptism shows us what God has already done for us. When we are Baptised we declare to the world what He’s already done. It is rich in symbolism and the perfect demonstration of the righteousness and mercy of God almighty. The Apostle Peter draws a comparison to the flood of Noah to bring out all of this rich meaning.

God almighty, the creator of all things and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God of new beginnings. When we’re given a new start by Him, we’re called to hold tightly to Him through the changes that come, surrender to Him in every area of our lives and commit ourselves fully to Him. Hanna and her son Samuel are a great example of this kind of commitment to God, and reveals to us the great blessing of starting a new with Him every day through faith in Jesus Christ and by the power of His Holy Spirit.

As the new year opens before us, we’re invited into new beginnings. Fresh starts need us to let go of the old and hold tightly to the new. God calls all of us into the ultimate fresh start by letting go of our perceived control and trusting rather in His. This letting go is hard, it’s a struggle and a wrestling with God. Jacob’s life can teach us how to do this, and how everything changes when we cling to God rather than ourselves and the things of this world.

The year is about to end, with that comes new beginnings and changes. Some of us fear change, but God shows in His creation and in His Word how He uses change to change us for the better. It may be scary and uncomfortable, but in God’s all powerful hands, change will be used to make us more like Jesus Christ and therefore closer to our Loving Heavenly Father and Creator. Change can be good and bad, it’s not change that needs to be embraced, it’s the One who is in control of change Who we should embrace, now and in the year to come.

Jesus says in John 17 that knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal life. Knowing God for Who He is is the most important thing any human being can do. To know Him is to allow Him to teach us Who He is through the Scripture, His Son Jesus and His Holy Spirit. This Christmas may we know the Word, commandments and precious promises, the loving grace and mercy and the awesome, majestic power and authority of God’s Prophet, Great High Priest and King of Kings.