LESSONS LEARNT FROM ACTS OF THE APOSTLES I

Testimonies of Students Who Have Taken the Course (Edited)

Nothing Can Hinder God’s Work

I learned that nothing can hinder God’s Work, whether it is an attack from without or within, God’s Work will still proceed. When God works, Satan also works but God always wins. What is important though, is that we must do God’s Work in God’s timing and way. I believe this is a common pitfall that we must take heed, for very often, we presume that we are doing God’s Work which might not be the case.

We draw strength and hope from God’s sovereignty that nothing can hinder His plan but I believe that we too have our human responsibility, which is to do God’s work according to His will. In terms of serving God in His timing, it means that we must never run ahead of God nor lag far from Him. When God has not given the go ahead, it would be foolish for us to presume that it is God’s will and to proceed by our own strength. Conversely, when God says “Go!” then we must go forth with all our might. In every area of service in the church, God must dictate when the ministry should start or when the mission team should cease. Likewise in my personal life, all areas of my life must be lived in accordance to God’s timing. I pray that I may be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to abide in God’s timing, as the Apostles were in the Book of Acts. The lecturer had so often reminded us, “the Holy Spirit is the Director of missions.” Likewise, I must let the Holy Spirit direct my life.

HH

God’s Work Must Be Done God’s Way

A few points to remind myself when I serve. God’s work must be done in God’s time and way, and not our time nor way. We must always seek the Lord in our service and His will to be done and not our will and we cannot serve in church using the ways of the world. E.g. A school teacher trained to teach and to handle a class of 30 students may be good in his field but if the Lord does not call him to be a Junior Worship (JW) teacher, he will not have the gift nor be filled by the Holy Spirit to teach and he won’t be able to serve in this area. We have to constantly ask God to enable us to serve Him and not to take it for granted. I must also remind myself to keep on praying before I teach, as I’m teaching God’s Word to the children.

We are now in the local church witness age where it is the visible church. As we are one body in Christ, we ought to be united in the Spirit. However, this does not mean that the professing church witness is united in everything. If someone’s doctrine does not belong to God, we must not be afraid to defend the Bible and to breakaway from this person. We can see from history, the attacks of the church which have come from without and now it is from within and Satan never stops working. We must be united in the Spirit to fight the devil. When there is a problem, we must pray and wait for the Lord’s direction.

LK

Be Swift to Hear

Something to reflect on the mob violence (Acts 7). We must not be quick to judge and comment, especially on social media. More often, people like to hide behind the keyboard and type their comments as if they know everything and are the righteous ones. In actual fact, those that appear in social media are more often than not a one-sided story and we should not be quick to comment, not knowing the full facts. The Bible teaches us to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath (James 1:19). This applies to our reactions on social media as well. When we do not know the full story, we will be easily worked up and judge unrighteously. As Christians, we must not defraud others. But when others defraud us, our response must be like that of Stephen. He asked God to forgive them and not to lay the sin against them. This was also what our Lord Jesus prayed on the cross, for the forgiveness of those responsible for His death and that includes us. This is what I need to remind myself, of how I must conduct myself in this world.

LK

Call to Bold Witness and Evangelism

The Acts of the Apostles also underscores the imperativeness of being a bold witness and evangelism in spreading the gospel message. Despite facing opposition and persecution, the early Christians remained steadfast in their commitment to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all nations. They seized every opportunity to share their faith, whether it be through preaching, miracles or acts of service.

This lesson serves as a reminder that we are called to be ambassadors for Christ in a world that desperately needs to hear the hope and redemption found in Him. As I reflect on the examples of courage and conviction displayed by the early apostles, I am challenged to step out of my comfort zone and to boldly share the love of Christ with those around me and trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to work through my weaknesses.

JC

Pattern of Church Growth and Missions

One of the many lessons that I learned and which encouraged me, is the spreading of the Gospel through the work of the believers in the early church. Sometimes, it is quite easy for us to fall into the trap of just reading through the Book of Acts simply as a recounting of events that happened in church history. We just tend to read and think, “The Apostles did this”, “The Apostles went there”, “Peter did this and that”, “Paul went here and there” and to just gloss over it.

However, while listening to the lectures and doing the reading logs for this course, I’ve been reminded to look deeper and to meditate as I read, instead of just trying to get the assignments done. After reading and studying the book of Acts, the title of the book that was given for our reading, “Pattern for Church Growth and Missions”, it made all the more sense. Even in modern missions, we see the same patterns being used by missionaries and ministries. In fact, this should be the case because what the Apostles did was recorded by God for our learning and benefit. We are to follow the examples they have set and to follow in their footsteps as they have done that which is according to God’s Will.

I thank God I have been blessed to be a part of the missions work in the Philippines and I see the same pattern being used whenever we would start any work or ministry. Unlike the amazing work of the Holy Spirit and the conversion of 5,000 souls (and more) on the Day of Pentecost, more commonly, when a ministry is planted, it begins as a small mustard seed. I have witnessed this many times.

Similar to the Apostle Paul, however, we always have some sort of starting location. For Paul and his team, they would go into the synagogue to preach the Word there first. For us, on several occasions now, I’ve realised that we tend to have our starting point on basketball courts. This is because most of the stations are initiated by a ministry to the children, like a Vacation Bible School. Due to the large number of expected turn-ups, we are then led to find a proper location to hold the meetings for the children. A house would be too small to fit all the children. A rented building would be way too expensive for just a short event. Therefore, basketball courts are the perfect choice – they are large enough to hold multiple classes in each corner of the court and even for activities and games and it is way more affordable, sometimes even free to use because it is open for such events. Basketball courts are also everywhere in the Philippines. This would also be advantageous for us because the children would immediately be familiar with the location and the parents would also be more ready to allow their children to attend.

After a few sessions of VBS and Children’s ministry, some of these children who were saved during these meetings would grow up to become believing youths. Some of the parents as well, were led to Christ through the Gospel meetings that were held for the adults. This would then bring about a proper start to the mission station, with the need to find a more permanent location to hold meetings and Bible studies and with the ultimate goal of starting a church worship service. And then as a few years go by and the congregation begins to grow, a church lot and building would be in the works.

BL

Pastor’s Comments: We are now entering the study of the second half of the Book of Acts. Let us come and learn God’s Word together. The humble seeker of God’s Word will surely receive much blessing from Him.

Yours affectionately,
Pastor Clement Chew