This is the final part of our series, Live Boldly, in which we explore the lives of the apostles and the early church in the book of Acts. Acts begins with Jesus telling His disciples that they will receive power as the Holy Spirit comes upon them, empowering them to be witnesses to the good news of the Gospel to the surrounding region and all the earth. Acts ends with an imprisoned Paul, who despite his captivity, continues to boldly proclaim Jesus to the early church AND his Roman captors. This emphasis on the unhindered message of the Gospel, despite the physically hindered messenger, reveals that perhaps the greatest witness to the power of the Gospel message is the weakness of the Gospel messengers. This means whatever is going on in your life, whether or not you feel bold enough or able enough to be an effective witness to the Gospel of Christ, God can use you to spread the message of His grace to the ends of the earth.

In Acts 17 we will look at Paul’s famous sermon on Mars Hill in which he confronts the rampant idolatry in the city of Athens. Through this account we can learn how we can boldly confront the idols in our own life that we worship without knowing it. And we can learn how to boldly stand against and help to gently tear down idols in our own culture that keep others from the real and everlasting God of hope.

The first century church wrestled with a particular question in regard to God’s ceremonial laws found in the Old Testament: should followers of Jesus keep themselves separate from the rest of the world in order to remain righteous? This Sunday we will look at God’s revelation to Peter in Acts 10 and how this challenges the church, both then and now, on their ideas of who they should be spending time with and how they should see themselves in relation to those around them.

Jesus had the gift of getting right into people’s hearts and lives, primarily by asking questions. In fact, the gospel accounts record Jesus asking over 100 questions and answering over 60 questions during his lifetime ministry - and people flocked to Him because of the truth of His message and the compassion they felt He had for them. This morning in Acts 8 we will see Philip ask one question that will lead an unlikely man into greater hope than he could ever have imagined possible. And hopefully we can see that we too can point others to life and hope in Jesus by loving them enough to be a good question asker and a good listener in their life.

In Acts 8 we see the first followers of Jesus boldly and generously proclaim the good news that they themselves had once received of being reconciled to God through Christ. By fulfilling their mission to spread the good news of the Gospel, more people began to believe the good news and began to follow Jesus - and there was much joy wherever the early church went. This week we learn that the response to God’s gift of salvation has to be much more than simply a “what-is-in-it-for-me?” approach, but rather we must give away what we have been given in order to bring others into the hope and joy of Jesus.

After receiving the promised gift of God’s Spirit the first Christians boldly proclaimed that eternal life and forgiveness were found in Jesus alone. That because Jesus willingly gave His life on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God against all the sin and evil committed by His people we can be free and forgiven and be friends of God again, and He can dwell intimately with us through His Holy Spirit. In Acts 4-5, the religious leaders of the day hear these men and women telling others about life in the name of Jesus, and these leaders arrested them and demanded that they stop talking about their faith. Instead they kept meeting together for worship, and kept telling everyone they knew about life in Jesus. Let’s observe what this passage has to say for us as we steel the courage to defend the faith in our time.

The biggest accusation against Christians by our world is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy simply means being or believing one thing but your life looking like the complete opposite. So we end up looking like a well polished home bearing the name of Christ but inside we are filled up with the decay and rot of some particular sin. Hypocrisy is interesting for followers of Jesus because what we believe, we believe by faith - and Faith in itself cannot be seen. So how are people supposed to know that we even have faith? The Bible says that we can turn faith which is unseen into something tangible that those around us can see so that they can experience the beauty of salvation in Jesus. So let’s continue in our series going through the book of Acts together as we look at a shocking example of how God dealt with an instance of hypocrisy that threatened to undo the young church in Acts 4-5.

"Today, we live in a world of rapid and radical change. Mankind’s hearts are filled with fear and dread, frustration and despair. Mankind has proven incapable of coping with the pressing problems of our time…the pollution of the environment, the rising tide of crime and violence, sexual rebellion, alcoholism, drug addiction, abortion, pornography…widespread political, social, and moral decay. Oh, what an hour for Christians to become involved in the greatest spiritual harvest since Pentecost…This is the hour for which we were born to set in motion a mighty sweeping spiritual revolution that will turn the tide and reveal to mankind that the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ offers the basic solutions to every problem facing mankind.” - Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International. What this letter tells us is that the mission and the need for ordinary, Spirit-filled Christians to boldly and lovingly take the message of Jesus to those around us has not changed since the days when the first church was born in the book of Acts and in fact is now more urgent than ever before. So, let’s continue this morning and see what God would have us continue to learn as a church about how to live out our mission as a church in South Metro Denver and as individual Christians living in our world.

What is the church supposed to be? What is it supposed to do? Does it exist for those already saved or does it exist for those who are still lost and drowning? Or does it somehow exist for both but in a very different way expected? We are in a series going through the book of Acts together as a church and last week we saw how the very first church was born. With God’s Holy Spirit in them the young church was bold in talking about the mighty works of God in their life. Bold in calling out and repenting of sin. Bold when they were gathered together. And bold when they were scattered during the week. And eventually the people around them took notice because these were ordinary people with extraordinary boldness in talking about Jesus and bold in how they prayed. So let’s pick up where we left off and see how that young church lived out it’s mission after the coming of the Holy Spirit. And hopefully from them learn what OUR mission should be as a church gathered and as the people of God scattered.

This world needs more common people like you and me who consistently talk about their faith, who courageously overcome sin, courageously ask for forgiveness and live transparent lives, and who boldly pray for others. We need more common, everyday people who follow Jesus with clarity and conviction in the home, at work and at school. More men and women, young and old who are bold enough to stare down unpopular beliefs in the culture and to believe what the Bible says instead. We need more common people like you and me who live with boldness and bravery. Do you believe that God can transform an ordinary, fearful person into someone who has uncommon and unflinching clarity in the face of fear and who chooses to boldly follow Jesus no matter what? What if boldness and bravery is actually what you were made for? What if there was something that you already have if you are a Christian that could make even the most trembling, ordinary person bold and brave in the face of fear no matter their personality? Join us as we go through the book of Acts learning what it means to Live Boldly.