Pastor’s Note

Empowered to Witness

This Sunday marks the beginning of our brand-new sermon series, “Acts: Church on the Move.” The Acts of the Apostles is the New Testament’s historical account of how the early Christian church began and spread after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Particularly, Acts is important because it is the Bible’s blueprint for how God grows His church and guides His people into new territory. Acts starts right after Jesus’ ascension, with the disciples stepping into the unknown. They had no roadmap except the Holy Spirit’s leading. The early believers faced challenges, uncertainty, and opposition, yet they adapted and kept moving forward. Acts shows us what can happen when God’s people are unified around a Gospel-centered purpose. The church grew from a small group in Jerusalem to a movement touching the entire Roman world.

In many ways, our church resembles the early church. We are in a season where we are stepping into the unknown. The path ahead is uncertain and we will face many challenges in the years to come. Sometimes, the task at hand seems daunting. But we can find hope in the book of Acts. The mission of the church has never changed; it is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. However, God may be calling us to take the mission somewhere new, unfamiliar, and daunting. The good news is that we are never alone as Jesus followers. We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, and it is our mission to take the hope and love that is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the very ends of the earth. Jesus commands us to be His witnesses in a broken and depraved world and we must be willing to take a leap of faith, step out in obedience, and trust that the same Spirit who launched the first church is still at work in us today. 

So, let us step boldly into this new season, hearts open, eyes fixed on Jesus, and hands ready for the work ahead. The same Spirit who lit the fire in the upper room is alive in us today, calling us to move, to speak, to serve, to witness, and to love in His name. Church, the movement isn’t over. In fact, it has just begun.