In the final part of our first look at Acts (don’t worry, we won’t be pausing for long!) Chris ends with the second half of Acts 8 where Philip encounters the Ethiopian eunuch. Starting with the passage from Isaiah that the eunuch “happened” to be reading Philip explains the whole of the good news about Jesus and, having heard this, the eunuch is so filled with the Holy Spirit that he asks to be baptised there and then. As Philip was led to the eunuch that day, how is God guiding us in our journeys today?

Chris also leads us through a guided prayer to help us in our understanding of the scripture, whilst Mike and Lynne lead our sung worship.

The story of Acts continues this week with the recounting of Stephen’s vision of Jesus being welcomed into heaven and his subsequent execution by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy. These events trigger a great persecution of the early church and scattering of the believers from Jerusalem. However as Chris explains, this is not a defeat! It is stage 1 of God’s great plan to start spreading the message of the Gospel beyond Judea. Philip, Peter and John travel to Samaria where the Holy Spirit breaks out in a powerful way. How are we to reflect the power of the Spirit in our lives? And how did all of these events affect a young Pharisee named Saul?

Andy leads the rest of the service, speaking about his experience of God in recent travels whilst Mike leads our sung worship.

We left the story of Acts last time with Stephen, one of the most Spirit-filled disciples encountered so far, arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin to stand trial. This week Chris looks at what he says in his defence, his sermon before the ruling officials. Stephen takes the accusations levelled at him and systematically demolishes every single one, showing that God’s Spirit was behind everything in the Law that the Sanhedrin profess to follow and also that the Spirit cannot be contained behind legalism and restraint. God’s power is active everywhere! What does that mean for us today?

Susan leads the rest of the service with prayers for the developing situation in Morocco, whilst Pete and Nick lead our sung worship.