In Matt. 16:19, Jesus told Simon Peter that “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” As such, Peter had a unique ministry. This verse does not establish Peter as the first Pope, as some would try to say, but he is a special emissary of Christ as the chief representative of the apostles to open doors to the kingdom of God that had formerly been closed in Judaism. Once these doors are

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Just the other day I saw an advertisement which was marketed to women (and I think that women today have become very susceptible to this marketing ploy in particular) and this ad was declaring that yes, women, you can have it all. I’m not sure what they were selling, but I understood the message they were conveying very well. When I saw that ad I couldn’t help but think that Christians are especially vulnerable to this type of thinking as well. The idea that somehow being a Christian will bring about both spiritual and physical blessing in my life, and

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Acts is an account of the birth of the church. God called out a people who would be the body of Christ by great power and signs and wonders. In Acts we see something of a New Testament parallel to the Israelites coming out of Egypt by great signs and wonders of Moses. And in yet another parallel, we also see that the devil attacks the congregation of the Lord in various ways, through persecution, and through corruption from within. So as the church is growing mightily, there is also strategic attacks on the church from without and within. We

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There is a well known phrase in religious circles where someone is said to be “preaching to the choir.” The inference is that the choir members are not the sort of people who need to hear that particular message. The choir, as we all know, being the most zealous for the church. And yet I have known some pretty degenerate choir members in my day, so I’m not sure how well that idea really stands up. But to some extent, any congregation that comes out at 8am on a Sunday morning, especially if you happen to be on vacation, sort

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The most popular message in Christianity today is perhaps best captured in the title of a book by the pastor of the largest protestant church in America, entitled, “Your Best Life Now,” by Joel Osteen. That book stayed at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for 200 weeks. His sermons are televised to over 7 million viewers in over 200 countries. His church services in Texas are held in a former sports arena which held 56000 people at it’s dedication. His net worth is estimated to be 56 million dollars and he lives in a 10.5 million

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As we have been looking at the formation of the first church in our study of Acts, we have seen that various demonically inspired attacks on the church were occurring through persecution, through hypocrisy, and through intimidation. But in each situation we have seen that rather than these attacks defeating the church, it only served to make it stronger, make it increase, and make it more effective. We see the church becoming as a result of various trials more united in doctrine, more purified in spirit, more bold in preaching the gospel, and more effective at winning the lost. Now

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As we have been studying the book of Acts, much has been said about the work of the Holy Spirit. He was the One who the apostles were told to wait for, and His coming was what inaugurated the new church in Jerusalem in a baptism of divine power. Jesus said in John 16:13-15 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me,

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We looked last week at persecution against the church and how paradoxically persecution actually benefits the church. We found that persecution produces identification with Christ, it produces proven faith, persecution produces allegiance to God, not man, persecution produces effective praying, and so forth. Basically, we showed that persecution tends to strengthen the church and increase fruitfulness in the church. History reveals that persecuting the church only causes the church to become purer and more powerful and more effective. Now, as we will see illustrated in this passage, Satan changes his strategy. If direct attacks do not destroy the church, he

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