Thirty years; that’s all it took, In the 30 years the
Christian church gained sufficient growth and credibility to become the largest
religion the world ever saw and to change the lives of hundreds of millions of
people. And it all began with a dozen men, a handful of women and the Holy
Spirit.
The Book of Acts is their story.
While it’s tempting to think of the early Christian church
as the pinnacle of unity, purity, and perfection, this is misleading. Author
Wilson Paroschi writes, “We find the early believers, including the apostles,
entangled with misconceptions, personal conflicts, prejudice, and several other
difficulties typical of human nature. They were not infallible. What they were
able to accomplish in such a short period of time, however, is a perpetual
testimony of how powerfully God can work when men and women, despite their
limitations and failures, humble their hearts in prayer and submit their lives
to the control of the Holy Spirit.”
Author Paroschi quotes from the book Acts of the Apostles and Counsels
for the Church both written by Ellen G White:
The church is God’s appointed
agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission
is to carry the gospel to the world…The church is the repository of the grace
of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to the
‘the principalities and powers in heavenly places,’ the final and full display
of the love of God.
The church, enfeebled and
defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object on
earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard. The world is a workshop in
which, through the cooperation of human and divine agencies, Jesus is making
experiments by His grace and divine mercy upon human hearts
Reading this book can help you catch a glimpse of what God
did through his people in the days of the Apostles and what He wants to do
through his people today. If you would like to read the first chapter of this
book on line for free click here
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