The Unstoppable Work of the Spirit | Acts 9 to 13

There is a playbook for stopping a movement: go after the leaders, scatter the people, keep out the dangerous converts, divide the group from the inside, and bring in the power of the government. In Acts, the early church faced every page of that playbook. And yet Luke sums up the result in a single sentence: "But the word of God increased and multiplied." (Acts 12:24)

In this message from our series on Acts, Pastor Tomas Portillo walks through five chapters that show why the church survived: not because the church was strong, but because the Spirit of God was behind it.

What we cover: The Spirit conquers the enemy (Acts 9): Saul, the church's fiercest opponent, becomes its boldest witness. The Spirit breaks barriers (Acts 10): Peter and Cornelius show that the gospel reaches every nation and every language. The Spirit forms a people (Acts 11): in Antioch, Jews and Gentiles become one new people called Christians. The Spirit guards his church through suffering (Acts 12): a king who kills an apostle is brought down, while the church keeps multiplying. The Spirit sends his church (Acts 13): Barnabas and Saul are set apart for the work God called them to.

The same Spirit who worked in Jerusalem and Antioch is still at work here in Chowchilla. The question is not whether his word will keep advancing. It will. The question is whether you will be part of it.