Alexandria Covenant Church
All Christians go through three stages, “This is easy!” – “This is difficult!” – “This is impossible!”, on their way to becoming a spiritually mature follower of Jesus.
---
God can do amazing things through ordinary people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit was given to all believers and the church was born. The church is God's chosen instrument in the world for sharing the good news about Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is all about the unhindered movement of God throughout the world as the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed through the church. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the early church was an unstoppable movement that proclaimed the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ as the only way to eternal life. Today, the church empowered by the Holy Spirit is called to continue God's redeeming work in the world by fulfilling God's mission of making Jesus known to the ends of the earth.
Acts of the Apostles 9:19-31 NLT
1. Preparing for ministry by spending time alone with God. (9:19-22)
2. Preparing for ministry through real life experiences. (9:23-25)
3. Preparing for ministry through the care and support of other believers. (9:26-31)
Challenge: Preparation for ministry does not happen overnight. God is not in a hurry. He will take the time He needs to break us of our will and self-reliance, so that He can build us up to be dependent on Him and live aligned to His will. Our preparation can be lonely and painful, but is intended for greater ministry effectiveness. Effective ministry requires that we surrender our will to God’s plan for our life and that we realize that we can do nothing without Him.