In the first chapter of Acts, Luke introduces several important gospel perspectives that recur throughout the rest of the book. Principal among them is that the book of Acts is first and foremost a book about Jesus. He is the primary character of the book and the centre of all its events.

Acts portrays the continuing work and teachings of Jesus, following His ascension, in a way that no other book of the Bible does. Acts demonstrates that as the flowering movement spreads, Jesus Himself is at work. The Church is Jesus’ instrument to continue His work in the world.

In the closing chapter, we encounter the Apostle Paul, a man sold-out for Jesus. To his dying day, he preached Jesus every opportunity that was given to him regardless of the consequence. Not all of us are called to be preachers, but all Christians are called to participate in a common race. How will you finish?

Paul spent a few days in Galatia, a few days in Philippi, a few weeks Thessalonica and a few days in Athens. Then he spent 18 months in Corinth. Now, as a kind of climax to his missionary work, he is in Ephesus.

Ephesus is a great city, a trade hub. It's full of culture, money and temples, politics, soldiers, merchants and slaves. And power. Not only was it a place of civic power but it was also a place of religious and spiritual power. It is no accident that Luke begins Paul’s time in Ephesus with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There must be nothing secondhand about the Holy Spirit’s power when you are faced with the powers of the world.

A gambler will tell you to “hedge your bets” as a way of protecting yourself from losing everything. In the world of investing, it is called having a diversified portfolio. In the ancient Athens, building an altar to the “unknown god” was just another attempt of playing it safe.

In Acts 17, Paul is in Athens, a place famous for philosophy, works of art and temples. At the time, there was no other place on earth where so many idols were exhibited. In that place of false worship, Paul does not play it safe. He proclaims Jesus and the resurrection.

Do we play it safe? We live in a rich and diverse city with many different ways of hedging our bets, but is God calling us to something more?

We're pleased to welcome Pr. John Snelgrove back to The Bridge this Sunday. John will continue the series in Acts: Jesus' Mission, following last week's message on knowing God’s will.

We will see from Acts 15:27 how God opens doors, specifically how God uses seemingly small people like us to swing open those doors. We will be using the story of Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth in Acts, to examine some important principles for life in 21st century Hong Kong.

As a kid, did you ever play “telephone”? It's the game where one person whispers a message to another, which is passed through a group until the last player announces the message. Communication experts tell us the errors that occur in these types of games happen because of “filtering and completing.” This means that people have tendency to filter out parts of a message so it will be more favourable. Sometimes we “complete” messages when they have been impeded by noise or distractions filling in what we think the speaker may have said.

You don’t have to be a Christian for very long before you start to ponder questions like “What is God’s will for my life?” or “How do I hear God’s voice?” As Christians, we want to better understand His designs are for our life, but are we sometimes guilty of “filtering and completing” when God tries to speak to us? How can we better understand God’s will?

This week we are blessed to have a guest speaker, Kevin Clouse. Kevin is originally from Michigan, USA. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Boston and Western Seminary in Michigan. He has served as a pastor in both Massachusetts and Michigan. He has served in missions in China, Central America, and South America, and currently is part of a ministry with Japanese expatriates in the U.S. He's pretty sure that heaven will have lots of snow, Chinese food, and mountains full of hiking and ski trails. Most of all, he loves to develop disciples who love Jesus and want to advance God's glory among the nations.

The message will be from Acts 12:1-24. Sometimes God answers our prayers in miraculous and incredible ways. Sometimes he doesn't. But no matter what, God's Word keeps spreading and attracting more and more people to Jesus.

In the two thousand years since Jesus death and resurrection, countless numbers of people have come to Jesus. Their lives have been transformed. They have been given new purpose. Yet no conversion is more histrionic then that of Saul of Tarsus. His is the most renowned in the history of the church. This is the same man who sanctioned Stephen’s death and then sought to destroy the church. Saul went from home to home to arresting men and women sending them to prison because of their faith in Jesus. Then Saul met Jesus.

Saul’s conversion was dramatic. And as a result, he became the apostle to the Gentiles. Today we continue to benefit from the impact of his life. Though it will likely not be a Damascus Road, we too need an experience – a personal encounter with Jesus Christ in order to be converted. Like Paul, we need to turn to Jesus in faith and repentance and receive a call to serve Christ and his church.

Stephen was the very first, but many have followed in his steps to martyrdom.

He was described as full of the Holy Spirit, of grace, power and wisdom. When the religious leaders could not persuade or dissuade Stephen, they stoned him to death.

St. Augustine wrote of Stephen, “Those who preach Christ must become both the fire and the gentle dove of the Holy Spirit.” St. Augustine tells us that as a Christ follower we should be both like a dove, acting with unblended kindness, and like fire by standing with fervor.

Stephen’s greatest gift to the church was not only that he was her first martyr, but also his stalwart decision to uphold the mission and the life of the church.

Video can be seen here.