Things take a significant turn for the early church in Acts 9:20-43 as Saul, once their primary persecutor, converts to Christianity and exits the scene to prepare for his future ministry. Meanwhile, we catch up with Peter, who continues to follow Jesus' example while boldly sharing the Gospel throughout the region.

Saul of Tarsus is on his way to threaten and murder the Christians in Damascus when he has a life-changing encounter with God in Acts 9:1-19. In this dramatic account of his conversion, we see God knock Saul down to show him the error of his ways and extend his free gift of salvation to even the most unlikely person.

When Saul's persecution begins to scatter the church, Philip travels to Samaria, where he encounters a sorcerer and an Ethiopian eunuch. As we meet this interesting cast of characters in Acts 8, we study the varied responses to Philip's preaching while learning important lessons about evangelism, salvation, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

In an incredible God-ordained circumstance, Philip finds himself in the desert sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a traveling Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-40. In the same way, we are also called to share the message of salvation through Jesus with the people God places in our path. With Philip as our example, we learn how God often orchestrates circumstances for us to present the Gospel, how we should respond when we find ourselves with an opportunity, and how to obtain the power to be bold as we share.

Stephen concludes his sermon in Acts 7:37-8:3 with bold accusations against the religious leaders for continually failing to truly follow God’s law, turning to idolatry, missing His glory, and being spiritually dead. As their outrage culminates in Stephen’s death by stoning, we are introduced to Saul, who launches a rampage of persecution against the early church.

As Stephen is stoned to death, he utters some truly remarkable last words in Acts 7:59-60 that reveal the powerful transformation Jesus had upon his life. In much the same way, Jesus wants to change us too. As we study, we learn how He can bring about this change in our lives by rescuing us from our sins and giving us new hearts that will help us face any circumstance while glorifying God —just like Stephen.

In one of Scripture's most powerful sermons, Stephen recounts Israel's history to reveal how it foreshadowed Jesus as the Messiah while addressing the people's repeated rejection of God’s plan. As we study the first half of his message in Acts 7:1-43, we cover their history from Abraham to Moses to see the prophetic implications, the beginning of God's plan for the Jewish people, and how Jesus was pictured throughout this history.

Accused of blasphemy by the religious leaders, Stephen begins his defense in Acts 7:2-8 with a history lesson on God’s promise to give Abraham’s descendants the land of Israel. Starting with Stephen’s statement, we trace Israel’s history to the present day to explore who should possess the land and why, the current narrative in the Middle East, and how these controversies are leading to God’s ultimate plans for the Jews in the End Times.

The early church is growing and doing great things in Acts 6, but complaining begins to creep in as organizational challenges arise. As we study their problem, we see how church leadership addressed the issue and how their solution continues to influence the organization of the church even today.

While Stephen is preaching about Jesus in Acts 6:8-15, a group of men come against him by spreading lies and accusing him of sharing misinformation. And unfortunately, twisting the truth is the oldest trick in the book and is still in play today. As we study how truth is distorted, we learn how to combat these attacks by knowing what Scripture actually says and how we can become people full of faith and power, like Stephen.