Ecclesiastes 7:1-4, 14

Acts 20:1-12

Despite the most difficult times of our lives, we can rest assured that God is on His throne and still working in the lives of His people.  This fact is readily borne out in today's message by Pastor Golden from the 19th chapter of the book of Acts verses 23 - 41.

Planning a successful trip requires foresight and hard work, and even with the "best laid plans", things often happen that turn our "best laid plans" into seeming confusion.  The Apostle Paul faced this problem too while planning to visit Jerusalem.  Listen today as Pastor Golden recounts Paul's plans and what we can learn from times of trouble. 

God sometimes uses miracles to demonstrate His mighty power and authority in the spreading of the gospel around the world.  In the message today, Pastor Golden explains many wanted to work great miracles in the name of Jesus, but that didn't always work according to plan for the Jews and other non-believers who tried to emulate the Apostle Paul.

Nearly all Christians are familiar with the Jesus' Great Commission statement in the gospel of Matthew.  But as our guest speaker, Jamin Eben, from Teaching Truth International so passionately highlights, the Great Commission is more than just spreading the gospel, it is also about making disciples - followers of Jesus Christ.

Acts 19:8-10.  In this section we see how God's Word spread quickly throughout Ephesus and the region nearby.  The Apostle Paul didn't let the rejection of some people thwart God's plan of salvation for the gentiles.  Instead, God used what we view as an obstacle and turned it into an effective means of witnessing to more people than seemed possible.  Praise the Lord, God still does that today!!

Acts 19:1-7.  In Pastor Golden's message today, we see how God moved in the life of the Apostle Paul to change "incomplete" believers into "complete believers".  These Ephesian believers didn't know about the work of the Holy Spirit and only knew about John's Baptism of repentance.  Becoming a Christian involves not only turning from sin (repentance), but also turning to Christ in faith.

Acts 18:24-28.  In this portion of God's Word, we discover that God uses believers in various places to accomplish His Will in spreading the gospel message.  Like those early believers, God can use us (if we're willing) to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God by being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

A message from Acts 18:18-22.  While the Apostle Paul travelled widely spreading the message of the gospel, he never wavered from his message to the gentiles and never forgot who or what he was.  Like Paul, when we find ourselves in different and difficult circumstances, we too can remain strong and faithful to the message of the gospel by keeping our focus on Christ.