Resistance builds strength. The church Christ builds is not without opposition. As disciples of Christ share the good news, the church expands and evolves. Opposition grows more intensely. Yet God remains unstoppable!

The glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is often held hostage inside the church's walls, locked in the dungeon of our hearts. The acceleration of the gospel moves inward before it can move effectively outward and forward.

Two critical events must be disproved in order to destroy Christianity – The resurrection of Jesus and the conversion of Saul. Resurrection is an absurd claim about a man already found to be dead. Such radical conversion of a man who went from one end of the extreme to another had to also be embellished in an attempt to draw greater possibility to the religion. Numbers of intellectual elites attempted to disprove such myth. However, they were converted to the Christian’s “way” in the wake of

their findings.

FRIEND DAY

A GPS provides several options to reach a specific destination from a point of origin. How do we get from A to B? Options abound. How do we navigate life and find guidance for a course, career, marriage partner? What is God’s will in all this?

Suffering shame for Christ's name accelerates the forward movement of the gospel into new frontiers. The Spirit of God, the power behind this Jesus' movement, turns dark times into life-

liberating moments outside the church's comfort zones.

Followers of Christ are called to testify to the truth of their experience of God's saving work. This testimony to truth may meet a warm reception or stir hatred. In the latter's case, it may boil down to sealing one's testimony with blood.

The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church began a series of forward movements for the kingdom of God on earth. Such penetration awakens stiff diabolical opposition. A church that moves forward will encounter the schemes of Satan.

FRIEND DAY

The church had to answer to some of the toughest questions throughout history. What makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ so distinct from other religion? Why is it so difficult to hear God’s voice and experience Him today? While there still remains those who await on answers to such question, the first church recorded in the book of Acts addresses these matters with conviction and growth.

After Pentecost, the church experienced growth, unity and worship. It is a time of fellowship and prayers as the believers are being filled by the Holy Spirit. But good times never last and how the first church handled the miracle and persecution during their time is a blueprint for CICC to follow.

Jesus sent the Spirit to form His body and to work out what He had already won for His disciples, i.e., our salvation. Without the Holy Spirit there is no church. Acts 2 shows what guarantees the establishment and expansion of His church until He comes again.