We conclude Lesson 44, examining how the church recognised the Scripture God had given and how over the centuries, Christ followers worked hard to refute heresies and develop a clear understanding of God’s Word. The church worked out issues like: who is the final authority in matters of life and faith? Who is Christ? Who is the Holy Spirit? How does God’s salvation work? What did the cross achieve? How do we receive Christ’s work on the cross into our lives? Along with that, we also examine the missteps in church history that lead to wrong thinking and wrong theology. Access the notes at https://interlocked.online/s/44-The-Maturing-of-the-Church.pdf

How did the church grow since AD 33? This lesson examines four distinct periods of growth. Starting with the beginning of the church at Pentecost, we then examine what the young church was like during the time of the Apostles. How did the early church learn? How did they teach each other? How did they receive the New Testament Scriptures? Access the notes at https://interlocked.online/s/44-The-Maturing-of-the-Church.pdf

We conclude this lesson by observing how the apostles and Jewish believers recognise that the Gentile believers of Christ are also part of the church. Then we survey the remainder of the book of Acts to see how the church gradually takes on more Gentile characteristics as it spreads throughout the Roman Empire. We see that the book of Acts is describing how the early church grew, it is not prescribing a formula for how the church should function. Access the notes at https://interlocked.online/s/43-The-Church-Grows-Out-From-Israel.pdf

On the day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit started the church by indwelling Jesus’ Jewish disciples. The apostles then remained in Jerusalem and continue to share the gospel, leading more Jews to come to faith in Christ. But it seems they forgot Jesus’ command to take the gospel to all of Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So the Holy Spirit took action to get the believers to realise the worldwide mission God had given them. How did the Holy Spirit do it? He taught the disciples through a series of mini-Pentecosts. Access the notes at https://interlocked.online/s/43-The-Church-Grows-Out-From-Israel.pdf

We finish up Lesson 42 by examining what the baptism of fire is, what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and how He gives each believer at least one spiritual gift so that we can help the body of Christ grow. Access the lesson notes at https://interlocked.online/s/42-The-Holy-Spirit-Directs-the-Church.pdf Also access the additional paper about “One Another” here: https://interlocked.online/s/One-Another-Commands.pdf

We continue examining the work of the Holy Spirit during the church age. We take a look at what it means to “walk by the Spirit” and then examine closely what the baptism by means of the Holy Spirit means. Access the lesson notes at https://interlocked.online/s/42-The-Holy-Spirit-Directs-the-Church.pdf Access the supplementary notes at https://interlocked.online/s/Walk-by-the-Spirit.pdf

God the Father and God the Son sent God the Holy Spirit to the earth to indwell and direct believers. This was the beginning of the body of Christ, the church age. But how does the Holy Spirit direct the church? Before we begin to look what the Holy Spirit does in the church age, it’s very helpful to observe the Holy Spirit’s work throughout history. And so we begin by observing how the Holy Spirit operates in the Old Testament. He comes to help prophets, leaders, craftsmen, judges and kings. But though He does empower, the Holy Spirit does not permanently indwell believers in the Old Testament. This as we will see, is different from how He operates in the church age. Now, when a person comes to faith in Christ for salvation, the Holy Spirit immediately births new spiritual life and He permanently indwells the believer. Access the lesson notes at https://interlocked.online/s/42-The-Holy-Spirit-Directs-the-Church.pdf Access the supplementary notes at https://interlocked.online/s/Walk-by-the-Spirit.pdf

We conclude this lesson by examining very carefully what happened on Pentecost morning and Peter’s speech. He used Old Testament passages to describe how there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and how that was proof that the resurrected Christ had ascended to heaven and was now seated at the right hand of the Father. And together, they had now sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers. This was what Jesus had promised to do. Peter told the Jewish people that Pentecost day that if they wanted to be part of the returning Kingdom of God, they would have to put personal faith in their Messiah and He would give them the Holy Spirit. Access the lesson notes at https://interlocked.online/s/41-The-Arrival-of-the-Church.pdf

Jesus postponed restarting the Kingdom of God because the Jews as a nation rejected Him. Instead, He announced that He would introduce an interim period that would include the church age. Before going to the cross, He told His disciples that when He went back to the Father in heaven, He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit whose job would be to remind and teach the disciples of all that they needed to know. Looking carefully at Scripture, we see that Jesus did not complete all that He had to do at His first coming. Therefore, we would expect that when He returns at His second coming, He will finish the rest of His work and usher in the Kingdom of God. In the meantime, Jesus would start His church and use the church to spread the good news of the gospel. Access the lesson notes at https://interlocked.online/s/41-The-Arrival-of-the-Church.pdf

We conclude this lesson by examining closely what Jesus said about the interim period, this era of time where He delays the return of the Kingdom of God due to Israel’s rejection of Him. Jesus describes what to expect and He introduces something unexpected: the church age. We will see briefly how the church age begins, how it ends and how the interim period closes with the Tribulation of Israel and second coming of Christ. Access the lesson notes at https://interlocked.online/s/40-The-Delay-of-the-Kingdom.pdf