Let’s continue with our thoughts regarding Jesus’ establishment of His Church.

How the Lord builds His Church in the New Testament:

The book of Acts is the record of the first Christians and the earliest Church.

Christ’s Church was established by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Acts 2.
Christ’s Church expanded evangelistically.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Jesus told the disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem (home), Judea (surrounding area), Samaria (nearby—to people not like us), and to the end of the earth (everyone everywhere!).

At first, Christ’s Church huddled in Jerusalem and didn’t go, the way Jesus commissioned them to go. So God stirred them up and out of their comfort zone through persecution and tribulation. We’ll consider persecution a little more next, but now, understand this: There was a great famine in Jerusalem, and because the Jews revolted against the Romans, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. This stirred Christ’s Church to go. Acts 1-8 is about Christ’s Church in Jerusalem. Acts 8-12 is about Christ’s Church in Judea and Samaria. Acts 13-28 is about Christ’s Church expanding to the ends of the earth.

One of God’s primary agents in this expansion was the Apostle Paul. Paul was not always Paul. He was born Saul of Tarsus. He was a serious Christ-hater and persecutor of the Christ’s Church. As Saul was persecuting Christians (Acts 9), God miraculously saved him and commissioned him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. Ironic, isn’t it? Saul’s persecution scattered Christians all over the place, and then God sent him (then, Paul) to be the Apostle to these distant lands.)

Next time: the expansion of the Church through writing.