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CARS Clinic
Saturday, March 24th @ 9:00a
The Bridge Church Reno
If you are a single mother or older person and in need of regular maintenance or small minor repairs on your vehicle; please sign up for our CARS clinic.  On June 24th at 9am the CARS team will be at the church helping with those things.  Please sign up at thebridgereno.com/cars

Student Ministries Car Wash
Saturday June 24th
1101 California Ave. Reno, 89509 (The 76 Gas Station at the corner of Booth and California)
After all the thunderstorms have past it’s time to get your car washed.  The Students in our youth group will be hosting a car wash on Saturday June 24th from 11a-3p.  All donations will go to the Student Ministries summer programs and help kids get to camp this summer.

Message Notes

Faithful When Tested

June 18, 2023

We have covered a lot of the book of Acts and learned so much about how God built the early church.  

In this last portion of the book the focus is turned to Paul.  A man who used to rigorously persecuted Christians until he had a physical encounter with the risen Jesus Christ.

His life takes an incredible turn as he himself becomes a Christian and begins to be a witness to everything he saw and heard in this encounter.

This gets Paul into a lot of trouble with the Jewish and Roman authorities. God tells him that he will have a chance to tell his story in Rome.

Paul knows that this might mean he faces death over all of this.  But he is not dissuaded, he wants to finish the race strong.

At this point he is telling his story to King Agrippa.  A Jew that is king of Judea.

Scripture for this Sunday: Acts 26:19-32

Once again Paul is having to defend his faith. And as the risk of sounding like a broken record he just tells his story, because Paul is confident in his conversion. That moment was so powerful in his life that he had to share that story over and over again.

Ananias told Paul when he went into Damascus after this encounter.  You will be a witness of what you have seen and heard. So Paul knows that this is part of his job, sharing this story, telling everything he saw and heard to anyone who will listen.

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.
Acts 23:11

Paul is confident in his calling
At this point Paul knows that he is going to take his message to Rome and he can be confident in sharing openly with king Agrippa here and Festus.

At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. 
Acts 26:24-25

Paul is confident in the cross
Paul was more confident in the resurrection than anything. An empty cross, an empty tomb. That's why he shared it with anyone he could.

Paul wanted to finish strong.  God wants us to finish strong.  Three things that scripture is clear on and things that you see Paul doing.

Be more kingdom focused than earthly focused
Be more calling focused than circumstance focused
Be more others focused than self-focused
Previous Messages Can Be Found Here

Small Groups Talk About It

Watch the latest Message Summary:

Discussion Questions:
  1. Share a time when you were determined to fishing something well.  How did you end up doing?  Were you able to finish well?
  2. What has been your favorite story or chapter of this series on the book of Acts?  Why?
  3. Read Acts 26:19-22. Who is King Agrippa?  What is Paul doing here?  How did he end up in front of this king defending his actions up until this point.  (You might need to read chapters 24-25)
  4. What “vision” is Paul referring to? Why would the Jews seize him for telling them to “repent and turn to God?” 
  5. Do you get the sense that Paul is confident when he shares this story? Why or why not? Why would Paul say he here to testify to “small and great” alike?
  6. Read Acts 26:23-26. Why is it at this particular moment in Paul’s story does Festus interrupt?  Who is Festus and what makes him different than King Agrippa?
  7. Read Acts 26:27-32 .Why does Paul claim that he knows King Agrippa believes the prophets?  Do you think the king might have been thinking about believing Paul?
  8. What does verse 29 tell us about Paul and how he feels about the gospel?  What does it tell you about that Paul wishes them to be Christians “except for these chains?”
  9. List some things that Paul is doing in the book of Acts to finish his ministry strong.  How can you imitate those things?  What other things do you think we should be doing in order to “finish strong?”

Further study for this week:
  • Monday: Read Acts 27:1-26
  • Tuesday: Read Acts 27:27-44
  • Wednesday: Read Acts 28:1-16
  • Thursday: Read Acts 28:17-31
    • How does the book of Acts end?
    • In what ways do you see God still building his Church today?
    • How are you are part of that?
Previous Messages Can Be Found Here