Audio now available for April 28th - Acts 9:19-31 "Saul: Growing in Faith through Preaching, Opposition, and Encouragement"

In our text today we are privileged to walk alongside Saul as he takes his first 'baby steps' as a follower of Jesus.  Of course, these are no ordinary baby steps of faith (he immediately is in the synagogue preaching that Jesus is the Son of God!).  And so we notice that the transforming power of Jesus can change people at any level of society - Peter and John were fishermen; Saul is highly educated in the Jewish law, a Pharisee of the Pharisees.  The love of Jesus transforms people from all backgrounds!  According to our text Saul's early growth in faith is from 3 primary dynamics - Preaching (learning by doing), Opposition (learning under pressure), and Encouragement (learning from others).  We pay special attention to the 3rd of these dynamics as we meet a man called Barnabas (which means 'the son of encouragement').  He takes a risk by coming alongside Saul when everyone else is afraid of him and brings him to the apostles and to the community.  These kind of relationships are fundamental to healthy church life!  We want to be a church that specializes in these kind of encouragement (discipleship) relationships!  Plan to attend our Discipleship Forum May 31st 6:30pm to explore Scripture together as we talk about how to promote these relationships at ICB!