Acts – Salisbury Baptist Church

Longing for the Milk

30th November 2025

Becoming a true Christian is more than giving a public response such as raising a hand or going down the front of the meeting; it is a spiritual happening, a new birth that produces hunger for the Word, a turning of the heart toward God. A fruit is a love for truth, and perseverance even when faith brings hardship. The evidence of real conversion is not only the initial belief but also the following growth, love for Jesus, and willingness to suffer for His Name. To know that one has been born again is to find a new appetite for spiritual life and a settled certainty that God's hand has begun a lasting work within.

Success and Failure before God

16th November 2025

God's measure of success is not worldly achievement but humble obedience and openness to His working. From Moses' mixed record of faith and failure, through Ananias and Sapphira's tragic deceit, to Paul's call to walk by the Spirit, the message urges believers to live under the New Covenant with sincerity and surrender. Where hearts are quick to repent and yield to the Spirit, divine grace brings renewal both personally and corporately, what Scripture calls revival.

When God Takes Control

26th October 2025

Being filled with the Spirit requires not just a matter of emotion or human effort, but of surrender, allowing the Holy Spirit to take control so that what flows from us reflects His will rather than just our skill. In Acts 6 and 7 we see how ordinary believers, chosen for practical service, became instruments for extraordinary purposes when they were full of faith, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit. When we trust God's leading and obey even in small tasks, He often expands His work through us far beyond what we plan, providing what is needed and directing events for His glory.

Servants of the New Covenant

19th October 2025

Ministry does not begin with human decision or church appointment, but with the call of Christ Himself, who chooses and empowers His servants through the Holy Spirit. The first ministry was entrusted to the apostles as witnesses of the risen Lord, and every act of true service flows from that same divine commissioning. Our sufficiency is not just in ability or training, but more deeply in the Spirit who gives life and power to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. True ministry is therefore far more than a role or profession, it is participation in the continuing work of the risen Jesus.

Whose I Am and Whom I Serve

12th October 2025

To be a Christian is more than believing in God or attending church; it is to belong wholly to the Lord Jesus Christ and to live in His service. Paul's words in Acts, "Whose I am and whom I serve," reveal the two inseparable halves of genuine faith-relationship and obedience. We belong to Christ through the new birth, when we personally trust Him for forgiveness and life, and we serve Him by offering ourselves to His purposes through the gifts He gives. Real Christianity begins when we can say with assurance that we are His, and our lives become worship as we serve the One we love.

The Journey to the New Covenant

24th August 2025

God takes ordinary people and fills them with His Spirit to do extraordinary things. The journey from the Old Testament to the New is not a rejection of what came before, but a movement into the fullness of God's revelation in Jesus Christ. It is through repentance and faith in Christ's once‑for‑all atonement that believers receive not only forgiveness but also the indwelling Holy Spirit, who transforms common lives for eternal purposes.

How Disciples Are Made

17th August 2025

Making disciples is not a two-step process of evangelism followed by teaching; rather, it is a single, powerful act of delivering and teaching the Gospel. The true biblical method for making a disciple is to 'gospelise' them, for the Gospel itself possesses the power of God to both convert a person and turn them into a learner of Christ. The very same message that brings salvation is also the message that strengthens believers, builds them up in the faith, and equips them to endure, demonstrating that the Gospel is the beginning, middle, and end of our journey with Him. When you have led someone to Christ, do not leave them to struggle on in their own strength, but teach them with encouragement to understand that they have not only received forgiveness and a conversion experience but also are the recipients of the Holy Spirit whom they need to learn to walk with for the power to live the Christian life. Salvation is from faith to faith. We needed faith to trust in Christ for our reconciliation with God and we then need to continue in faith that his Holy Spirit will help us live the Christian life.

Walking by the Spirit

10th August 2025

Christians are called to freedom, which is found not by indulging our sinful nature, but by choosing to walk by the Spirit. This continuous process of being filled with the Spirit has tangible results in our lives. It leads us to find our unique place of service within the body of Christ, helps us discover and operate in our spiritual gifts, and produces the profound joy of the Lord. This Spirit-given joy becomes our strength, enabling us to persevere through all circumstances and participate fruitfully in God's kingdom work.

Revival Power

3rd August 2025

The filling (control) of the Holy Spirit is not exclusively an individual experience; it can be a corporate one that transforms an entire community of believers. When a church is filled with the Spirit, its members are moved to act with collective boldness, great faith, and radical generosity, holding all things in common. This is not a political system forced upon people, but a voluntary outpouring of love prompted by God's control. We ought to pray that God would revive His church again, that His Spirit might take over and produce the same unity, power, and witness that characterised the early church.

Filled by Boldness

3rd August 2025

There is a crucial distinction between what is meant by "receiving the Holy Spirit" and "being filled with the Holy Spirit" although sometimes both might happen at a one event or at separate times. While every believer receives the Spirit at the moment of salvation (a foundational transaction of faith in Jesus Christ) being filled with the Spirit is when He the Holy Spirit takes control. This filling results in a divine empowerment to do God's work, such as speaking His word with a boldness that is not our own. The Christian life involves not only the certainty of having received the Spirit but also a continual possibility of being filled by Him to live effectively for Christ in an evil world.