Grace Church Sunday Teaching

How can we continue the story of Acts, making Jesus known wherever and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in? Jenny shares a reminder to allow the gospel to daily shape us so that we can maintain our own spiritual fervour as Paul did.

Making sure we have the foundations right in our lives to successfully survive the storm.

As Paul is escorted to Rome as a prisoner, his ship encounters a ferocious storm. The ship is lost, but his life and those of the crew are saved! Paul’s response helps us to see how, with faith and trust in God, we can face the sudden storms of life.

How did God come into your life? The perception of Mary as a silent character in the nativity is completely untrue. The Magnificat is a wonderful picture of Mary’s worshipping heart turned completely to God and His purposes for her life.

We are able to see from Acts 26 how Paul, despite being in chains was able to seize this as an opportunity for evangelism. He simply shared his story and that is what we are encouraged to do as we trust the Holy Spirit to do the convincing.

Exploring how Paul shares his experiences of Jesus, explains scripture and challenges those around him to bring them to the point where those listening have to decide one way or another: do you believe?

Paul faces continued injustice and corruption, yet stands before kings with unshakeable peace. When we suffer, our anxiety often reveals we doubt God’s love, not His power—but Christ holds us fast, and our peace in suffering testifies to His reality.

In Acts 25, it’s increasingly clear that God is sovereign over the events taking place as he works out his purposes. Just as he is sovereign over our lives and the smaller details, so he is sovereign over the universe and the grand narrative of history.

Through Paul’s trial before Felix, Acts 24 shows that the gospel is always at work preparing, provoking and producing in the lives of people.

Acts 24 exposes a choice we all face: the world’s way of self-protection, manipulation and compromise or Jesus’ way of truth, integrity, faith and surrender. Through Paul’s trial, he demonstrates that God’s way, though costly, is always better.

Paul, in the face of extreme conflict walks with a good conscience before God and displays courage that is from God. Jesus offers us the same as we walk according to the Holy Spirit.

The core issue at the heart of not just Acts 23, but the whole narrative of the New Testament and of history is around the resurrection of Jesus and, therefore, his people. The truth of the resurrection changes everything about everything.

Why do some hearts receive the gospel whilst others reject it? Jesus teaches that it is down to the soil – the human heart. Pain and suffering is often God’s way of softening our hearts so the gospel can take root and produce an abundant harvest.

Suffering is more normal and more universal than we like to think in a modern world. Steve Petch, who planted Grace Church nearly 20 years ago, teaches from Romans 8 on the reality of suffering for all and the reality of future hope for all Christians.

Ever felt too broken for God to use you? Paul had Christian blood on his hands—yet became one of the church’s greatest missionaries. Discover how the gospel transforms rebels into witnesses, and why no past is too dark for God’s grace.

When Paul defends himself to the mob in Jerusalem, he doesn’t produce a legal argument, declare his innocence or even show contempt. Instead, he respectfully tells them his story about how Jesus changed his life. We should be prepared to do the same.

Prophecy was part of the early church experience and reassured the disciples of God going ahead of them and his sovereign will for the advance of the gospel even in the midst of opposition. The same remains true for us today!

Acts provides a unique insight into Christian discipleship as the only narrative in the Bible to happen after the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Acts 21, we see a beautiful model of the community in discipleship as well as its complications and cost.

On a significant day for Grace Church, where three new elders are appointed, Acts 20 has much to say into the relationships, experience, and responsibility of local church elders.

Paul’s pattern in Acts 20 reveals three essential movements of healthy church life: gathering together for fellowship and mutual encouragement, growing through faithful teaching of God’s Word, and going out on mission to make disciples of all nations.

The risen Jesus promised his followers in Acts 1 that the gospel would spread to the ends of the earth. By chapter 20, we see that the word and power have indeed spread in miraculous measure and they continue to spread in the year 2025.

When the gospel of Jesus is preached and heard and the power of Jesus is demonstrated and seen, there is fruit and there is opposition. We see this pattern clearly in Acts 19 and repeatedly throughout the book. It is still true today.

The Holy Spirit is promised for and empowers our mission, but we must also be aware of false teachers who can misrepresent our mission. As we share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is Jesus who changes lives – and this is our mission!

This preach explores our response to moments of trials, oppositions and challenges whether in ministry, in work, or in life and how God surrounds us with encouragement to keep going like He did with Paul in Acts 18.

We live in an increasingly polarising world where enraging others seems to take over engaging others in healthy conversations. Acts 18 has much to contribute on how Christians might respond to this situation and speak the gospel into this cultural moment.