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Dover Assembly of God

3.18.2018 | Acts - Week 1

Locations & Times

4790 Carlisle Rd, Dover, PA 17315, USA

Sunday 10:30 AM

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Weekly Bulletin

March 18, 2018 Welcome to Dover Assembly! We are so glad you have chosen to attend Dover Assembly this morning. It is not by accident that you are here. We believe that God has allowed you to be here so that you might receive all that He has for you. We pray you are blessed as you allow the Lord to work in your life. THIS WEEK Today 9:00 am ~ Coffee & Donut Fellowship 9:30 am ~ Sunday School 10:30 am ~ Worship Service 10:30 am ~ R.O.C.K. Children’s Ministries 1:00 pm ~ Spanish Service Monday 7:00 pm ~ Women’s Bible Study Wednesday 6:30 pm ~ FAMILY NIGHT UPCOMING EVENTS Women of Purpose Spring Tour Mark your calendars now for the Spring Tour. It will be held at Christian Life A/G on April 21. There is a sign up sheet on the Women’s table. Please sign up if you would like to join us. Yard Sale Our annual WOP Yard Sale will be held on April 13-14. There is a sign up sheet next week for all those who are able to help in this fund-raiser. While we appreciate all of your donations, PLEASE DO NOT DROP OFF ANY ITEMS UNTIL APRIL 8. The church does not have room to hold all the items until the yard sale. Thank you for your cooperation! Easter Sunrise Service Dover Assembly will be joining with other churches to Celebrate Resurrection Day with a sunrise service on Sunday, April 1 at 7:00 am next to Pinchot Park Lake. We welcome everyone to attend. Easter Egg Hunt Our annual egg hunt will be Sunday, March 25, following the morning service. We are in need of plastic egg containers and candy donations with which to fill them. Please bring all donations to the church and place them in the blue bucket in the foyer. BODY NEWS Youth Convention Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles will be sharing at the Friday evening service of this year's youth convention. PennDel has opened this service up for everyone, although all single service passes for that service will be 200 level seats in the Giant Center. The cost is $35. If you'd like to learn more or purchase a ticket, visit penndelyouthconvention.com. Membership & Water Baptism Classes If you would like to be a voting member of our church or want to follow the Lord in water baptism, please visit the Information Center and take the appropriate form on the wall next to the counter, complete it and return it to Pastor Jeff. We will notify you of the scheduled classes. Spaghetti Luncheon Report Many thanks to all who supported our Youth fundraiser luncheon last week. We raised $453 from the lunch and dessert auction plus another $300 in anonymous donations! PTL! Thank you so much for you continued financial and prayer support of our teens! Sanctuary Chairs Last week we announced the desire to purchase chairs to replace the current pews in our sanctuary. The board decided that rather than purchase the communion cup holders at $17 each plus shipping, the better choice would be to purchase 200 chairs at a cost of $41 per chair which includes shipping. Therefore, we are beginning an “Adopt-a-Chair” campaign. We are asking that everyone pray about purchasing one or more chairs at $41 each. We are trusting that every chair will have a “parent”. BGMC Offering Thank you to our church family for making this year’s BGMC day the best on record. We set a goal for the year of $1500 and we raised $579.47 on just that one day! Thank you so much for your faithfulness and heart for missions. PRAYER NEEDS Please take time to review and pray for those on this list. Drop them a card or call to set up a time to visit. They will be blessed! Shut-In ~ Helen S. Prayer Needs ~ Robin H. ~ Les K. ~ Lois P. ~ Marian T. ~ Jamie W. (Loralie Grace)

Last week...

Last week, Pastor Jeff talked about how we can boldly come to God as his children.

https://doverassembly.com/sermons/march-11th-2018

We are beginning a new series going through the book of Acts.

~ Acts was written by Luke, Paul’s companion and doctor.

~ Acts is the only inspired account of the birth, beginning and early work of the church.

~ Acts bridges the Gospels with the Epistles.

~ It is the frame-work from which we get all the letters written by Paul, Peter and James.

~ Acts is the outline and the Epistles is the filler of the outline.

~ Acts teaches us about the work and purpose of missionaries. It teaches about the defense of the faith, methods and themes of preaching and something that is vital to all of us--the person & work of the Holy Spirit

Acts has sometimes been called “The Acts of the Apostles”, but a more correct title would be the “Acts of the Holy Spirit”

The Holy Spirit is mentioned more than 50 times in this book, most notably using the terms:

Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Being Filled with the Holy Spirit, Being Led by the Holy Spirit

As a Pentecostal church, one who believes in the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, it is good to go back to the beginning, so we can truly understand our roots and what the Holy Spirit does, how he does it and through whom he does it.

Acts 1:1-3

We see from comparing notes, that Luke is the author of this book. He refers to Theophilus, which is also to whom he writes in the Book of Luke.

Luke 1:3

Most notably, though we see that the work of Jesus in the gospels is now going to be carried out by the Holy Spirit...

Acts 1:1-2

The Apostles are not the main thrust of this book. The Holy Spirit is the main figure.

In the Gospels, Jesus is the main figure. But in Acts, it’s the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:3

Luke is re-stating some facts to the early church (that we as Christians also need to remember).

That the resurrection of Jesus is not a myth or a fairy tale, but a real event that was witnessed by many people and not only witnessed, but these folks were shown convincing proofs that Jesus who was dead is alive again.

Resurrection Day is the single most important day in the Christian faith. It’s not Christmas, or any other holiday.

Because if Jesus was not resurrected then we are wasting our time.

1 Corinthians 15:14

That verse also tells us that while he walked around after he was raised, he didn’t just show himself to people, he continued to speak about the kingdom of God.

He preached to people.

Luke 24:44-48

Acts 1:4-5

So we have the guys who spent 3 years with Jesus. Probably knew more about him than anyone. If anyone could accomplish this on their own, it would be these guys, right? But Jesus tells them, not to go anywhere yet.

They were not sufficiently equipped. They didn’t have what they needed to fulfill God’s call on their lives.

God called them, but that wasn’t enough. They had the call, now they needed the empowerment.

They needed to ability to do God’s call. Because they could NOT do it by themselves.

You may be able to accomplish a lot in the natural. You may be able to do great things humanly speaking, but you can never accomplish spiritual things in your own ability.

There are great motivational speakers and counselors and the like and they may help you for a time, but unless they are empowered by the Holy Spirit, they can never instill in us true spiritual change.

Also notice that they had to wait for it. They had to seek it.

He compares it to John’s water baptism, but says they are somewhat different.

To be water baptized, the person had to fully submit themselves to John before they could be dunked.

The believer must fully submit to Jesus before we can be filled.

However John’s baptism was meant as a symbol to the world as to what happened. Your old man dies and is buried. The new person in Christ comes up out.

But Jesus said, something different is coming. That has nothing to do with water.

It is a full submersion of our lives by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:6

Remember some of the Jewish believers thought that Jesus was there to overthrow the Romans. Now they thought it was going to happen.

They thought that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was similar to when the Holy Spirit came upon some Old Testament leaders and they won battles.

But Jesus quickly stops that thinking.

Acts 1:7

Jesus didn’t say that it wouldn’t happen, he told them it was not their concern. It was God’s plan not theirs. Jesus wanted their minds to be focused on the task at hand.

Acts 1:8

This is the entire theme of Acts in one verse. It is a direct command from Jesus, in fact His last words before he ascended.

But his command does not come without the power and ability to accomplish it. We will receive the power of God’s Holy Spirit to do God’s work.

Our ability to be witnesses is not found within ourselves. It is an ability that we each possess that was given to us by the Lord himself.

And as soon as he gave them this command, he was gone.

Acts 1:9

But not much attention is given to His ascension. Because His ascension was not the focal point of this meeting.

The attention was to be paid on what God had told them to do.
1. Wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2. After you get it, be a witness of what you have seen and experienced.

Acts 1:10-11

In other words, quit looking up. Instead, look around. Don’t worry about where Jesus is going or when he is coming back. Trust me, you’ll see him coming just as you saw him going.

The focus is on the mission. Not when he is coming.

The reason for the mission is that he is coming back.

The return of Christ gives us the motivation to do the mission.

Knowing that he is coming hopefully spur us on. We don’t go huddle in a corner waiting.

Acts 1:12

Acts 1:4-5

Now a Sabbath’s day walk would have been about a half mile.

Why could they not wait where they were? Why didn’t God pour out the Holy Spirit there?

Because God wanted them to start in their hometown and work their way out.

Sometimes we may question what God does things. Suffice it to say, that God has reasons for everything he does.

Acts 1:13

History tells us that the upper quarters of a house were the nicest in the house. It was away from the rabble in the streets and they were used for assembly, study, and prayer.

Since it was a room where they had been before, it could have been Mary-Mark’s mom’s room where they met later.

Acts 12:12

Acts 1:13

It was basically the 12 minus Judas Iscariot.

All of what we have read is in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit and the very beginning of the apostolic ministry. This was about to be the birth of the church.

They were obedient, not fully knowing what all this meant, but knowing that God was about to do something supernatural and they didn’t want to miss it.

God desire to do supernatural things today. It is no different.

Everyone of us is called to wait upon the Lord, wait for his leading then wait for his power.

The power of the Holy Spirit is as real today as it was back on the day of Pentecost.

We are going to continue to delve into the person of the Holy Spirit and how he works today as we continue our study through Acts.

Sometimes we get comfortable with what we can do in the natural and we don’t call on or rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to do things that we cannot do ourselves.

Every church, especially Pentecostal churches need to start relying more and more on the Holy Spirit and not what our talents and abilities can do.

That is what we mean every week when we ask “Did you come expecting?"

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If you haven't already, be sure to check out our website and follow us on social media @doverassembly! Have a great week!

http://doverassembly.com