A Growing Church | Paula Finch | 14th September 2025

Last Week, Ps Andy gave an introduction to the new series "A Growing Church", and explained how this also fits within our overall theme of Magnify and Multiply.

This week, Ps Paula begins the series in earnest by speaking about being 'Devoted to the Word'. The key scripture here is Acts 2:42 (NLT) "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer".

In Acts 2, we read that Peter, a disciple, had just preached the gospel to a crowd. In verse 41, it lets us know that the ones who devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching were those who received Jesus' words, were baptised and added to the church - 3000 souls! Those who gave their lives to Jesus became devoted to His words. What we see in the book of Acts is the word of God come alive to people who were willing to be devoted and were willing to change their lives.

The whole of Paula's message is about how our lives become shaped by reading and being devoted to the word of God. Without this, our lives drift, according to our feelings at times and certainly not in alignment with God's plans for us. We must read and apply Gods word if we want to grow.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT) says "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right". We need the bible and Christian friends to feed us truths not pander to our emotions!