Hello readers! We are back in full swing at the Institute. We dove into the New Testament book of Acts this week with Mitch Maher guiding us through it. We spent three day looking at the history, people, and stories in Acts.
Luke is the author of Acts and is credited with recording the birth of the church. Acts opens up with Jesus already having been resurrected and he is visiting the disciples. Now I don’t know if I would ever get used to hanging out with someone who was raised from the dead. Jesus was dead for three days. Modern technology today can help revive a heartbeat, but we aren’t digging people out of graves to restart their heart. All this to say, I can imagine the disciples were experiencing feelings of shock, confusion, amazement, disbelief, and excitement all at the same time. Back to Acts, Jesus has told them that he must leave to go be with the Father and that he is sending them the Holy Spirit to be their helper.
In Acts 2 we see the Holy Spirit fill the disciples and they begin to proclaim mighty works of God in many different languages that they had not spoken before. The crowd around them thinks the disciples are drunk. Now that the disciples are baptized with the Holy Spirit, it’s GO TIME! Peter stands up to declare that this is a sign from God and Jesus has been resurrected to the right hand of God. Peter says to repent and be baptized and three thousand people become believers that day. And so begins the church.
Jesus leaves the earth, but sends the Holy Spirit to empower the disciples and spur them to proclaim the message of salvation. The Holy Spirit does the same for believers today. The disciples are also performing signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit. These disciples have found the truth and are now spreading it. Shortly after the verse about the three thousand being saved it says in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The disciples are in Jerusalem when this occurs. In the next chapters, up until Acts 8, Luke describes how the gospel spreads through Jerusalem.
Acts 8-12 discusses the extension of the church to Judea and Samaria. Acts 13-28 discusses the extension of the church to the remote parts of the earth (Asia Minor, Aegean area, Rome, etc.).
What we can learn from the church in Acts is that there is transforming power in the Gospel message and in a personal testimony of someone who is devoted to the Lord. The disciples proclaimed it and lived it. Today we have technology, tracts, conferences, camps, and etc. to help spread the message of Jesus Christ. These are wonderful things, I’m simply pointing out that the Gospel is powerful on its own without bells and whistles. However I believe that we as a culture desire to be entertained and so we have come up with creative ways to spread the Gospel and that get our attention. A life transformed by Christ, someone who has done a 180°, is a great tool for spreading the Good News.
Acts happens to have a very detailed account about someone who did a 180° for Christ. His name is Paul, originally Saul. Acts 9 tells of his conversion and if you haven’t read it, stop reading this and go pick up a Bible. He goes from killing people who followed Jesus to devoting his entire life to following Jesus and telling everyone about it. He killed people because of Jesus and then was willing to be killed for Jesus. He is the man who went to the remote parts to spread the Gospel. He takes three missionary journeys.
On his first journey he is accompanied by Barnabus. They start in Syrian Antioch, then go to Cyprus and visit Salomis and Paphos, both cities in Cyprus. From there they set sail to Psidian Antioch, then to Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
Paul starts his second journey by saying, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” (Acts 15:36) He and Barnabas end up splitting ways before the journey begins. Paul on this journey meets Timothy around the area of Lystra and wants Timothy to accompany him. Paul and Timothy end up visiting Macedonia because Paul has a vision to bring the Gospel there. He also visits Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus on this visit.
Then on his third journey he goes to the Galatian region and Phrygia. He revisits most of the cities he went to on his second missionary journey.
Paul wrote thirteen out of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. These are the letters he wrote during his three journeys.
1st Journey: Galatians
2nd Journey: 1&2 Thessalonians
3rd Journey: 1&2 Corinthians, and Romans
The rest of his books were written when he was a prisoner in Rome or after his release from prison. And that is just a taste of the book of Acts.
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