A STUDY IN THE BOOK OF ACTS
The New Testament Church in Action
PART 1
Why Acts?
Today we start a general study of the Book of Acts of the Apostles. Several years ago, the Holy Spirit directed me to do a personal study of Acts, noting the actions of the apostles under the power of the Holy Spirit as a guide to what we in the church today should be doing.
It was very eye opening.
Many scholars state the book is not really about the apostles but about the apostles under the leading of the Holy Spirit and that it does not have a formal ending as it is continuous actions to be performed by the church today. It is our example of completing the great commission.
Before Jesus ascended, He gave His followers what we now call “The great Commission”.
Matthew 28: 18-20: 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mark 16:15-20: 15. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Luke 24: 46-49: 46. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48. And ye are witnesses of these things. 49. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
John 20:21-23: 21. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you, 22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Acts 1: 4-8: 4. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
All these references together combine to give us a full picture of the “Great Commission”.
We are to go into all the world starting with Jerusalem, Samaria and into all the world. Miracles and healing will follow us. We will be given the Promise of the Father which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which will give us the needed power to complete our work. And Jesus leaves us with His peace.
Luke is the agreed upon author of both the Gospel of Luke and Acts. Both written to a man named Theophilus. No one can really give us a definitive answer as to who Theophilus really was.
The two most likely scenarios is that Theophilus was a Gentile believer who Luke wrote to verify His belief and assure Him of the truth of the Gospel message and His Salvation. Another is that He was a high-ranking Roman official who was charged with the defense of Paul at one of His trials in Rome and Luke mounted His defense with a very clear picture of the Life, Work, Death and Resurrection of Jesus and then of the work to begin the spreading of the Gospel in obedience to The Lord’s Command.
Luke is known as the beloved physician, an educated man, who Paul meets in Troas. (Col. 4:14 and Acts 16:10). Acts 16:10 does not specifically name Luke as joining Paul’s Party. What is interesting is that Luke changes the narrative from “they” to “us and we”, indicating He had become a part of Paul’s team.
Acts does not describe the works of all the Apostle’s. It centers on James, John, and Peter. Peter’s mission in the first 8 chapters and Paul form chapter 9 to end of book.
So now let’s look a what I like to refer to as instructional or informative verse that lead us in what the mission of the church was, is and should be.
Act 1: 4-5,8: 4. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence… 8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
First Jesus’ followers are instructed to wait in Jerusalem for the “promise of the Father”. Which Jesus goes on to explain is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I do not believe the waiting or tarrying in Jerusalem is the important factor, it is waiting on the coming of the Holy Spirit, the baptism in the Holy Spirit that is the important point here. For thousands of years we have been taught that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not for today. I respectfully disagree. The Holy Spirit gives us power, we are born again by the spirit and then we are given power by the spirit. Two different events. Sometimes they do occur at the same time but generally they occur at different times, mainly because of current beliefs on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and we will see this as we continue our study.
The next verse is Acts 1:13-14: 13. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
I am reading verse 13, just to remind you of the of the 11 disciples who where left and then the short description of the 120 who were in the upper room, on of who was Mathias.
What I consider the most telling verse of this whole chapter is that they where with one accord in prayer and supplication. Different translations say with “one mind,” “same purpose”. The Complete Jewish Bible says, “single minded.”
So, the church is to be of one accord, one mind, same purpose and single minded. About what?
I believe it is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the spreading of the Gospel. The Unity of the church is very important. If we are not united in the basic tenants of our belief, we will hinder the return of Jesus and so much more. Our basic beliefs are the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection being the cornerstone. As Paul says, if He is not alive, we believe in vain. The other is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. We will continue to discuss this as we continue our study of these different “instructional verses” in Acts.