1 - Preparing For Acts

Welcome to the Book of Acts! Today we begin an adventure. We will regularly be traveling back in time, nearly 2000 years, to watch our forefathers and mothers live out their faith. Many of them actually knew Jesus. They had watched Him minister and had listened to Him teach. And what we read in this book is their obedience to what they heard Him tell them to do. He had been a good teacher, and they loved Him. They had watched Him ascend into heaven. They believed in Him. So when He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit, they waited. When He told them they would do the same kinds of ministry as He had done, they did. They stood in the same place in the Temple where He had stood, and taught and healed the crowds just as He had. They gathered in homes to eat together, discuss the Word and pray just as they had done with Him traveling through Galilee and Judea. He assured them that after He ascended He would still be with them, so they continued to expect Him to lead them as their Lord. When He said He would send them to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and even the remote parts of the earth, they went.

As we read Luke’s historical account of the first 30 years of the Church, the example of these early believers continues to challenge us. Indeed, the Book of Acts has often been used in the past to inspire revival. Sooner or later someone reads the book and asks, “Why don’t we do those things anymore?” And if they refuse to listen to the excuses someone always supplies, they’ve taken the first step toward a fresh move of God.

God’s strategy to win the world

God’s strategy to win the world can be put into two words: multiply Jesus. Like seed in the hand of the sower, He said He would take Spirit-filled men and women and scatter them everywhere. Jesus would be their Head, and they would be His Body. So Jesus’ ministry would not end at His ascension but shift into high gear. No longer would Jesus be limited to being in one place at a time. Now His people could carry Him everywhere.