Acts Chapter One
As we start this month-long venture reading in Acts, I trust that you will be excited at what you can learn. I trust you will be challenged in your daily walk with Jesus to be obedient to Him and His Word. I trust that you will be more focused to learn what the Bible teaches and then apply these truths to your daily life. Please feel free to join in a dialogue about the readings. Starting today with chapter one, read one chapter per day until you get to the end of the Book of Acts, which will take you to the end of January.
As we start this month-long venture reading in Acts, I trust that you will be excited at what you can learn. I trust you will be challenged in your daily walk with Jesus to be obedient to Him and His Word. I trust that you will be more focused to learn what the Bible teaches and then apply these truths to your daily life. Please feel free to join in a dialogue about the readings. Starting today with chapter one, read one chapter per day until you get to the end of the Book of Acts, which will take you to the end of January.
Acts is a letter of history written by Luke to Theophilus. I remember one of my teachers in college talk about the fact that Luke was a physician. They have a tendency to be very detailed in everything they do. That’s a good thing, especially when it’s your body that is sick, you want the doc to find everything. Luke’s writings show this detail.
Luke is writing to tell us the things that Jesus did right up to the day He was taken back to Heaven. I like the phrase that Jesus "showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs". One of the big debates over the millennia has been the resurrection. Here, Luke is writing in the lifetimes of people who would be witnesses. He is saying there are many people alive who can verify what I am saying. Jesus proved over and over again during the forty days after His resurrection that he really was alive. Because of these proofs, the early church exploded in growth because those who saw Jesus were willing to die for the sake of the Gospel. No one is willing to die for what they believe is a hoax.
Chapter one includes verse 8 which tells believers in Jesus that the power of the Holy Spirit will be given. It will be dynamic power to fight the spiritual battle and win. Later we will read that they were so effective that they "turned the world upside down". Throughout the life of the church, as believers have truly been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, they have continued to see the supernatural. As we read Acts we will see many testimonies of the power of the Spirit working through the believers. That power is still available today. Let that be part of your prayer as you read this book, Lord fill me with your power.
What an amazing experience that must have been to be there while Jesus was lifted up from their presence, up through the sky, till they couldn’t see Him any more. It is hard to imagine the celebration and rejoicing in Heaven when He returned. Wow!!! And, for the folks standing there, the angels came by and asked why they were standing there like that. Any human can answer that question. We’ve never seen anything like this. I believe we live in a day that is very close to the promise of His return. We must be living ready.
I must be careful to not get too wordy in these comments, but I need to mention one more thing. Peter guided them in a process to replace Judas. He did this because of the Scriptures. This is a very important principle: do things because the Bible says to. That is always a good reason to do something.
Have a fun adventure in this month. Come back to this blog daily and see the comments people add. Add your own as well.
