17 August 2008

Overview of Acts Chapters 1 – 8.
Acts covers the first 30 years or so of the church from AD 30 to AD 63.
The author was Luke and Acts follows on from Luke’s gospel. He appears as an eyewitness.
Acts may have been written soon after the events recorded. There is no mention of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 or Paul’s death which was in AD 67. F F Bruce thought Acts was written by 64 AD.
Content. Acts is a book of expansion. Acts 1 : 8 is outworked. The progress of the gospel to Rome is described. Acts ends with Paul preaching in Rome. From there the gospel can go out in all directions.
The key character in Acts is the Holy Spirit. Really it is the “Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.”

Acts 1 : 1-11. The Ascension. Final teaching and instructions from the risen Lord Jesus. Read v 4-8.
Key verse – 1 : 8. Gift. Promise. You will be - - - You will receive - - -
12-26. The twelve. Choosing Judas’ replacement.
Acts 2 : 1-41. Pentecost. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. The promise fulfilled.
Read v 22-24 and 32-33. Peter’s Christ centred teaching. Note how the giving of the Holy
Spirit is linked to Jesus’ death, resurrection and exaltation. (v 41. 3000 added)
42-47. A snapshot of the very early church.
Acts 3. The healing of the man at the Beautiful Gate. You will receive power! (4:4 now 5000)
Acts 4: 1-22. Peter and John are arrested. They preach before the Sanhedrin.
23-31. A great prayer meeting. They pray for boldness, signs and wonders.
Acts 5 1-10. Ananias and Sapphira die. Enemy at work. A miracle of judgement. v11 Great fear.
12-16. Extraordinary healings and miracles. V 15 Peter’s shadow. (5:14 More and more added)
17-26. Opposition. Arrest. Supernatural escape. (“Heavenly man” stuff!) More preaching.
29-42.Peter preaches before the Sanhedrin. Gamaliel’s wisdom v38-39. Flogged.
Acts 6. 1-7. The choosing of the seven to “wait at tables.” The issue was over tension arising from
unfair distribution of food between the Greek Jewish widows and the Hebrew Jewish
widows. Note – the chief requirement was to be full of the Holy Spirit, v 3 and 5.
There is no sense of looking for those with secular skills and gifts and setting them in place.
“Here I am with all my gifts and skills ready to help God out” is not the way they did things.
8-15. Stephen’s ministry. Opposition. False witnesses. (6:7 Rapid increase in numbers.)
Acts 7. Stephen’s sermon – an appeal from the history of Israel and his stoning.
Acts 8. Great persecution breaks out. The church scattered and they preached wherever they went. v 4.
4-25. Philip’s ministry in Samaria. The gospel breaks out beyond the Jews into Samaria. See 1 :8.
The Samaritans believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit. Read v 14-17.
26-40. Philip and the Ethiopian Official who believes / is baptized. Much supernatural goings on!

Three Recurring Themes.
1. A Passion for Prayer. Acts 1 : 14. They all joined together constantly in prayer - -
Acts 2 : 42. They devoted themselves to - - - prayer.
Acts 4 : 23-31. What a prayer meeting!
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade a, your prayer life, b, the church’s prayer life,
c, your part in the church’s prayer life? What steps could you take to move up the scale by the end of 2008?
2. A Passion to Make Jesus Known.
Acts 2 : 32, Acts 3 : 16 and Acts 4 : 8-12. Extracts from great sermons.
How can we apply these verses to our lives here and now - Acts 1 : 8, Acts 4 : 20 and Acts 8 : 4?
3. Being Filled With The Holy Spirit. (He is seen as the source of power, boldness, unity, generosity, guidance)
Filled / full. Acts 2 : 4- All of them. 4:8 -Peter. 4:31- All of them. 6 :3, 5and 7:55 Stephen.
There appears in these verses to be a state of being full of the Holy Spirit and also experiences of being filled with the Spirit at a time of need of special equipping. How would you explain this? What have you experienced?
Different terms are used. 1 : 4-8. Gift. Promise. Baptised with. Comes on you. Receive power.
2: 38-39. Gift. The promise is for you and your children.
8: 4-7. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them. They received the Holy Spirit.
What is the evidence of being full or filled with the Holy Spirit?(We can be full of other stuff -3:10,5:3,5;17, 8:23)
How filled or full of the Holy Spirit are you? How can we get and stay filled? R Duncan

Robert Duncan, 17/08/2008