The Acts of the Holy Spirit - Introduction
WHY study Acts?
Two Major Issues:
Power Ministries (healings, deliverance, miracles, spiritual warfare)
Mission of Christ’s Church (the cross-cultural expansion of the Christian faith)
THEME of Acts – Acts 1:8
Power Ministries “shall receive power”
Missiology “shall be my witnesses”
WHY Acts is in the Bible
56% of the New Testament explains the origins and growth of the Christian movement.
The Gospels and Acts – have as their primary emphasis to help us understand why and how unbelievers become believers.
The Gospels lay down the foundation.
The book of Acts builds on the foundation.
ACTS covers 30 years – where the Christian movement grew from 120 Jews to over 100,000 Jews! (Plus literally millions of non-Jew Christians.)
WHO wrote Acts?
Luke
See Luke 1:1-3 & Acts 1:1
Luke was a medical doctor (Colossians 4:14)
“Theophilus” – love of God
Luke’s gospel tell us what Jesus did.
Acts tells us what Jesus expects us to do.
BIG Picture of Acts:
“The Kingdom of God”
Acts 1:3 & 28:31
What is the Kingdom of God?
Future as well as present: 1 Corinthians 15:24-26
Involves war against the enemy: 2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19
The retaking of what belongs to God: Psalms 24:1
Spiritual WARFARE:
Jesus’ invades satan’s territory – Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:23, Matthew 10:7 (declaration of war)
Jesus’ purpose – 1 John 3:8
The power of the cross – Colossians 2:15
Christ’s Kingdom in Action:
Luke 4:18-19
John 10:10
When Christ left, He left us to continue His work – and empowered us to actually do what He was doing!
Matthew 10:1
Luke 10:19
Matthew 28:19-20
Acts 1:8
Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria…
“These words symbolized the breaking of an almost infinite number of barriers in order that men and women everywhere might hear and respond to the Good News. Just as God in Christ had broken through the barriers which separated eternity from time, divinity from humanity, holiness from sin, so His people were to break through geographical, racial, linguistic, religious, cultural and social barriers in order that people of every race and tongue might receive the Good News.” – Paul Pierson, Themes from Acts ISBN 0830708197
Power…
Luke 24:49
Advantage of the Holy Spirit: John 16:27
Oh, yeah – but did it work? Was it a success?
ACTS GROWTH
1:15 Original nucleus was 120
2:41 Pentecost brought 3000 men to Christ
2:47 Daily growth
4:4 5000 plus women and children
5:14 Multitudes being saved
6:1 Addition became multiplication
6:7 Religious leaders being converted
8:12 Ethiopian saved (The invasion of Africa begins!)
9:35 Entire towns being saved
11:21 Great numbers of Gentiles being saved
13:12 Roman proconsul (governor) saved
14:1 Large multitudes
16:5 Increasing in number daily
17:12 Prominent women
18:8 Synagogue ruler and family come to Christ
19:20 The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed
TIMEline
Not all biblical scholars agree on the proper timelines for the events of the book of Acts, but this is a generally agreed upon timeline*:
YEAR EVENT
30 Pentecost
31 Persecution from fellow Jews becoming severe
32 The gospel moves from the Hebrews to the Jewish/Hellenists
Philip evangelizes Samaria
The gospel enters North Africa
33 Saul is converted, travels to Jerusalem
34-36 Paul in Damascus, Arabia and Jerusalem
Peter evangelizes Judea
37-45 Paul in Cilicia and Syria
Peter continues in Judea
The missionaries from Cyprus and Cyrene begin to win Gentiles in Antioch
46 Paul goes to Antioch
James takes leadership of the Jerusalem church
47-48 Paul’s first missionary term
49 Paul’s furlough
The Jerusalem Council
50-52 Paul’s second term
52-53 Paul’s second furlough
53-57 Paul’s third term
57 Paul’s furlough and arrest
58-61 Paul in Rome where he eventually dies
61-62 Paul’s possible release
63-64 Paul’s final arrest
*Taken from C. Peter Wagner’s book The Acts of the Holy Spirit: A Modern Commentary on the Book of Acts (ISBN 0830720413)– (I’d heartily recommend you purchasing this book as we go through our study – about $14 online)
Two Major Issues:
Power Ministries (healings, deliverance, miracles, spiritual warfare)
Mission of Christ’s Church (the cross-cultural expansion of the Christian faith)
THEME of Acts – Acts 1:8
Power Ministries “shall receive power”
Missiology “shall be my witnesses”
WHY Acts is in the Bible
56% of the New Testament explains the origins and growth of the Christian movement.
The Gospels and Acts – have as their primary emphasis to help us understand why and how unbelievers become believers.
The Gospels lay down the foundation.
The book of Acts builds on the foundation.
ACTS covers 30 years – where the Christian movement grew from 120 Jews to over 100,000 Jews! (Plus literally millions of non-Jew Christians.)
WHO wrote Acts?
Luke
See Luke 1:1-3 & Acts 1:1
Luke was a medical doctor (Colossians 4:14)
“Theophilus” – love of God
Luke’s gospel tell us what Jesus did.
Acts tells us what Jesus expects us to do.
BIG Picture of Acts:
“The Kingdom of God”
Acts 1:3 & 28:31
What is the Kingdom of God?
Future as well as present: 1 Corinthians 15:24-26
Involves war against the enemy: 2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19
The retaking of what belongs to God: Psalms 24:1
Spiritual WARFARE:
Jesus’ invades satan’s territory – Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:23, Matthew 10:7 (declaration of war)
Jesus’ purpose – 1 John 3:8
The power of the cross – Colossians 2:15
Christ’s Kingdom in Action:
Luke 4:18-19
John 10:10
When Christ left, He left us to continue His work – and empowered us to actually do what He was doing!
Matthew 10:1
Luke 10:19
Matthew 28:19-20
Acts 1:8
Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria…
“These words symbolized the breaking of an almost infinite number of barriers in order that men and women everywhere might hear and respond to the Good News. Just as God in Christ had broken through the barriers which separated eternity from time, divinity from humanity, holiness from sin, so His people were to break through geographical, racial, linguistic, religious, cultural and social barriers in order that people of every race and tongue might receive the Good News.” – Paul Pierson, Themes from Acts ISBN 0830708197
Power…
Luke 24:49
Advantage of the Holy Spirit: John 16:27
Oh, yeah – but did it work? Was it a success?
ACTS GROWTH
1:15 Original nucleus was 120
2:41 Pentecost brought 3000 men to Christ
2:47 Daily growth
4:4 5000 plus women and children
5:14 Multitudes being saved
6:1 Addition became multiplication
6:7 Religious leaders being converted
8:12 Ethiopian saved (The invasion of Africa begins!)
9:35 Entire towns being saved
11:21 Great numbers of Gentiles being saved
13:12 Roman proconsul (governor) saved
14:1 Large multitudes
16:5 Increasing in number daily
17:12 Prominent women
18:8 Synagogue ruler and family come to Christ
19:20 The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed
TIMEline
Not all biblical scholars agree on the proper timelines for the events of the book of Acts, but this is a generally agreed upon timeline*:
YEAR EVENT
30 Pentecost
31 Persecution from fellow Jews becoming severe
32 The gospel moves from the Hebrews to the Jewish/Hellenists
Philip evangelizes Samaria
The gospel enters North Africa
33 Saul is converted, travels to Jerusalem
34-36 Paul in Damascus, Arabia and Jerusalem
Peter evangelizes Judea
37-45 Paul in Cilicia and Syria
Peter continues in Judea
The missionaries from Cyprus and Cyrene begin to win Gentiles in Antioch
46 Paul goes to Antioch
James takes leadership of the Jerusalem church
47-48 Paul’s first missionary term
49 Paul’s furlough
The Jerusalem Council
50-52 Paul’s second term
52-53 Paul’s second furlough
53-57 Paul’s third term
57 Paul’s furlough and arrest
58-61 Paul in Rome where he eventually dies
61-62 Paul’s possible release
63-64 Paul’s final arrest
*Taken from C. Peter Wagner’s book The Acts of the Holy Spirit: A Modern Commentary on the Book of Acts (ISBN 0830720413)– (I’d heartily recommend you purchasing this book as we go through our study – about $14 online)
posted by Doug Love at 11:36 AM
