LESSONS FROM ACTS
Thoughts come from a wide variety of sources. Some from messages I have heard from individuals, some from assembly Bible studies, some from home life, and some from books I have read. The Holy Spirit is the Teacher who makes them real to me. "Acts of the Apostles," by G. Campbell Morgan "What the Bible Teaches, Acts," by J. Anderson "The Life Application Bible." Tyndale House and Zondervan "Acts, a study in New Testament Christianity," by J. Heading "The Acts of the Apostles," by A.C. Gaebelein
Acts is an eyewitness account of how the message of the Gospel began with a small group of disciples and traveled across the Roman Empire. They preached in synagogues, schools, homes, marketplaces, courtrooms, streets, hills, ships, and desert roads. Wherever God sent them, lives and history were changed.
The Lord Jesus' plan was for them to begin at Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. Some Jews believed, and many Gentiles believed and received the Gospel. Assemblies were started, and believers began to grow in the Christian life.
We need to read through Acts occasionally and travel along with Peter, James, John, and the women to the upper room in Jerusalem. Then, go with them into the city streets and to those big baptisms—journey with Phillip to Samaria and Peter to Joppa and Caesarea. Go with Saul to Damascus and then with Paul and Silas to Macedonia. Visit them in prison and stand with them in the courts of Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. Take a ride on the ship to Rome and listen and learn for yourself what a 21st-century version of an “Acts” man or woman would be like. Then, join them at the last of the book of the Acts of the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit in His Church.
Make notes of the main places: Judea, Samaria, Syria, Cyprus, and Galatia. Jerusalem, Macedonia, Achaia, Ephesus, Caesarea, and Rome. Make notes about the main people: Peter, John, James, Stephen, Phillip, Barnabas, Cornelius, James the Lord’s brother, Timothy, Lydia, Dorcas, Silas, Titus, Apollos, Agabus, Ananias, Felix, Festus, Agrippa, and Luke. Make notes about the conversion stories: The lame man, the Ethiopian, Paul, Cornelius, the cripple, Timothy, Lydia, the possessed damsel, the jailer, Crispus, the 12 at Ephesus, the crew on the ship. As we take the time to learn what happened to real people like you and me, we will realize what heritage is and, more importantly, what great work we are responsible for in our day.