The book of Acts serves as a history of how the church got its start. To summarize the entire book, many scholars use Acts 1:8 to serve as an outline for the book: Jesus said, "You will be My witnesses in JERUSALEM and in all JUDEA and SAMARIA, and to the ends of the EARTH." A good outline for the book of Acts will be this:
1) The church began in JERUSALEM
2) The church spread into JUDEA and SAMARIA
3) The church spread to the ends of the EARTH
To fully grasp the locations, you may need a map:
Jerusalem was the local town--the people they knew.
Judea and Samaria were the larger context-perhaps the county or even the state.
The ends of the earth means the churches with different cultures throughout the world.
Acts 1:1-5
Following his resurrection from the dead, Jesus appears multiple times to many different people to prove his resurrected to new life and overcoming death. In the 50 days that span between the Jewish holiday of Passover (when Jesus was put to death) and the Jewish holiday of Pentecost (when the church began), Jesus spent 40 of those days walking, talking, and encouraging his followers for what was to soon come...the outpouring of God's Spirit on the people. He told his 11 disciples (minus Judas the traitor) to remain in Jerusalem until this happened. This language was somewhat foreign to the disciples except for the time they heard John the Baptist refer to it as Jesus noted in Acts 1:5.
Acts 1:6-23
Peter steps up to take on the first act of business as a leader for the group. He felt that Judas needed to be replaced with a new disciple. When they began the selection process, they began with prayer. Each year we as a church have the opportunity to select from among our congregation men to serve as leaders. It can be tempting to select people who are good leaders, strong workers, or popular among the people. And while these qualities are good and needed, we must always begin our selection with prayer. God must have the ultimate voice in who we choose!
Acts 2
Ten days following the ascension of Jesus, the promises is fulfilled when there was a large influx of people in Jerusalem celebrating the Day of Pentecost. The Festival called Pentecost was celebrated by the command of God in Exodus 23:16 & 34:22 for the purpose showing joy and thankfulness for the Lord's blessing of harvest. At this festival, the first fruits of the grain harvest were presented as a offering to God. Jews from all over the Roman world would travel to Jerusalem to make their offerings in the Temple. It was during this holiday when all work had ceased for a time that God chose to send His spirit!
As people were crowded in Jerusalem to make their offering, God's Spirit came on the 12 apostles (disciples) and it looked as if flames burned on their heads. Peter began to preach the first sermon in the common Jewish language of Aramaic. While he spoke, the other eleven translated the sermon into the tongues of other people present: people from all over the known Roman world (Acts Acts 2:9-11). At the conclusion of the sermon, the people began to ask "What now?" They needed instructions on how to respond. And Peter's instructions (led by God's Spirit) was to 1) turn from your sins (repent) and be immersed (baptized) into water and the result would be 1) your sins will be forgiven and 2) God's Spirit will live inside you.
The result of the sermon: Over 3000 people were baptized. They began living in a community with a common belief and sharing in the things of God. They shared when people had need for many of them had come from other parts of the world.
Acts 3
This is the second of sermons Peter preached in Acts. This time, his attention grabber was his healing a man who could not walk. When people noticed the man could walk, they wondered what was happening which gave Peter the opportunity the opportunity to preach. He now had an audience. The purpose of miracles, whether by Jesus or the Apostles, was always offer credit for the message they had to preach. This was the case here with Peter. The result of this message, another 2000 people were baptized.
Proverbs 9
Wisdom and foolishness is again compared. The key verse here is found in Proverbs 9:10--Wisdom comes when we truly have a healthy fear of God. Fear=Respect. When we fear snakes, we respect them enough to stay away from them. We have a negative connotation of fear today however; to be afraid is somehow a bad thing. Replace "fear" with "respect" and you will understand the gist of this verse. The beginning of wisdom is when we respect God for sho He is and who we are not.
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