The Challenge of Acts for Today`s Church
Peter Jeffery
When I lifted this book I knew it would
be a commentary on the book of Acts. The summary covers an overview of the
book. The introduction pointed out that
the book of Acts was really recording the ministry of Peter and Paul which
covered a period of 30 years and acts like a bridge between the Gospels and
Paul`s writings. Yes I knew it was
written by Luke but his purpose was to show how the various churches were founded. The title should really be The Acts of the
Holy Spirit as it "pulsates with life as the Holy Spirit gives power to
the preaching, promotes love for the brethren and guides and instructs in all
areas of church life." The early
church prayerfully sought the will of God and the Lord added to the church such
as should be saved. "Here is a
church moving out with the gospel, in obedience to the Lord`s command. It was no easy task. The world did not welcome the Lord`s people
and all manner of difficulties were put in their way; but they were faithful to
the command."
Acts chapter 1 opens with the Christians still
not clear as to the worldwide purpose and extent of the gospel. These men were Jews and they still kept to
the traditional belief that it was the Jewish people exclusively who would
receive God`s blessing, Acts chapter 2
records the coming of the Holy Spirit power at Pentecost. The most important fact of Pentecost is not
the sound of the violent wind or the tongues of fire, or even the Christians
speaking in other tongues, but that the people heard the wonders of God. 3000 were brought to a saving knowledge of
the Lord Jesus as a result. This
continued to be the main feature of Acts.
It was preaching in the power of the Spirit that caused them to cry out
"what shall we do?" and the answer was always "repent and
believe".
The emerging church experienced a great
sense of oneness. There was love,
fellowship and growth but there were also problems. Some were external such as the opposition of
Sadducees chapter 4 but there were other internal problems such as Ananias and
Sapphira chapter 5. The problem that
arose in Acts 6 was among men and women of whom there is no doubt that they
were true believers. This was
potentially more dangerous than the Ananias and Sapphira incident because it
could have split the church on ethnic lines.
But with great wisdom the apostles dealt quickly and fairly with this
powder-keg and the result was that the Word of God spread - verse 7.
The inevitable persecution against the
church continued and in chapter 7 Stephen became the first Christian martyr. From the depths of chapter 7 we are taken to
the soaring heights of remarkable blessing of chapter 8. Then the most amazing thing of all happens in
chapter 9 and Saul of Tarsus, the great enemy of the gospel is converted.
Peter continued his minstry in chapters
10 and 11. He was given the vision of
the sheet from heaven. The purpose of
this was to overcome Peter`s Jewish prejudice against preaching to the Roman
centurion Cornelius. Peter then preaches
to him and Cornelius is saved. A new
understanding begins to dawn upon Peter but the other apostles still have their
Jewish and anti-Gentile prejudice and Peter has to convince them otherwise. We read in the next verse they were still
preaching only to Jews.
The real breakthrough comes at Antioch
where the gospel is preached to the Greeks and a great number of these Gentiles
believe. Antioch then becomes the church
from which the first 2 missionaries are sent out - chapter 13. Paul`s first missionary journey is recorded
in chapters 13 and 14.
This first venture with the gospel into
Asia Minor raised a very serious problem and is dealt with at the Council of
Jerusalem as recorded in chapter 15
Would the Gentiles have to become Jews if they were to become
Christians? The dispute was settled at
Jerusalem where Paul and the Judaisers argued their respective cases before the
apostles.
Chapters 15 to 26 describe the second and
third missionary journeys as the gospel is taken further afield still and
eventually into Europe for the first time.
When Paul returns to Jerusalem he is warmly received by the Christians
there, but he is soon in trouble with the Jews - chapter 21. He is arrested and such is hatred of the Jews
that he has to be moved from Jerusalem to Caesarea for his own safety. 2 years are spent in prison at Caesarea
(chapters 24 to 26) until Paul is dispatched to Rome to plead his case before
Caesar.
2 years imprisonment were not wasted by
Paul. He took every opportunity to
preach the gospel and held nothing back as he preached righteousness,
self-control and judgement to the notoriously wicked Felix. His successor Festus dismissed the gospel as
insanity but King Agrippa was not left untouched - "almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian.
The journey to Rome (chapters 27 and 28) is
dramatic and perilous. The storm, the
shipwreck and the incident with the snake on Malta all demonstrate what a
remarkable man Paul was and that God`s hand was undoubtedly upon him. He had only been in Rome for 3 days when he
started to try and win the Roman Jews to Christ. The book ends abruptly with Paul boldly
preaching and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Moving Out with a certain message Acts 1
verses 1 - 11
What is a Christian? Is he just a follower of Christ? Luke wrote his Gospel and the Acts to show us
the real Jesus - Luke 1 verses 1 - 4.
Book of Acts is also written to Theophilus who needed to `know the
certainty of the things you have been taught." This is something every Christian needs to
know particularly young believers. Luke
was man who carefully investigated everything he had been taught about Jesus
Christ. He spoke to eyewitnesses and
obtained from them the facts about all that Jesus began to do and teach. In Acts he continues the story of Jesus. The Christian faith is not based upon a dead
martyr but upon a living Saviour who died and then rose from the dead. This may seem incredible to some but Luke
says that Jesus gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. And what can be more convincing than that
over a period of 40 days after his resurrection he appeared to his people to
rebuke, encourage and instruct them?
Luke singles out just one of these
appearances in verses 4 - 5. This is the
explanation of the amazing events that are to follow. Jesus baptised his apostles with the Holy
Spirit and this gave them the power to do all that Christ wanted them to
do. The few days of verse 5 refers to
Pentecost which was 10 days after the ascension. In the account of Pentecost in Acts 2 we are
not told they were baptized with the Spirit but filled with the Holy
Spirit.
If we are to know power to witness we
need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Witness is not a matter of technique but of the power of Christ working
in us and through us. Verse 8 makes
clear we will never witness properly for Christ without the enabling power of
the Holy Spirit. Witnessing flows out of worship. The prime need of the new converts is to
learn to worship. This means a living
and real experience of God in everyday life.
The believer who is filled with the Spirit cares only about pleasing God
and being obedient to him. His life is
controlled by the Holy Spirit, centred in Christ and seeks at all times to
honour God. Witness then becomes inevitable. Witnessing is not occasional happening but a
24 hour business. The gospel must be
spoken - Romans 10 verse 14. Witnessing
must not be confined to giving a testimony of your own experience of God.
They must be shown that they are sinners
- Romans 3 verse 23
under the wrath and judgement of God -
Romans 1 verse 18
and already condemned by God - John 3
verse 18
Must tell them that God demands
repentance - Acts 3 verse 19, 17 verse 30
so that they can then turn in faith to
Christ for salvation - Ephesians 2 verses 4 - 9, John 1 verse 12
The ascension - the angels had the great
encouragement for them that this was not the end of Christ`s dealings in this
world - he would come again - verse 11.
The disciples needed to be reminded.
The second coming of Jesus will be
Physical - this same Jesus - risen, alive
and glorified
Visible - he will be seen by all -
Matthew 24 verse 30
Triumphant - he will come to rule
Moving Out in prayer Acts 1 verses 12 -
26
The disciples had been told by Jesus to
wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit - chapter 1 verse 4. Waiting did not mean, just sitting around
idly, although it is true there is no preaching recorded in Scripture from the
time of the resurrection to Pentecost.
Preaching required power and this they did not yet have, but it did not
stop them from praying - verse 14.
After 3 year ministry of Jesus a group of
120 did not appear many. 120 was soon to
become over 3000 (chapter 2 verse 41) and 2000 years later the number is still
being added to. "They all joined
together constantly in prayer."
Their prayer was not occasional but constant, almost certainly daily.
The prayer meeting used to be called the
powerhouse of the church. That is
perfectly correct. So do not despair if
it takes some time to get the fire going in the boiler.
Verse 15 Peter puts forward need to
appoint a replacement for Judas Iscariot.
His proposal was backed by scripture (verse 20). In OT casting lots was the accepted way of finding
God`s will - Proverbs 16 verse 33
"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the
Lord." Acts 1 is last time in
Scripture the lot is used; the coming of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide the
church renders it unnecessary.
Moving Out in power Acts 2 verses 1 - 13
Pentecost was fulfilling of the promise
of verse 8 in chapter 1. Here was the
power that Jesus said was crucial in order to evangelize the world. The physical phenomena, like wind and fire,
are nothing like as significant as the spiritual power that came to all the
believers. What happened did not affect
only the apostles, but "all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit."
chapter 2 verse 4
With the power of the Holy Spirit these
men and women changed the world. The
world misunderstood them (verse 13) but it could not ignore them (verses 6 -
12). The world sees nothing in the
church to attract it or disturb it but it will have to be disturbed before it
will be attracted. Before they ever
heard the gospel the people at Jerusalem saw something in the first Christians
that made them take notice.
Witnessing is more than telling people
they need to be saved. Sinners need to
see Christ in us. Is it not true that
many people will not listen to the gospel because they have seen the shallowness
and inconsistent lives of Christians?
Therefore they will not go near a church. If our living does not attract people to Christ
then our words never will.
The Acts of the Apostles holds before us
the enormous possibility even in the most difficult times that when the power
of the Spirit comes upon the church anything can happen.
At Pentecost Jerusalem was filled with
pilgrims from all over the world - verses 9 - 12. These were Jews who lived outside of the
promised land and had made the journey back for the feast of Pentecost. Their reaction to what was happening to 120
Christians was one of amazement because they heard them speak in languages that
clearly they did not know. They were
experiencing the impossible and whilst some could dismiss it casually with the
words of verse 13, most knew this was no explanation. Drunken men speak nonsense not "the
wonders of God in our own tongues".
No doubt that the tongues spoken at
Pentecost were foreign languages. It was
this strange phenomenon that drew the gathering together. But when the crowd was assembled the speaking
in tongues stopped, even though they were speaking the wonders of God, and
Peter preached to the people in a language they could all understand. It is this preaching that dominates Acts
2. The reaction of the unbelievers to
the speaking in tongues was one of bewilderment and ridicule. But the reaction of the same unbelievers to
Peter preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit was one of conviction of sin
and repentance.
The promise of Acts 1 verse 8 was that
they would receive Holy Spirit power and this is clearly seen in Peter`s
preaching at Pentecost. The only
explanation for the fact that fearful Peter could preach in this way, when only
7 weeks before he had denied even knowing Jesus, is the power of the Holy
Spirit. The 3000 were not saved by human
oratory but by a power that no man could know unless the Holy Spirit gave it to
him.
Moving out and preaching Acts 2 verses 14
- 41
Pentecos was not about the speaking in
tongues but the fact that 3000 souls were saved - verse 41. Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit`s work of
salvation. Peter quotes Joel (verses 17
- 21) to explain what has happened in terms of souls being saved. He then goes on immediately (verses 22 - 36)
to speak of death and resurrection of Jesus.
The whole sermon is fixed firmly in OT.
It centres on who Jesus is and what he has done, and concludes with a
call for repentance. The promise of
verse 21 is made possible only because of everything that Jesus did.
The doctrine of atonement is biblical
teaching on the "meaning of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ." The atonement is God`s answer to human sin,
and as such is the only effective answer to our sinfulness and guilt.
God`s way of salvation did not start in NT
when Jesus came into the world. In the
OT God ordained certain events that, though important in the lives of the
Israelite people at the time, were even more important as vivid illustrations
of what Jesus Christ was going to accomplish when he came into the world. The OT pictures remind us of 2 basic facts
about the atonement.
First it was planned by God. Peter refers to the death of Jesus as being
"by God`s set purpose and foreknowledge" (Acts 2 verse 23). He later says that Jesus "was chosen
before the creation of the world" to shed his blood for us. God planned it all to demonstratie has love
for us.
Secondly there is nothing hit or miss
about our salvation. The death of Jesus
was not a tragic mistake but "God`s set purpose." All the events that led up to Calvary were
under God`s control. The supreme purpose
of the OT is to tell us about Christ and his cross. God even sent 2 of the great OT leaders,
Moses and Elijah, to speak to Jesus about the fulfilment of the prophecies
dealing with his death - Luke 9 verse 31.
Acts 2 shows the way God applies the
gospel to men and women dead in sin. All
the essential ingredients of the salvation are here - preaching the gospel, the
power of the Holy Spirit, men and women convicted of sin and repentance.
Baptism is not essential to salvation but
it is necessary for obediece to the commands of Scripture. It is not essential to salvation because it
follows salvation. It takes place after
a person is saved and is an outward sign of the inward work of grace the Holy
Spirit has performed in the soul. If a
person accepts the gospel and saved then he will be baptized.
Moving out from a solid foundation Acts 2
verses 42 - 47
God deemed it necessary that the church
would be crucial for the spread of Christianity. The church was not the idea of the apostles
or the other first Christians - God imposed it upon them. The Lord even in OT was concerned that those
who came into a living experience of him should also be in a living experience
of each other. Acts presents us with the
picture of the developing early church.
A sense of awe and wonder at what God was
doing and a spirit of oneness among each other marked the life of the
church. The priority was doctrine. The apostles` teaching was the basis of all
that they did, therefore it was top priority for them. The NT doctrine gives substance to fellowship. Out of the doctrine came a deep and lasting
fellowship in Christ. The Holy Spirit`s
ministry in Christian is first to deepen his knowledge and experience of God
and we see this in 4 things mentioned verse 42 - doctrine, fellowship, breaking
bread and prayer. The worship of the
church flowed out of its life and doctrine and centred again on 4 things. This produced genuine praise for God which
led to God blessing their ministry with conversions every day. Conversions were the fruit not of special
efforts but of the daily life and witness of the church.
From verse 42 we can see consistency and
commitment among the believers. Every
day they devoted themselves to the life and ministry of the church. Their consistency shone out and it had broad
base of doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.
The Christians of Acts 2 were ordinary
believers. The life they lived was consistent with doctrine they believed Their fellowship was consistent. They met every day and this was only possible
because of the deep bond of love that existed between them.
Verse 47 the church had favour with all
people. This was because the life they
lived was entirely different from the secular and religious life of the
time. These believers exhibited a
beautiful and joyous Christ-centred life.
The most contagious thing the world has ever seen is a church whose
life, message and love reflects the character of Jesus.
The Christians in Acts of the Apostles
caused a stir everywhere they went because they were different. Their lives, actions, ambitions, beliefs were
different and people took note of them.
Moving Out effectively Acts 3 verses 1 - 10
What sort of Christians does God use and
work through? Are we usable in God`s service?
4 qualities seen in Peter and John:
They were together not just physically
but spiritually.
They were spiritually hungry - they were
going to pray. Absorbed in Christ. Not out of sense of duty but delight!
They were alert to the needs of those
around them and took time to stop for a man in need.
They were men with a complete and utter
reliance upon the Lord Jesus.
4 qualities to be cultivated in our
lives. They are not a matter of ability
but of commitment and enthusiasm.
Moving Out and speaking about Jesus Acts
3 verses 11 - 26
The explanation lay with God and
particularly "the name of Jesus".
The Jesus whom the people had so viciously rejected was responsible for
the miracle that had taken place. The
way Peter confronted the crowd with their rejection of Jesus was uncompromising
and left them in no doubt as to the enormity of their sin. Preaching is not
meant to entertain but to confront people with God and how they stand before
him. Even though sin may be committed in
ignorance the demand is still for repentance.
Repentance if always preceded by conviction. Many repented and became Christian.
Being bold and gentle are 2 things we
need in personal witness. Being bold
will ensure we do not water down the gospel and being gentle will guard us from
being offensive.
Peter commands the people to repent - not
to accept Jesus or to open their hearts to the Saviour!
Moving Out with courage and conviction
Acts 4 verse 1 - 22
"Salvation is found in no one else
for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be
saved." Reveals strong conviction
these believers had as to the uniqueness and exclusiveness of Jesus. It was this conviction that enabled them to
boldly defy the authorities and continue preaching the gospel.
Blessing is followed by attack and when
Peter clearly sets before the enemies of the gospel the uniqueness of Jesus the
result is that the Christians are forbidden to preach the gospel. Peter`s answer to this is the yardstick by
which all believers in every age are to act.
To obey God rather than men can be very costly and through the centuries
it has cost many Christians their lives.
In the work of the gospel, cleverness and
head knowledge are not the essential ingredients. We need a closeness to the Lord and a longing
to be of use to him. These are the
crucial things.
Think of the example of the Hebrew
midwives in Exodus 1 verses 15 - 17 and Daniel in Daniel 6 verses 4 - 10. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16 "woe is me if
I do not preach the gospel."
Moving out together Acts 4 verses 23 - 37
Never minimise the power of God to work
through ordinary believers when their eyes are on the Lord and their prayers
are full of Jesus.
The willingness of this group of
believers to risk the wrath of the authorities resulted in God giving them a
great boldness to preach. The restriction
put upon them inspired them to a stronger witness and proclamation of the name
of Jesus. It also bound them to each
other in even greater unity. Barriers
restrictions, opposition and persecution did not stop these people! The more intense the problems the more
determined they become to remain faithful to the Lord. God saw this determination and strengthened
it. The more we give ourselves to God
the more he gives of himself to us.
Peter and John were not alone in their
confidence in the gospel and so as soon as it was possible "they went back
to their own people and reported" on all that had gone on. Christians need each other in the work of the
gospel and this is the way God has ordained and planned it.
Without delay the church held a prayer
meeting. The spiritual health of a
church can be measured by importance it gives to its prayer meeting.
The prayer opens with the words
"Sovereign Lord". The Greek
word for Lod is not hte one usually used in NT.
The word used here could probably be translated as "autocrat". It means absolute ruler and indicates their confidence
in final sovereignty of God. Later on in
the prayer the more usual word for Lord is used, but they start their prayer
confident in the Lord who will always triumph even when kings and rulers are
against him. The content of the prayer
was simply that they shoud be given power to do the very thing that caused them
the problem in the first place - "speak your word with great
boldness." They were not looking
for an easy way out but for grace to remain faithful in very difficult times.
The sharing of possessions in verses 32 -
37 was not a command for all Christians to follow but a particular expression
of love they had for each other. We are
to have the same love and to show it, if not in exactly the same way as those
early Christians, certainly with exactly the same enthusiasm and concern for
each other.
Moving Out in spite of problems Acts 5
verses 1 - 16
If opposition form the world does not
work the devil will attempt to disrupt the churhc from within. Ananias and Sapphira were members of the
church but their hearts were not in tue with the other Christians. It may be possible to fool men but it is
never possible to fool God. God used
this incident to strengthen the church - the Lord is in control, not Satan!
The great fear of verse 11 was not terror
but awe as the Christians saw again the reality of God in their midst.
2 questions arise - were Ananias and Sapphira
true believers? Doesn`t affect the
crucial lesson the story puts before us.
Their death was not the result of Peter putting them under
pressure. Was their punishment too
severe? Fooling church is not too
difficult but fooling God is impossible.
We cannot live for ourselves.
Everything we do as believers affects other Christians, and this is
particularly true in the local church.
We all influence each other for good or evil. God tells us that we are members of the body
of Christ. We are part of the church,
part of a fellowship.
Moving Out with a clear vision Acts 5
verses 17 - 42
For Sadducees even the imprisoning of the
apostles served to show that the power of God was working with the
Christians. But still they would not
believe. Verses 29 - 32 Peter sums up
situation. The most fundamental question
in the relationship between God and man is how we regard Jesus. Confronted with Jesus, the world killed him
(verse 30). At Calvary the Jews thought
they had seen the last of Jesus. But
raised him from the dead so that now we can see him not as a dead martyr but as
the risen Prince and Saviour (verse 31).
The Sanhedrin felt accusation of guilt,
however despite the fact that they were guilty they refused to face up to
this. The last word lies with God not
man - God raised him from the dead. Now
God insists that we see Jesus as Prince and Saviour, not as a martyr, not as a
teacher or healer but Prince and Saviour.
The title "Prince" speaks of his majesty and power. The word "Saviour" speaks of his unique
role as only one who can redeem guilty sinners.
The description of Jesus as "exalted" in verse 31 shows that
God has set the spotlight of heaven`s approval to shine o Jesus so that we may
see him as he really is. This exaltation
is for our sakes so that from the throne of heaven Jesus might give us
"repentance and forgiveness of sin".
Gamaliel`s counsel to Sanhedrin in verses
33 - 39 is the blind leading the blind.
He was blind to who Jesus was. He
equates him with revolutionaries like Theudas and Judas of Galilee and has no
concept of Jesus as Prince and Saviour.
He is also blind in his understanding of the ways of God. His wait and see philosophy denied that God
had already spoken plainly in raising Jesus from the dead.
The religious authorities flogged the
preachers of the gospel but God richly blessed them (verses 40 - 42).
Moving Out and sorting out difficulties
Acts 6 verses 1 - 7
2 groups in church - Greek speaking Jews
and Hebrew speaking Jews. Greeks thought
widows not getting fair share of church`s daily food distribution. The weakness of the church was revealed in
that the dispute ever arose at all, but the strength of the church is seen in
the way the problem was resolved.
The daily distribution of food to the widows
was an expression of the church`s care and concern for those among them who
were in material need. The church`s
motives were good but implementing the motives ran them into trouble.
They called a church meeting. The church
was asked to choose 7 men to organise the distribution. These men were not just to be good organisers
but men of a high spiritual calibre - "full of the Spirit and
wisdom".
The word "deacon" is not used
to describe the men chosen but they were called to serve the church and that is
what a deacon does. Their work is not
inferior to those who preach because both are needed in the church if it is to
function properly. Both ministries need spiritual men to fulfil them. The tasks were different and separate but
both worked to the end of serving the church and glorifying God. The deacon came into being to set the
preachers free from everything except prayer and ministry.
Moving Out produces great leaders Acts 6
verses 8 - 7 verse 60
One of 7 chosen was Stephen and his
ministry soon broadened beyond serving tables to ministry of the word. This brought him into a bitter conflict with
the Jewish religious leaders which led to false accusations being laid against
him to stop him preaching. Stephen`s
answer to these accusations is a brilliant review of God`s dealing with Israel
from the time of Abraham and culminates in the strong accusation of verses 51 -
53.
Warren Wiersbe:-
Stephen proved from their own Scriptures
that the Jewish nation was guilty of worse sins than those they had accused him
of committing:
They misunderstood their own spiritual
roots - verses 1 - 8
They rejected their God-sent deliverers -
verses 9 - 36
They disobeyed their laws - verses 37 -
43
They despised their temple - verses 44 -
50
They stubbornly resisted their God and
his truth - verses 51 - 53
Stephen became the first Christian to die
for his faith in Christ.
Moving Out against delusion Acts 8 verses
1 - 25
Introduced to Saul of Tarsus - his
opposition to Christianity was total - he approved of the stoning of Stephen
and was determined to destroy the church.
It would seem impossible that such a man could ever be converted but he
was.
The greatest delusion anyone can have is
to think that he is saved when in fact he is not. Simon the Sorcerer fooled himself with this
delusion and for a while the church also was deceived. Most prominent man in Samaria. He boasted he was someone great. The people agreed with him and thought of him
as some kind of deity. They were
impressed with his ability to perform magic and sorcery. When Philip came to Samaria preaching and
performing signs and wonders Simon`s standing in the community was threatened.
Simon the Sorcerer was so impressed that
he professed salvation and was baptized.
Simon`s attraction to Christianity was not caused by any conviction of
personal sin but by the professional interest of a magician in the abilities of
someone whom he considered to be a rival.
His heart was not right before God" and he was still "captive
to sin".
His true spiritual condition was revealed
when Peter and John came to Samaria.
They prayed for the new converts and laid hands on them and when they
did so the Samaritan Christians received the Holy Spirit. Simon was greatly excited by this and wanted
this power to add to his own repertoire of magic tricks so he offered Peter and
John money if they would tell him how it was done.
Simon for all his profession and baptism
knew nothing of God. He thought of God
in the same way as he thought of his magic abilities. He did not understand
that nothing God has is for sale. He was
still completely absorbed in signs and wonders.
They were a means to an end.
Peter showed Simon what was wrong with
him spiritually and what he needed to do in order to become a Christian.
Repentance means that the sinner,
conscious of his guilt and aware of his mercy of God in Christ turns from his
sin to God. The repentant sinner knows a
loathing and a hatred of sin and a great desire to live in obedience to
God. He will cry to God for mercy and pardon.
Moving Out and saving souls Acts 8 verses
26 - 40
God`s amazing love for individuals is
seen in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian.
The Lord took Philip from the rich blessings of Samaria where crowds
were being saved to the middle of a desert to preach the gospel to one man.
Moving Out and overcoming opposition Acts
9 verses 1 - 19
In Saul of Tarsus we see a man vigorously
opposed to Jesus. He hated the Lord and
all who followed him. In his mind and
conscience he was not opposed to God only to Jesus. Saul was a man who thought he was doing God`s
will by persecuting Christians.
The actions of Saul appear to be those of
a strong determined man who knew exactly what he believed but it fact they were
totally unreasonable. To take his
murderous threats to Damascus was the action of a fanatic not a strong
man. God was pointing Saul in one
direction and he was rebelling and going the opposite way. His persecutions were clearly difficult for the
church but they were also hard on Saul himself.
It is always hard for a sinner to fight against the grace of God.
Saul`s conversion was so crucial for the
spread of Christianity that the events that occurred on the Damascus road are
told 3 times in Acts.
Saul had his mind informed as to who he
is dealing with - he is confronted with the living Christ. No one can be a
Christian without a personal encounter with Jesus.
Saul`s conscience was aroused.
Saul`s emotions were stirred. All his apparent self-confident vanished in the
presence of Jesus.
Saul`s will was surrendered. "Lord what do you want me to do?"
is crucial to savlation. Here is a soul
realising that all he has done is wrong so he must now do what Jesus
wants.
God brings an experienced Ananias alongside
Saul to encourage and instruct him.
Moving Out with faithful workers Acts 9
verses 20 - 43
Saul`s conversion was so amazing that
people could not believe it. Even
Christians had a hard time believing he was saved. Thank God for Barnabas who could see what God
had done and paved the way for Saul to be accepted by the believers. A true convert will reveal the validity of
his experienc by his love and passion for Christ and by his Christlike
spirit. Dorcas would never have had the
influence upon the world that Saul was to have but she certainly made a great
impression upon those who knew her. Dorcas
could not speak boldly in public about Jesus but in private her actions spoke
volumes.
Moving Out and reaching the lost Acts 10
verses 1 - 22
If ever there was a man who could be
saved by his own actions it was Cornelius.
Here was a remarkable man - genuine, sincere, devout and earnest. But he was still an unenlightened soul
groping after God.
God is impressed with Cornelius. He is a man living according to the light and
understanding he has, but God does not leave him there. Cornelius needs to hear the gospel so he is
told to send for Simon Peter. It is not
Cornelius` good works that will save him but the gospel Peter will preach to
him. If Cornelius could not be saved by
his own goodness, this should once and for all shut the door on hope of any man
or woman being saved by their own actions.
It was God`s will that Peter should
preach to Cornelius but in normal circumstances Peter would never have done
so. Peter like most Jews had a deep
inbred prejudice against Gentiles. It is
this prejudice that the vision is intended to shatter.
The Jewish prejudice was so deep-rooted
in the thinking of God`s people that in order to remove it he had to do 2 remarkable
things. First he gave a special vision
to Peter to persuade him to go and preach to Cornelius. Using Peter`s account of the conversion of
the Gentiles, God dealt firmly with these wrong attitudes so that eventually
the whole church was constrained to confess "So then God has granted even
the Gentiles repentance unto life."
This was a remarkable breakthrough leading to a new understanding of the
breadth of divine love and grace.
However, to understand something is not the same as to practise it.
The second thing God did was to make sure
that they spread the gospel abroad by using persecution to get them out of
Jerusalem. Even then they at first
preached the message of Christ only to Jews.
They seemed blind to the glaring inconsistency between their declaration
in verse 18 and their limited vision in verse 19.
It is not enough to have a theoretical
belief in the evangelisation of the world.
We must actually get on with the work in our own backyard.
Moving Out with a clear message Acts 10
verses 23 - 48
For Cornelius there was a real sense of
the privilege of being allowed to hear God`s Word and eagerness and desire to
listen. He acknowledged that th emessage
was not from Peter but from God. He was
told of the grace of God - God shows no favouritism. The gospel is for all types of people and all
nationalities. There is no one beyond
the grace of God.
The message said 3 things about Jesus:
His life - Jesus is no ordinary man. He
is Lord of all. There is no one like
Jesus and his love and power are limitless.
His death - Jesus was killed by being hung on a tree. He was crucified. Men firmly and viciously rejected him. His resurrection - In spite of all the evil
that men did, God had the last word and raised Jesus from the dead. Men cannot get rid of Jesus because he is
Lord of all.
As Peter was preaching the power of the
Holy Spirit was felt. Conviction and
repentance were given to Cornelius and to all those present. This combination of faithful preaching and
the power of the Holy Spirit are always the irresistible tools God uses to save
souls.
What was the sin Cornelius needed to
confess - after all his description would make us question this. Cornelius knew he was a sinner and longed for
pardon and salvation. He heard the
gospel, believed it, repented and came to faith in Jesus.
Easy comfortable sounding sermons may be
attractive to people but what saves is the personal conviction of the harsh
reality of sin in all its ugliness.
Sinners need to be told that they are unacceptable to God and that Jesus
alone is the way of salvation.
Moving Out with God`s grace Acts 11
verses 1 - 30
When the church at Jerusalem heard what God
had done for Cornelius their prejudices were silenced and they praised
God. Unfortunately this did not appear
to have much practical effect and when some of them went to Antioch they still
preached only to Jews.
In Acts 11 verses 19 - 20 the evangelism
of the early church is very simply described as telling the people "the
good news about the Lord Jesus".
They preached, proclaimed, heralded, declared, or stated the truth about
Jesus. No hesitation, no watering down
the message. Not half hearted or reluctant
evangelism. But they also believed that
before time began God, in love and mercy, had purposed to save a great multitude
that no man could number.
Even though all Christians cannot be preachers
from the pulpit we are all meant to tell the good news about the Lord Jesus.
We are told in Acts 11 verse 21 that at
Antioch "a great number of people believed" and there were 2 causes
of this. There was the faithful witness
of the Christians and there was the power of God using that witness to convict
and convert sinners.
William Arnot, Scottish preacher of the 19th
century "Men can do nothing without God; but in this work God will do
nothing without men."
Paul sets out this principle in 1 Corinthians
3 verses 5 - 9. He describes himself and
other preachers as "servants through whom you came to believe." One servant planted the seed, another watered
it "but God made it grow". In
the work of evangelism Christians have the amazing privilege of being
"God`s fellow workers." An
angel appeared to Cornelius not to preach the gospel to him but to tell him to
send for Peter: "He will bring you a message through which you and all your
household will be saved." God uses
men to evangelise not angels. But the
point is also made in Acts 11 verse 15 that the faithful witness of men, though
crucial, is not enough "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them." Men are taken into partnership with God, but
the power belongs to God alone.
Moving Out with answered prayer Acts 12
verses 1 - 25
Opposition from the world very often
follows blessings in the church. The
apostle James was killed and it looked as though Peter would suffer the same
end "but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." God`s answer to the prayer is remarkable -
verses 6 - 11.
This does not mean that we should not
plead with God to save souls, but it does mean that we mut use prayer to
commune with God, to praise him, to delight in him, to worhip him and to learn
from him what and when he wants things done.
This creates a deeper knowledge of God which produces a greater
awareness of his power and a greater expectancy in us to see this power at
work. It also leads to something of the
heart and mind of God being fashioned in us.
Then like our Saviour we shall weep for souls. Such weeping will not be merely a
demonstration of emotion on our part, but a reflection of the sentiments of
God. When this takes place we can expect
to see divine power saving the lost.
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