ACTS SERIES: INTRODUCTION

For the next several months, I will post my weekly blog on the book of Acts. As I post each chapter, I hope there will be principles for application and nuggets of inspiration for every reader. Please share the post with others and return for the next blog each week. For this week, I am giving a short introduction to Acts, and I will be posting chapter one next week.

Acts was believed to be written by the beloved physician Luke, a Gentile, to a prominent Roman named Theophilus. In the book of Acts, Luke, known to be a companion and fellow laborer with Paul, shares the manifestation and movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles and fellow believers. He shares approximately thirty years of the history from Jesus’s ascension and the birth of the church at Pentecost through the two-year imprisonment of Paul in Rome.

The two main characters in Acts were Peter, who did home mission to the Jews, and Paul, who did foreign mission to the Gentiles. Luke also shares glimpses into the lives of Ananias, Sapphira, Stephen, Phillip, Cornelius, Barnabus, and others.

As my post will reveal, the commission of Jesus for His followers to minister to people in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the surrounding world was followed. The early church experienced mass growth, church conflicts, persecution, and deaths, but they continued to share the gospel willingly. Finally, these words of Paul recorded in Romans 1:16 describe the actions of believers in Acts, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed; to the Jews first and also to the Greek.”