Intro to Acts

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 
Acts 1:8

If you have never seen the movie District 9, I am sorry and suggest you go watch it now. While this movie does contain aliens from another planet, it is meant to depict real events which occurred in Cape Town, South Africa. An apartheid government began to relocate over 60,000 “undesirables”, in order to pave the way for whites-only infrastructure. Why do I bring this movie up? Well for one, it is a great movie. And two, it leaves us with sort of a cliffhanger. We want to know what will happen and if there will be a resolution in a sequel, but no sequel comes. In Luke’s gospel to Theophilus, we read in the last chapter of Jesus rising from the dead, visiting the disciples and then ascending into Heaven. The very last two verses in that Gospel tells us that they “worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem and stayed at the temple. Which would leave us to question whether or not the disciples returned to Judaism or if they received the promise from the Father (Luke 24:49). Unlike the movie District 9, we do get the answers to our questions of what happens to the disciples and if God keeps His promise in the book of Acts.

The book of Acts serves as sort of the sequel to Luke’s Gospel and tells us the formation and history of the church. In this book, you will find that it follows the thesis set out in verse 8 of chapter 1. Firstly, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father to the church and we read of this event and what occurs after in the first two chapters. In chapters 1-8:3, we also see how the church thrives and interacts with the people living in Jerusalem. In chapters 8:4-12, we read of how the Gospel is spread to the regions of Judea and Samaria. Finally, in chapters 13-21:16, we read of how it is spread to the Gentiles. This is the basic outline for the first half of Acts and we see how effective and quickly the Gospel is spread and can do nothing but rejoice as God does a great work.

The second half of Acts follows the life of Paul. Starting from chapter 13 to the end of the book we read of Paul’s many missionary journeys, as well as his time in Jerusalem and the trials that he faced before his final journey to Rome in chapters 27-28. And although we are hoping Acts is just the second part of a trilogy, there is no third book. But we are left with a very hopeful word as we read how Paul lived for two years “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31).

We can rejoice in this because we know that the Gospel was proclaimed faithfully. We are convicted because we know that the third part of this book is about us. Have we continued to faithfully proclaim the Gospel and to spread this good news to the ends of the earth and devoted ourselves to the apostle’s teachings (Acts 1:8, 2:42)? My prayer is that we, as individuals, can shout Amen and continue to run this race with diligence and endurance. All with faith knowing that God is sovereign over both history and redemption.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

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