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The Book of Acts

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The Book of Acts © Learning to Walk the Paths of Life Acts2:28 The Book of Acts Path 2: Witnessing the Gospel Movement The Book of Acts021 Path 2: Witnessing the Gospel Story Path 2: Witnessing the Gospel Movement The Book of Acts Supplemental Reading: “Counterfeit God’s” By: Tim Keller Memory Verses: Acts 1:8, 4:12, 10:43, 20:24 Outside The Journey: Verbally sharing your testimony with the lost 2 Path 2: Witnessing the Gospel Movement The Book of Acts Disciple-makers, The Gospel Journey is about studying the Word of God, led by the Spirit of God, in a discipleship relationship, to grow in the grace of the Gospel. The Field Guide is NOT to be taught as a Bible Study or even as the primary curriculum for the Gospel Journey. The curriculum is the Word of God, and we want there to be great freedom for those in a group to discuss what the Holy Spirit has been revealing to them in their study that week. We do not want the discussion to be limited to the content covered in the Field Guide. With that being said, the Field Guide is an effort to prepare you for significant theological terms, concepts, and themes that will likely arise in the course of discussion in a given week of reading. Thus, we encourage you to read over the content we have chosen to include in the Field Guide a couple times before your weekly discussion, so that you are able to explain these terms, concepts, and themes faithfully and clearly as they come up. If they do not come up naturally, we’d encourage you to bring them up at some point in the discussion, as we believe they are things that a mature and equipped disciple of Christ needs to understand. Again, our hope is that far more than what is covered in the Field Guide be brought up in discussion each week, and that this tool might prepare you to explain foundational Gospel terms, concepts, and themes found in each week’s reading. Ultimately the Gospel Journey is about studying the Word of God, led by the Spirit of God, in a discipleship relationship, in order to grow in the grace of the Gospel. May your journey be blessed! The Harvest Team The Book of Acts 3 WEEK 01 Acts 1:1-3:26 Ascension and Return (Acts 1:1-11) While it is more common to focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His ascension and return was also a major focus of His disciples. They wanted to know when Jesus would return to establish His Kingdom on earth. While we don’t know when Jesus will return, we do know the day is coming. Until the day He returns, we seek to live in obedience to the Holy Spirit as witnesses of the King and stewards of His Kingdom to the ends of the earth. Christians, therefore, live in hopeful anticipation of His return and the full establishment of His Kingdom. In one sense, there is nothing that Jesus’ disciples want more than for Him to return, but until He does, we find great joy in seeking His kingdom first and employing everything else for His glory, rather than our comfort. Just as the Jewish people awaited their Messiah with great anticipation, we now await Jesus’ return. Maranatha = Come Lord Jesus, Come! See also: I Timothy 6:14-15; II Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:11-14 Witnesses (Acts 1:8) Acts 1:8 is often described as an outline for the entire book of Acts. The followers of Jesus were to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts opens in Jerusalem, and by chapter 8, the gospel has spread to Judea and Samaria. Acts 10 and following increasingly focus on the disciples witnessing* Jesus to “the ends of the 4 Path 2: Witnessing the Gospel Movement earth.” We continue to be witnesses of Jesus by following this pattern and sharing the gospel in our neighborhoods, city, nation and to the ends of the earth. We do not just witness to the information of the good news, but the reality of our experience of the good news in our lives each and every day. (*Witness comes from the Greek word “Martyr”. Webster defines a martyr as a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle.) See Also: Luke 9:23-24, I Corinthians 2:1-5; I John 1:1-4 Pentecost (Acts 2) Pentecost was an Old Testament festival, held exactly 50 days after Passover, which celebrated the spring Harvest and remembered Moses’ receiving of the law at Mount Sinai. It was on this annual celebration, in the year Jesus had been crucified as the Passover Lamb, that He fulfilled His promise to send the Holy Spirit to empower and help His followers. The Holy Spirit came with what appeared to be flames of fire and allowed the apostles to speak the tongues of all who were present, so that all could understand the gospel. The coming of the Holy Spirit was a clear sign to Jews and Gentiles alike that the gospel had now gone out to all peoples. Nearly 2,000 years later, Pentecost still serves as a reminder to us that we too are empowered by the Holy Spirit working in and through our lives, and the power of the Holy Spirit is more than enough for our salvation and that of all the nations. The Book of Acts 5 WEEK 01 Acts 1:1-3:26 Repentance and Baptism (Acts 2:37-41, 3:19) Repentance is the act of turning away from sin and turning to God. Peter describes the truth of repentance in Acts 3:19 when he says “repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Therefore, repentance is necessary for salvation. Baptism has two expressions: water and Spirit. Water baptism is an outward expression or confession of an inward change. It is done publicly, if possible, to demonstrate someone’s “death” to his or her old self, and his or her “aliveness” in Christ. Few pictures are more powerful of our death to sin and new life in Christ than water baptism. Spirit baptism happens the moment a person is regenerated and exercises faith and repentance in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. At the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. *In the Book of Acts, we see a few occasions (Acts 8:14-17; 11:16; 19:1-7) where people, who had previously believed in Christ, get baptized by the Holy Spirit at a later time. It is important to understand that the Book of Acts describes a very unique transition period, in which many people believed in Jesus while He was still on this Earth and were told to “wait” for the promise of the Holy Spirit. So those who believed in Christ before the coming of the Holy Spirit had to subsequently receive the Holy 6 Path 2: Witnessing the Gospel Movement Spirit, which was evidenced in various places throughout the Book of Acts. This does not seem Repentance and Baptism (Acts 2:37-41, 3:19) to be a normative pattern set for believers. The person receives the Holy Spirit the moment he or she is converted. Paul describes this indwelling of the Spirit experienced by every believer in his letter to the Corinthians by saying, “we are all baptized by one Spirit into One Body.” (I Cor.12:13) Thus, while Spirit baptism subsequent to salvation is described on occasion in Acts, it is not prescribed for the Church going forward. Rather, the idea that the Holy Spirit “baptizes” a believer into the Body of Christ at the moment of conversion is the New Testament teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit that would apply to Christians today. Gospel Response In response to this week’s reading, we pray that God would lead us into lives that are repentant, dependent and expectant. We pray we would repent by regularly turning from our sin and to Jesus, so that we might be witnesses of the power of the gospel in our own lives. Also, we pray that God would grow us in dependence on the Holy Spirit as He who empowers our walk with Jesus and our witness of the power of the gospel to our neighbors, cities and the world. Lastly, we pray that we live expectantly, knowing that we are stewards of the Kingdom of God, as we await the return of Christ and the final and full establishment of His kingdom on earth. The Book of Acts 7 WEEK 02 Acts 4:1-5:42 Christ Alone (Acts 4:12) “Christ alone” is one of the five “onlys” that summarize the Protestant Reformation. It is the basic belief that our salvation comes through the atoning work of Christ on the cross and that He is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved. He acts as the only Mediator between God and man. See also: I Timothy 2:5 The Boldness of Ordinary Men (Acts 4:13) When Peter and John stand before the Sanhedrin, they are standing before the very men who had put Jesus to death just weeks before. They are ordered to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, and they know full well that if they continue to spread the gospel, they could be put to death in the same way Jesus was.
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