WEEK 10 – Acts Part 1

[Ricardo Sanchez]

<span id=”docs-internal-guid-87ded959-7fff-83a4-6acb-6b7ffdd99aa8″><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The book of Acts was written by the Apostle Luke, it is very interesting as this is where we got the great commision. The great commission is the ability to go out and preach the gospel to the ends of the world. As stated in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”. Another verse that I have been struggling with is Acts 4:20 which states: “Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide’ for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard”. This hits a sore spot in my heart, how some churches and pastors let the government scare them into shutting down and leaving people to deal with this crisis on their own. What happened to believing in Christ the Lord’s protection over His children.</span></span>

[Ricardo Sanchez]

The book of Acts was written by the Apostle Luke, it is very interesting as this is where we got the great commision. The great commission is the ability to go out and preach the gospel to the ends of the world. As stated in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”. Another verse that I have been struggling with is Acts 4:20 which states: “Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide’ for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard”. This hits a sore spot in my heart, how some churches and pastors let the government scare them into shutting down and leaving people to deal with this crisis on their own. What happened to believing in Christ the Lord’s protection over His children.

[Michelle Chow]

God can do amazing things through ordinary people when He empowers them through His Spirit. The book of Acts shows how God essentially took a group of fisherman and commoners and uses them to turn the world upside down. God took a Christian hating murderer and transformed him into history’s greatest Christian evangelist, the author of almost half the books of the New Testament. God can and does do the same through us, changing our hearts, empowering us by the Holy Spirit and giving us a passion to spread the good news of salvation through Jesus. if we try to accomplish God’s work in the world in our own power, we will fail. Acts also reminds us of the importance of prayers. There is a reference to prayer 31 times in the book and prayer is present before almost any significant event described by Luke. Miracles are preceded by prayer, decisions are preceded by prayer, we can learn a lot about the power of prayer.

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[Janina Cuellar]

The book of Acts gives us a history of the work of the early church the Holy Spirit, within the theatre of the known world. From the empowering by the Holy Spirit, the early church made a great impact on all it encountered. Acts is one of the most exciting and challenging of the New Testament, filled as it is with the works of the early church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the ‘tongues of fire’ and rushing wind on the day of Pentecost, as well as ‘speaking in other tongues’, an outward sign and witness to the onlookers that The Lord was with them—a witnessed event that resulted in 3,000 conversions at a single meeting!

[Jasmine Martinez]

The book of Acts is the first book after the gospels and records the early Christian church. It was written by Luke, a physician, who also wrote the gospel Luke.

The book of Acts starts off by recording Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. This book also introduces the event of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which is such a foundational event to our faith as believers. We witness through this book how the Holy Spirit equips the church body with power to ultimately help reach the lost and win souls to Christ.

[Sarah Polangco]

 
<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The book of Acts was written by Luke the physician .What I loved about the book of Acts is it showed Jesus concerning the grave by sending his Holy Spirit to dwell into each and everyone one of us.It also shows how he did not die in vain and how he use us to continue his work here on earth by partnering with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us power to walk in boldness to proclaim the good news,to speak tongues or to even face persecution. It does what we can not do in our own human strength. What a joy it is knowing that I have the peace of Jesus everywhere I go through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is really our best friend.</span></p>

[Sandra Lilly]

The title of the book of Acts comes from the Greek word praxis, a word often used in early Christian literature to describe the great deeds of the apostles or other significant believers. Acts are considered the sequel to the life of Christ in the Gospels. It begins with the year of Christ’s death (30 A.D.) and covers the first 30-35 years of the church. This is where we see the birth of the church and the initiating of Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations(Matthew 28:18-20). Acts record the spread of Christianity from the disciples in Jerusalem all the way to Rome. This is also where we see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke, also wrote the Book of Acts (also known as The Acts of the Apostles or Acts of the Holy Spirit). The book pays close attention to the details, facts, and history of the first church. Luke was known as the beloved doctor and was a very well-educated man.
He was not one of the 12 disciples and did not know Jesus Christ personally. He was led to salvation probably through Paul since he traveled with him. Contrary to popular belief, Luke actually wrote the majority of the New Testament since Luke and Acts account for the majority of words written by one author.
Acts are a continuation of what Jesus did in the Gospels and show what Jesus continues to do through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[Valente Valenzuela]

The Book of Acts Part 1

Acts, written by Luke.

The book of Acts is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. The writer provides us with a historical timeline of the events that followed Jesus’ resurrection. Including what happened on the day of Pentecost and then the focus shifted to Peter’s ministry, followed by the transformation of Saul/Paul and his early ministry.

Also, it is good to know that the book was aimed at Theophilus (loved by God or friend of God). Luke’s passion was to prove to him the truth of Jesus the Messiah’s life, death, and resurrection. In Acts 1:14 Luke says, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” Again, Luke continues to demonstrate the reality and truth about Jesus’ death and resurrection by “many infallible proofs.”

In conclusion, the book of Acts’ main purpose is to demonstrate or trace how the Jewish Jesus movement became an international movement through the force of the Holy Spirit.

[Jeren Alderson]

The book of Acts written by Luke a co worker of the apostle Paul, is a written account of the works of the Holy Spirit done through the apostles in the beginning of the early church. and begins with The risen Jesus telling his disciples that He will send the Holy Spirit and ascends to Heaven to rule with God. then the disciples wait for the Holy spirit to fall upon them during Pentecost and receive him and receive the gifts of the Spirit of God in the upperroom. the entire book of acts is filled with miraculous healings and wonders to bring glory to God and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Acts also records the persecution of Christs followers but they continue to spread the gospel by the power of Gods Holy Spirit they are able to push past the persecution for Gods glory. The book of acts is the second work of Luke and acts as a Segway from the perspective of Christs ministry death and resurrection to Christs power being displayed through the disciples. even if Christ isn’t physically  manifest before the disciples His glory and power remains like we see Jesus say in Mathew 18:20 ” For where two or three are  gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

[Kathy Vara]

In Acts 1:4, Jesus instructed the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit. I can only imagine how these disciples felt. We must keep in mind; they probably didn’t understand what the Holy Spirit was. They had to be patient and follow Jesus’s instructions. They were told they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them to tell people everywhere about Jesus which is sharing the testimony of Jesus. What we believers can take from this is how important it is to be walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and not moving ahead of God’s instructions to us. We cannot draw people to Jesus in our own strength or ability but it is the Holy Spirit that dose the convicting and changing of each individual.

[Richard Vara]

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 NLT)

I love this scripture because it gives me reassurance of my walk with Jesus. I pray to God to give me the boldness to do His will, whether it’s talking with people, speaking in a crowd, or preaching, the things I don’t feel I’m comfortable with. However, I know God pulls me out of my comfort zone to teach me. When I first was asked to go on stage and do the Giving Moment live, I was so nervous followed by thoughts that ran through my mind saying who am I to be doing this, I’m not capable, I’m a new believer. When I came across this scripture, it hit home because it talks about the boldness of Peter and John who had no special training in Scriptures as the Pharisees did, but they were noticed because they walked with Jesus.

I’m just a pond in a chess game and I see God using me as this simple piece with no special moves on the chess board; with the only move of moving forward one square at a time. With the help of the other ponds (my fellow believers) we can form an attack against our opposition with a strategic plan executed by God. I have no special training, but I have a special God that will not let me fail. Thank you, Lord!

[Angelie Mangubat]

I think it’s interesting that Jesus lived to be 33 years old, and the book of Acts covers the first 30-35 years of the new church. The book of acts shows us the spiritual power that the early Christians were able to walk in and reminds us that it is the same power that we can walk in today. God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. God doesn’t ever take away our gifts. It is us who must decide when we are ready to receive and activate them.

[Jaime Ahumada]

Luke was the Author of “Acts” of all the Apostles. Luke was a companion of Paul in his traveling. Acts 16:10 After Paul had seen the vision. We got ready at ounce to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. This is showing me that Luke was present with Paul at the events described in the “We” passages include the period of Paul’s two-year imprisonment at Rome. This was the time Paul wrote among other letters, Philemon and Colossians. In these letters he includes Luke among them. Through these letters for the Author of Acts, Luke is left as the most likely candidate.

[Maricela Lopez]

Acts is a book that contains the birth of the church it records the ascension of Jesus and the Holy Spirit coming upon believers indwelling with in them and enabling the furtherance of the gospel. This is important to the church even today because they were given different tongues that the gospel may be preached throughout the world and the gifts of wisdom, healing, decernment, and preaching. Peter also gets a vision to preach the gospel to the gentiles  as well.

[Aurelia Alderson]

In the book of Acts, Luke shows how the Risen Jesus was exalted as the king of the world. Acts is about the story of Jesus leading His people by the Spirit to go out into the world, and invite all nations to live under His reign. And so the story begins with that message spreading in Jerusalem, and then into the neighboring regions of Judea and Samaria, full of non-Jewish people, and then from there, out to all the nations of the earth. Luke is saying that the new temple promised by the prophets, is Jesus’s new covenant family, the people of Jesus. And so we see Jesus’ Commission coming true.

[Author]

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