Buckle your seat belts! This week’s reading from Acts is filled with exciting and incredible stories of the impact of the Jesus story when told in all kinds of cultural contexts. The first story in Acts is where Jesus is about to ascend and the apostles are still confused about what the Jesus story is really all about. Ten days later, in chapter two, those same apostles are filled with the Spirit of God and are out in the streets of Jerusalem preaching the first gospel sermons. 3,000 people – maybe just counting the men – were baptized that day. It is pretty impressive to think that God took twelve confused, normal men and created a mega-church in one day. But that is exactly what happened.
The stories Luke tells in Acts are focused on the idea that the Jesus story needs to be told everywhere to everyone and that when that happens, kingdom outposts breakout all over the place. By the time we get to the end of this week’s reading, there are Gentile churches all over the Mediterranean region and missionaries like Paul and Barnabas are leading the way in fulfilling the commission of being Jesus’ witnesses in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) In the gospel of Luke we kept seeing the phrase “good news,” reminding us of what the Jesus story really is. In Acts, we see story after story of how that “good news” impacted people, towns, cities, and whole regions and the kingdom of God is expanded daily.
When all is said and done, Acts is a Holy Spirit orchestrated story that takes the gospel from a room filled with frightened men to the capital of the Roman Empire in one generation. And kingdom outposts are all over the place as that happens. Buckle your seat belts!
Leave your comments or thoughts in the section below!
- What would you say is the most exciting story you read in Acts thus far? Why?
- How would you describe the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2?
- These early Christian leaders managed to make a huge impact in their culture for Christ. Can you think of things you learned by reading Acts that we could do and accomplish the same goal?
- If you could be one person you read about in Acts, who would that person be? Why?
