The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Acts 1-4, Psalm 110
Act 3: God’s New Covenant People
Scene 4: Christ’s Church: God’s People Advance the Kingdom
Background Information: Acts 1-4, Psalm 110
Luke and Acts were written by Luke as part one and two of a single work. His gospel tells us what Jesus did and taught, and the book of Acts tells us how the message of the gospel spread through the witness of the church. Luke gives us an outline of his book in chapter one. The people would first receive power, then they would be witnesses of the gospel in Jerusalem, then they would spread out geographically from there. The Church was born when the Holy Spirit fell on the waiting disciples. What followed was a reversal of the tower of Babel experience. At Babel, God dispersed rebellious humans into linguistic disunity, but at Pentecost everyone heard the truth in their own language. God was clearly at work, but there were three representative types of responses to his work. One group was confused; they had no idea what was happening. One group was wrong; they thought they were seeing human drunkenness. Finally, there were those who understood that this was a work of God and responded. These three types of responses will always be present when Christians give witness to the truth of the gospel. What is a witness, and why did Jesus choose this word as the main designation of our roles in the world? A witness provides evidence or testimony about an event or a set of facts by describing what they saw, heard or know. They were witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They were witnesses to the facts of the gospel. We are to live as his witnesses. We did not see Jesus physically rise from the dead, but we have heard the gospel, and we have God’s word. We have been changed by the gospel, and we know God’s word is true. We qualify as witnesses. We testify to what we know to be true. What about all the miracles in the book of Acts? Wouldn’t it help if we could see a few more of those to back up our presentation of the gospel? No, it probably wouldn’t. You may get the impression that there was a miracle a minute in the early church, but they, like us, normally lived normal lives. There are about thirty miracles of various types recorded in the book of Acts. These occurred over about the first thirty years of the Church. You can do the math on how many that is. There were probably more than that, just like there is more happening in the world than what we are aware of. However, the point was not and is not the miracles but rather the truth of the gospel. The signs of Jesus pointed to the truth of his claims. We don’t need miracles to prove the gospel is true. Its truth is self-evident for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. We are to be personal witnesses to the objective truth of the gospel. The power of the gospel to save those who believe is miracle enough.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Pray for those in our church who have recently experienced the death of a loved one. Ask God to provide them with comfort. Ask him to use us to bring comfort to those who are grieving.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.