Acts 4:32-5:11
In Acts 4 we began to see a threat to the church from the outside (i.e. Peter and John’s arrest). But then in Acts 5 we see a threat to the church on the inside. The church is blowing and going in Jerusalem…People are coming to faith left and right from all walks of life. People are being healed. There’s an entire community caring for one another. And Satan hates all of it. What you see in Acts is the repeated attempts of a real enemy (God’s enemy) to take down the very thing that God has established. And the one area that he will continually come after is the unity of the church.
Acts 4:13-31
In Acts 4 onward we begin to see a new pattern emerge. The pattern is that every time the church begins to grow they encounter opposition. And out of that opposition the church grows. Essentially, persecution, difficulty, and suffering seems to become the seedbed out of which more growth in the church comes from. The problem is for the majority of us we want to avoid personal sacrifice and suffering. But what if that is how God desires to grow you and His Church? If that’s the case…then one of the main ingredients that a follower of Jesus needs in his or her life is boldness.
Acts 3:1-26
In Acts 3, the Apostle Peter is delivering another sermon and the basic title of his sermon is: You missed it…but it’s not too late! Peter is imploring the people to see how God himself in the person of Jesus walked into the frame of human history. Furthermore, Peter’s message comes on the heels of the first healing we see in the book of Acts and it sets up Peter’s message. Using the miracle as a visual aid Peter’s message is essentially: Jesus came to seek and to save the broken…you missed him once…don’t miss him again. This is the message we all long for…it’s the message we need…it’s the message (whether we realize it or not) we all want.
Acts 2:42-47
The church was more than merely an event that happened at Pentecost – it was now the vehicle by which the kingdom of God would be visible and invade the world. This new community God has made invites us into new life in Christ together, new love for one another, and new longing that God would be glorified in worship and reaching the lost. It is for this purpose that we devote ourselves to Christ in a corporate way—the church—by the power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. This is the means by which God seeks to invade a broken world with grace for His glory.
Acts 2:1-41
The day of Pentecost is a significant moment in Christian history, even the history of the world. This moment sparked a movement that we still see today–the church. The role of the church is to bear witness to Christ in this world, and it is powerfully equipped by the promised, present, and powerful Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ inwardly, and outwardly unites us to one another as the Church for the purpose of exalting Christ in the World. In Acts 2, we are reminded of this significant “Harvest of Firstfruits” the Lord brought to bear that would continue as the church spread from Jerusalem to Samaria, to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:1-11
One thing that is true of human nature is that we all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. It’s hard wired in us. This is why we fight for certain causes or give lots of our time and energy to certain initiatives. The truth is we want our life to count for something more. We love the idea of being caught up in something that is bigger than us. That’s the nature of a movement. Movements move and if we’re honest with ourselves we want to move with them, which is why the book of Acts is so vital. Not only does it outline the beginning of the greatest movement in human history - it invites you and I into that movement. It beckons us to be a part of it and to be swept up into the grandeur of what God has, is, and will do through His Church.