There is a scripture on not eating the blood ( Acts 15:20). That fits into the lifeblood concept from the O.T. It also discusses animals that are strangled. Therefore; we should not seek to eat meat that is "Hallal" meat in my estimation as it is done purposely by slowly killing an animal. I would say in principle that due to conscience there are certain food establishments that are notoriously cruel to animals and for a good testimony and witness it is good not to consume those meats. These things have changed over the years. The main thing; of course is not to eat anything around people who are having some sort of sacrificial idol worship by killing animals (again usually in a very brutal tortuous way as is the case with certain cults).
Other than this; the verses describing Peter's experience with the sheet being laid down from heaven with all sort sof unclean beasts has the bigger purpose involving the Gentiles being now the recievers of God's blessings (specifically starting with Cornelious and his household). These O.T. laws involved ceremonial law which the new covenant changed. Nonetheless it appears that in the Millennium there will be certain things once again in that arena; I would say because it is the only way mortal men will be able to live in the direct presence of Christ and US; the glorified saints who rule and reign with him at that time. That would explain reinstituting in that time the sacrifices as a reminder of what Christ did. I would tend to think in eternity with all death (the enemy) gone that will not continue.
The last thought of course is Corinthians where Paul tells us not to do anything to offend a weaker brother. That would also of course involve those who find in their belief certain things offensive (such as beef in a Hindu culture; pork among Jews and Muslims). FYI my aunt is vegetarian but doesn't have any apparent problem with those in the family ordering meat as long as it isn't in HER food. So exceptions occur.
You can read in 1 Timothy 5:1-5 where Paul says that every creature God has created is good and nothing should be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God. This he said in response to false teachers who teach certain O.T. dietary restrictions.
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer
Hi Christy, I'm not an expert on this, but I know scripture is different in terms of dietary restrictions between the old testament and new. Acts 10:13-15 is an example of a change that God had made clean that which used to be unclean.
Some piece of information. You have written about the Book of Acts "but many Greek scholars hold that Luke and Acts are the highest quality of Greek in all ancient literature!". Sorry but this is not true really, not at all. The Greek language that people were speaking during Jesus' time was very simple and poor in many aspects compared to the rhetoric Greek of classical Athens, that is 4-5 centuaries earlier. Most of the masterpieces of ancient Greek literature come from that period, even earlier on like Homer's "Iliad and Odyssey" from the 8th centuary BC. But Luke's Greek is perfect that is why many scholars consider that he was probably a Greek himself. But his gospel is not written as a literature text (like the KJV translation is). It is written in everyday's language of people at that time. But his greek is perfect and also show a well educated man. The writtings of the other 3 evangelists who were Hebrew, and Greek was not their native language, show a limited vocabularly (lke mine in English!), and are simpler in the structure of the language compared to that of Luke. They contain many Hebraisms, that is Hebrew expressions that are not said in Greek (or in English) and may sometimes confuse people, like "son of man" which simply means "man", and "son of God" which simple means "God", or call as a "father" any ancestor, or as a "son" any decendant and so on. They also contain linguistic errors, like e.g. the "sea of Galilee" (or Gennesaret or Tiberias). Which is not a sea, but it is a lake. Luke is the only one who calls it a lake. Why? Because in Hebrew all waters are sea, the Hebrew language (at that time) does not distinguish between sea and lake. Everything is called "sea", whether a sea or a lake. So the other 3 evangelists just said in Greek what they would have said in Hebrew, but it is not right. And some other as well...
It is given to us in Acts Chapter 1 Verse 8. Jesus told the disciples that you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is come upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, (there's your first section), and in all Judaea and Samaria, (your second section), and into the uttermost part of the earth.
That term "uttermost part" or the extremities, or the ends of the earth is an idiom. It means from the nearest city to the farthest village.
Acts Chapter 1 Verses 1 through 11 is the Prologue, the introduction for us. It is actually an overlap to Luke Chapter 24. I don't know of anybody that spends a lot of time reviewing like Luke does. There's a lot of overlap there!
But he wants to bring over that information from Luke Chapter 24 as he begins this second part of his gospel.
And then from there, Acts Chapter 1 Verse 12 through Chapter 7 Verse 60, is the proclaiming of the gospel in Jerusalem. All of our focus should be on the ministry in Jerusalem, as the Lord told the disciples in Acts 1:8.
In Chapters 8 through 12, it gives us the proclaiming of the gospel in Judaea and Samaria.
And lastly, in Acts Chapters 13 through 28, we have the proclaiming of the gospel in the uttermost part of the earth.
And again, if you take the apostles that are prominent, you see that after the prologue, the proclaiming of the gospel in Jerusalem, the proclaiming of the gospel in Judaea and Samaria come under Peter's prominence.
And then the proclaiming of the gospel to the uttermost or ends of the earth, Chapters 13 through 28, is when Paul is emphasized and is the most prominent.
Tom, I know this is not very condensed as you asked for, but there is so much material in the book of Acts. It is my hope and prayer that some of what I've shared here with you might be of some help.
May the Lord bless you abundantly through His word!
At first, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were one document on two separate scrolls. Luke and Acts were originally circulated as the gospel of Luke Volumes 1 and 2.
Later the two books were divided. And you can see why Acts would not have a title because it's the second half to the first scroll. The first scroll had a title but the second scroll didn't. Around the second century, they decided to give it a name too, and separate them!
Why it was written:
Luke was written to present what Jesus did and taught through His human body. In Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1, it says that this was written to present what Jesus continues to do and to teach through His Spiritual body, the church.
It's still the Lord. One through His human body, and now He has sent His Spirit to continue His work through his Spiritual body the church.
To whom was it written:
It was written specifically to the most excellent Theophilus, probably a Roman governor, and in general to all Gentiles, non Jews, to understand the scriptures.
Now there are actually 2 outlines for the book. There are 2 apostles that are prominent. They aren't the only ones but they are the prominent ones.
From Acts Chapter 1 Verse 12 all the way to the end of Chapter 12, the prominent apostle is Peter. And from Chapters 13 through 28, the second half of the book, the prominent apostle is Paul.
Peter was the apostle to the Jews. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.
It also tells you the timing when Saul of Tarsus was saved and he became known as Paul. He's the one that went on the missionary journeys and took the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Those are the Gentiles.
So the timing all the way through the book is very accurate!
Talk about a lack of faith, I love this one. In Acts Chapter 12, Peter gets thrown in jail. So they get together for a prayer meeting. I would hope that if I got thrown in jail for preaching Christ that my brothers and sisters would get together and pray. You might be praying "please keep him locked up as long as possible!" But at least you'll be praying.
So they were praying "Lord, please deliver Peter." Well, Peter was delivered. He was walking down the streets of Jerusalem and he was looking for the fellowship to meet and he comes and knocks on the door.
And the gal that's in charge of the door, she goes and she says "who is it?" And he says "It's me Peter." She goes back in and she tells the prayer group "Peter's at the door." They said "It can't be. He's in prison. Lord, please deliver him." He can't be at the door, he's in prison!
Look at the faith they had. They had no faith at all! They didn't believe it was Peter. And in spite of what they believed or didn't believe, in spite of what they were aware of or not aware of, God's Spirit just used them! In fact, they were so clueless, that they didn't get in the way! Why did I even bring that up?
The title to the book as I'm relaying it to you, should be, and is according to Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1, the theme is the ministry of the Lord, what He continues to do and to teach. The apostles are just vessels. It's not what they do. It is the ministry that the Lord continues to do and teach.
If you look at it from that perspective, you realize that as you read through, there are things that happened through the apostles that they didn't plan or weren't even expecting. God just did it! There's no formula.
This is very interesting. If you take the title, in most English bibles, it will say "The Acts of the Apostles." Originally, this letter had no title whatsoever. So whatever title you have in your English bibles, it is not inspired. It had no title.
But the word Acts comes from the Greek word Praxeis that means practices. They added the word apostles from Acts Chapter 1 Verse 13 because they said this is all about the apostles. So they called it the Acts, or the Practices of the Apostles.
But this is very misleading. If I had any influential weight to change the title of the book of Acts, I would try to do it. And I think that a lot of people in their approach to the book of Acts, and in their approach to the teachings in the book of Acts, they do so because they say here are the Acts of the apostles.
It's not the Acts of the apostles. It doesn't record what the apostle did. It records what Jesus did through the apostles. There's a difference. Many people will look at the book of Acts and they'll say "Well, now that Jesus is gone, look at all the stuff they did for Him!"
No! As a matter of fact, if you take my challenge, as we go through this, just in your leisure time, start reading through the chapters that we study and you will find out that they did not have a clue as to what to do.
They had no "committee meetings," nothing! Even when they were waiting in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they didn't know when He was coming.
The Lord had a specific day and a specific time. They didn't know that! After His ascension, they waited for 10 days before the Holy Spirit came upon the believers.
I say all of this because everything that's done in the book of Acts is the Acts of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, through the apostles.
Luke and Acts express the highest level of Greek in the New Testament. Again, from a very educated man! In fact, point number 2, many scholars, not bible scholars, but many Greek scholars hold that Luke and Acts are the highest quality of Greek in all ancient literature!
Putting Luke and Acts together with all the literature that they have found, it's the highest quality of Greek.
There are 312 Greek words in Luke that are not in the rest of the New Testament. There are 478 Greek words in Acts that are not in the rest of the New Testament. So he's got a big vocabulary!
Now some think that Luke and Acts are actually trial documents. Paul was on his way to Rome and it was required, to make an appeal to Caesar, you had to have documents that explain yourself, preceding any appeal before you stand before him.
Theophilus was thought of putting this together for Paul and Luke was doing this for him. So Paul was in Rome, and Luke's there, and he contacts Theophilus and he says if I write up some documents on the ministry of Christ, and the life of Paul, will you use these in your court appeal that goes before Caesar before Paul can stand before Caesar?
Now there are two things by way of characteristics of the gospel and the book of Acts that support the trial document theory. All uprisings recorded in Luke and Acts were caused by Jewish leaders.
At no time does Luke make anybody who's Roman the fault. The Roman soldiers are always good guys in the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
They're not the bad guys! It's the Jewish leaders who are the bad guys. So it helps throw weight into this view that these were court documents because it would be favorably received by the Romans.
We are told that the man's name to whom it is written is Theophilus, which literally means "Lover of God," THEOS for God, and PHILEO for love. He's a God lover.
It's either his name or his title. Theophilus was a common name at that time. Some people believe it might have been used as a title in order to hide his identity.
But in Luke Chapter 1, he's called "the most excellent Theophilus." The title "most excellent" is either a title of an officer in the Roman military or the title of an official in the Roman government, especially a governor.
The title is used three times in Acts, once it's for "most excellent" governor Felix, "most noble" Felix, and "most noble" Festus, addressing the governors of the Roman government.
So Theophilus was a Roman official. Tradition says that he was from Antioch of Syria. Apparently Luke and Theophilus knew each other. Luke and Acts, both of them were written to Theophilus.
We're told in Acts Chapter 1 Verses 1 and 2, and Luke Chapter 1 Verses 1 through 4, they were written to the same person.
Here is what I can share with you and any others interested in an outline of the book of Acts:
Part 1:
Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke also wrote the book of Acts. He's only mentioned three times in the New Testament.
Colossians 4:14 tells us that He is a physician. Historical accounts tell us that he was schooled in Alexandria Egypt.
So we look at that and we see that God chose an educated man to do a very detailed investigation. Luke is a Greek name and therefore many believe that he was a Gentile.
From Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1 through Chapter 16 Verse 9, Luke uses "they," third person plural in his writings.
Starting with Acts Chapter 16 Verse 10 all the way to the end, he changes it to "we." So at Acts Chapter 16 Verse 9 is where Luke joined up with Paul.
He joined up with Paul in Troas. He was probably converted in Troas by Paul. He becomes Paul's personal physician. In Acts Chapter 27, he's right there in the shipwreck with Paul, right before Paul reaches Rome, which will be his last destination before he dies.
Here is a general statement for you. The record of the Lord's ministry, from Luke Chapter 1, all the way through to the end of Acts Chapter 28, if you put those two books together, it is the most detailed account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Again, Luke is an educated man. Luke Chapter 1 Verses 1 to 4 tells us that he gathered in manuscripts. He gathered in all the writings that he could find about Jesus Christ. He interviewed eyewitnesses.
And being an educated man, he used a lot of detailed words. He wanted to be accurate and detailed about his presentation.
Thank you my dear brother and sister in Christ. It has been a while since I've been able to come on here and I have also missed all of you. This year has been a tough one but the Lord is good.
Anyways, I will share what I put together a few years back on the book of Acts. I gave an entire study of the entire New Testament. I put together introductions to each book that I presented and shared them online with a group of about 25.
I kept all my materials and this is what I am going to use to share what I presented on Acts. I'll start it in another post.
Tom, a few years ago, I put together and presented a bible study on the book of Acts. I gave an introduction to Acts which laid out the entire book. I can share that with you but there is no way I can do so in one post. Would you like me to share it with you?
My special thanks goes to the great spell caster called i will forever in my life remin gratefull to this great man for bringing my love back to me ofter week of emotional tears and pains during the period i lost my love to another guy but this great man brought my man back to me just within 3days Try this great man and see for yourself the auto came driawrencespelltemple he
I am one of those newly born again Christian (just a baby Christian idiomatically speaking) and God has blessed me greatly. Today I want to help you also to the best that I can. I think your concern correlates to a very wonderful scripture in the Bible where it is obvious that Jesus really wants us to be specific in our prayers: see this verse:
Matthew 20:30-34 (KJV)
30 And behold , two blind mem sitting by the way side when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out saying, Have mercy on us O, Lord, thou son of David.
31 And the multitude rebuked them
because they should hold their peace; but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O, Lord, thou son of David.
32 And Jesus stood still. and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?
33 They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be open
34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
I'll tell you: this week I have been desperately reaching out to Jesus in spirit, literally talking to him like a child to a father in my secret place , telling him everything ( what I feel, what I am worried about, what am anxious about, what I hate.. who I hate and then I repented... and so on.. I hide nothing because he knows my heart better than I. and I ask Him in detail all about this request.. to solve this problem that I thought almost insurmountable. HE JUST ANSWERED MY PRAYER LAST NIGHT. now I am so grateful and so free .. )
And also this verse I think will help : Philippians 4: 6-7
Here's a couple of verses to along with what has been already shared.
Romans 8:9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
1 Corinthians 2:9-16. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, BUT THE SPIRIT WHICH IS OF GOD; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.
"10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THEM THAT ASK HIM?"
Being baptized by the Holy Spirit is what Jesus does. It is His ministry to baptize all who receive Him with His Spirit. If you received Jesus into your life in 1997, as you mentioned, then He has already baptized you with His Spirit (Holy Spirit) at that time. A person cannot receive Jesus into their life and not have His Spirit. You can't have one without the other. If you have received Jesus, He has given you His Spirit!
I want to ask you how do I receive the baptism of The Holy Spirit? I receive all the sacraments and was baptized received Jesus as my Lord in 1997. I have type 1 diabetes and high blood pressure and am out of work. I am 59 years old and pray daily for restoration of health and to get my own home to live in and I 100% I was healed at the cross and all financial needs are met. Where I use to work they put me on a disability retirement plan. That is wrong because I always worked. I must have a daylight work to take excellent care of myself. I trie to work other shifts with my doctors help with adjustments made to my insulin pump and could not succeed. I was so thankful to God finally a job with good benefits and retirement. I am trying to get work but, I am not finding work. I do not want to stop trying. Thank you for your help Brian
Acts 1:11"...this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all on this platform.
The LORD bless you and keep you. The LORD make HIS face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Though it may seem bleak and overpowering, the LORD promised us peace in and through the name of HIS SON, the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Romans 10: 9-12; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:1-3; Colossians 3: 1-2
December 27, 2022
Other than this; the verses describing Peter's experience with the sheet being laid down from heaven with all sort sof unclean beasts has the bigger purpose involving the Gentiles being now the recievers of God's blessings (specifically starting with Cornelious and his household). These O.T. laws involved ceremonial law which the new covenant changed. Nonetheless it appears that in the Millennium there will be certain things once again in that arena; I would say because it is the only way mortal men will be able to live in the direct presence of Christ and US; the glorified saints who rule and reign with him at that time. That would explain reinstituting in that time the sacrifices as a reminder of what Christ did. I would tend to think in eternity with all death (the enemy) gone that will not continue.
The last thought of course is Corinthians where Paul tells us not to do anything to offend a weaker brother. That would also of course involve those who find in their belief certain things offensive (such as beef in a Hindu culture; pork among Jews and Muslims). FYI my aunt is vegetarian but doesn't have any apparent problem with those in the family ordering meat as long as it isn't in HER food. So exceptions occur.
You can read in 1 Timothy 5:1-5 where Paul says that every creature God has created is good and nothing should be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God. This he said in response to false teachers who teach certain O.T. dietary restrictions.
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer
Some piece of information. You have written about the Book of Acts "but many Greek scholars hold that Luke and Acts are the highest quality of Greek in all ancient literature!". Sorry but this is not true really, not at all. The Greek language that people were speaking during Jesus' time was very simple and poor in many aspects compared to the rhetoric Greek of classical Athens, that is 4-5 centuaries earlier. Most of the masterpieces of ancient Greek literature come from that period, even earlier on like Homer's "Iliad and Odyssey" from the 8th centuary BC. But Luke's Greek is perfect that is why many scholars consider that he was probably a Greek himself. But his gospel is not written as a literature text (like the KJV translation is). It is written in everyday's language of people at that time. But his greek is perfect and also show a well educated man. The writtings of the other 3 evangelists who were Hebrew, and Greek was not their native language, show a limited vocabularly (lke mine in English!), and are simpler in the structure of the language compared to that of Luke. They contain many Hebraisms, that is Hebrew expressions that are not said in Greek (or in English) and may sometimes confuse people, like "son of man" which simply means "man", and "son of God" which simple means "God", or call as a "father" any ancestor, or as a "son" any decendant and so on. They also contain linguistic errors, like e.g. the "sea of Galilee" (or Gennesaret or Tiberias). Which is not a sea, but it is a lake. Luke is the only one who calls it a lake. Why? Because in Hebrew all waters are sea, the Hebrew language (at that time) does not distinguish between sea and lake. Everything is called "sea", whether a sea or a lake. So the other 3 evangelists just said in Greek what they would have said in Hebrew, but it is not right. And some other as well...
Have a blessed weekend. GBU
God bless you.
Thank you for sharing this, it was the Acts of Jesus and is today, as John recorded what Jesus told them would happen, John 16:7-15.
God bless,
RLW
Here is a section outline of the book of Acts:
It is given to us in Acts Chapter 1 Verse 8. Jesus told the disciples that you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is come upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, (there's your first section), and in all Judaea and Samaria, (your second section), and into the uttermost part of the earth.
That term "uttermost part" or the extremities, or the ends of the earth is an idiom. It means from the nearest city to the farthest village.
Acts Chapter 1 Verses 1 through 11 is the Prologue, the introduction for us. It is actually an overlap to Luke Chapter 24. I don't know of anybody that spends a lot of time reviewing like Luke does. There's a lot of overlap there!
But he wants to bring over that information from Luke Chapter 24 as he begins this second part of his gospel.
And then from there, Acts Chapter 1 Verse 12 through Chapter 7 Verse 60, is the proclaiming of the gospel in Jerusalem. All of our focus should be on the ministry in Jerusalem, as the Lord told the disciples in Acts 1:8.
In Chapters 8 through 12, it gives us the proclaiming of the gospel in Judaea and Samaria.
And lastly, in Acts Chapters 13 through 28, we have the proclaiming of the gospel in the uttermost part of the earth.
And again, if you take the apostles that are prominent, you see that after the prologue, the proclaiming of the gospel in Jerusalem, the proclaiming of the gospel in Judaea and Samaria come under Peter's prominence.
And then the proclaiming of the gospel to the uttermost or ends of the earth, Chapters 13 through 28, is when Paul is emphasized and is the most prominent.
Tom, I know this is not very condensed as you asked for, but there is so much material in the book of Acts. It is my hope and prayer that some of what I've shared here with you might be of some help.
May the Lord bless you abundantly through His word!
The relationship to other books:
At first, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were one document on two separate scrolls. Luke and Acts were originally circulated as the gospel of Luke Volumes 1 and 2.
Later the two books were divided. And you can see why Acts would not have a title because it's the second half to the first scroll. The first scroll had a title but the second scroll didn't. Around the second century, they decided to give it a name too, and separate them!
Why it was written:
Luke was written to present what Jesus did and taught through His human body. In Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1, it says that this was written to present what Jesus continues to do and to teach through His Spiritual body, the church.
It's still the Lord. One through His human body, and now He has sent His Spirit to continue His work through his Spiritual body the church.
To whom was it written:
It was written specifically to the most excellent Theophilus, probably a Roman governor, and in general to all Gentiles, non Jews, to understand the scriptures.
Now there are actually 2 outlines for the book. There are 2 apostles that are prominent. They aren't the only ones but they are the prominent ones.
From Acts Chapter 1 Verse 12 all the way to the end of Chapter 12, the prominent apostle is Peter. And from Chapters 13 through 28, the second half of the book, the prominent apostle is Paul.
Peter was the apostle to the Jews. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.
It also tells you the timing when Saul of Tarsus was saved and he became known as Paul. He's the one that went on the missionary journeys and took the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Those are the Gentiles.
So the timing all the way through the book is very accurate!
Talk about a lack of faith, I love this one. In Acts Chapter 12, Peter gets thrown in jail. So they get together for a prayer meeting. I would hope that if I got thrown in jail for preaching Christ that my brothers and sisters would get together and pray. You might be praying "please keep him locked up as long as possible!" But at least you'll be praying.
So they were praying "Lord, please deliver Peter." Well, Peter was delivered. He was walking down the streets of Jerusalem and he was looking for the fellowship to meet and he comes and knocks on the door.
And the gal that's in charge of the door, she goes and she says "who is it?" And he says "It's me Peter." She goes back in and she tells the prayer group "Peter's at the door." They said "It can't be. He's in prison. Lord, please deliver him." He can't be at the door, he's in prison!
Look at the faith they had. They had no faith at all! They didn't believe it was Peter. And in spite of what they believed or didn't believe, in spite of what they were aware of or not aware of, God's Spirit just used them! In fact, they were so clueless, that they didn't get in the way! Why did I even bring that up?
The title to the book as I'm relaying it to you, should be, and is according to Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1, the theme is the ministry of the Lord, what He continues to do and to teach. The apostles are just vessels. It's not what they do. It is the ministry that the Lord continues to do and teach.
If you look at it from that perspective, you realize that as you read through, there are things that happened through the apostles that they didn't plan or weren't even expecting. God just did it! There's no formula.
Now about the theme of the book:
This is very interesting. If you take the title, in most English bibles, it will say "The Acts of the Apostles." Originally, this letter had no title whatsoever. So whatever title you have in your English bibles, it is not inspired. It had no title.
But the word Acts comes from the Greek word Praxeis that means practices. They added the word apostles from Acts Chapter 1 Verse 13 because they said this is all about the apostles. So they called it the Acts, or the Practices of the Apostles.
But this is very misleading. If I had any influential weight to change the title of the book of Acts, I would try to do it. And I think that a lot of people in their approach to the book of Acts, and in their approach to the teachings in the book of Acts, they do so because they say here are the Acts of the apostles.
It's not the Acts of the apostles. It doesn't record what the apostle did. It records what Jesus did through the apostles. There's a difference. Many people will look at the book of Acts and they'll say "Well, now that Jesus is gone, look at all the stuff they did for Him!"
No! As a matter of fact, if you take my challenge, as we go through this, just in your leisure time, start reading through the chapters that we study and you will find out that they did not have a clue as to what to do.
They had no "committee meetings," nothing! Even when they were waiting in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they didn't know when He was coming.
The Lord had a specific day and a specific time. They didn't know that! After His ascension, they waited for 10 days before the Holy Spirit came upon the believers.
I say all of this because everything that's done in the book of Acts is the Acts of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, through the apostles.
I will continue part 4!
Now about the book of Acts itself:
Luke and Acts express the highest level of Greek in the New Testament. Again, from a very educated man! In fact, point number 2, many scholars, not bible scholars, but many Greek scholars hold that Luke and Acts are the highest quality of Greek in all ancient literature!
Putting Luke and Acts together with all the literature that they have found, it's the highest quality of Greek.
There are 312 Greek words in Luke that are not in the rest of the New Testament. There are 478 Greek words in Acts that are not in the rest of the New Testament. So he's got a big vocabulary!
Now some think that Luke and Acts are actually trial documents. Paul was on his way to Rome and it was required, to make an appeal to Caesar, you had to have documents that explain yourself, preceding any appeal before you stand before him.
Theophilus was thought of putting this together for Paul and Luke was doing this for him. So Paul was in Rome, and Luke's there, and he contacts Theophilus and he says if I write up some documents on the ministry of Christ, and the life of Paul, will you use these in your court appeal that goes before Caesar before Paul can stand before Caesar?
Now there are two things by way of characteristics of the gospel and the book of Acts that support the trial document theory. All uprisings recorded in Luke and Acts were caused by Jewish leaders.
At no time does Luke make anybody who's Roman the fault. The Roman soldiers are always good guys in the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
They're not the bad guys! It's the Jewish leaders who are the bad guys. So it helps throw weight into this view that these were court documents because it would be favorably received by the Romans.
The recipient to the book of Acts:
We are told that the man's name to whom it is written is Theophilus, which literally means "Lover of God," THEOS for God, and PHILEO for love. He's a God lover.
It's either his name or his title. Theophilus was a common name at that time. Some people believe it might have been used as a title in order to hide his identity.
But in Luke Chapter 1, he's called "the most excellent Theophilus." The title "most excellent" is either a title of an officer in the Roman military or the title of an official in the Roman government, especially a governor.
The title is used three times in Acts, once it's for "most excellent" governor Felix, "most noble" Felix, and "most noble" Festus, addressing the governors of the Roman government.
So Theophilus was a Roman official. Tradition says that he was from Antioch of Syria. Apparently Luke and Theophilus knew each other. Luke and Acts, both of them were written to Theophilus.
We're told in Acts Chapter 1 Verses 1 and 2, and Luke Chapter 1 Verses 1 through 4, they were written to the same person.
Here is what I can share with you and any others interested in an outline of the book of Acts:
Part 1:
Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke also wrote the book of Acts. He's only mentioned three times in the New Testament.
Colossians 4:14 tells us that He is a physician. Historical accounts tell us that he was schooled in Alexandria Egypt.
So we look at that and we see that God chose an educated man to do a very detailed investigation. Luke is a Greek name and therefore many believe that he was a Gentile.
From Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1 through Chapter 16 Verse 9, Luke uses "they," third person plural in his writings.
Starting with Acts Chapter 16 Verse 10 all the way to the end, he changes it to "we." So at Acts Chapter 16 Verse 9 is where Luke joined up with Paul.
He joined up with Paul in Troas. He was probably converted in Troas by Paul. He becomes Paul's personal physician. In Acts Chapter 27, he's right there in the shipwreck with Paul, right before Paul reaches Rome, which will be his last destination before he dies.
Here is a general statement for you. The record of the Lord's ministry, from Luke Chapter 1, all the way through to the end of Acts Chapter 28, if you put those two books together, it is the most detailed account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Again, Luke is an educated man. Luke Chapter 1 Verses 1 to 4 tells us that he gathered in manuscripts. He gathered in all the writings that he could find about Jesus Christ. He interviewed eyewitnesses.
And being an educated man, he used a lot of detailed words. He wanted to be accurate and detailed about his presentation.
Anyways, I will share what I put together a few years back on the book of Acts. I gave an entire study of the entire New Testament. I put together introductions to each book that I presented and shared them online with a group of about 25.
I kept all my materials and this is what I am going to use to share what I presented on Acts. I'll start it in another post.
I'd love for you to post it!
Isaiah 8:19-20 kjv,
Leviticus 19:31 kjv,
Acts 8:22 kjv.
2 Kings 21:6 kjv.
It's nice to see you post again!
you and others were being asked about and missed.
Brother Chris said you would pop up and here you go.
This reminds me of last year Chris went on a month vacation and you returned to the site and refreshed us.
I hope all is well.
God bless.
I am one of those newly born again Christian (just a baby Christian idiomatically speaking) and God has blessed me greatly. Today I want to help you also to the best that I can. I think your concern correlates to a very wonderful scripture in the Bible where it is obvious that Jesus really wants us to be specific in our prayers: see this verse:
Matthew 20:30-34 (KJV)
30 And behold , two blind mem sitting by the way side when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out saying, Have mercy on us O, Lord, thou son of David.
31 And the multitude rebuked them
because they should hold their peace; but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O, Lord, thou son of David.
32 And Jesus stood still. and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?
33 They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be open
34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
I'll tell you: this week I have been desperately reaching out to Jesus in spirit, literally talking to him like a child to a father in my secret place , telling him everything ( what I feel, what I am worried about, what am anxious about, what I hate.. who I hate and then I repented... and so on.. I hide nothing because he knows my heart better than I. and I ask Him in detail all about this request.. to solve this problem that I thought almost insurmountable. HE JUST ANSWERED MY PRAYER LAST NIGHT. now I am so grateful and so free .. )
And also this verse I think will help : Philippians 4: 6-7
Praying for you too!
Here's a couple of verses to along with what has been already shared.
Romans 8:9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
1 Corinthians 2:9-16. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, BUT THE SPIRIT WHICH IS OF GOD; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.
God bless.
"10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THEM THAT ASK HIM?"
Being baptized by the Holy Spirit is what Jesus does. It is His ministry to baptize all who receive Him with His Spirit. If you received Jesus into your life in 1997, as you mentioned, then He has already baptized you with His Spirit (Holy Spirit) at that time. A person cannot receive Jesus into their life and not have His Spirit. You can't have one without the other. If you have received Jesus, He has given you His Spirit!