Category Archives: Acts

Acts 2

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The 242 in @SonofLiberty242  is a reference to Acts 2:42. It’s good.

I. Acts 2: 1-4

  1. What?
    1. 50 days after Passover
    2. Giving of the Law on Sinai?
    3. Defines us all—not just Pentecostals
    4. creative power of God came to earth not to offer spirituality to make earth irrelevant, but to transform the earth starting with our bodies, minds, hearts and lives
    5. Same wind of Creation?
  1. So What?
    1. Throughout Acts the Spirit is the definitive marker of Christianity
    2. One of our “classic” stories

a. sometimes brings hope

b.

  • sometimes finds us wanting
    1. “All in the room…”

II. Acts 2:5-11

  1. What?
    1. Different places (all Jews)
    2. Different languages –not the same as tongues (1 Cor)
  1. So What?
    1. Some see the miracle at Pentecost as this unity out of diversity
  1. III.       Acts 2:12-13
    1. What?
      1. Responses
      2. Amazed and perplexed and mockery
  1. So What?
    1. Do our churches/lives exemplify anything that would make people stop in amazement?
  1. IV.       Acts 2:14-35
    1. What?
      1. Peter stood up!
      2. Connection to their story—Joel
      3. Proclamation that Jesus is the fulfillment (Psalms)
    2. So What?
      1. Restored Peter
      2. Joel – age to come has arrived

a. “last days” not as imminent apocalypse, but as urgency of witness

b.

  • Spirit once possessed by exotic few now by all

c. Crowd knew the scriptures well, but they missed it!

V. Acts 2:36-41

  1. What?
    1. Cut to the heart
    2. Repentance and baptism
  1. So What?
    1. Even those on the inside need salvation
    2. Kyrios not just an honorary title, but represents action and status
    3. Was always the plan to let the Messiah represent Israel and burn out evil
    4. Repentance is a radical change of mind—not just intellect though
  1. VI.       Acts 2:42-47
    1. What?
      1. Formative
      2. Idealistic?
      3. Koinonia
      4. Jubilee – verb in Acts indicates not a one time thing
  1. So What?
    1. Contemporary religious life is plagued by momentary enthusiasm, periodic outbursts and superficiality
    2. many converts fade due to lack of attention to the process which involves committed fellowship with other believers attending to teaching praying etc
    3. teaching ones who “know” also part of the gospel
    4. eating together is a mark of unity, but gospel is not a social club

Concluding thoughts:

  1. Spirit empowered witness to risen Jesus is means by which God’s purposes are realized
  2. Spirit sometimes comes in fire and noise and sometimes in soft and secret
  3. New creation began in an upper room not in the Temple
  4. No room for jealousy—everybody delights with gifts to others as to themselves
  5. Luke’s salvation is social, physical and spiritual

Acts 1

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I’m going to use this blog to post the outlines/discussions/reflections that we are having in our small group as we study the book of Acts.  Apologies to Witherington, Willimon, Wright and Robert Wall who wrote on Acts in the New Interpreter’s Bible.  I’ll be more careful to cite them once I get to chapter 4–I didn’t intend to post this material on the blog when we first began.  Please feel free to post comments and questions whether you are a part of the small group or not.  The notes in red are added to the original outline to help spell out some of the discussion points during the small group session. 

A Journey through ACTS:  2/10/13

 I.  Overview   1: 1-2

A.  The Acts of the ___perhaps the better title would be of the Holy Spirit

B.  In my former book  — important to remember that Acts is part 2. It only makes sense in the context of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  

C.  Messiah cannot be disembodied from the Messianic community

II.  Waiting  1:3-5

A.  Our capacity to wait is based on God’s faithfulness to Jesus

B.  Also based on God’s faithfulness to history

1.  We are invited to be actors in this play

2.  What is your story?  How do we know each other’s testament?so important for us to be vulnerable and transparent with each other

III.  When Lord?  1:6-8

A.  Jesus as a King in waiting (i.e. David)

B.  Remember the disciples seeking the top positions in his “cabinet”

C.  Jesus doesn’t speculate about the not yet, but insists on the now

1.  Successors devoted to the sublime truth

2.  dynamis — power; where we get the word dynamite

3.  Isaiah 32:15

4.  their teacher and friend now rules;  not gnosis but demands witness

IV.  One like a Son of Man  1: 9-11

A.  Daniel 7

B.  Jesus is announced as Lord and King—not as an increasingly distant memory but

as a living and powerful reality

C.  He can be known and loved and followed

D.  Arch of Titus — wasn’t just Jesus’ soul that ascended but his new body that had gone through death and out the other side. 

E.  Heaven and Earth

F.  The cloud as a sign of God’s presence

1.  Exodus 16:10

2.  Exodus 19:9

3.  Exodus 24:15-18

V.  Joined together in prayer 1: 12-14

A.  1st response was prayer

B.  Action demanded of the church is not busyness and human effort

C.  Must be grounded in constant prayer and worship

(How can we apply this to our lives?)

D.  Not an act of solitude—they were “joined together”

VI.  Grounded in the Word 1: 12-26

A.  Covenant Faithfulness of God

B.  Good ol Judas

C.  Joseph aka Barsabbas aka Justus and Matthias

D.  We may have different size roles, but there can be no passengers in the Kingdom

VII.  Conclusion

A.  What marks Spirit filled prophets today?

B.  The best support any of us can give to these stories is by the lives we lead

C.  Tasks and Contemplation

D.  We must latch on

1.  Resurrection:  more than an ordinary body not less; transformed body the

beginning of new creation

2.  Holy Spirit:  He continues to act in the real world