The Act Goes On

God's Word is rich and full of life. This past Sunday we completed our
look at Acts 1-2. There were several thoughts that were significant to
me as I studied Acts last week-

1. There is no effective witness without the presence of the Holy
Spirit, and the way to spiritual empowerment is to wait on God in
prayer.

This can be clearly seen as 120 disciples gathered together in the
Upper Room for 10 days to pray and wait on God for the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:13-14).

2. The gift of the Holy Spirit came as God promised, but most likely
in a much different form than the disciples anticipated or expected.

What do we do when God answers our prayers differently than we
expected? Is our heart grateful and do we still offer praise up to
God? It is difficult to keep God in our neat little boxes (Acts
2:1-4).

3. Peter carefully balances God's divine sovereign purposes and human responsibility.

Jesus died as the result of men making decisions by exercising their
God-given freedom of choice, however, God was working in the events of
man's willful decisions to bring about His eternal purposes. God is
sovereign, but we cannot blame Him for our own actions, choices, and decisions (Act 2:23-24).

4. Christian Community was a very important part of the life of the
early church, as it should be today.

The disciples were very devoted to teaching, fellowship, the breaking
of bread, and prayer. In addition, there was a spirit of generosity and
people would give sacrificially to one another such that there was not
a needy person among them (Acts 2.40-47).

May God richly bless you as you continue your study of Acts. The Bible
is a book filled with life and my prayer is that as you read in Acts
you will Encounter the Life-Giving God behind the Word.

Read and pray your way through Acts and you will be much blessed!