The book of Acts is a wonderful book. I never tire from studying it. Its title is Acts of the Apostles, but you, know book and chapter titles are man-made; however the text is inspired (God breathed). Isn’t that something too… the inspiration of the scriptures are not like someone being inspired from watching a Rocky movie; or inspired from a Shakespearean play; rather, inspiration is defined as God breathing , moving the writers according to their own personalities and writing styles and what they produced was God breathed, inspirational scripture having the power to create faith and change lives.
Just as God breathed into Adam and Eve and they became living souls, God breathes and moves the writers to create inspired scripture.
What has that to do with the book of Acts (Acts of the Apostles)? Well , I think the title should really be (and I’m not suggesting I can provide better insight than our early church fathers) the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
When Dr. Luke wrote his gospel of Luke, he wrote about “all that Jesus set out to do up to his crucifixion and until he was taken up to heaven” (Acts 1:1-3). Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He promised them the coming of the comforter, the “paraklesis” – that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would come and they would receive empowerment. They were to wait in Jerusalem to receive this empowerment, called the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Jesus would be baptizing them, immersing them, filling them, with the Holy Spirit which would empower them to do His much needed Kingdom work.
But for those followers of Jesus prior to this event (called Pentecost in Acts chapter 2), would receive the Holy Spirit from Jesus directly. How? He breathed upon them and they received the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed upon Adam and Eve and they became living souls, Jesus breathed out the Holy Spirit to them and they became “alive” spiritually. They were still to wait for the empowering baptism of the Holy Spirit which would happen in Acts 2.
This is how the book Acts begins and it just continues that way throughout the 28 chapters. It really is all about the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
So, if you would like to learn more about this fantastic book and to learn more about the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, I invite you to join us at our Sunday morning launch team services, 10 AM.
See our events page for more details.
