We have been going week by week, line by line, through the Book of Acts since the beginning of January. Last week we ended in chapter 24 with Paul waiting under arrest in Caesarea for two years. Paul’s ministry was seemingly put to an end, despite the Lord’s promise that he would be His witness in Rome. Poor Paul! This had to be so difficult – the people holding him were amazingly corrupt, callous, brutal, evil men. Paul was held without due process for political reasons, partly because he didn’t try to bribe his jailors. What about the promise? What was God doing? I hate to do this to you, but we are going to leave Paul in jail for another week.
As we come close to finishing the Book of Acts, it seemed appropriate to take one week out of the sequence and review the entire book up to where we are in Chapter 24. I believe it is helpful to study the Bible many different ways, and one of these ways has been called the “Bird’s Eye View.” Just as a fast-flying eagle can survey a very large territory very quickly, we are going to survey 24 chapters of Acts to see what we can learn from seeing all at once the “big picture.”
[Acts 1] Jesus instructs and departs.
Jesus proved to His disciples that He had risen. He told them to wait in Jerusalem. He promised them: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” He departed rising up through the clouds, and angels told the disciples, “Why do you remain here looking up?” The disciples obeyed Jesus’ instructions and went to Jerusalem. There “they all joined together constantly in prayer…” Peter led them to select a replacement for Judas.
[Acts 2] The Holy Spirit and homothumadon.
Suddenly the disciples experience “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind” and “what seemed to be tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each of them.” Filled with the Spirit, they praised God in other languages. A crowd came and was amazed at hearing God being praised in languages they understood. Peter spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” And 3000 were added to the number that day. Here we also see a snapshot of the early believers. “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” One of the terms used to describe the early believers was homothumadon. This was an on-fire radical unity and passion for the Lord Jesus.
[Acts 3] Healing power.
Listen to Peter as he speaks to the lame man who had seemingly always been at the front of the temple begging: "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" This man, formerly lame, went with the disciples into the temple courts, jumping and leaping and praising God. Peter shared the gospel with the crowds that came. The miracles of Jesus were becoming the miracles of his followers!
[Acts 4] Arrest and prayer.
Peter and John were immediately seized and spent the night under arrest. Before the Sanhedrin, Peter shared the gospel with them in his defense. The Sanhedrin commanded the disciples not to speak or teach in Jesus’ name. But Peter boldly replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." The Sanhedrin had them released because they couldn’t decide what to do. Now listen to their prayer: “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” God responded by shaking their place of meeting. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. They shared everything they had, even selling their possessions and laying the proceeds at the disciples’ feet.
[Acts 5] Deception, healings, and flogging.Ananias pretended that he had given everything he earned from a sale of property, and God struck him dead. His wife Sapphira later also lied about it, and she also died. The fear of the Lord swept through the church. The apostles healed many in the streets. The jealous priests had the apostles arrested. An angel opened the doors of the jail so they could escape. They went back to teaching in the temple courts. They were brought before the Sanhedrin and again Peter shared the gospel and told them “we must obey God rather than men.” Gamaliel, probably not a believer, spoke up and prevented them from giving the apostles a death sentence. They were flogged, ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let go. They “rejoiced because they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus.”
[Acts 6] Seven servants and one arrest.To assist with the distribution of food for widows, seven were chosen. These included Stephen and Philip. Stephen handily defeated jealous Jews in debate after debate. Eventually, Stephen was seized, accused of false charges, and asked to respond.
[Acts 7] Martyr.
Stephen gave a succinct history of the Jewish people, from Abraham to the present. He accused the priests of being stiff-necked and resisting the Holy Spirit like their fathers. They dragged him out of the city and stoned him, with Saul (Paul) overseeing his death.
[Acts 8] The scattered church grows.
Led by Paul, the church was persecuted severely. Believers, men and women, were hauled off to jail. Believers began to flee to neighboring areas and share the gospel there. Philip shared in Samaria, and God did many miracles through him. Simon the sorcerer tried to buy Philip’s power, and Philip rebuked him. Led by God, Philip led an Ethiopian official to the Lord on a desert road. Philip shared the gospel in many other towns up to Caesarea.
[Acts 9] Paul and two others see the power of Jesus.
On another desert road, Paul met the One he was persecuting. Blinded, he was led to a faithful servant of the Lord, Ananias, and healed through him. Paul became a Christian. He preached the gospel in Damascus and Jerusalem, but because of persecution, was sent to Tarsus for a time. With Paul transformed, the church enjoyed a brief period of peace. During this time, God through Peter healed a paralytic in Lydda and a dead disciple in Joppa.
[Acts 10] The Kingdom expands to gentiles.
Led by the Lord, Cornelius, a non-Jew, came to Peter. Peter had a vision three times of God telling him to eat “unclean” foods. As they met, Cornelius and his party became believers and were filled with the Holy Spirit. The kingdom had expanded to include the “unclean” as well. The gospel was for all people, of every tribe and nation.
[Acts 11] Peter in Jerusalem and Paul in Antioch.
Peter explained his actions to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, how God Himself had opened the gospel to all, Jewish and gentile. As the church in Antioch began to grow, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to help them. Barnabas did this and then went to Tarsus to find Paul. He brought Paul back to Antioch and they ministered there together.
[Acts 12] Peter miraculously escapes.
King Herod arrested some of the believers. He had James, one of the key early disciples, put to death. He then imprisoned Peter, intending to bring him to trial and do likewise to him. As the church prayed earnestly for him, an angel came and released him from prison. It took some convincing at the disciples’ house to help them see that he really was Peter! (They were still busy praying for him.) Later, Herod was praised as if he was a god, not a man, and God struck him down; he was “eaten by worms and died.”
[Acts 13] A journey of growth.
Paul and Barnabas began a missionary journey together. After being prayed for and sent off by the Antioch church, they went to island of Cyprus. There, in Paphos, God, through Paul, blinded a sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus. This made a believer out of the proconsul there. In Pisidian Antioch, Paul went first to the Jews and taught the gospel at the temple. Receiving opposition, he then went to the gentiles, and many believed. After a time, the unbelieving Jews had them expelled from the region. But there “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”
[Acts 14] A journey of hardship.
Going on to Iconium, Paul and Barnabas again taught in the temple, and many believed. Again there was opposition, and after hearing of a plot to stone them, they went to Lystra. There, Paul healed a man lame from birth, and instead of turning people to God, the result was that the whole city thought them Zeus and Hermes and began to sacrifice to them. Paul and Barnabas began, with the help of some Jews, to turn them from their plans, but then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and turned the crowd. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking him dead. He wasn’t dead, not quite, and after receiving care, they went to Derbe. They continued to strengthen the churches in the area, and then went back to Antioch.
[Acts 15] The New Covenant understood.
Acts 15 begins with this: “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’ This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.” The result was that the church as a whole much better understood the nature of the New Covenant, the covenant of Christ. Non-Jews were not held to the Jewish laws, but only were to abstain from certain things that were especially associated with worshiping false gods. (Beyond this they were only to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit and teachings of Jesus.) A letter saying this was given to Paul to pass around to the other churches. Paul began another journey, this time with Silas.
[Acts 16] New life and beatings and new life.
They began by visiting some of the cities in their first journey. At Lystra Paul met with Timothy who then went on with them. God give Paul a vision of a man from Macedonia begging them to go there, so they went, going to Philippi. There, Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, and her household became believers after hearing the gospel from Paul and his group. Also there was a fortune-telling slave girl harassing them there, and Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, cast a demon out from her. This made her handlers angry, and they got a crowd riled up. Paul and Silas were severely flogged and thrown in prison. At midnight, Paul and Silas were singing songs to God, when a giant earthquake (and probably angels’ help) set them free. Paul prevented the jailor from killing himself and led him and his family to the Lord. They were then released.
[Acts 17] Trouble pursues and academics sneer.In Thessalonica, after some early success in leading people to the Lord, jealous Jews again caused trouble for them and they had to leave in the middle of the night to go to Berea. In Berea, many Jews and Greeks became believers, as they searched out the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true. But the Jews from Thessalonica came there, caused trouble, and again they had to leave. Paul went ahead, as he was the lightning rod for trouble, and went much further away, to Athens. In Athens, Paul shared in the marketplace and was invited to share in the Areopagus to the philosophers. A few of them became believers, but most remained unconvinced. Some made fun of Paul.
[Acts 18] Growth not just through Paul.
Paul went on to Corinth. He spent some time here with Silas and Timothy as well as two fellow tentmakers, Aquila and Priscilla. Many Corinthian gentiles became believers. God told Paul to stay and keep on speaking there, and he did. An attempt to cause trouble for Paul backfired on the instigators. Then Paul went with Aquila and Priscilla to Ephesus where in a short visit they saw much interest in the Lord. Then he headed back. Meanwhile, a Greek named Apollos came to Ephesus and taught about Jesus accurately, but he didn’t understand the gospel. He didn’t know “the rest of the story.” Aquila and Priscilla gently explained it to him. He went to Achaia to learn more and to help share the truth there.
[Acts 19] Paul vs. Artemis.
Paul went to Ephesus. God did extraordinary miracles through him there, even healing people who simply touched his sweatband. Many came to faith and he was a bit of a celebrity there. Some who posed as Christians tried to cast out demons, but were stripped and beaten by a demon-possessed man instead. This made many more turn to the Lord. Led by the makers of Artemis idols, a major riot broke out. They wanted to rip Paul to shreds. For hours they shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” A city clerk eventually quieted the people and sent them home.
[Acts 20] God’s will: new life, bondage and affliction.Paul spent some time in Greece and then on the way back went through Troas. Having only a short time there, he preached through the night. Unfortunately, a person named Eutychus fell asleep and fell through a window and died. But God brought Eutychus back to life through Paul. Paul went back to Ephesus and then told them “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships [bondage and affliction] are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.” He prayed for them and with them and he likely wept with them, and then he left.
[Acts 21-22] Arrest.Paul visited several cities on the way to Jerusalem and in each the believers there begged Paul not to go on. But Paul was determined to follow the Lord, even until death, if need be. Within a few days of arriving in Jerusalem, Paul was in fact attacked by Jews shouting falsehoods against him. Paul was arrested (and, therefore, rescued from death) by a Roman commander. Paul received permission to speak to the angry crowd, and began to give his testimony, but before he could explain the heart of the gospel, salvation by faith, the crowd went crazy and he was taken into the barracks. He narrowly avoided being beaten because of his Roman citizenship, and he was ordered to appear before the Sanhedrin the next day.
[Acts 23-24] A promise and a wait.Before the Sanhedrin, Paul got off to a rocky start as, after being struck, he called the high priest a whitewashed wall. Paul again began to give his testimony, but this time he got almost nowhere at all, after the Sanhedrin erupted after he said that he was on trial for his belief in the resurrection from the dead. (Pharisees believed in this – and in the truth of all the scriptures – but the Sadducees did not.) In the craziness, Paul was brought back to the barracks. That night the Lord appeared to Paul and told him to take courage. He would testify about Jesus in Rome yet. After a major plot to murder Paul was uncovered, Paul was brought to Caesarea. Here, under corrupt leaders, his trial was cut short and he waited, and waited, for two years.
So that is your bird’s eye view of Acts 1-24. A number of things impress me as I look at the big picture. There are three different images that come to mind as I imagine an eagle soaring over the countryside getting the lay of the land:
The first image is that of a smoldering battlefield. Imagine flying over Hiroshima, or over German cities after they were pummeled in World War II. Sometimes that is what this reads like. Peter: persecuted and jailed. Stephen: killed by a mob with stones. James: killed by the sword by the government. Paul: ridiculed, beaten, stoned, arrested, and forgotten. God has never promised us a pretty picture as we soar to get the big picture of our life. The Bible calls us soldiers, not civilians. We are to “fight the good fight.” This phrase occurs three times in Scripture: I Tim. 1:18, I Tim. 6:12, and II Tim. 4:7. In the last one, Paul uses it about himself, in the past tense: I have fought the good fight. It is easy to become discouraged, to lose faith, when you have to walk through a war. But it is a war with purpose. All things we must go through have a purpose designed by God. He is advancing the kingdom, and we serve Him gladly because we have a King worth dying for. We keep the faith and fight the good fight because we know that He is a good King, the best King there could ever be.
The second image that comes to mind is that of a steep, high, jagged mountain. When you get high enough, there is no longer much vegetation; it becomes quite barren. I have hiked pretty high, over 14,000 feet. Up there it is beyond the timber line, a height beyond which trees do not grow. It can be cold, windy, barren, hard to breathe. It was tough just to survive in the Roman world, let alone with stirring up trouble by sharing the gospel. Yet no one is left in this world alone. The Holy Spirit is constantly with them. Some of them have visions and witness other miraculous interventions by God into our world. But all of them are comforted daily by the Holy Spirit. They are sealed by Him. He is their counselor and their comforter. He helps them to do things they could not do on their own. The world may indeed be like a jagged mountain, but “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights.” This passage also occurs three times in Scripture: 2 Sam. 22:34, Psalm 18:33, and Hab. 3:19. The Holy Spirit helps us to face and to overcome our own crises. He is with us every step of the way. He is our counselor and our comforter, if we allow Him. The disciples bathed everything in prayer. We need to do this as well. It is prayer that gives the Holy Spirit the “green light” to come into our lives.
The third image that comes to mind is that of the eagle itself. Riding along the air currents the eagle appears to be free from everything, even the law of gravity. Who is it in Acts 1 who also seemed to be free from everything, even the law of gravity? It is our Savior, Jesus. Let us “gaze into heaven” at Him a moment longer. Look at His nail-pierced hands and feet, at His pierced side, at His crown of thorns. But He is not in pain. He is at peace. Everything is under control. He has defeated death. He has overcome the world. He is Love. And all that we go through in this war-torn world, all that we face among the barren cliffs, is worth it, because we go through it for Him. He has defeated death for us. In His wings we too will soar.
This was a week in which we remembered the Lord through the bread and cup, and we then had a sharing time in which we all gathered in a large circle and shared what the Lord was doing in our lives. We also spent considerable time praying for one another. It was a wonderful time together. Before we shared communion, we spoke aloud together the following passage from Psalm 63:
O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory.
Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You.
On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night.
Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings.--Psalm 63:1-7
As we come close to finishing the Book of Acts, it seemed appropriate to take one week out of the sequence and review the entire book up to where we are in Chapter 24. I believe it is helpful to study the Bible many different ways, and one of these ways has been called the “Bird’s Eye View.” Just as a fast-flying eagle can survey a very large territory very quickly, we are going to survey 24 chapters of Acts to see what we can learn from seeing all at once the “big picture.”
[Acts 1] Jesus instructs and departs.
Jesus proved to His disciples that He had risen. He told them to wait in Jerusalem. He promised them: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” He departed rising up through the clouds, and angels told the disciples, “Why do you remain here looking up?” The disciples obeyed Jesus’ instructions and went to Jerusalem. There “they all joined together constantly in prayer…” Peter led them to select a replacement for Judas.
[Acts 2] The Holy Spirit and homothumadon.
Suddenly the disciples experience “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind” and “what seemed to be tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each of them.” Filled with the Spirit, they praised God in other languages. A crowd came and was amazed at hearing God being praised in languages they understood. Peter spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” And 3000 were added to the number that day. Here we also see a snapshot of the early believers. “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” One of the terms used to describe the early believers was homothumadon. This was an on-fire radical unity and passion for the Lord Jesus.
[Acts 3] Healing power.
Listen to Peter as he speaks to the lame man who had seemingly always been at the front of the temple begging: "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!" This man, formerly lame, went with the disciples into the temple courts, jumping and leaping and praising God. Peter shared the gospel with the crowds that came. The miracles of Jesus were becoming the miracles of his followers!
[Acts 4] Arrest and prayer.
Peter and John were immediately seized and spent the night under arrest. Before the Sanhedrin, Peter shared the gospel with them in his defense. The Sanhedrin commanded the disciples not to speak or teach in Jesus’ name. But Peter boldly replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." The Sanhedrin had them released because they couldn’t decide what to do. Now listen to their prayer: “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” God responded by shaking their place of meeting. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. They shared everything they had, even selling their possessions and laying the proceeds at the disciples’ feet.
[Acts 5] Deception, healings, and flogging.Ananias pretended that he had given everything he earned from a sale of property, and God struck him dead. His wife Sapphira later also lied about it, and she also died. The fear of the Lord swept through the church. The apostles healed many in the streets. The jealous priests had the apostles arrested. An angel opened the doors of the jail so they could escape. They went back to teaching in the temple courts. They were brought before the Sanhedrin and again Peter shared the gospel and told them “we must obey God rather than men.” Gamaliel, probably not a believer, spoke up and prevented them from giving the apostles a death sentence. They were flogged, ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let go. They “rejoiced because they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus.”
[Acts 6] Seven servants and one arrest.To assist with the distribution of food for widows, seven were chosen. These included Stephen and Philip. Stephen handily defeated jealous Jews in debate after debate. Eventually, Stephen was seized, accused of false charges, and asked to respond.
[Acts 7] Martyr.
Stephen gave a succinct history of the Jewish people, from Abraham to the present. He accused the priests of being stiff-necked and resisting the Holy Spirit like their fathers. They dragged him out of the city and stoned him, with Saul (Paul) overseeing his death.
[Acts 8] The scattered church grows.
Led by Paul, the church was persecuted severely. Believers, men and women, were hauled off to jail. Believers began to flee to neighboring areas and share the gospel there. Philip shared in Samaria, and God did many miracles through him. Simon the sorcerer tried to buy Philip’s power, and Philip rebuked him. Led by God, Philip led an Ethiopian official to the Lord on a desert road. Philip shared the gospel in many other towns up to Caesarea.
[Acts 9] Paul and two others see the power of Jesus.
On another desert road, Paul met the One he was persecuting. Blinded, he was led to a faithful servant of the Lord, Ananias, and healed through him. Paul became a Christian. He preached the gospel in Damascus and Jerusalem, but because of persecution, was sent to Tarsus for a time. With Paul transformed, the church enjoyed a brief period of peace. During this time, God through Peter healed a paralytic in Lydda and a dead disciple in Joppa.
[Acts 10] The Kingdom expands to gentiles.
Led by the Lord, Cornelius, a non-Jew, came to Peter. Peter had a vision three times of God telling him to eat “unclean” foods. As they met, Cornelius and his party became believers and were filled with the Holy Spirit. The kingdom had expanded to include the “unclean” as well. The gospel was for all people, of every tribe and nation.
[Acts 11] Peter in Jerusalem and Paul in Antioch.
Peter explained his actions to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, how God Himself had opened the gospel to all, Jewish and gentile. As the church in Antioch began to grow, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to help them. Barnabas did this and then went to Tarsus to find Paul. He brought Paul back to Antioch and they ministered there together.
[Acts 12] Peter miraculously escapes.
King Herod arrested some of the believers. He had James, one of the key early disciples, put to death. He then imprisoned Peter, intending to bring him to trial and do likewise to him. As the church prayed earnestly for him, an angel came and released him from prison. It took some convincing at the disciples’ house to help them see that he really was Peter! (They were still busy praying for him.) Later, Herod was praised as if he was a god, not a man, and God struck him down; he was “eaten by worms and died.”
[Acts 13] A journey of growth.
Paul and Barnabas began a missionary journey together. After being prayed for and sent off by the Antioch church, they went to island of Cyprus. There, in Paphos, God, through Paul, blinded a sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus. This made a believer out of the proconsul there. In Pisidian Antioch, Paul went first to the Jews and taught the gospel at the temple. Receiving opposition, he then went to the gentiles, and many believed. After a time, the unbelieving Jews had them expelled from the region. But there “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”
[Acts 14] A journey of hardship.
Going on to Iconium, Paul and Barnabas again taught in the temple, and many believed. Again there was opposition, and after hearing of a plot to stone them, they went to Lystra. There, Paul healed a man lame from birth, and instead of turning people to God, the result was that the whole city thought them Zeus and Hermes and began to sacrifice to them. Paul and Barnabas began, with the help of some Jews, to turn them from their plans, but then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and turned the crowd. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking him dead. He wasn’t dead, not quite, and after receiving care, they went to Derbe. They continued to strengthen the churches in the area, and then went back to Antioch.
[Acts 15] The New Covenant understood.
Acts 15 begins with this: “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’ This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.” The result was that the church as a whole much better understood the nature of the New Covenant, the covenant of Christ. Non-Jews were not held to the Jewish laws, but only were to abstain from certain things that were especially associated with worshiping false gods. (Beyond this they were only to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit and teachings of Jesus.) A letter saying this was given to Paul to pass around to the other churches. Paul began another journey, this time with Silas.
[Acts 16] New life and beatings and new life.
They began by visiting some of the cities in their first journey. At Lystra Paul met with Timothy who then went on with them. God give Paul a vision of a man from Macedonia begging them to go there, so they went, going to Philippi. There, Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, and her household became believers after hearing the gospel from Paul and his group. Also there was a fortune-telling slave girl harassing them there, and Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, cast a demon out from her. This made her handlers angry, and they got a crowd riled up. Paul and Silas were severely flogged and thrown in prison. At midnight, Paul and Silas were singing songs to God, when a giant earthquake (and probably angels’ help) set them free. Paul prevented the jailor from killing himself and led him and his family to the Lord. They were then released.
[Acts 17] Trouble pursues and academics sneer.In Thessalonica, after some early success in leading people to the Lord, jealous Jews again caused trouble for them and they had to leave in the middle of the night to go to Berea. In Berea, many Jews and Greeks became believers, as they searched out the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true. But the Jews from Thessalonica came there, caused trouble, and again they had to leave. Paul went ahead, as he was the lightning rod for trouble, and went much further away, to Athens. In Athens, Paul shared in the marketplace and was invited to share in the Areopagus to the philosophers. A few of them became believers, but most remained unconvinced. Some made fun of Paul.
[Acts 18] Growth not just through Paul.
Paul went on to Corinth. He spent some time here with Silas and Timothy as well as two fellow tentmakers, Aquila and Priscilla. Many Corinthian gentiles became believers. God told Paul to stay and keep on speaking there, and he did. An attempt to cause trouble for Paul backfired on the instigators. Then Paul went with Aquila and Priscilla to Ephesus where in a short visit they saw much interest in the Lord. Then he headed back. Meanwhile, a Greek named Apollos came to Ephesus and taught about Jesus accurately, but he didn’t understand the gospel. He didn’t know “the rest of the story.” Aquila and Priscilla gently explained it to him. He went to Achaia to learn more and to help share the truth there.
[Acts 19] Paul vs. Artemis.
Paul went to Ephesus. God did extraordinary miracles through him there, even healing people who simply touched his sweatband. Many came to faith and he was a bit of a celebrity there. Some who posed as Christians tried to cast out demons, but were stripped and beaten by a demon-possessed man instead. This made many more turn to the Lord. Led by the makers of Artemis idols, a major riot broke out. They wanted to rip Paul to shreds. For hours they shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” A city clerk eventually quieted the people and sent them home.
[Acts 20] God’s will: new life, bondage and affliction.Paul spent some time in Greece and then on the way back went through Troas. Having only a short time there, he preached through the night. Unfortunately, a person named Eutychus fell asleep and fell through a window and died. But God brought Eutychus back to life through Paul. Paul went back to Ephesus and then told them “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships [bondage and affliction] are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.” He prayed for them and with them and he likely wept with them, and then he left.
[Acts 21-22] Arrest.Paul visited several cities on the way to Jerusalem and in each the believers there begged Paul not to go on. But Paul was determined to follow the Lord, even until death, if need be. Within a few days of arriving in Jerusalem, Paul was in fact attacked by Jews shouting falsehoods against him. Paul was arrested (and, therefore, rescued from death) by a Roman commander. Paul received permission to speak to the angry crowd, and began to give his testimony, but before he could explain the heart of the gospel, salvation by faith, the crowd went crazy and he was taken into the barracks. He narrowly avoided being beaten because of his Roman citizenship, and he was ordered to appear before the Sanhedrin the next day.
[Acts 23-24] A promise and a wait.Before the Sanhedrin, Paul got off to a rocky start as, after being struck, he called the high priest a whitewashed wall. Paul again began to give his testimony, but this time he got almost nowhere at all, after the Sanhedrin erupted after he said that he was on trial for his belief in the resurrection from the dead. (Pharisees believed in this – and in the truth of all the scriptures – but the Sadducees did not.) In the craziness, Paul was brought back to the barracks. That night the Lord appeared to Paul and told him to take courage. He would testify about Jesus in Rome yet. After a major plot to murder Paul was uncovered, Paul was brought to Caesarea. Here, under corrupt leaders, his trial was cut short and he waited, and waited, for two years.
So that is your bird’s eye view of Acts 1-24. A number of things impress me as I look at the big picture. There are three different images that come to mind as I imagine an eagle soaring over the countryside getting the lay of the land:
The first image is that of a smoldering battlefield. Imagine flying over Hiroshima, or over German cities after they were pummeled in World War II. Sometimes that is what this reads like. Peter: persecuted and jailed. Stephen: killed by a mob with stones. James: killed by the sword by the government. Paul: ridiculed, beaten, stoned, arrested, and forgotten. God has never promised us a pretty picture as we soar to get the big picture of our life. The Bible calls us soldiers, not civilians. We are to “fight the good fight.” This phrase occurs three times in Scripture: I Tim. 1:18, I Tim. 6:12, and II Tim. 4:7. In the last one, Paul uses it about himself, in the past tense: I have fought the good fight. It is easy to become discouraged, to lose faith, when you have to walk through a war. But it is a war with purpose. All things we must go through have a purpose designed by God. He is advancing the kingdom, and we serve Him gladly because we have a King worth dying for. We keep the faith and fight the good fight because we know that He is a good King, the best King there could ever be.
The second image that comes to mind is that of a steep, high, jagged mountain. When you get high enough, there is no longer much vegetation; it becomes quite barren. I have hiked pretty high, over 14,000 feet. Up there it is beyond the timber line, a height beyond which trees do not grow. It can be cold, windy, barren, hard to breathe. It was tough just to survive in the Roman world, let alone with stirring up trouble by sharing the gospel. Yet no one is left in this world alone. The Holy Spirit is constantly with them. Some of them have visions and witness other miraculous interventions by God into our world. But all of them are comforted daily by the Holy Spirit. They are sealed by Him. He is their counselor and their comforter. He helps them to do things they could not do on their own. The world may indeed be like a jagged mountain, but “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights.” This passage also occurs three times in Scripture: 2 Sam. 22:34, Psalm 18:33, and Hab. 3:19. The Holy Spirit helps us to face and to overcome our own crises. He is with us every step of the way. He is our counselor and our comforter, if we allow Him. The disciples bathed everything in prayer. We need to do this as well. It is prayer that gives the Holy Spirit the “green light” to come into our lives.
The third image that comes to mind is that of the eagle itself. Riding along the air currents the eagle appears to be free from everything, even the law of gravity. Who is it in Acts 1 who also seemed to be free from everything, even the law of gravity? It is our Savior, Jesus. Let us “gaze into heaven” at Him a moment longer. Look at His nail-pierced hands and feet, at His pierced side, at His crown of thorns. But He is not in pain. He is at peace. Everything is under control. He has defeated death. He has overcome the world. He is Love. And all that we go through in this war-torn world, all that we face among the barren cliffs, is worth it, because we go through it for Him. He has defeated death for us. In His wings we too will soar.
This was a week in which we remembered the Lord through the bread and cup, and we then had a sharing time in which we all gathered in a large circle and shared what the Lord was doing in our lives. We also spent considerable time praying for one another. It was a wonderful time together. Before we shared communion, we spoke aloud together the following passage from Psalm 63:
O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory.
Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You.
On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night.
Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings.--Psalm 63:1-7
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