Preamble
Introduction
When electronic equipment, e.g., radios, televisions, etc., needs calibration, it is very important that the calibration equipment has been calibrated to a very stable source otherwise the equipment being calibrated will not be able to accurately perform its set purpose.
When I was in the army, my job was field radio repair. Periodically the signal generators, frequency analyzers, and other repair equipment, had to be sent in to be adjusted. The soldiers I worked for expected their radios to tune to the right frequencies. They relied upon the diligence of those fixing their systems and we relied upon the accuracy of the equipment used for repair.
People are a lot like field radios. We quickly get out of tune. We need to be re-synchronized in order to continue on the right path in life. The problem is, there are many sources out there that claim to have an accurate view of what God is like and yet they derive their views of God from unreliable sources. They, themselves, are in need of calibration.
Consider, if you will, what the general view of man might be in regard to the nature of God:
- I want a God that is very much like me
- one that thinks I am okay and wishes more people were like me
- he understands my failings and just wants me to try harder
- his standard of righteousness is very close to my conception of "good deeds"
- his main purpose is to ensure that I have an enjoyable life here on earth -- just be happy
The Holy Bible
1)What It Is
It is a book. It is a book of books. 66 books to be exact.
39 in the Old Testament.
27 in the New Testament.
Four attributes of Scripture (the Bible):
- inspiration -- God breathed through human writers
- inerrant -- Gods word was accurately recorded by the human authors and without error in the original form
- authoritative -- as coming from God who is the ultimate authority, his words have authority for all time as if they were coming freshly from the mouth of God
- sufficient -- the Scriptures are completed, there is no need of any new revelation from God apart from his written word
2)Where It Came From
It is the Word of God, it doesn't become the word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16, 17
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
God did not dictate to men and they wrote down the text. But, the text in its original form, is in fact inerrant.
2 Peter 1:
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
And the message that the Bible conveys is the message that God intends to convey. We must discover what the text is saying.
3)What It Reveals
Why do we read books? In order to increase our understanding.
Even if you were forced to read something in school that you didn't want to read, you may have read it anyway in order to pass the class.
Our expectation, when we read something, is that we will gain an understanding of what the author is trying to reveal.
The same is true with the Bible. Contrary to some popular opinion, it is not filled with codes, riddles, and esoteric sayings that are inaccessible to common folk like you and me.
But the Bible is literature, and as such, we need to understand a little bit about the author, the setting, the audience (immediate and otherwise) and then we are able to see the underlying principles that apply to our own lives.
What It Reveals About God
The most important aspect of the Bible is what it reveals about the nature and character of God.
Without this Book, we would have a very limited understanding of who God is.
But Scripture reveals to us His: perfection, moral purity, love, justice, unchanging nature, infinite wisdom.
From the Bible we see that He is patient, merciful, and full of grace. But His patience will not last forever.
Because of His perfect justice, no infraction will ever go unpunished. He cannot overlook evil by turning a blind eye – that would not be justice.
What It Reveals About Man
The Bible shows us that the deepest need of every man is to relate to his Creator – He has made us this way.
Augustine put it this way, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
But as the Bible reveals, we are unable to find our rest in the Lord apart from a work of God himself.
The Scripture reveals to us our broken state – that we are dead in trespasses and sins.
That we are enemies of God. That we are aliens and strangers with no part in the people of God. Not in our natural state.
Not unless God does something to awaken our senses, reveal our lost condition, and bring us to a place of sorrow and repentance.
What It Reveals To Christians
Who we are. How to live. God's will for us. God's plan for our future.
It reveals God's standard of righteousness and it leads Christians in the path of righteousness.
4)It Must Be Studied
The Bible is called the Holy Bible because its ultimate Author is Holy.
It reveals to man how he can be holy.
Hebrews 4
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
The Scripture reveals to us where we fall short of God's expectation. But it doesn't leave us there. It reveals God's provision for our shortcomings.
Isaiah 55
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
5)Principle
It's impossible to do God's will without being in His word.
6)Illustration
Have you ever wanted to see a movie, but instead settled for your friend's explanation of the plot and a blow by blow account from the opening scene to the end? That would be ludicrous.
Have you ever wanted to learn a new language but didn't want to expend the effort so you had to rely on someone else to interpret for you? Never really being certain their interpretation was correct.
Why then, would you want to go through life gaining only hearsay understanding of what the Bible teaches. Periodically listening in on conversations about sacred Scripture, but never really “owning” the text for yourself?
7)Applications
What are you willing to give up this year in order to get deeper into the Bible?
A little less football. A little less television. What if you gave God first pick of your time?
What are you willing to take on this year in order to get the Bible more deeply into you?
How seriously are you willing to take the personal questions – the ones that ask you to apply God's word?
Acts of the Apostles
1)The Author and Audience
Luke – medical doctor.
He was most likely an educated Gentile – the level of Greek used in Luke and Acts are very technical.
Acts 1:1-2
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
Luke 1:1-4
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,
2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
2)The Date
It is believed that the book dates to before A. D. 64 due to the fact that the book ends with Paul in Rome. Paul describes his treatment in positive terms.
It was in A. D. 64 that Nero set fire to Rome and blamed it on the Christians.
Paul's death took place around A. D. 68.
3)The Book
As noted above, this book is a continuation of Luke's account of the events of Jesus' life.
In fact, this book could be called Luke 2 or Second Luke.
Note as well, that in the book of Luke he starts out by telling Theophilus that his account is a detailed compilation of what others had been eyewitnesses to. The things that “have been accomplished among us”.
And as if that wasn't enough, the first verse of Acts 1 seems to be saying that what Jesus did on earth was only the beginning of his work.
It was what “Jesus began to do and teach”.
And so the name Acts or Acts of the Apostles is really the Acts of the Apostles Empowered by Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
4)The Work of the Holy Spirit
Indwelling/Empowering His People
If there is a common theme throughout Acts it is this, those who hear and receive the gospel message by faith, receive the Holy Spirit to indwell them.
This phenomenon began at Pentecost with the disciples in an upper room.
It continued with those who heard Peter's message and repented.
It went on to Samaria and to the Gentile nations as the gospel spread.
In fact, the Holy Spirit is the one that convicts the hearer of his need of salvation. He is the one that quickens the heart and brings salvation.
The Holy Spirit turned ordinary common folks into people who “turned the world upside down”.
From fearful men and women hiding out into bold professors of truth, willing to risk their lives for what they new to be true.
The Holy Spirit filled Steven to the point that while he was being stoned, he asked that the sin not be held against them.
The Spread of the Gospel
Jesus had told his disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Little did they know how that would take place. But as the church began to grow in Jerusalem, God used an unlikely means to cause the gospel to go out.
Isn't it comfortable when everything seems to be going well? The church is growing. Things seem to be happening. There is fellowship, good teaching, and true worship. Sometimes it gets so comfortable, we don't want anything to change, after all, why should it? Isn't this the way Christianity is suppose to be?
But God used persecution, starting with Stephen, to drive most of the believers out of the Jerusalem church, into the Gentile world.
This was His means of Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts.
And then, if things were not strange enough, he uses the arch-enemy of the believers as God's instrument to the Gentiles – Saul/Paul.
In Dealing With Controversy
In the early days, when the Scriptures were still being written by the Apostles, no doubt there would be questions about life and how this Christian life was to be lived out.
Specifically, we will study the issue of conforming to Old Covenant laws as it relates to Gentile believers.
We will see that there were questions that needed to be answered. Hebrews deals with many of these issues as it points to the superiority of Christ in all things relating to Old Covenant “types and shadows”.
Paul deals with this as well in his letter to the Galatians pointing to the fact that if one relies on their conformance to the law for salvation, they are denying the sufficiency of Jesus' work of atonement on the cross.
We will see that a dispute between Paul and Barnabas regarding John Mark actually leads to a doubled effort in missionary work.
5)The Actors
There are two prominent characters in the book of Acts: Peter (chs. 1-12) and Paul (chs. 13-28)
Peter and John
In the first several chapters of Acts, we are going to see two of Jesus' closest disciples, Peter and John.
The first sermon out of Peter's mouth resulted in 3000 being added to the Jerusalem church.
Later, Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin and questions about their teaching – they are told not to preach in the name of Jesus (they had headed a man born crippled).
Peter is the first to go to a Gentile, Cornelius, and preach the gospel. It is at this time that Peter realizes, through a vision from God, that salvation is not exclusive to Jews or Proselytes, but to all God's people, regardless of their ethnicity.
Stephen
Stephen, a deacon in the Jerusalem church, is falsely accused of blasphemy. In answer to his accusers, he points out the stiff-necked nature of many of Abraham's descendants and accused the Sanhedrin of the same sin. He was stoned and a great persecution began.
Saul
The persecution that ensued had a great spokesman in Saul.
The persecution also caused the dispersion of most of the believers in Jerusalem, thus spreading the Gospel message out into parts of Asia Minor.
Philip
Philip left Jerusalem and began spreading the gospel in Samaria
Paul
The Apostle to the Gentiles. Wrote most of the epistles of the New Testament.
3 missionary journeys.
Would always try to speak to Jews first and then to Gentiles.
Responsible for planting numerous churches in Asia Minor and in Greece.
Multiple beatings, stonings, and other persecutions.
Arrested and eventually brought to Rome to stand trial before Ceasar.
6)The 21st Century Acts
Here in the 21st century, we have much to be thankful for.
For one thing, we should be thankful for the preservation of the written word of God, and namely, the book of Acts that we will be studying this year.
The events and work that took place in the first century are having any impact even today. The struggles they endured served to lay the foundation for the message you and I have in our day.
The gospel message, the power of the Holy Spirit, the effectiveness of God's word...none of these things have changed.
I wonder what Acts God has in store for the 21st century church? What would happen to our world if a few men from Kansas City began living in the power of the Spirit? Heeding the Word of God? And living as if this life really mattered?
7)Principle
Acts, empowered by the Holy Spirit, have impact now and relevance for the future.
8)Illustration:
9)Applications:
How are you benefiting from the actions of godly men and women in your past?
When was the last time you thanked the Lord for the preservation of His word?
What percentage of what you do for God is actually empowered by Him?
Conclusion
We stand at an unprecedented place in history. At least we do in regard to availability of information and Biblical resources.
But the availability of something never guarantees that it is put to good use.
Will you commit with me this year, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to put the study of Acts to good use? To ask God to open your eyes, clear your mind, and soften your heart to the things we study?
That's my prayer for all of us.
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