Day by Day in Acts

Description

The book of Acts takes its place among what might be called the historical books of the New Testament. What began with the biographies of Christ (which we call the Gospels), continues on through the events recorded in Acts. In fact, the book is commonly understood to be a continuation of the gospel of Luke, having the same author (compare Luke 1:1–4 with Acts 1:1–3).

But Acts is not just a history; it is the inspired Word of God, a divine record of the expansion of the Christian movement after the death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. We discover how the apostles carried the message of Jesus Christ to the world. In Luke’s writing, we gain insight into how the world’s largest religion began and carried on after its “founder” was no longer physically present.

The book is a lively read and the reader will probably have a difficult time not galloping through the biblical text ahead of the scheduled daily reading. For those of you with that struggle, my response is, “Enjoy!” That is a good problem to have, for the book easily captures and holds our attention with its fast-paced action and continual intrigue. The story begs us to frequently ask, “What’s going to happen next?”

Of course, none of us approach the book without some knowledge of the story, because of our own involvement in the story. We, as believers in Christ, are part of the continuation of Christian history. I suspect many of my readers will have a considerable amount of biblical teaching “under their belt,” so to speak. But I invite you to read Acts and these expositional meditations as a journey into the Holy Spirit’s dynamic, ongoing, and intimate involvement in our world. In many ways, the world of the first century is similar to our world today. People are people, and all have the same need for the gospel message, reconciliation with God through the word of His grace.

In a real sense, the book of Acts is the story of God’s love for His image-bearers and His desire to redeem us all back to Himself. We see that love in the historical flow of those first believers giving their lives to spread the news of God’s grace through the forgiveness of sins. They took seriously Jesus’ words:

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:13–14)

The apostles believed this and obeyed the Lord. So they went into all the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the story of the book of Acts. My prayer is that believers would continue the story by sharing our testimonies and the gospel message as we go through our world today.