Beginning the Book of Acts.

Tom:  In this our Understanding the Scriptures segment we are beginning the Book of Acts. Dave, that floors me that we’re actually starting another book. It know it almost took us three years?

Dave:  Three years? Is that all?

Tom:  Actually….

Dave:  I thought it was four.

Tom:  Four?  Four years?

Dave:  I don’t remember.

Tom:  Well anyway.

Dave:  I’ve grown older.

Tom:  Can we move through this one a little bit (can’t understand Tom’s last words here.)   

Dave:  Well, we’ll try.

Tom:  We’ll try. Well what about the Book of Acts Dave?

Dave:  There are more chapters in Acts than there were in John.

Tom: Yeah. What are we to look forward to? Can you give us an overview of Acts?

Dave:  Well the Acts of the Apostles Tom, we recommend the person who’s new to the Bible start with John’s gospel. Then go to Acts and then go to Romans. They come in that order in the Bible.

Acts simply carries on from the resurrection of Christ with the disciples. What happened? Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church.” So this is about the church being built and Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations. So here they are, living out what Jesus told them to do. And Christ, the resurrected Christ is living in them. It’s amazing.

Tom:  Mmhmm. These are changed individuals than we saw in the Gospel of John.

Dave:  Absolutely.

Tom:  They turned the world upside down. What with? With their cleverness? With their oratory? With all of these things? No, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So let’s begin with Acts Chapter 1 beginning with verse 1. Acts:1:1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
See All..., “The  former treatise have I made O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom also he shewed himself alive, after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Now is this Luke? Does Luke write the Book of Acts?

Dave:  Yeah, we know that Luke wrote it. I just turned in my Bible to Luke, Chapter 1. And he says, “For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth an order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us…,”  That is these people who were alive. These were the contemporaries of Christ. They’re still alive and they believe these things to be true. They have witnessed them.

“Even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou has been instructed.”

I don’t know who Theophilus, was but he was obviously a friend of Luke’s. Someone that Luke had high regard for, and considered to be a person who would be capable of taking this message. And Luke wanted to be sure that he knew the facts. So when it says, “The former treatise have I made with Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach…,” we know that Luke then must be the author of this.

Tom:  Dave, let me go back to something I said just a moment ago. We did take four years to go through the Gospel of John. But that’s what I love to do. Here we are, hanging out together. We’ve got people listening to us, I hope, and we’re going over God’s word. We’re partaking of God’s word here and so it’s a slower meal. But I think the Lord has put on our hearts some things we want to communicate and we’ll take our time with them. But we’re doing it. That’s the important thing.

Dave:  We have an interesting phrase here in verse 1. “Of all that Jesus began both to do and teach….” Well but Luke takes it through his life, death, resurrection. So why would he say, “Began both to do and teach”? Because the Book of Acts is what Jesus continued to do and teach through his apostles whom he is now indwelling and living through them. As Saul of Tarsus would one day say when he became Paul, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

Tom:  Dave in verse 2, “Until the day in which he was taken up…,” of course referring here to the Lord’s ascension.

Dave:  Right.

Tom:  “…After that, he through the Holy Ghost had give commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.” This is the Great Commission. Was it just for them?

Dave:  Well he told the disciples, “Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, make disciples of all nations. You teach them to observe everything I commanded you.”

Tom:  That would be me. I’m a disciple.

Dave:  That’s right. Well, I’m a disciple of a disciple, of a disciple, of a disciple all the way back to the original disciples. That indicates it’s not the Catholic priest, it’s not the bishops, not the pope, it’s not the preacher or the pastor, but every true Christian. Every ordinary true Christian is a successor of the apostles. We are to do what they did. We are to teach what they taught and we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to do this.

So he gave these commandments to the apostles, then he went and said, “Wait for the promise of the Father. You will receive power and authority.” I’m getting a little bit ahead of the chapter here.

Tom:  “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs….” Well people say, This is just something you need to believe, you don’t need proofs, you just believe it.

Dave:  Well Jesus said, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.” Most people, I mean, the Pharisees, they would have crucified him again. They wouldn’t believe. And these witnesses, they all died testifying to the facts and they said you can kill me, but I cannot deny it. He is alive, he did rise from the dead. We’ve seen him. We spent forty days with him. That’s quite a sufficient time. This was not one forty day hallucination. “And he showed himself alive after his passion, that is the cross by many infallible proofs,” the scripture gives us some of these. “…Being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God….” So it is legitimate for a person to ask for proof. And we should have proof. And when you get into the Book of Acts, you find that Paul proved. Acts 9, I think it’s around verse 20 somewhere. It says that Paul confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ, or you go to Acts:18:28For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
See All..., this is about Apollos, it says, “…He mightily convinced the Jews publickly proving from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.” So that would have to do with the prophecies that were fulfilled.

But this is concerning well did this Jesus who fulfilled these prophecies, did he actually rise from the dead. And indeed he did. And the apostles, Tom, look here’s a would be Messiah, was he? Someone who claimed to be the Messiah? He gets crucified. He’s rejected by the people. They hate him. Despise him. Who’s going to follow him unless he is alive? And Tom, no one is fool enough to die for what he knows is a lie. And you have this powerful movement. Peter in chapter two is going preach about the resurrection that Jesus is alive. He’s doing this in Jerusalem. See Jesus said to his disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel. But I want you to begin…start up in there in Siberia somewhere, or South Africa, you know where they can’t check up on it. No, Jesus said you begin in Jerusalem. And it was a very short walk to the grave where Jesus had been buried. Anybody could have gone there, get the permission of the Roman, or Pilate or whoever, to roll the stone away, expose the fact that Jesus was still in the grave. No one could do that! The Romans would have loved to do it. It was creating a revolution in the Empire. Rabbis would have loved to do it because this was undermining their authority. And this gospel was preached in Jerusalem and the heart of it was the resurrection. So this is where the Books of the Acts of the apostles begins. Fantastic, I love it!