Introduction to Acts:

Author, Genre, Dates, Setting

The author of Acts is Luke. a physician, a disciple, and traveling companion of the apostle Paul. Acts can be considered as the gospel of Luke volume 2 because it continued the story of the Gospel of Luke. Scholars believed that Luke wrote Acts in Rome in the second half of the first century AD, back-to-back with the Gospel of Luke. Luke wrote the Book of Acts for a mysterious person called Theophilus, tracing the history of the first-century church from 33-62 AD.

Themes

The resurrection of Christ, impartation of the Holy Spirit, evangelisation of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, to Jews and Gentiles. Acts had a lot of first, first Christian church, first sermon, first miracle, the first Christian martyr, first Christian burial, Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians, first missionary journey, the first European Christian convert, etc. watch out for all the “first” in the book of Acts.

Outline

Acts 1: 1-26, greetings

Acts 2: 1-47, Pentecost

Acts 3: 1-26, Rise up and walk

Acts 4: 1-47, Persecution, arrest, earth-shattering prayer

Acts 5: 1-42, Saved by an angel

Acts 6: 1-15, Growing pains

Acts 7:1-60, Expository preaching, first Christian martyr

Acts 8:1-40, Gospel to Samaria

Acts 9:1-43, Damascus Road conversion

Acts 10:1-48, Gospel to Caesarea

Acts 11:1-30, Revival in Antioch

Acts 12:1-25, Saved by an angel

Acts 13:1-52, First missionary journey, Part 1

Acts 14:1-28, First missionary journey, Part 2

Acts 15:1-40, Paul’s second missionary journey

Acts 16:1-40, earth-shattering worship

Acts 17:1-34, to an unknown god.

Acts 18:1-28, Concluding Paul’s second missionary journey

Acts 19:1-41, Paul’s third missionary journey

Acts 20:1-38, raising a dead man to life

Acts 21:1-40 mobbed at Jerusalem

Acts 22:1-30, sharing testimony to a mob

Acts 23:1-35, Trial before Sanhedrin

Acts 24:1-27, Trial before Felix

Acts 25:1-27, trial before Festus

Acts 26:1-32, sharing the gospel to a King

Acts 27:1-44, Shipwrecked in Malta

Acts 28:1-31, to Rome at last

Application:

The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles and disciples to perform miracles, signs, and wonders in Acts. The Holy Spirit transformed ordinary men and woman in the first-century church who were timid and fearful to rise up to the occasion and become as bold as a lion to fulfil their God-ordained destiny.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for taking us on this journey of faith in the book of Acts through the eyes of Luke. We pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, to teach, correct, convict, train, revive, mould, renew, and transform us into Your image, in Jesus’ name, Amen.