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.
