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With Jesus there was action and doctrine. A bird must have two wings in order to fly. The church must also have the two wings of “action” and “instruction.” Seek balance – “to do and teach.”  Both are necessary. To be over-balanced toward one or the other leaves the church weak.

Began . . . a word that calls for a continuation. Luke was volume one of a saga that could not be contained in one writing,. God's approach is different, the tools being employed are different, but what He started has not concluded.

Jesus was both a “doer” and a “teacher.”  Teaching without action is philosophy. Those who “do” without having instruction usually end up taking that is unfocused or do things the hardest way possible. As leaders we must “do” and “teach.”

Christianity is a point of departure as well as a point of arrival. The acts and words of Jesus are a beginning, a center from which to journey.

The four gospels funnel into Acts. Acts is then a too oft ignored bridge from the life of Christ into practiced and practical Christianity.

The book of Acts covers approximately thirty years. Understanding the time involved gives a sense of the time in Paul becoming a convert, a disciple, and then a student of the scripture. It helps see the development of Peter as the apostle preaching the first gospel message to the Jews and nine years later to a Gentile.

 

Acts contains an experiential theology of salvation whether dealing with those who conspired to commit murder (Acts 2); a prayerful and honest-hearted Roman military official (Acts 10), or an Ethiopian who had traveled to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8). How to be saved is found in the book of Acts!

 

Step by step the gospel message moves from Jerusalem to Rome. The missionary effort was not easy. Persecution, personal disagreements among leaders, and people backsliding did not stop the missionary effort.

The church in the book of Acts is shown as a spiritual entity. At their best, the Christians in Acts were indwelt, empowered, and guided by the Holy Spirit.

This view sees Acts as a pattern. Acts is thus like the Lord's command to Moses regarding the tabernacle. "...Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shown thee in the mount." (Exodus 25:40)

 

Acts has much divine activity. God was breaking in on people of various cultures and backgrounds. Luke was especially concerned that his readers understand this.

 

The Acts of the Apostles is unique. It is the only God-inspired history of the early church. Acts tells the story of the church's progress. It also reports failure, dissension, and error.

The Acts of the Apostles continues in the same vein of the gospel of Luke as Luke (the author) begins to share the "teaching" and "doing" of the followers of Jesus.