ACTS

The New Covenant proclaimed and activated in full force on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in His fullness and the church began.

Author of Acts is Luke. Luke writes about the birth of the church and the early days.

• Purpose of Acts– To give an accurate and orderly account of the development of Christianity and to give a written defense of Christianity and more….
• Theme is the Great Commission given to Christians. Christians are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, spreading the good news that He died and rose again in order to redeem mankind.

Act 1 (Curtain is rising!! On the edge of my seat)!

Acts 1 starts with brief overview of Jesus appearing after His resurrection over a period of 40 days (teaching and instructing them to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem). Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.”

Awesome! Wait for it….the gift is coming to an upper room near you! Bam, Jesus is taken up to heaven and Jesus will return the same way in the near-far-any minute future!

Okay, scene is set.

The 11 apostles and others are in the upper room with the women. I’ll call the women “The Faithful Club”-they followed Jesus and cared for Him all the way to the cross and stayed near the cross at Jesus’s death. The Faithful Club was Mary- mother of Jesus aka (wife of Clopas and mother to James and Joses), Mary Magdalene, Salome- (the mother of Zebedee’s son -James and John (the apostles) and more daughters of Jerusalem.

There were about 120 believers constantly in prayer in the upstairs. Peter stands up and takes the floor. He tells of the fulfillment of the scripture regarding the death of Judas and his place of death called Akeldama or Field of Blood.  Peter reads Psalms 69:25- May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it, and Psalms 109:8 – May another take his place of leadership.

The time had come to choose one of the men who was with them from the beginning of John’s baptism until Jesus was taken to heaven. Who will it be? They prayed and cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added and now there were 12 again. Who are they, you ask..?    Peter aka Simon and Cephas, and his brother Andrew; John and his brother James aka sons of Zebedee (Boanerges, Sons of Thunder); Philip, Thomas aka Didymus, Bartholomew aka may be Nathanael; Matthew the tax collector aka Levi and son of Alphaeus and James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Thaddaeus aka Judas son of James, and lastly Matthias.

There are so many other aka’s….