Posted by Susie Jones

Today’s reading is Acts 1:1-6:15. I will be breaking it down by Chapter as I did last time.

Chapter 1
Jesus is qualifying the disciples as eye witnesses to the resurrection by appearing to them many times. We are told he appears to them often over the period of 40 days. The Lord often uses things to qualify us too. To qualify for healing you first have to believe in things not yet seen, before you are given much you have to prove yourself with little first. The disciples are busy discussing their first order of business which was to replace Judas. They met in a second story room and the Bible says they had a single purpose in mind as they devoted themselves to prayer. We see too that about 120 men and women were present for this. The word states that in making this decision there were only two that were “qualified”. The qualification for becoming a disciple was that you had to be present for the entire time that Jesus was doing his ministry. That meant from the beginning to the end. If you were to make a list for yourself of what makes you a good disciple what would be on it? How well do you qualify?

Jesus speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit to them and tells them to stay put. This is the ultimate resource they will need. It is through this spirit baptism they will supernaturally receive the ability to work miracles and move people’s hearts to repentance through their preaching. Immediately after this command Jesus is taken to heaven and his divine presence is hidden form them by a cloud.

Chapter 2
I love this event-notice when God promises something it happens. The Word says suddenly (without warning) a sound like violent blowing wind came from the sky and filled the whole house. Tongues that looked like fire appeared and arranged themselves so that one came to rest on each believer. All those present began to speak in other languages.
What becomes evident here?
As soon as the Holy Spirit filled them they spoke in other languages.
That day the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit was speaking in other languages according to the Word. These languages were however understandable by those in the crowd that were outside the house listening.
This is different from the tongues that is mentioned in Corinthians.

Then Peter addresses the crowd and instructs them that each of them must be baptized to have their sins forgiven and after that they would receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.

Chapter 3
Daily a lame man sat begging at the temple gate expecting a handout. It was business as usual for the beggar the day that Peter and John walked by except for this one thing. The beggar asked for a handout but that’s not what he got. Peter told him through the power of Jesus Christ, walk! He reached down and helped the beggar to his feet and he was instantly healed. You can rest assured that was a “suddenly” in his day. Suddenly he went from begging to being employable and from being helpless and dependent to being independent. Suddenly he would need to work for a living as his usual means of income just came to a screeching halt. This man was over 40 years old when he was healed. He had some new learning to do you can be sure of that.

Chapter 4
Peter and John are thrown in jail for spreading the message that the dead will come back to life through Christ. They were also cross examined about the crippled man they had just healed. Scripture makes mention here that Peter and John had no formal training or education to be speaking so boldly and then they realized that these men had been with Jesus. I guess we could say the only requirement needed to testify about Jesus is having spent considerable time with Jesus. We can say too that the power for healing, performing all kinds of miracles, and doing amazing things comes through first teaching the Word and then calling upon the name of Jesus as we call down power from on high. The disciples we are told never had need of anything-they were well taken care of. People sold their land and houses and gave the money to the disciples. The gifts were a show of their appreciation for everything the Lord had done for them.

Chapter 5
Not a good idea to cheat the Lord!
Ananias and Sapphira had pledged this money to the Lord, then they wickedly agreed to hold back and turn over only part of what they pledged. We see here that not honoring your vow is called lying. God made an example of these two and their behavior that would forever remain the fore front of people’s memories, I would hope. He caused them both to drop dead immediately. I think that is even shorter notice than “suddenly”. We see too that the power of the Holy Spirit n Peter is so anointed that just his shadow alone falling on a person would bring healing. Each sick person and person troubled with evil spirits was cured while they ministered, as it was with Jesus.
As a result more men and women than ever began to believe the Lord. In chapter 4 we are told 5000 came to believe so we can assume it was more than 5000 a day coming. I often wonder what it is we lack that we don’t see these same effects today. If the Holy Spirit is still present shouldn’t we be seeing these same things?

Many movements had apparently passed in front of the council so as concerns were raised about Peter and John’s ministry we see a Pharisee advising the council to leave them alone. His basis for this was his past experiences with similar movements (people claiming to be someone of importance). He shares with others at the council that in each incidence the leader died and the followers scattered and the movement failed. He wisely says if it is of human origin it will fail but if it’s from God, you won’t be able to stop them. You may even find that you are fighting God.

Chapter 6
Everyone has a place in ministry. Those who are called to preach should not be bothered with solving every problem there is. The greatest leader of all is one that knows how to delegate responsibilities so that their gift is protected and is readily available to those they are serving. They should not be giving up God’s Word or serving in ways that are related to the Word in order to do things that other people are capable of doing. We also learn that there are those in this world that hate the gospel and the message of Christ. We can be more specific by saying it’s the spirit behind the person rather than the person themselves acting out. Here we see men bribed to lie. We know Satan is called the Father of Lies so we can clearly see the spirit behind that. But then we also see that the council stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like an angel’s face. Even the believer’s countenance has a witness and an effect on people. If God is with you let someone know it, by the joy on your face and the spring in your step.