THE BOOK OF ACTS

The chapters of the four gospels are richly soaked with the account of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus which also overflows into the book of Acts. Acts read like a sequel to the four gospels, drawing the curtains down on Jesus’ ministry as the Son of Man, and unveiling us to this present age where Jesus continues His ministry among men as the resurrected and exalted Christ, through the third person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit.

The four gospels recorded Jesus’ ministry to men while He was walking this earth. At that time, the Holy Spirit was rested on the Lord Jesus to release the anointing and power that was demonstrated in the Lord’s preaching and revelation of the Father’s Kingdom (Lk. 4:14-19). Here in Acts, after His death and resurrection, when the Lord Jesus received unparalleled dominion over the universe (Acts 2:33-36; Phil. 2:9-11), He poured out the Holy Spirit onto His disciples (Acts 2:33), which was promised them before the Lord ascended to the heavens, to bear witness to His earlier ministry and to empower them in carrying out the charge they received concerning the Lord’s ministry (John 16:13-15; Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:8). Now familiarly known as The Acts of the Holy Spirit (since it records so much of the Holy Spirit’s activity), the book of Acts gives an account of the disciples receiving the promised Holy Spirit and how they appropriated that given grace in their service of the Lord’s ministry. And between what the author wrote in Acts and his former account in the gospel of Luke, we will find some connection and similarities between the two stages of the Lord’s ministry.

The Church in Jerusalem established (Chapters 1 - 7)

Having received Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit and witnessed His ascension into heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem and there they continued in prayer and supplication (Acts 1:12-14). The principle we can learn here would be that which is found in the disciples’ attitude and also in Paul’s instruction to Timothy, that upon receiving any promise/prophecy from God, we should be diligent to commit our attention to them. We are told not to neglect the promise(s) and prophecy(ies) spoken over us, but to “meditate on these things” and to “give ourselves entirely to them” (1 Tim. 4:14-15).

The word `meditate’, read in this context, must mean the giving of our attention, intensely and seriously, in other words, to “prayerfully consider” and “to take pains with”, to “cultivate”, for before something can come to pass in the natural, it must first take form within our mind and spirit. Using a train and railway-track as an analogy to explain the relationship between prayer and the purpose/plan of God, the train would be like a carriage packed with God’s plans and purposes for our lives, and the railway-track our prayer which the carriage runs on towards its destination. Before the train carriage can gather speed, start off on its journey and move towards its destination, there must first be a smooth and uninterrupted railway-track to facilitate the train’s motion (how would the train move otherwise?). Likewise, for God’s plans and purposes for our lives to come to pass, and for us to reach our destiny in them, we must first be diligent to lay the “railway-track” of prayer for the “train carriage” to travel on.

Jer. 29:11 proclaims that the Lord has thoughts to give us a future and a hope - and that settles it; God has already loaded the train carriage with all of His plans and purposes for our lives - now the carriage stands ready, all set to for the journey ahead. That was verse 11 of Jeremiah 29. Now the immediately following verse that says “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me ….”. Another attempt to emphasise on the point made earlier - God has already declared His thoughts/plans (v.11), but it was still His order of things that people should respond in prayer to Him (v.12)! So, having settled the earlier part that the carriage has already been loaded, only one other thing matters now, that is, the railway-track. Is it already there in place, or are we still waiting and hoping in vain and naive expectation, thinking and believing that the carriage will reach destination on its own even without the track? May not be a conscious thought in our mind, but if we are not already “meditating on these things” and “giving ourselves entirely to them”, then we certainly look as if we do! Let us follow the disciples’ example. They pressed on in prayer until the time came for them to receive the Holy Spirit that was promised to them. From then on, the church in Jerusalem grew progressively from the 120 that they originally were to not less than 3,000 persons (Acts 2:41), and yet more, to another 5,000 (Acts 4:4).

Four vital areas of Church life

The early church had such power and glory of God that is really quite missing in some of our churches today. It takes a healthy church to move in such glory and power. Acts 4:42 gives us four basic pillars which a church must in no way miss out on if she desires to be a strong and healthy one.

1. Word - “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine ……”

The `apostles’ doctrine’ here refers to the teachings of the apostles that was inspired by the Holy Spirit which they delivered through oral proclamation to the church, and which have since been recorded to make up the New Testament that we now read.

Our new life in Christ being a walk of faith (Gal. 2:20) grows as we grow in faith, and to this we all know that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word (Rom. 10:17). So, one of the ways by which we grow is through living according to the principles contained in God’s Word, and this can only be done when we are in the unceasing flow of gaining knowledge in His Word, which if we do, we would be surpassing the stage where we merely survive, to a point where we actually live as victoriously as the Word can do for us (Prov. 7:2). To grow from a weak-but-still-surviving Christian to a strong and living child of God, we need to partake of that spiritual nourishment that is found in the divine Word of God. Where the teaching of the Word is weak, the people will also remain weak.

1. Fellowship - “And they continued steadfastly in …. the fellowship …..”

Heb. 10:14-15 reminds us not to neglect the fellowship with believers, but to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works” and “exhorting one another” and all the more so as we come closer to the last Day with the passing of each day that we live. For as “a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Prov. 27:17), fellowship with other Christians will help maintain our spiritual countenance and keep our walk in check.

1. Communion - “And they continued steadfastly in …. the breaking of bread ….”

We assume that the disciples continued eating their regular meals from day to day since we find nothing in the Bible that might otherwise indicate or suggest. So, the “breaking of bread” must quite clearly refer to the Lord’s Supper (or the Holy Communion, as some may prefer) since it would be quite unnecessary for the Bible to tell us that the disciples continued steadfastly in eating their meals! So then, observing the practice of the Holy Communion is one of the four essentials of church growth.

It is important that we commit ourselves to observing the Holy Communion on a regular basis, since by doing so we get or are led into the sober mode of examining ourselves by taking another look at the way we live, measuring them against God’s standard. An area not to be overlooked indeed, for frequent/regular self-examination like this helps to develop in us a spirit of watchfulness, which accompanied by godly fear and reverence that comes from being conscious of the need to measure up to God’s standard of acceptance, will help to establish the integrity of our ways and keep us from floundering (1 Cor. 12:26-30).

4. Prayer - “And they continued steadfastly in ……. prayer.”

An essential that cannot be over-emphasised, prayer was what kept the disciples going. They continued in prayer, rendering themselves as a people with total and complete dependence on the Lord in the areas of worship, guidance, preservation and service.

Yielding ourselves to God in prayer is really a time when we give ourselves to be at God’s disposal, opening ourselves to Him and allowing Him to do what He will, both with us and through us. Thus, to be little with God in prayer is to be little for God in service. Do not be deceived into believing that you can minister/serve acceptably in a one-and-a-half or two-hour service based on a five-minute touch-and-go prayer time with the Lord.

Priority as a Servant of God

In the land where the disciples dwelt, there were needs that had to be met, and one of the most pressing needs then was that of widows among them who had no means of supporting themselves and their children. In those days, it was in the custom and social practice of the early church to provide for these poor widows by giving them rations through daily distributions. This ministry was however hindered and suffered neglect when the apostles had to channel more attention to the growing congregation. Though aware of their responsibilities towards these widows, the apostles however reasoned sensibly that their functional role/commission was not to devote their time and lives to serving the needy in this sense, but rather to give “themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (6:4). With this understanding, they began to appoint people who could be entrusted with this service to faithfully administer provisions to the widows on an ongoing basis.

When God sent Moses and Aaron to call the children of Israel out of Egypt, Pharoah’s immediate reaction was “Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labour in it, and let them not regard false words.” (Ex. 5:9). His idea was to increase the labour of the people so that they would get so caught up with serving the King of a foreign land that they have no time to even think about serving their God! Same case for us here today. We all bear the citizenship of heaven above, but are yet resident here on earth below - we are, so to speak, foreigners in this land just like how the Israelites were foreigners in the land of Egypt. Israel had Pharoah to contend with, but don’t we also have the god of this age (the devil) to guard ourselves against? The danger is this, when God calls for our attention, Satan will almost never say yes to us going over, not even for the “three days’ journey .… that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.” (Ex. 3:18). And one of the most effective ways Satan uses to keep us from going over is through adding to our labour, increasing our responsibilities and showing us more needs that have to be met, and you can almost expect every one of these tasks to be marked (in bold and red) “URGENT”. What else can the devil be trying to do besides distracting us from giving our allegiance to the other kingdom? We sometimes think that the presentation that we have to deliver to the “big boss” in our office is so important that we have “no choice” but to spend Sunday toiling and labouring over our work; and indeed, the impression we have to leave with our “major client” is so crucial that we cannot spend some time with God at night because we “have to be” entertaining this big-time client of ours. Well, we have to judge for ourselves in these things - Israel had to make a choice whether she wanted to be led into serving the sovereign God, or to remain serving the supreme authority (the king) of the foreign land where they are. At some stage or another, we will also come to the same cross-road where we will be faced with the same decision to be made. Would we want then - to serve God whom we belong and owe our lives to, or serve “Pharoah, the king” (the god of this age) who tries so hard to lay a claim for our lives even though to him we never did belong?

According to Eph. 4:11-13, the 5-fold ministry is the gift of God to the body of Christ (the Church). The people in the 5-fold are therefore responsible for the equipping of the saints, to build them up till the fullness of Christ is revealed in them. This is indeed a call accompanied by great spiritual authority and weight that should not be taken lightly. Unless the ministers measure up to God’s standard by consistently building themselves up in the Lord, it will be not be within them to impart the kind of life and anointing that God desires for His Church. What you can accomplish, perhaps, might be a ministry filled with good works, but without the fruit of eternal value (Col. 1:10).

The Gospel reaches Judea and Samaria (Chapters 8 - 9)

Persecution against the believers was rampant during those days, but it was not until the martyrdom of Stephen that the opposition began to take on a fiercer aggression, driving the disciples into the regions of Judea and Samaria when they realised that they could no longer stay safe in the city of Jerusalem. From this dispersion, it would seem the gates of hell were prevailing, but not quite, as we go on to see how God established His kingdom even in the face of great persecution. Two lessons on acceptable attitude that we must learn here, from the disciples on the one part, and from Philip on the other.

a) The disciples did not fear what was happening

Imagine what pain it must have triggered off in the hearts of the disciples when they saw Stephen being killed for his faith, yet, these people did not retreat or withdraw in fear and hopelessness, instead, they “went everywhere preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4) These are people who have been forced to leave Jerusalem because the multitudes were after their lives - these are people on the run (running for their lives!), but that did not stop them from being steadfast in their belief, and even went the extra mile to preach the word out of Jerusalem! From here, the Lord’s will in the Great Commission was fulfilled, that there were indeed witnesses for Him, not just in Jerusalem, but also in Judea and in Samaria.

What an example for all of us! As long as the devil is in this world, he will always try to hinder and stall sharing of the gospel. Satan used to do it through violent persecution of the believers - the disciples before us suffered much violence yet did not give in even to the point of death. Today, there would seem no need for the devil to resort to violence, for there are some who would readily give up the privilege of sharing the good news with others in the face of mere superficialities like fear of rejection and embarrassment! It need not take real persecution, but just the fear of men alone (e.g. fearing what people may think of us, what they may say of us) already makes it so difficult for some of us to share the gospel in our homes and our offices, what more to “the uttermost parts of the earth ” and to “all nations” as we have been commissioned to?

We need to put away the fear of men and overcome with faith in God.

b. Philip - the man who moved according to faith’s beckoning

Philip, one of the deacons anointed in Acts 6:5 was forced out of Jerusalem into Samaria. There, he continued in the gospel of Christ, and signs and wonders followed his ministry (Acts 8:5-8). Some of us might have expected Philip to really appreciate and guard this successful ministry jealously and gratefully; well, perhaps he did - in fact, we believe Philip was thankful to God for working miracles through him, however, he was prepared to give up this glory just for the sake of obeying Christ, as we will see.

At a time when his ministry was prospering, when spectacular signs and wonders were worked by the power of the Holy Spirit through him, God called Philip to leave this spiritual haven to embark on a journey into the desert just so that he might find and minister to one lost soul i.e. the eunuch(Acts 8:26); and Philip dutifully obeyed. Our brother, Philip, was not only a faithful servant who yielded himself so that the Holy Spirit may work through him, but he was at the same time, an obedient one who, like His Master, was willing to leave places of great spiritual happenings at Heaven’s beckoning. All it took was a word from the Holy Spirit, and Philip responded in obedience. No reasoning need to be made, no further consideration of the matter was made, he simply did what was required - he obeyed.

Such example of faith expressed through the step of obedience really should speak to all of us today who want to lead a life led by the Spirit of God. And we indeed ought to desire this, since we are sons of God who are led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14). You and I may not have angels ministering to us at this present moment, but that really should not stop us from moving in the will of God, since we all have the Holy Spirit to guide us into His sovereign will. In Acts 8:28, while Philip was on the road, it was the Holy Spirit who prompted him to overtake the chariot before him which carried the eunuch whom he was to minister to. And we all know the end of this incident, how Philip ministered to the eunuch and led him to know the Lord. All these things that happened, the will of God was revealed and later accomplished, from the time when God called Philip into the desert till the time when the eunuch came to the knowledge of salvation, were made possible through the simple obedience of one man, Philip. Indeed, if we truly desire to fulfil the will of God and whatever that He may design for us, we not only need to be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but we also need to be willing and diligent to obey that divine prompting.

The Gospel reach the Gentiles (Chapters 10 - 12)

Cornelius, once a Gentile who did not knew God, but who was a devout man who feared God, and expressed this through his constant prayers and giving of alms, was recorded in the Bible as the first Gentile who received the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the apostles’ ministry. Cornelius was a man who did not have the light of the Gospel, but though this light was not yet his then, he nevertheless lived up to the light which was given him - the general awareness of a God being in existence. But knowing that this light was not sufficient to save him, God sent Peter to bring the additional light to him, the light of the Gospel.

When did this memorable and significant move of the Spirit take place? It is interesting for us to read that it was while both Cornelius and Peter were praying, that God worked this transaction (Acts 10:19) to bring both the Gospel and the Spirit to the Gentile race.

Prayers touch the heart of God and makes Him want to work on our behalf. It is true that which some one said, that every time we pray, we move the hand of God. If God can be so pleased and so moved by the prayers of Cornelius, a man who did not know Him, imagine how much more delight and stirring to His heart our prayers as His children would be to Him! We have said this before, but we need to reinforce this stark and awful reality - failings in our spiritual lives is almost always attributed to neglect in our prayer lives. People today have difficulty believing in the effectiveness of prayer, as if not realising that God’s delays are not always denials. Sometimes, delays are deliberate so that greater glory can come out of that situation. We, at best, can only know the good for what we can see before us, but God is all-knowing, and His timing in bringing aid and deliverance to a situation is always perfect.

Prayer also accomplishes the impossibilities that confront men, breaking the chains that boast against us, and setting us free from the bondage. Peter was one who had the privilege of this experience. When he was thrown into what must be then the most heavily guarded prison, it was the constant and relentless prayers of the church that opened the way for God’s angel to rescue him from the iron bars. When all of flesh’s best endeavours avails nought, prayers still go on to win the victory for us. What a privilege, what great pleasure, the highest joy, to be able to speak a prayer today!

Paul’s first missionary trip [AD 46 - 48] (Chapters 13 - 15)

During a time when the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch were together in worship/prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit instructed that Barnabas and Paul should be dedicated “for a special job…” (Acts 13:1). This instruction did not go unattended, for the leaders continued in praying and fasting, and they later laid hands on Barnabas and Paul before sending them on their way. The laying on of hands was in this case, an expression of the people’s identification with the pair in their special commission to take the gospel to the Gentiles. The importance of this incident is paramount in our emphasis on the supreme role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the spiritual leaders of the early church, and also on the sensitivity of the disciples to the Holy Spirit’s leading. The following are 2 important lessons we can learn from this incident:-

(a) Confirm/ordain only the Holy Spirit’s choice

Remembering that we are only agents who are here to confirm or “ordain” those whom God has called, we therefore should take special care in our appointment of spiritual authority over spiritual undertakings. As “ambassadors” (representatives) of Christ, it does not mean that we make decisions on His behalf, but only that we make faithful and true representation of His will before men. Ultimately, the divine flow or pattern that must take place is that the Holy Spirit points us to whom the Lord has chosen, and we faithfully appoint that person before men (Acts 20:28). To this effect was Paul’s instructions to Timothy that he “do not lay hands on anyone hastily…” (1 Tim. 5:22), a warning which we should be diligent in heeding and not neglect.

(b) Support the other pillar(s) of the Church

Peter, James, and John, some of whom were among those recognised as pillars of the church, when they perceived the grace given to Paul and Barnabas in their ministry to the Gentiles, “shook hands with Barnabas and (Paul) and encouraged (them) to keep right on with (their) preaching while they continued with their work with the Jews.” (Gal. 2:9)

These people were ministers to the Jews, but when they saw that the calling of God upon Paul and Barnabas was not to the Jew but rather to the Gentiles, they did not withhold their fellowship and blessings but they encouraged and supported them in their vision. We must not be people who would be willing only to help those who run with us in our calling and vision, but we should also be ready to support the other ministries of God’s kingdom. To be a “church without walls”, we ought to go beyond the parameters of our vision and be ready and willing to help others fulfil the work that God has given them.

The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)

A dispute over the issue of circumcision which arose in Antioch (Acts 15) was also addressed in Paul’s letter to the Galatians in Gal. 2:1-10. Reading both accounts together, we understand that a group of Jews had travelled to Antioch and began preaching in the assembly of the believers there that the Gentiles had to be circumcised in the same way of the Jews in order to be saved. This stirred up much confusion and discourse among the people and came up as one of the issues addressed during the council that took place in Jerusalem. At the end of this council, the apostles wrote to the churches that “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden of Jewish laws on you than to abstain from eating food offered to idols and from unbled meat of strangled animals, and of course, from fornication.” (Acts 15:27-28). The key words here is of course the words, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit….” How important it must be for us to have the counsel of the Holy Spirit, especially if we stand in positions of leadership. What a comfort and strength to have Him as our partner in life, in leadership - when men do not have the answer, He provides the way, the truth. How else do we come into all truth but through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us that He may lead us into all truth? (John 16:13)

Paul’s second missionary trip [AD 49 - 52] (Chapters 16 - 18)

This trip gives us an indication of the Holy Spirit’s role in the missionary strategies of the apostles. Paul and Silas, in the former’s second missionary journey, met with some “no”s from the Holy Spirit. They were told not to go to certain places which they would otherwise have visited according to their missionary plans (Acts 16:6-8). Then, in this chapter, when they wanted to travel to Asia, they were yet again stopped by the Holy Spirit, and was called to Macedonia instead through a dream that Paul had (Acts 16:9-10).

Did not Asia need the gospel? Sure, she needed it, but that was not God’s concern at that time. A need, no matter how genuine, may not necessarily be a call from God. We have grown used to saying, that “there’s no harm doing it, as long as it is the work of God…”. Yes, we do no harm to the recipients of our ministry, but how do we account for causing the potential recipients of our ministry to be deprived of the blessings of God only because we had missed out on going to them while busy ministering to another group of people elsewhere? Again, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and to His guidance, is of utmost importance.

This aside, we also need to deal with our own emotions in that we do not mistakenly think that our “burden” or love for a particular group of people justifies our ministry to them. We can never sincerely love the world more than the Lord Jesus did. Which one of us can truly say that we have a greater burden for the world than the Lord does? So then, much as we love a particular group of people, we have to trust God enough to take care of them when He calls us to another pasture.

Paul’s third missionary trip [AD 53 - 57] (Chapters 19 - 20)

Before departing for Jerusalem, Paul confessed that he was not aware of the pattern of events that would be, but yet spoke in anticipation of the sufferings awaiting him in Jerusalem, explaining that the Holy Spirit had forewarned him of these things that would befall him (Acts 20:22-23). Then he went on to say that life would not avail much unless it was lived doing the will of God (Acts 20:24). From whence did Paul get this courage? Could it be that the Holy Spirit had prepared him so well for it that he had already partaken of those sufferings in spirit even before he experienced their physical effects on his body? After all, we see that Paul endured much pain and suffering in his ministry, and this time, he did not know what lies ahead in Jerusalem, but he could speak of the persecution prepared for him. Only a life of prayer and of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit (a point reinforced for many times now) could lead one to success in the work of God when great and severe persecution is involved.

Of course, one of the ways to cultivate a spirit of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is to indulge in lengths of time with Him. The journey of Acts 20:13-15 is one deserving of our attention. Paul and the others were bound for Assos; the others went by ship, but Paul chose to go there on land (by foot) instead. Why? We are not sure, but it might well be that Paul wanted to have a long stretch of uninterrupted time with the Holy Spirit. What else would cause some one like Paul to want to walk some twenty odd miles when he could have boarded a ship and literally “sail his way” to his destination? Some of us do not know how to handle solitude - we mistake it for loneliness. However, this is one important area we need to cultivate for ourselves, and for the sake of our relationship with the Holy Spirit. We should not fear being alone, much less acquaint it with being lonely. Rather, when we are found with no one but ourselves for company, we ought to take the time to draw near to God, into His presence and wait upon Him, for it is there that we draw our strength from (Isa. 40:31), so that in the event that we are “running” in our work for the Lord, we would not grow weary or be faint.

Arrest, Trials and Imprisonment of Paul (Chapters 21- 28)

Coming to the close of Acts, Paul was arrested, brought before many trials and was imprisoned for the rest of his days. The words spoken by the Lord through Ananias came to pass that He would show Paul “how many things he must suffer for (His) name’s sake.” (Acts 9:16).

The evidence of God’s leading is not missing in Paul’s life. It was God’s will for him to go to Jerusalem and Rome even though that meant much persecution and trials (Acts 23:11), and it was also God’s will for him to witness to Caesar (Acts 27:24). And for this, Paul spent most of the rest of his days in chains and in prison. But if we are truly obedient to God, we would be effective for God whether in chained or free. Throughout the whole time that Paul was chained, God’s spirit refused to be chained, but continued to be ministered through him (2 Tim. 2:9) in the following instances:-

1. before the Jerusalem crowd (Acts 21:37-22; 24)
2. before the Jewish Sanhedrin (Acts 22: 30 - 23:10)
3. before the Roman governors (Acts 25 - 26)
4. before about 300 people on the ship (Acts 27)
5. before the natives of Malta (Acts 28:1-10)
6. before the leaders of the Jewish community in Rome and to all other present (Acts 28:17-31)

The way we live our lives will affect the lives of people around us. Our obedience can either save or endanger those around us. An entire ship of people were saved because of Paul’s obedience (Acts 27:24); on the other hand, an entire ship of people were endangered because of the disobedience of Jonah (Jonah 1:1-16).

Before we close, let us come to see that God does not carry out His will alone - He waits for us to co-operate with Him by obeying and yielding to His Spirit through prayer. Take Elijah for example. When he was told to seek out King Ahab because God was going to send rain to come down upon the earth, he prayed earnestly (1 Kn. 18:42) for rain to fall. And indeed, rain did not come upon that land until after the intense prayer of Elijah. Though God had spoken, and no doubt it would come to pass, but Elijah did not excuse himself from praying for the will of God to be established. God conceives a move first, He tells it to His people, then we pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Do not for once think that we can initiate anything by praying to God for it if He had not already have it in His plan. Prayer is not persuading God to do what we want Him to do, rather, it is encouraging of that which is going to happen because God conceived it. Thus, being sensitive to the Spirit and being able to discern His will, and then being diligent to pray for the coming to pass of His will, is the true ministry of the saints today.

Purpose in our heart now to cultivate a life of prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit - we know we have that when our soul finds it hard to turn away from God for even a moment.