Two Bits Media of Kansas City: Acts Commentary (Text Version)

ACTS

Updated: August 1, 2007

The Bible Commentary

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

[C]2000-07 by Richard L Zorek

A woman went into her kitchen to find a burglar loaded down with a bunch of stuff he was stealing from her kitchen. Not having any kind of weapon to scare him off, she raised her hand and said "Acts 2:38," and proceeded to quote scripture.
The burglar froze in place and didn't move. The woman called 911, the police arrived and were amazed to find the burglar still frozen where he stood. "What did you say to him that kept him from moving?" they asked the woman. She told them that she had simply said "Acts 2:38" and quoted scripture. The police chuckled and escorted the burglar out to the patrol car. "Why did the woman's quoting scripture scare you so much?" they asked. "Scripture?" said the burglar, "I thought she said she had an 'ax and two 38's!'"

Acts 1:1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach Writer appears to take up where Luke left off. Theophilus is supposed to have been a person of considerable dignity and influence. Elsewhere he is styled "most excellent," a title which implied a considerable social or political rank.

Acts 1:3: After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God." Gave many convincing proofs that he was alive? Wouldn't just that fact that He "showed himself" be enough? We are often very stubborn when it comes to evidence.

Acts 1:7: He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. Anyone claiming to know any exact times or dates is clearly in error because it is not for them to know. We may have an indication of the season by signs of the times...but every season since Jesus left has indicated the time of his arrival is closer. And it is yet closer today. There will come a point in history when we will be looking back at his arrival.

Acts 1:8: You shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost has come upon you; you shall be my witnesses" The word "power" in this text comes from the Greek and means "ability, strength, or force." Knowledge is of itself power; and knowledge on the highest and most interesting subjects is a very high form of power. However, when the idolatry of talent enters the Church than farewell to spirituality; when men ask their teachers not for that which will make them more humble or godlike, but for the excitement of an intellectual banquet, then farewell to Christian progress. There is one inlet of power in the life, anyones life, any kind of power, just one inlet: the Holy Spirit. He comes by our invitation and conset. His presense within is a viatl thing.

Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight Jesus disapearaed into the clouds.

Acts 1:24: And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen God knows the hearts of all men.

Acts 1:26: And they gave forth lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered among the eleven apostles It does not suggest that the result of the lot was the answer to prayer or the actual lot casting was the reponse. Both of the candidates were worthy of the position.

Acts 2:17: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams Notice it says the spirit will be poured out on all flesh.

Acts 2: 37: When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" When Peter proclaimed the astounding news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem folowing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the hearers replied, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?". The appropriate answer to the glorious and awesome message of the gospel of Christ and His Kingdom is always the same--repentance.

Acts 2:38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is a gift. Free of charge.

Acts 5:28-29: "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." Although civil obedience is specifically commanded, it is equally apparent that the prior requirement of obedience to God must prevail.

The church is the congregation of the lord, the community of faith, the assembly of the righteous. They have leaders, but leaders have been given for the very purpose sneered at by Rome: regulation and surveillance. They have not been given as intermediaries or interlopers, but as helpers. They have not been given as if there could be no church without them. Paul and Barnabus had elders ordained in churches that already existed (Acts 14:23). They were elderless, but they were churches. And Titus was left in Crete to appoint elders in already existing churches. Elders serve the church, bringing order and guarding orthodoxy. They are servants, not lords.

Acts 15:1: "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." We cannot have Jesus Christ on our own terms. Paul says it will profit us nothing if we are circumcised. The false teachers did not mean to displace Christ, but they did want to add human effort into the redemptive process. Paul warns that this is to deny the salvation offered them.
The Council of Jerusalem declared, 'Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world'. History is in the hands of neither of chaos nor of the social scientist but in the hands of a sovereign and triune God.

Acts 15:16: I....will build again the tabernacle of david..." God will build His church of the last days on those ruins. He must ruin the evil taking place in His church and bring down the abominations. On those ruins, He will raise up a holy, repentant church.

Acts 17:7: "Whom Jason hath receievd: and these all do contray to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." While by no mean anarchists, the early Christians recognized that no earthly authority, especially political authority, could be ultimate. God's authority is ultimate.

Acts 20:7: And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples gathered together to break bread, Paul preached to them Regular gathering was a normal part of the early Chrsitians life.

Acts 21:1: After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. Cos (also spelled Coos) was an island in the Grecian archipelago. The capitol city of Cos was also called Cos. This was the birth place of Hippocrates.

Acts 22:10: "And I said, What shall I do Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do." God does not call us just so we can bask in the glory of it all. He calls us when He has a job for us to do. Paul understood that because he was familiar with the Bible. Think of Abraham, or Moses, or Samuel, or Jeremiah....God calls us when He has a job for us.