By Audrey Bauman

Over the next month or so, we're going to read through the Book of Acts. It’s an exciting story of the beginning of the church. LSA has been through some tough times in the last 6 years, and is now becoming a church that functions well, and reaches out to our community. As this early church in Acts transitioned from their Jewish faith centered around the Temple with the many laws to be kept, to a church where the Holy Spirit indwelt each believer, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome. Acts also follows this new movement of Christianity as it leaves Jerusalem and goes into the known world at that time. We're going to read how God used and grew this early church, and as we do, we'll pray for LSA.

The author of Acts is Luke.  Before we start looking at Acts, I thought you might be interested in finding out who Luke was.  This information comes from gotquestions.org, an online Bible resource that answers tons of questions with many reliable Christian leaders giving the information.

Little is known about Luke, the author of the books of Luke and Acts in the Bible. We do know he was a physician and the only Gentile to write any part of the New Testament. Both Luke and Acts are addressed to the same person, Theophilus. No one knows exactly who Theophiluswas, but we know that Luke’s purpose in writing the two companion books was for him to know with certainty about the person and work of Jesus Christ (Luke 1: 4).
 
 Luke was a close friend of Paul, who referred to him as “the beloved physician”. Paul also refers to Luke as a “fellow laborer”. Luke joined Paul in Troas in Asia Minor during Paul’s second missionary journey and was left in Philippi until he was picked up again to travel with Paul in the third journey. Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Jerusalem and Rome and was with him during his imprisonment there. 
 
 Acts 1: 1 - 11    (New Living Translation - NLT)

“The Promise of the Holy Spirit

In my first book (Gospel of Luke) I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach ²  until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit.³  During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

⁴ Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. ⁵ John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The Ascension of Jesus

⁶ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

⁷ He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. ¹⁰ As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

Notice how detailed Luke is in summarizing the last days Jesus was on earth. (Luke also wrote about Jesus' resurrection and last days on earth in Luke 24.) He wants us to know that we can believe the facts. He mentions that Jesus met with his followers for 40 days in many places, and that he proved to them in several ways that he was definitely alive. The resurrection is the pivotal point in Christianity.  There are many other religions, but all their founders died and were buried.  Only Christianity says that its “founder” is physically alive after being put to death – and Luke wants people to be sure that is true.  

But I consider the news about the coming of the Holy Spirit as the most exciting news in this chapter. Luke will go on to describe it in detail in chapter 2.  It’s interesting that the disciples wanted to know the political future of Israel. ^“So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” (v. 6) That topic came up many times during Jesus’ life, and you can understand why. They lived in a country under Rome’s rule. They believed that Jesus had a new message that differed from their Jewish traditions, but they also hoped that Jesus would free them from the Roman Empire. They took Old Testament prophecies in a literal way – that Messiah would set Israel up as an independent nation forever.

But Jesus tells them what the new focus will be. It's not  Israel's return to power, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. (v. 8)  God’s kingdom is not a political one; it’s a spiritual one. Spreading this Good News is God’s focus in Acts and today, and the power to do it comes from the Holy Spirit.

Our world today needs to hear this message – that we can have a relationship with God because of Jesus' resurrection and presence in heaven and the Holy Spirit's work on earth. Our church (LSA) has a Sunday morning service that welcomes people, and is one you can invite friends to come. The music is excellent and Pastor Brian's sermon follows scripture and always makes you think. There are kids and youth programs every week. Once a month there is a Women's Tea and a Men's Breakfast; those programs help us get to know each other, but are also events you can invite friends to as well.

Just as the disciples were left to spread the gospel, we persoanlly need to get involved to make the church we attend function well. Don't just attend. Be part of the ministry in some way. There are so many ways we can assist our church to operate: SASEM, the cleaning group; welcoming at the door on Sunday; ushering; working in a variety of ways in the Sunday School or in children's programs during the week; helping set up communion; working in the kitchen; setting up the coffee station on Sunday morning; answering the phones in the office during the week; keeping the building safe when it is rented out; being part of the church prayer team; visiting the sick and elderly during the week ...  and more. See all the ways you can serve God in our church?

More than ever, we need to grasp God's message to us in Acts -  “you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”.

Let's start praying and thinking how we can help our churches become life-giving centers in our communities. Know that the Holy Spirit is with us as we reach out.

Our song for today is The Commission by CAIN