Recap

So far in Acts, we've read through the introduction, the disciples' time in Jerusalem, and started the church spreading into Samaria. We noted how Acts, a sequel to Luke's gospel, explores the birth and growth of the early church. Jesus commissioned his disciples to spread the good news from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. He instructed them to wait for the Holy Spirit to empower them and then ascended to heaven.

While the disciples were waiting, the Holy Spirit came like a rush of wind and tongues of fire. God was making his people his new temples. Empowered to speak in different languages reuniting all peoples, the disciples amazed the crowd, and Peter led over 3,000 to salvation. The church was born, and the believers lived in community, sharing everything and doing life together.

Peter and John, as God's new temples, went to the old temple, healed a lame man in Jesus' name, and amazed the crowd. Peter explained that God's presence now dwelt in his people. This lead to conflict with the priests, who warned them to stop preaching but released them.

The believers prayed for boldness, not for their problems to be removed. They shared their possessions to ensure everyone had enough. As internal and external struggles arose, the Apostles appointed seven men to manage daily tasks. The church continued to grow.

One of these men, Stephen, drew attention by performing incredible miracles. Before long, he was seized by a group of religious fanatics known as the Freedmen and accused of speaking blasphemy. He cleverly retold the history of the Jewish people, pointing out that they had a track record of rejecting their own people who had been chosen by God.

They were doing it to Stephen in that moment, and they’d done it to Jesus as well. This accusation drove the crowd into a rage and led to them stoning Stephen. This inturn sparked a new wave of persecution of the Christians which forced them to flee, spreading the Christian faith beyond just Jerusalem. They were taking the good news of Jesus into the region of Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus had asked them (Acts 1:8).

One of the key people involved in spreading the good news during this time is Phillip. We read as he saved many in Samaria, including a man named Simon who was known for practising magic. In this, we saw God’s divine power over these dark forces. Then we read as God led Phillip to an Ethiopian man just as we searching the scriptures and needing someone to explain them to him. In this, we saw God’s divine will. 

Acts 9-10

One of the worst persecutors of the early church is a man named Saul. He was there when Stephen was stoned (Acts 7:58). Saul goes to the high priests to ask for permission to hunt down anyone belonging to ‘the Way’ (this is what Christians were first described as).

Travelling to Damascus, Saul is blinded by a bright light, and he hears a voice from heaven asking, “why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). The voice identifies itself as Jesus and tells Saul to enter the city and wait for further instructions.

Meanwhile, God speaks to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and tells him to find Saul and restore his sight. God explains that he has chosen Saul to take God’s name to the Gentiles, as well as leaders and Israelites. We’re seeing the preparations being made for the good news of Jesus to spread to the ends of the earth.

Ananias finds Saul and prays that he be healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately Saul regains his sights and is baptised as a follower of Jesus.

Saul goes straight out proclaiming the good news of Jesus, which was probably quite confusing to the people listening. This man had been persecuting followers of Jesus just a few days before. But they couldn’t stand against new found faith and the wisdom by which he spoke.

Before long, he had to flee to Damascus because of plots to kill him. At first, when he tried to join the disciples in Jerusalem, they wanted nothing to do with him. They assumed this was a trick to further persecute them.

Eventually, Barnabus, who was one of the first to sell his property and give the money to the poor (Acts 4:36-37), brought Saul before them and convinced them of what had happened. It didn’t take long before Saul’s new found faith won him enemies in Jerusalem as well, so the disciples sent him on to Tarsus. And through all this, the church continued to grow, filled with the Holy Spirit.

Next, we read of two miracles performed by Peter. The first is him healing a man who had been paralysed for eight years, and the second is him bringing a woman named Tabitha back from the dead. Both of these demonstrate that the power and authority of Jesus rests on his followers.

Jesus healed those who had been paralysed (Luke 5:17-26) and raised people from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). There are even some direct links to the Old Testament stories that we drew on with Jesus’ miracles.

When Tabitha died, she was placed in the upper room, which is exactly what happened when Elijah and Elisha brought people back from the dead (1 Kings 17:19; 2 Kings 4:10, 21). This great power we saw in the Old Testament, and the embodied by Jesus in the gospels, now belongs to the everyday believers.

But now it’s time for the church to make another leap forward. We encounter a Roman Centurion who fears God and serves him faithfully. Up until now, the book of Acts has focused on the descendants of the Israelites, whether that was Jews or Samaritans.

But this man is a Gentile and, historically, Gentiles were separated from God. They weren’t part of God’s chosen people. They were seen as unclean. But an angel comes to this Gentile, Cornelius, and tells him to call for a man named Simon Peter.

Meanwhile, Peter is in a city called Joppa, and goes up to the roof to pray. While praying, Peter starts to get hungry and, as his mind switches to food, God gives him a vision of a sheet full of animals that Peter can kill and eat. The thing is, all these animals were things considered unclean for Israelites to eat (Leviticus 11).

Peter refuses, declaring that he would never eat anything unclean, but God tells him that he has made these clean and he is not to call them unclean anymore. Once this vision had finished, Peter was left feeling confused what it meant. At that moment, Cornelius’ men turn up to bring Peter back with them.

Going with them, Peter realises what God was saying in his vision. He has made Gentiles clean, and if he has made them clean, then Peter is not to consider them unworthy of hearing the good news.

So arriving at Cornelius’ house, Peter gather’s everyone together and shares with them the good news of Jesus, that he came from God, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do incredible miracles, executed on a cross, but then raised to life as the king over all.

The Holy Spirit falls on all those listening, and seeing the seal of approval from the Holy Spirit Peter demands that they all be baptised, just like all the other believers. Christianity really is for all people now, Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles.

Psalm 121

This psalm isn’t attributed to anyone in particular and is named as a psalm of ascent. These psalms were sung by worshippers as they ascended to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Festival of Weeks, and Festival of Tabernacles) or possibly by the Levites as they ascended the steps of the Temple. Psalm 120-134 are all psalms of ascent.

Psalm 121:1-2 - My help comes from the Lord

Psalm 121:3-4 - The Lord does not sleep

Psalm 121:5-6 - The Lord provides shade

Psalm 121:7-8 - The Lord will keep you

In Psalm 120, the psalmist was trapped in a foreign land far from God. Now they seem to be on the move, looking around for the source of their help. Hills and mountains were common dwelling places of the gods, hence why initially they look there. But then the psalmist confirms that their hope come from ‘the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’

This Lord, ‘who keeps Israel’, does not sleep. As his people travel towards Jerusalem, he will be able to watch over them as they walk and as they sleep. He protects them by providing shade from the sun during the day, and cover from the moon at night. The Lord is the one who keeps you from evil and protects your life.

This psalm is a reminder to God’s people that he watches over them throughout their journeys. As the people travel from afar towards Jerusalem, they will likely be reminded of how God brought them out of a foreign land and through the wilderness to green pastures. In geographic areas where you would not typically expect gods to have authority, like the wilderness, the Lord is still watching and in control, protecting his people.