Here in Acts we see the early Christian devotion to fellow Christians. The early Christian communalism depicted here testifies to the intimate concern Christians had for each other. There was so much love and concern one for another that there was a remarkable independence of any ensnarement to mere things. “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

God is the author of being and of life, and if you are not in connection with Him, then you really have nothing.

Anything done apart from God always ends in nothing.

The ultimate test as to whether there is any value in our profession of the Christian faith is our response, our behavior, when everything is against us, when we seem to be without any human aid, and we ourselves can do nothing.

When people benefit from wrongdoing or wrong-thinking, they will turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the mounting evidence for what is right and what is true. The mind selectively sees what will justify the desires of the heart. In the end that is what must be changed.

Peter draws out the implication of this universal lordship of Jesus in verse 12: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

A big motivation to repentance is fear of final judgment. (Acts 17:30–31). The sobering reality of coming judgment should cause any rational person to repent and turn to God for forgiveness. There is no other way of escape.

Have you ever thought that it is possible that God is thrilled and excited when certain Christians get sick?

Because it could be testing them and refining them and equipping them to be what they otherwise could never be.

God didn’t choose to remove Paul’s infirmity did He?

The typical healing movement is based upon a misinterpretation of Isaiah 53, the statement “By his stripes, we are healed.” And healers have historically used that to mean that in the atonement there is physical healing for everybody. That is a gross misinterpretation of Isaiah 53. Christ didn’t die for the ills of the body, He died for the sin of the soul..

We plant and water, but the Lord gives life. Verse 47b: “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

The church is a people who are sojourners, strangers, exiles, refugees in this world (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). A happy, peaceful, loving people who swear allegiance to a foreign king, Jesus Christ, and to no other.