Luke gives us a snapshot of the first church that still makes congregations homesick: devoted to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to prayer, and to one another. Then a man lame from birth, who has begged at the temple gate his whole life, asks Peter for money and gets something he never imagined instead, walking and leaping in the name of Jesus. This chapter holds together the ordinary rhythms of church life and the extraordinary power that runs through them. It speaks to anyone who has settled for begging at the gate when God meant to bring them inside.

The Rev. James Hopkins, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Boston, MA and a chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserve joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 2:42-3:26.

To learn more about First Lutheran in Boston, visit flc-boston.org.

The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: [email protected].