This week we began our 2025 Advent series. As we collectively prepare our hearts, minds, and homes for the Christmas season, it is our hope to keep our focus on Jesus. This week’s focus will be on anticipation and hope.

This week’s passage in Acts highlights the Lord (through Peter) healing a man who was paralyzed for 8 years, as well as raising a well-loved disciple from the dead. We discussed these miracles and how they led to the spread of the gospel, along with some of the purposes of miracles more broadly. We also heard some stories of miracles that the Lord has done among people we know, as well as discussed some of the common false beliefs that people have about miracles.

In Galatians 1, Paul/Saul states that right after his astounding conversion he went away to Arabia. Although nothing is known about this period, the Lord clearly used this time in the wilderness to drastically transform Saul of Tarsus into the
apostle who brought the Gospel to the Gentiles. God regularly draws his servants into extended periods of wilderness, where everything else is stripped away except for God. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and even Jesus all spent significant time in the wilderness before the Lord used them in mighty ways. God continues to draw His servants into times of spiritual wilderness, often against our will. Nevertheless, He is still good; He is right there with us in our hurt, bewilderment, seeming insignificance, and loneliness. And He will ultimately and undoubtedly use our seasons of wilderness of His glory and our good.

We are going on a journey of Saul’s post-conversion experience on the road to Damascus. The radical transformation that Saul experienced was not received well by the leaders of the day, nor by those who were once persecuted by Saul. However, through faithfulness and obedience of followers of Jesus, Saul would soon change the course of history for the name of Jesus.

Long before he was known as the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus was an ardent enemy of the early church. This week’s exciting passage details the miraculous events surrounding his conversion. Originally headed to Damascus to hunt down
and arrest believers, Saul had a life-changing encounter with the risen Jesus. Although his encounter with Christ started on the road to Damascus, Saul’s conversion was finalized three days later when a man named Ananias came and prayed with him. This passage teaches us that God can transform even the hardest of hearts. It also shows us that the Lord frequently uses insignificant figures, like Ananias, to play significant roles in His plans and kingdom.

This week’s passage in Acts details a wonderful interaction between Philip and a high-ranking Ethiopian. Sometime after Philip saw great success in sharing the Gospel among the Samaritans, the Lord directed him to go deep into the unpopulated desert lands of the south. Thankfully Philip obeyed the bewildering and vague marching orders, and once there, the Spirit directed him to a man who was reading through the scroll of Isaiah. Unfortunately for the man, he comprehended nothing of the text. Fortuitously for the man, the Lord had sent Philip the evangelist to meet him where he was at (literally and figuratively) and bring salvation in Christ to him.

In this week’s passage, the Samaritans believe and are baptized (including a curious figure named Simon the Magician). When the apostles in Jerusalem heard this wonderful news, they sent Peter and John to validate and bless this new
work of the Lord by praying for the new Samaritan believers to receive the Holy Spirit. Things quickly go wrong when Simon, a man used to wielding power and intrigue, attempts to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit from them so that he can use it for his own purposes. Unfortunately, it appears that Simon was drawn to the gospel for what he could get out of it, reducing salvation to a commodity, and the power of God to something he could control.

The murder of Stephen was just the beginning of a much larger wave of persecution that the early church was forced to endure. (One of the ring leaders
of this backlash was a man named Saul of Tarsus who we will cover extensively later on in our study of Acts.) Interestingly, this week’s passage almost immediately focuses on the positive benefits of the persecution rather than its negative effects. In response to the persecution, the early church was scattered across the region and went about preaching the Word. Contrary to what many believe, scripture clearly teaches that persecution and suffering are good and useful elements in the lives of believers.

Last week we covered Stephen’s Spirit-empowered sermon. This week we examined the Sanhedrin’s quick and violent response. Rather than feeling conviction that led to repentance, the Jewish leaders were filled with rage and stoned Stephen to death. While we might not die in a martyr’s death, each of us will experience physical death sooner or later. The scriptures speak extensively about how believers ought to view the death of our mortal bodies, encouraging us to view this event in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who has not only been raised from the dead but who has conquered death itself.

This week we find ourselves in the middle of Stephen’s saga. Last week set the stage for Stephen’s detainment and outlined the trumped-up charges that were brought against him. This week covers his Spirit-led defense, which happens to be the longest sermon recorded in Acts. In it, Stephen reminds the high priest and his cronies that the people of Israel have a long history of rejecting leaders sent to them by God. Additionally, they have a long history of turning away from God and pursuing unrighteous things. He concludes his defense by pointing out that they continue in this pattern by rejecting and killing Jesus, and by opposing His gospel, church, and kingdom.