Anthem Hayden

Last week we covered the account of the Holy Spirit healing a lame man (through Peter). This week's passage begins to detail the aftermath of that miraculous healing. Once the healed man began to walk, leap, and praise the Lord inside the temple, a great crowd gathered to see what had happened. Peter, capitalizing on the situation, preaches another gospel message to the gathered crowd, encouraging them to "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus..."

This week’s passage tells of the miraculous healing of a man born unable to walk. Once, Jesus’ disciples had heartlessly judged a disabled person in a similar situation. This time, however, Peter and John see past the poor beggar’s physical
disabilities and see a man needing something more profound than money. Instead of giving the man silver or gold the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to heal him and introduce him to the saving power of Jesus Christ. The man was instantly healed and began to walk, leap, and praise the Lord!

Immediately after Luke tells us that approximately 3,000 souls were saved on the day of Pentecost, he then goes on to describe what the earliest church looked like. It is a beautiful and inspiring depiction! However, we must be careful to remember
that this is a historical description of the ancient church in Jerusalem when it was exclusively composed of Jews. Although our context is radically different, this week’s passage still offers us many important insights into what a thriving church can look like.

This week we looked at Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. In this Spirit-empowered teaching, Peter explained to the crowd that the Holy Spirit was being poured out, as promised, upon all believers. He then invited the huge crowd to repent and believe in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, and miraculously 3,000 people were added to the church that day! This passage illustrates the Holy Spirit’s power, His willingness to use willing believers, His reinforcement of God’s written word, and His role to point people to Jesus and salvation.

Acts 2 tells of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish festival of Shavuot, more commonly known as Pentecost. While it is easy to gloss over the Spirit’s arrival to “get on to the exciting parts of the book,” it is vital to understand that the Holy
Spirit is the key that unlocks the rest of this thrilling book. His arrival on Pentecost was earth changing!

This week we learned about what the disciples, family, and closest followers of Jesus were up to in between His ascension and Pentecost. This was a time
of great anticipation! They spent much of their time praying together, and had to reckon with Judas’s betrayal and how and with whom they would replace him. We discussed how they acted without the Holy Spirit and the similarities and differences in how we interact with God now that the Holy Spirit is with us.

This week we took a closer look at Jesus’ ascension. Frequently, our perspective of the ascension is limited to the fact that Jesus left the earth. Like His disciples, we are saddened by this fact. However, the ascension is among the greatest
events of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth! We often overlook the fact that Jesus’ ascension was less about Him leaving earth and more about where He was going - back to His Father and His eternal glory in Heaven. On earth Jesus became our Savior; in Heaven He continues to be our Priest and King.

This week we continued to lay the foundation of the book of Acts. Continuing in Acts 1:1-11, we took a closer look at Jesus’ promise to the disciples - that the power and person of the Holy Spirit could come upon them, empowering them to be His
witnesses to the very ends of the hearth. Like the disciples in this passage, many Christians are woefully ignorant of the person of the Holy Spirit and unaware of His ongoing role in their lives.

In this week’s teaching we explored what the scriptures say about the kingdom. Acts 1:3 tells us that Jesus spent the 40 days between His resurrection and
ascension speaking about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:6 tells us that Jesus’ disciples asked Him one last question before He ascended into heaven: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Clearly the kingdom was on the forefront of everyone’s minds. But what is it? Who gets into the kingdom, and how? Thankfully God’s Word supplies much needed clarity on the subject.

Written by Luke the physician to a certain “Theophilus,” (a name meaning “God-lover”) the book of Acts chronicles the growth of the early church. While Acts is undeniably exhilarating and inspiring, it is important to recognize that the purpose of Acts was not to detail the church in its perfection, but rather to detail the church in its infancy. In Jesus’ parting words to his followers, He informs them that they will now be His witnesses “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”