In Acts 10, the Lord gave Peter a fascinating vision. God showed Peter all kinds of unclean animals and asked him to kill and eat them. He refused, saying that he had never eaten anything unclean. Nevertheless, God gave him permission to eat, saying he should not call anything unclean which God has made clean. God’s words were not merely referring to unclean animals; God was guiding Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, whom the Jews deemed impure.

During exhausting and depleting times, we all yearn for rest, refreshment, restoration, and hope. Acts 3:19 promises a wonderful blessing to God’s people: “times of refreshing” which come straight “from the presence of the Lord.” (NASB)

One of the ways the Holy Spirit speaks to us is by highlighting. Whether we’re reading the Bible or using prophetic gifts to prophesy, the Holy Spirit often points out something important that we should pay attention to. This is called highlighting.

Acts 15 tells us three stories. The first story is about Paul and Barnabas getting into a fierce argument with people about the need to circumcise the Gentiles. Peter and James responded saying that God had chosen the Gentiles. The second story is the sending of Judas and Silas to Antioch to comfort the brothers and sisters of Gentiles. The third story is about Paul and Barnabas getting into a disagreement whether or not they should take Mark to Pamphylia.

When reading Numbers 14, we come across what at first appears to be an inconsistency in the text. Why is it that verse 24 (ESV) says, ”But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it,” but in verse 30 (ESV) it says, ”Not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” Why would the Lord say two different things? Why did He only name Caleb the first time He spoke, but mentioned both Caleb and Joshua the second time? Does this have any spiritual significance?

In Acts 7, we find the story of Stephen being stoned to death. As we consider Stephen’s tragic death, we see two types of people: people of faith and people of fear. Stephen, a person of faith, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The angry crowd, people of fear, could not see the heavens opened. Instead, they covered their ears and stoned Stephen to death. We must ask ourselves: Are we people of faith who can see into the throne room of God, or are we covering our ears and seeing nothing but the material world around us?

Acts 6 is very brief. In the past, my understanding was that these Greek-speaking widows were neglected, and the apostles were too busy to take care of them. The apostles said that the more important thing is to pay attention to the word of God (verse 2). There was no time to deal with these widows, but since they were protesting and making trouble, there was still a need for someone to deal with their need. Finally, Stephen and others were found. These people were not apostles, just ordinary disciples of Jesus who were spiritually mature due to it being the beginning of the apostolic era. Stephen was not only good at cooking, but also full of the Holy Spirit, faith, wisdom and the words of the Lord. Miracles also followed him and the other men who were serving. In short, the apostles did not have time to deal with these matters so they were handed over to others.

Acts 5 begins with the story of Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Holy Spirit about the proceeds of the land sale. The Holy Spirit punished them severely for keeping some of the proceeds for themselves, while claiming they had given it all. Ananias and Sapphira’s sin doesn’t seem very serious, so why was the punishment so severe? Many modern-day Christians do not even tithe, let alone give the entire proceeds of a sale or business deal. So why doesn’t the Holy Spirit punish modern-day believers?

Acts 4 tells the story of Peter healing a lame man. For 40 years, the man had been begging for food at the temple gates with no hope of healing in sight. However, the lame man‘s faith and perseverance finally cured him. When Peter met him, he was healed instantly.

Acts 2 introduces us to some hotly debated topics: tongues, dreams, visions, and the infilling of the Spirit. Even though these topics are controversial among Christians, most Christians do not deny the historical events in this chapter. What Christians cannot agree upon is whether such experiences still occur today.