Gamaliel (who may have been the same Gamaliel that taught a young Paul the apostle) has a pretty good acid test for Christianity: see if it lasts after the death of its leader. The argument is effective. His words, telling that those who oppose Peter and the apostles are opposing God, speak true. If we are following the same path, we have the same connection to our God and protector.

Why did Ananias and Sapphira have to... die? That seems like a pretty radical punishment for stiffing the tithe. Only God knows the answer to that question fully, but the Church is at a critical time. The body of Christ on earth is being established, and its foundation needed to be strong. It wasn't that God needed the money, but perhaps it was that the Church didn't need pretend disciples.

Standing up to the powers is always a risk, but Peter and John knew the real power. What they had seen and knew was was carried them on, telling about that experience to those around them. Even though they were "unschooled," they were still standing at an important place in history, bringing together the early days of the Church.

Peter isn’t pulling any punches with his Jewish audience, he definitely wants them to understand the implications of the death of Jesus. But of course, the death of Jesus is more than just an unfair ruling against an innocent man. He lets them off the hook with ignorance, but the decision is now theirs as to what to do next.

With James, we remember a family member of Jesus who is not recorded as having accepted the divinity of Christ until after the ascencion. Even the slow of heart such as him are still part of the Kingdom, and James is remembered fondly by the Church.

The Holy Spirit shows up at Pentecost and enables languages to spread the Gospel across many nations, including many who were able to hear it on the spot. This is a reversal of the Tower of Babel, where God confused the language of men to separate them. Now God brings the nations back together, under the banner of the new Kingdom of Jesus, to restore the world back to himself.

It must have been a wild time to be an Apostle. Judas gone, Jesus ascended, and now the ragtag band of misfits is choosing someone to take Judas's place. There was certainly a larger group of people who had followed Jesus, but many of them had abandoned him. It's good to see that Matthias and Justus stuck around, but perhaps there might have been a few more extras beside.

The transition between Jesus walking the earth and the Spirit coming to the Church is huge. Jesus had come to show us what God looked like, now it was time for the church to put that into action. As Jesus disappears, it's more than him going to be with the Father. It's the enfolding of the church in the life of the Trinity.

The selfishness of Diotrephes stands out in this passage, and what a legacy. Written in the Bible as someone who put themself before others. Sincerity of love is the antidote, and perhaps we will be remembered better.

Remembering authors like Luke and reading what they wrote, it's kind of fun to think of the way things must have been for the young church in the first century. While it must have been exciting to be part of the Church as it was getting started, it was also a time for wild variations on the original story. Authors like Luke, who was an associate of Paul, set about giving fellow believers a reliable account that was free of the flights of fancy that many attached to it.