
If you’re in a community group, you can grab the final studies for Acts here.
If you’re in a community group, you can grab the final studies for Acts here.
If you’re in a community group, you can find the first four Acts studies here.
If you’re in a community group, you can find the Acts studies here.
Sorry Mums & Dads and Kids that the family studies for this week weren’t ready to take home last night. I’ve uploaded all the studies so far here so that you can access any you may have missed. Enjoy!
Lauren 🙂
Hey Village Church. This week we’re kicking off our fourth and final term for the year in the book of Acts. Click here to download the studies.
The passage we’ll look at next week stretches from 9:32-11:18. It finishes off the first section of Acts, and begins to turn it’s focus towards Paul’s mission to the Gentiles.
It’s God, through his Spirit that decides who are clean.
10:26 – Peter is only a man. Even he doesn’t get it sometimes.
10:47-49 – The HS is given even to the Gentiles.
11:17 – If God does it, how can we oppose it?
11:18 – The expansion of God’s family.
Coming Soon…
The passage we’ll look at next week stretches from 9:1-31. Better call Saul.
Conversion happens when we personally encounter Jesus Christ.
vv.4-5 – 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
vv. 15-16 – 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
v. 31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
vv.1-2:
– Paul was so opposed to the movement of ‘The Way’ that he threatened to slaughter the Christians and in some cases actually did – both men and women
– Harkening back to Stephen’s speech, Saul is someone who now stands as representative of the attitude condemned by Stephen – his behaviour demonstrated that he was stiff-necked, resisting the Holy Spirit, and in no mood to consider the claims of Christ
vv.4-6:
– ‘Why do you persecute me’? – this question would challenge his whole belief system and pattern of life. So many of his later insights can be traced back to the Damascus-road event or the outworking of that event in his experience
– Perplexed by the identity of the one who confronted him and asked ‘who are you, Lord?’ The word Lord appears to be a recognition that he is dealing with a divine representative, though he is not sure who.
– So the ascended Christ identifies himself and repeats the charge of persecution with the declaration I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting
– Saul had been persecuting the Lord’s disciples. The risen Lord viewed the persecution of his disciples as an attack on himself, clearly identifying himself with the church.
– Those who are united to Christ by faith suffer as he did, and he identifies with them in their struggle
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[ut_toggle title=”Acts 9:10-19a – Accepted into the fellowship of the persecuted church.”]
The risen Lord Jesus encounters both Saul and Ananias, but in different ways, bringing them together and changing both of them in the process.
vv. 13-14:
– Believers are given two more titles, ‘holy people’ and, those ‘who call on your name’
vv. 15-16:
– Proclaim better translated as carry my name – Saul himself will now bear witness to what he has seen and heard of the risen Jesus and preach in his name
– Saul himself will have to suffer for the sake of that name. Such a calling implies a Christ-likeness in life and ministry.
– ’the great antagonist of the gospel will become its outstanding protagonist’
– the persecutor will become the persecuted and suffer like Jesus himself.
– Summary of Saul’s calling: He is chosen by the Lord, and sent as a witness to both Jews and Gentiles. His mission will encounter rejection and require suffering, but will bring light. He will preach repentance, and his witness to Jesus will be based on what he has seen and heard.
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[ut_toggle title=”Acts 9:19b-31 – Saul preaches in Damascus and Jerusalem.”]
In Jerusalem, Saul assumes the role of Stephen in debating the Hellenistic Jews, who then plot to kill him. In Damascus & Jerusalem, the same pattern of preaching, plot, and escape is highlighted. This whole section shows how quickly the Lord’s words about Saul are fulfilled. The persecutor soon becomes the persecuted. Luke’s comment in v. 31 shows how the Holy Spirit is specifically the agent of growth in the early church, and the Spirit himself is at work in Paul’s particular ministry.
vv. 21-22:
– Growing more and more powerful suggests empowerment by the Spirit. Indicated by the fact that Saul baffled the Jews by proving (in Scripture, no doubt) that Jesus is the Messiah
– The Holy Spirit’s primary work is bearing witness to Christ. So to bear witness to Christ implies the work of the Spirit in Saul
v. 31 – 31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
– Another major time marker for Luke. Indicating the end of a large section of thought. Either from 8:1-9:31 with persecution in the church being the main theme, or even reaching as far back as 6:8 with the introduction of Stephen, again implying persecution as a major theme
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1 Timothy 1:15-16 – Paul, reflecting on the purpose of his conversion:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”
1. What kind of man was Saul before he encountered Jesus? What does that tell us about God?
2. What in Saul’s conversion was unique to him? What must be characteristic in very Christian’s experience?
3. Looking at Saul’s conversion, what resonates with you the most?
4. What changes became evident in Saul’s life?
5. Saul was accepted into the community of God’s people (cf. 9:17, 19, 26-27), hesitantly at first – but what does that tell us about the nature of the Church?
Read 1 Tim. 1:15-16 –
6. Do you ever fear that you might have sinned yourself out of God’s grace?
7. How does Saul’s story – and his personal reflections in 1 Tim – speak into that fear?
Special attention is drawn to the gift of the Spirit to the Samaritans, this gift verifies God’s true people regardless of their past ethnic or cultural hostility to the Jews
Once again in Luke’s narrative the primary focus is on the word and its effect. ‘The word’ and related terms are used extensively in this chapter to describe the content of the message and explain how it is communicated – Luke unfolds a theology of evangelism here
Philip is identified as one especially gifted in this ministry. His dramatic exorcisms and healings demonstrated Satan’s subjucation and the certainty of the Kingdom of God w/ Christ as Lord
Philip’s work in Samaria created two problems: 1) many samaritans believed the gospel and were baptised but did not immediately receive the promised HS
2) second is the manipulative behaviour of Simon, which had the potential to lead the samaritans back into false religion, but now with a Christian veneer
In connection with these problems Luke outlines the critical role of the apostles Peter and John and shows how links were maintained as the gospel moved further and further away from Jerusalem. Through his portrayal of Simon, Luke is demonstrating that Christians in the post-resurreciton period have authority over Satan.
Quick Overview: The visit of Peter and John is not a problem solving expedition but a response of the news that the Samaria had accepted the word of God (v.14). Even so, they perceived the Spirit had not yet come on them (vv. 15-16). The impartation of prayer (v.15) and the laying on of hands (v.17) are presented as unusual events, related to the uniting of Jews and Samaritans in one community through baptism in Christ (v.16b)
[ut_togglegroup] [ut_toggle title=”8:14″] – fact that the apostles sent representatives to check on these developments shows that evangelism took place without the oversight/supervision of the apostlesEncounter with the Ethiopian eunuch is clearly the centrepiece of this section, representing another remarkable step fwd for the gospel
Tannehill – the Ethiopian is a very strong representative of foreignness within a Jewish context: he comes from the edge of the known world, of the black race, is a castrated male, and probably a Gentile
Prohibition against admitting Eunuchs into the assembly of the Lord (DT 23:1) makes it unlikely that he was a jewish proselyte in the full sense
however, he was God-fearing, having journeyed to Jer. to worship God of Israel. Keen student of Jewish scriptures, particularly was fascinated with prophecies about God’s plans for the future of his people
Johnson – the conversion of the Ethiopian does not yet represent a formal opening to the Gentiles, but rather to those who were marginalised within the people of God. the eunuch is portrayed as someone on the fringes of Judaism, who s drawn into the fellowship of Jewish Christianity through Philips teaching about Jesus
Perhaps the promise of Isa 56:3-5 about eunuchs finding an honoured place among the renewed people of God is in Luke’s mind as he records this story
It is true that philip makes contact with a representative of peoples at ‘the ends of the earth’ (1.8). Ethiopia had a much better claim than Rome to be described in that way. A reasonable case can be made of seeing this narrative as being about the reaching of those from the parts of Africa that were at or beyond the borders of the empire, those that were at the ends of the earth. From a narrative point of view, the story forms part of the gradual progress of the church towards the gentiles
The beginning of three significant conversion accounts, each illustrating the kind of transformation appropriate to different individuals from different religious and cultural backgrounds.
[ut_togglegroup] [ut_toggle title=”8:26″] – Certain parallels drawn between Philip and Elijah – addressed by an angel of the Lord (2 Ki 1:15); moved from place to place by the Spirit (1 Ki 18:12); runs down the road with the chariot of an important person (1 Ki 18:46)Luke continues to highlight how God was sovereign in this situation. Given Jesus’ application of this prophecy to his impeding suffering, it’s not surprising that Philip used it to proclaim the gospel to the Ethiopian.
The Eunuch is seen as the ideal convert: one who is already seeking God, who hears and responds, and who rejoices in the gift of the gospel
Conflict and persecution have hit the early church, threatening to grind it to a halt. But despite the sense of helplessness felt, God shows that he’s in control by using even persecution to continue to grow his church. And he shows us that our helplessness is often the place where the gospel can do its best work in our life.
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The passage we’ll look at next week stretches from 6:1 to 8:1.
Conflict and persecution have hit the early church, threatening to grind it to a halt. But despite the sense of helplessness felt, God shows that he’s in control by using even persecution to continue to grow his church. And he shows us that our helplessness is often the place where the gospel can do its best work in our life. Read More