Untitled

The book of Acts is a history of the early days of the Kingdom of God on earth and of the New Covenant (Testament) between God and man that resulted from The death of Jesus at Calvary.

With the death of Jesus, the Old Covenant (Testament) was completed and with the New relationship now possible between God and man the need for the law and its sacrificial system was done away with so that there would be new ways to minister to Jesus, and relate to Him.

The Kingdom of God was now in the people of God and not with a select group or a special place to worship. These were done away with at Calvary and now you could worship God without the need of an intermediary or special place to worship. There was no need for ritual of any kind or for someone to sacrifice an animal for you. Worship was now wherever two or more people were gathered together for the purposes of The Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God was now mobile and was sent to everyone in the world as it was no longer tied to the Temple. The people of The Kingdom people could go everywhere to preach Jesus and were able to worship Him wherever they were. The shackles of Old Testament worship and evangelism had been broken and a new regime for these (as recorded in Acts) was now to occur!

The book of Acts opens with Jesus telling His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit was sent to authorise (empower) them to serve Him (Acts 1:4-5). The disciples were not to be concerned when this would happen, or when He would return but to wait for the Holy Spirit to anoint them to minister and then all the resources of heaven would be behind them as they did the work of the Kingdom (Acts 1:7-8).

This principle of waiting for God to anoint you to minister is so important it is the first command given in Acts. The command given in the Gospels, the Great Commission, could not be fulfilled until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to anoint and appoint them to this ministry. So these two commands are necessary to serve Jesus: To wait for the anointing to authorise and empower you and wait for His Will, for which the anointing is given, to be revealed.

In the Gospels Jesus told us what was on His heart for us to do and in Acts He tells us we need His Commissioning (anointing of His Spirit as happened in Acts 2) as well as the guidance of The Holy Spirit to perform it. Note how many times the baptism (anointing) and the Will of The Spirit is mentioned in Acts.

The disciples had been given the Holy Spirit previously to mark them as belonging to Jesus and would soon be given The Baptism (anointing) of the Holy Spirit to authorise them for service so that The Holy Spirit could work through them to demonstrate the Kingdom of God like Jesus did.

The apostles were still a man short and had not yet received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to be Led by Him so resorted to reason to replace Judas. They used a method of the Old Testament, the casting of lots (Acts 1:26, Prov 16:33).

Here is the first example in the early church of what happens when you do not consult with God or wait for His timing:

The person they chose, Matthias, is hardly mentioned in Acts as he was not God’s choice

They did not pick someone who was to minister as God desired.

Their choice did not have the qualifications God needed to use him as He wanted too so could not authorise Him for ministry as an apostle.

They assumed they had a right to pick the replacement even though Jesus had picked the original twelve.

God chose Paul who had the knowledge required for God to use to write what He needed to tell people

God anointed him apostle to the Gentiles

God anointed him to write and explain things and interpret God’s Will/solution for problems in the early church

He willingly went to Rome to die because the knew the Gospel would spread throughout the Roman empire if it was preached in the capitol, Rome.

God’s solution is far superior to that of man which is why we need to be led by the Holy Spirit to hear God’s answers and desires for us! It is as we implement our own solutions separate from God that we fail, achieve second best or get in God’s road.

God is a God of wonders! Not only did e stop the persecution that was to come but used one of its leaders to replace the position left vacant by Judas (Acts 9:31).

The Holy spirit was given to them and the gifts they needed would also have been provided. As the primary focus was to preach and teach the Kingdom, the first gift used is tongues, the ability to speak in your own language but be understood by the hearer in their own language.

When they had been sent out previously to the Jewish Nation the gift of tongues had not been needed but now they were to be sent into the world to preach amongst people of a strange tongue they would not be able to understand without the gift of tongues.

The apostles and disciples were now authorised to do the work of Jesus and had a boldness they did not have before. They came out of hiding and the first act Peter did was to take up his God-given ministry of evangelism and preach Jesus. The Holy spirit does not just anoint you to minister He also gives you the boldness to minister!

Another result of The Holy Spirit’s anointing was unity. They continued in worship and praise of God, learning more of God and having fellowship and communion (in 4:23-24) in unity of The Spirit (Acts 2:42-43), they also were willing to share what they had spare with those who needed support of any kind, but they did not steal from the needs of their family to give to others (Acts 2:44-45.)

The Kingdom was also demonstrate in miracles so that many were confronted with the authority of the Kingdom of God over that of Satan’s Kingdom.

They were not afraid to suffer and fearlessly preached Jesus valuing His message more important than their own life (Stephen Acts 7) or the threats of imprisonment or beatings (acts 4:17). The Holy Spirit will always give you the strength you need in these circumstances (Acts 4:8,5:17-18)

They were doing the work of God (Acts 8:12-16) so God protected them (Acts 5:17-20). They went fearlessly back into the Temple they had been thrown out of and were not being afraid of being arrested or beaten.

The Kingdom was being proclaimed and it was being added to daily, As in revivals God quickly dealt with those that opposed the move of the Spirit.

Ananias and Saphiras believed they could hide from the Apostles and God what they did. They did not really appreciate God and His allknowingness, or wholeheartedly follow Jesus, not being willing to pay the cost of following Jesus. God did not tolerate this lukewarmness and removed them before they could pollute the Kingdom and bring it into disrepute (Acts 5:1-11)! Similar happens in revivals where people stand up against the anointed evangelist resisting the revival preacher and the revival and drop dead. The Holiness of God will not stand being polluted by unbelief.

A problem that arose was the time the spiritual leaders spent doing the mundane activities required to meet the needs of the disciples. So God brought this to a crisis and gave instruction in regard to who was to do what in the assembly. God divided them up into two categories: those involved in spiritual ministries and those involved in physical ministries. Later on in the Bible God gives us a list of the five spiritual ministries in a church. As for physical ministries these are not stated.

Those who were the spiritual leaders were not to get involved in the daily administration but were to spend their time with The Holy Spirit to hear his advice and instructions so they could give the spiritual guidance people needed. God’s fast is to separate yourself from the world and what it offers so minsters are to sperate themself from worldly pursuits and concentrate on the spiritual side of Christianity.

Godly people were appointed to run the gathering of disciples and family and meet their daily needs.

An example of the quality of Godliness these people had is shown when Phillip is Martyred for testifying to the religious leaders of his faith in Jesus (Acts 7) rather than denying Jesus and being freed. The early Christians were not afraid to die for their testimony.

The early church trusted completely in God and obeyed Him regardless of the possible consequences to their selves.

As usual Satan puts fear into people so the Christians in Jerusalem were scattered because of the persecution of them by the leaders of the Jews. This God allowed to happen to scatter the knowledge of Jesus throughout Israel or wherever else the disciples went too.

The quality of Character of another of these men is shown. Phillip was an evangelist as well as one who demonstrate the miracles of the Kingdom of God. He was the disciple who took the Gospel to Samaria leaving his home and security behind. The Samaritans believed but had not been authorised to minister. Two apostles were sent to them whom when they realised this, laid hands on them and prayed for them to receive The Holy Spirit’s Baptism (authorisation to minister). With authorisation by The Holy Spirit comes His empowerment.

The things of the Kingdom cannot be bought, They are gifts from God (Acts 8:18-20). Anyone selling them or implying they can impart them does not belong to the Kingdom of God or is very deceived and needs deliverance. Only as God authorises can the gifts be imparted and stewardship of property and possession be transferred.

The church also baptised by immersion (Acts 8.38). It is hard to be buried and rise again if you are only sprinkled but easy if fully immersed in water.

God makes every thing beautiful in His time and now it was time to replace Judas. God is a God of Miracles, and now the person who was to replace Judas was the one stirring up opposition to Jesus. The Apostle Paul!

Note the obedience of Ananias (Acts 9:17) even though there was the possibility of dying He trusted Jesus, and went to Paul. The early church were willing to do the work of the Kingdom no matter what the cost was to them.

Paul’s life was now in danger as He preached Jesus because He was sufficiently skilled to show the teachings of Jesus as superior to The Law (Acts 8:23) but his time to die had not yet come and God delivered him to safety.

We are given specific examples of the kinds of miracles the early church did. Healing People, raising people from the dead (Acts 9) and casting out demons (Acts 16:16) are all examples of the authority of the Kingdom over that of Satan. These are the signs Jesus said would follow those that believe in Mark 16:9-19 and their occurrence in the book of Acts verifies that this passage of Mark is scripture.

We are also shown that the Gospel is for all (Acts 10) so that if you withhold the Gospel from any one because of their lifestyle or race then you are not doing what Jesus asked you to do. In heaven there is no such thing as race or creed (Gal 3:28). There are only true believers who are citizens of the Kingdom of God. Any church promoting their denomination over that of another one (except for their being heresy in the other denomination) is dividing the Kingdom of God and does not belong to it, promoting its own agenda over that of God’s!

A final comment is on Paul surviving a snakebite (Acts 28). Jesus said we would take up serpents and they would not harm us. Here God also shows His word in Mark 16:9-19 is true.

When we look at the book of Acts we see that so much of it is about the apostle Paul and is in a sense a mini panorama of his life. Why, in a history of the Kingdom of God on earth, is there so much about the Life of one man.

To show his qualifications so that it is obvious Paul knew what he was writing about

To Show the attitude of a citizen of the Kingdom of God to the Gospel

To show what an apostle does

To show God was correct in choosing Paul as an apostle and ignoring the choice of the eleven apostles who chose by lot the replacement for Judas.

To show no one is beyond hope of responding to the Gospel even though it may take a personal visit by Jesus to encourage them to respond.

Acts 13: 2-4 The Holy Ghost appoints him to ministry and guides him in it. He is sent by the Holy Ghost to evangelism the Gentiles and to teach them how to live for The Kingdom of God (2 Tim 2:2).

An apostle goes where no Christian evangelist or pastor has been. An apostle is to proclaim the Gospel and teach Jesus where no one has gone Before, He may find believers who have declared Jesus To be their Lord in another place in which case the apostle strengthens their faith and teaches them how to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God. This is what Paul did. He rarely stayed in a place for long and moved around teaching and preaching The Kingdom God (Acts 28:31). He preached boldly and unashamedly and fearlessly trusting God for whatever happened to him.

Paul gave up all to follow Jesus and was not afraid to die for his faith in Jesus. He Willingly went to Rome knowing he was going to die there. He willingly went there as it would give him a chance to tell the Gospel to the empire as well as preach to people who would go to all the empire because Rome was the centre of the empire and people went from Rome to every part of the empire.

Any one who calls themselves an apostle but stays in a church is really a glorified pastor. Unless you are appointed one by God and sent to do the work of an apostle you are not one.

In Acts we have before us a panorama of the Christian life as it should be lived by a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

It is not just the Apostles (leaders who lived it) but the disciples (ordinary people) also lived it and all are expected to live this lifestyle. If this lifestyle is the requirement to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God what then of Churches and its members that do not do these things? Are they part of the Kingdom of God? After all Jesus said that by their fruits you would be known.

He also said the miracles done by the early church were a sign that they were His followers. Any one not doing any of these signs needs a good reason not to be doing them.

What of the Shepherds of the sheep that do not teach the sheep to do these things. They are suppose to be mature Christians and if they do not do these things or teach them then they do not believe what Jesus said and may be false shepherds honouring Jesus in name only and not doing the works He said to do.

Jesus said we would do these things if were His follower. If you are not doing them then you had better have a good reason to give Him for not doing these things when you face Him at the Judgment seat.

You are a citizen of the Kingdom of God and are expected to live like one and to undertake the necessary training or learning to be able to serve Jesus in these things.

You will have no one else to blame but yourself as Jesus said (John 7:17) that anyone who wanted to know what Jesus taught (including what He says you are to do) He would be shown this by The Holy Spirit.