He left the church with barnabas and a man named john also called mark, believed to be the author of the gospel of mark, and together they sailed to cyprus, an island in the mediterranean here paul performed his first miracle, perhaps inspired by his own conversion on the road to. I emphasized that the two books seem to show us that the ministry of jesus is continued through his church. From the moment the military tribune handcuffs paul in the court of the gentiles, the apostle conducts his ministry as a prisoner awaiting final trial and verdict. To provide a simple dispensational context to the book of acts and its purpose outline. Peter, apostle to the jews, is the central figure of the first 12 chapters. The book of acts provides a detailed, orderly, eyewitness account of the birth and growth of the early church and the spread of the gospel immediately after the resurrection of jesus christ. A woman named tabitha she is called dorcas later in the chapter was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor 9.
A chronological study of pauls ministry xenos christian fellowship. Acts is significant for chronicling the spread of the gospel, not only geographically but also culturally. Contrary to church tradition, there is nothing in scripture to indicate that the book of the revelation was the last bible book written. Jan 24, 2015 it was preached by pastormissionary evangelist robert breaker, and it shows the various men god used and their different ministries, and how we today are under paul s ministry, and should. We learn from this part how the good news about jesus reached europe. The apostle paul wrote the final book of the scriptures. His birth in a roman free city grants him roman citizenship, a privilege he will exercise later in life. Paul never claimed to be one of the twelve, though he did contend that his official apostleship had come to him as a direct commission from the lord. The title as we know it comes from the second century and only partially discloses the theme of the document. The ministries of peter and paul amazing grace bible. Paul s mission strategies in the book of acts will enable the christian ministers to carry out the mission of god in better way. There are different ways to divide the book of acts. The temple in this book called acts was the third temple. Jul 22, 2016 this bible story shows the catalyst for paul s ministry.
The author quite certainly was luke for the following reason. In acts 24 we learn of an encounter between paul and felix, governor of judea, who was trying pauls case. The ministry of peter the book of acts amazing facts. For example, in the light of earlier material in acts it is inconceivable that paul. We may assume that he left after a few months at most. But stephen reminded the jews that god was bigger than any temple. Watch our overview video on the book of acts, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. Commentary on the book of acts bible study notes and comments by david e. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or. Whatever the textual basis of this reading may be, it. It describes the coming of the holy spirit at pentecost in acts 2, the spread of the gospel outside of jerusalem in acts 8 and to the gentiles in acts 10, how the church made decisions in regards to doctrine acts 15, and more. Gods reconciliation of heaven is unheard of until pauls ministry.
Paul, now an old man, had a wonderful unhindered time as he preached the kingdom of god and taught about the lord jesus christ in the comfort of his own rented home. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit, and teaching them all things which i. Paul s experiences of imprisonment were very important for luke, the author of acts. On his missionary journeys pauls strategy was to go and preach in the central city of a region, train people, and then send them out to outlying areas. How long paul spent in antioch is not revealed, not even whether it was days or years, but a reasonable chronology of the book of acts does not allow a long delay before the beginning of his third missionary journey. Paul, the letters of amazing bible timeline with world history. Apologetics and the apostle paul in the book of acts. Thirteen of the twentyseven books in the new testament have traditionally been attributed to paul. Acts is a fastmoving historical account of the first three decades of the church. The book ends with paul in prison in rome for the first time.
Pauls mission strategies in the light of book of acts. The story of the evangelization of ephesus does not begin in chapter 19, or even in chapter 18 of the book of acts. The bible is an historical document, and part of assessing the value of any historical narrative is the study of. Paul still preaching is under house arrest rome, acts 28. Jan 02, 2011 the book of acts sunday school lesson series january 2, 2011 by kelly henderson take your students on a journey through the book of acts where they will learn lessons from the early church after jesus ascended to heaven and believers received the gift of the holy spirit. With peter, the emphasis is the jewish church in jerusalem and judea.
In my former book, theophilus, i wrote about all that jesus began to do and to teach, writes luke, at the beginning of his second volume acts 1. If scholars favoring the more northerly reconstruction of paul s movements are correct, the distance he traversed between antioch and ephesus was about 335 miles 539 km. The book of acts, which continues the narrative that luke began in his gospel, is especially important because it was the first written history of the christian church. Could you compare and contrast peters ministry and pauls. Pauls apostolic ministry as presented in the book of acts forget. As a second volume to luke s gospel, it joins what jesus began to do and to teach 1. It begins in jerusalem just after jesus resurrection, recounts how the gospel reached what are syria, lebanon, cyprus, turkey, greece, and malta today, and closes with the apostle paul s two year ministry in rome. During his stay at ephesus, paul was able to send people throughout. In this book we see the first mention of the dispensation of the holy spirit and jesus command to take his gospel to all the world. This time, i would like to approach this matter from a slightly different perspective. Acts free bible commentary on the book of acts in easy english. Now, at the very end of the book, the apostle comes to rome. He entered damascus and stayed there for an unknown amount of time acts 9.
Pauls apostolic ministry as presented in the book of acts. This is the real beginning of pauls ministry of the preaching of what he called the gospel of christ. Paul discussed with them righteousness, selfcontrol, and the judgment to come, and then felix terminated the conversation. During pauls travels, he and his companions stayed at a womans home 16. Though i do think paul thought himself equal in authority to the apostles, it seems that most if not all of pauls self claim to being an apostle can clearly be understood as claiming to be a messenger of christ. In terms of central personalities, peter and paul dominate respective halves of the book. Commentary on the book of acts bible study lessons.
Pauls mission and his partners in ministry founders. While there are some areas of great detail of the acts of the apostles, many times you must use cross references to the gospels of matthew, mark, luke and john as well as some other epistles in the new testament to get the full picture of what was. Acts is a continuation of what luke wrote about in his gospel. It is his divine will that young people come to faith in jesus christ and find salvation through the gospel and the work of the holy spirit to bring them to faith. Let s begin by examining what the book of acts tells us about paul s ministry. Yet the book of acts tells of only one visit preceding the letter. The acts of the apostles often referred to simply as acts, or formally the book of acts, is the fifth book of the new testament. Book of acts overview insight for living ministries. It is assumed that paul died a martyrs death in the midtolate ad 60s in rome. Paul, apostle to the gentiles, is the principle of the remainder. Acts ends abruptly with paul imprisoned in rome, waiting to bring his appeal before caesar. Luke then accompanied paul in all his journeys until pauls death as a martyr luke remained unmarried without children in devotion to pauls work and he died at the age of 84 without lukes record in acts, some of the things paul wrote of himself in the epistles would be di.
As it is expected, the book of acts has a similar literary style as the gospel of luke because it is the second volume of lukes account. From paul s decision to go to jerusalem and rome in acts 19. Its based on many chapters in acts but focuses primarily on his conversion in acts 9. Acts commentary commentary critical and explanatory. If silas was still there, he may have decided to become peters assistant, perhaps even his traveling companion. Acts chapter 9 coffmans commentary of the new testament. This last quarter of acts, parallel to the passion narrative of lukes gospel, provides a realistic and necessary balance to lukes report, to this point, of the churchs triumphant. So paul, the dominant figure of the latter part of acts, is presented as one who continues and fulfils. View full size pauls first journey began in antioch with a calling from the holy spirit acts. And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. This bible story shows the catalyst for paul s ministry.
The early religious training paul receives comes from the best rabbinical school in jerusalem. Dear father in heaven, we thank you once again for the opportunity to gather together, and to open up your word, and study this important lesson, dealing with the book of acts, and in particular the ministry. He was born into a jewish family in the city of tarsus. To continue the story begun in the gospel of luke ac 1. This chapter reveals the conversion of saul of tarsus, the mighty persecutor acts 9. It started with the ministry of john the baptist, whose teaching had produced a number of converts, men and women who looked for the messiah, promised by the old testament prophets, who was his forerunner. The apostle paul spent his life proclaiming the risen christ jesus throughout the roman world, often at great personal peril 2 corinthians 11. Pauls apostolic ministry in acts forget the channel.
It will help the reader to employ few of paul s method in their respective ministry. An example can be seen by comparing actss accounts of pauls conversion acts 9. Simply explained a simple purpose to the book of acts purpose. In the bible, from genesis chapter 12 and abramabraham until we come to the ministry of the apostle paul saul of tarsus was saved in acts. Paul had a number of meetings with the local jewish community to explain to them and try to convince them about jesus from the law of moses and from the prophets and the writings. Verse 1 demonstrates clearly that the unnamed author of acts is the same person as the unnamed author of the third gospel luke 1. In comparison, lets look at the differences in peters and pauls ministries. An agenda for a viable apologetic methodology by bruce a.
Pauls ministry on the island of malta is the focus of the first ten. The book of acts provides a bridge for the writings of the nt. The book of acts gives a unique glimpse into the life and practice of the early church. The gospel of luke and the book of acts form a single, twovolume work. His ministry was primarily to the gentiles galatians 2. As a result paul remains in corinth for 18 months, teaching among the gentiles acts 18. These notes, when assembled, form a time chain, often with some missing spots. In fact, i see pauls ministry as distinct and unique from the ministry of the twelve especially after acts. Furthermore, the distinctly jewish nature of the future ministry of the twelve matthew 19. Luke tells us that when paul comes into conflict with the local synagogue in corinth, jesus directs paul not to fear, but to speak the gospel. Its narrative supplies a bridge connecting the life and ministry of jesus to the life of the church and the witness of the earliest believers. Through the book of acts we do encounter the particular hardships experienced by the apostle paul, which he helpfully puts into a list for our consideration and guilt.
A list of sermons in the book of acts leadership resources. Rome is the city of paul s evangelistic enterprise as the book comes to a close. To reconstruct events on the basis of luke s survey of paul s first and second missionary journeys leaves us with a mystery, for in second corinthians, written not long after paul left ephesus, he promises another visit to corinth and counts it as his third 2 cor. It will help the reader to employ few of pauls method in their respective ministry places. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Some have concluded that theophilus was the magistrate who heard pauls case in rome and that acts and luke was a legal brief in pauls defense isbe, theophilus 3. Stephen said some words from the book by the prophet isaiah isaiah 66.
Some of you will recognize that i have written on the book of acts before. Later, paul too is encouraged by a vision in the face of danger. Pauls mission strategies in the book of acts will enable the christian ministers to carry out the mission of god in better way. Thank you so much for joining with us and at this time pastor ross is going to have our opening prayer. It s based on many chapters in acts but focuses primarily on his conversion in acts 9. In verse 24 we learn that felix and his wife drusilla sent for paul and invited him to speak of the christian faith. Paul started a new church in corinth, a city in greece. The book focuses primarily on the acts of two apostles, peter and paul. Feb 28, 2019 the book of acts and pauls own letters provide an account of how this dramatic change happened. This bible story was made as part of the miracle of. Aug 24, 2015 in the book of acts it is said that everyone decided who were to be the ones to serve food to the poor acts 6. Meanwhile, saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the lords disciples. It is worth noting that in this history of the early christian church. The acts of the apostles is a unique and therefore crucial book of the new testament.
At jerusalem, jesus promised paul he would make it to rome acts 23. In other words, a narrator will say, for over two years or in time for the passover. The period from the conversion of paul until the 1st trip to jerusalem. It alone presents an extensive picture of early church life and history.
His subsequent history is not recorded, which would indicate the book was. Jesus relation to women and their roles in the book of acts. Below are the six major issues of distinction between what peter taught and what paul taught. As previously noted, the book of acts gives us a historical look at pauls life and times. The book begins with the ascension of jesus and goes on through pauls jail time in rome, which opens his ministry to the church at rome. Because the book of acts, and the theme of the book of acts is to be able to focus on and give us a very strong and inspiring model on how to fulfill the commission that christ has given to us. Oct, 2014 the hope of israel that paul preached during the book of acts was bodily resurrection, particularly jesus christs resurrection acts 24. Acts can be neatly divided into two sections, the first dealing primarily with the ministry of peter in jerusalem and samaria acts 112 and the second following paul on his missionary journeys throughout the roman empire acts 28. He dedicated nearly nine chapters to events related to this period in paul s life. Acts free bible commentary on the book of acts in easy. For example the book of acts relates that when the apostle paul came to a new town or city he typically spoke first at the local synagogue. Peter and the 11 never wrote about themselves anything like what paul wrote about himself being a wise masterbuilder. Acts concerns the very vital period in christian history between the resurrection of jesus and the death of the apostle paul, the time when christian ideas and beliefs were.
T he book of acts in the bible, written around 6263 a. It begins in jerusalem just after jesus resurrection, recounts how the gospel reached what are syria, lebanon, cyprus, turkey, greece, and malta today, and closes with the apostle pauls two year ministry in rome. Little a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in apologetics liberty baptist college b. The book of acts functions like a roadmap for the progress of the gospel. Actus apostolorum, often referred to simply as acts, or formally the book of acts, is the fifth book of the new testament. Luke wrote the book of acts acts of the apostles to record how believers were empowered by the holy spirit, worked to spread the gospel of christ, and are a model for the future church. We first looked at a general introduction to leadership training in the book of acts, followed by the early signs of leadership development in acts, and then the church spreading through the church planting ministry of the saints scattered due to persecution. Paul determined that he would go to rome as early as his third missionary journey acts 19. Peter and the 11 did not complete the bibles canon. Acts 28 new king james version nkjv pauls ministry on malta. A chronological study of pauls ministry xenos christian. Luke, who wrote the book of acts, begins chapter one by referring to his former book, namely the third gospel luke.
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