Read Acts 13
Key Verse: Acts 13:32,33a “And we declare to you glad tidings — the promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus.” Paul made three missionary journeys. In this chapter we see him travelling from Antioch to Derbe and back, by way […]
Read Acts 12
Key Verse: Acts 12:15 “You’re out of your mind’, they told her.” (NIV) Imagine that your local church suddenly came under intense persecution. The laws of the land had changed. Whereas once it had been legal to worship God, now suddenly, anyone caught worshipping God was thrown into prison. The obvious target for the authorities […]
Read Acts 10 & 11
Key Verse: Acts 10:34b, 35 “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” The first major social controversy in the early church concerned the equal distribution of assistance to both Greek and Hebrew-speaking widows (ch.6). The first major leadership controversy […]
December 23, 2020
Alms, Prayer & Fasting 6: 1-18 Showing Off v. 1 In the Jewish culture of the time there were three religious core values: alms giving, prayer, fasting. All three could be done in secret but they also could be done publicly with great show of piety. One could give to the beggar, and beseech heaven […]
Read Acts 8 & 9
Key Verse: Acts 9:27 “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles…” I remember, as a schoolboy in Saskatchewan, learning to sing, “Home on the Range”: “Home, home on the range. Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day.” […]
December 21, 2020
Everywhere people are gearing up for a truncated, if not solitary, Christmas Day. The Covid news keeps deteriorating. As of the past few days we’re suddenly aware of a Covid “variant” that has emerged in the UK. Yikes! Scores of countries are closing borders to any British attempts at entry. All this while Brexit […]
Read Acts 6 & 7
Key Verse: Acts 6:2b, 4 “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables…but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word!” It never seems to fail. Get a bunch of people organized into some sort of group and, before you know it, […]
Read Acts 5
Key Verse: Acts 5:20 “Go, stand in the temple courts’, he said, ‘and tell the people the full message of this life!’” (NIV) If you haven’t said it yourself, you’re probably heard it said, “I’d just love to see one miracle! One would be enough. Then I’d be convinced; then I’d be sure…” Well, suppose […]
Read Acts 3 & 4
Key Verse: Acts 4:20 “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (NIV) The trouble started the afternoon Peter and John went up to the temple to pray. Until now they had enjoyed “the favour of all the people” (2:47). But then a crippled beggar called out to them for money. […]