Some highlights include:
- The ascension to heaven by Jesus. Have you ever considered how Jesus met the disciples within their own worldview. After all, heaven is not really "up," is it? But the disciples would have pictured the universe as layers of heaven as you go up until you finally reach the highest heaven where God is.
- The Day of Pentecost is the birth of the church because it is the coming of the Spirit. Technically speaking, there were no Christians until the Spirit came in Acts 2.
- In Acts 6, we see some of the first leadership growing pains. The disciples aren't able either logistically or linguistically to minister to the Greek-speaking Jews in Jerusalem. A conflict over widows provides an opportunity for leaders to be recognized within the Hellenistic Jewish community of Jerusalem.
My personal take-away:
- I love Gamaliel's wisdom in Acts 5, although we would need to be careful about knowing when to use it. The bottom line for me is that you can't fight God. If something is of God, it's going to prevail over time. Sure, sometimes bad things prevail for a time. Sure, sometimes good things are squashed for a time. But in the end, God gets his people where he wants them to go.
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