Acts 1: Jesus Commissions and Sends His Disciples and Ascends to Heaven
The book’s introduction recounts how the risen Jesus spent some 40 days with his disciples teaching them “about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3), connecting back to the story of Luke’s gospel (the author of Luke and Acts.) In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus claimed that he was restoring God’s Kingdom over the world.  As such, the book of Acts begins with the risen King Jesus instructing the disciples about life in his Kingdom.

In Acts 1, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will soon come and immerse them with his personal presence, fulfilling one of the key hopes in the Old Testament Prophets. The promise is that in Jesus’s Kingdom, God’s presence, or his Spirit, would take up residence among his people in a new temple, transforming their hearts (Isa. 32:15, Ezek. 36:26-27, Joel 2:28-32). Jesus says that when this happens, the Spirit will empower his disciples “to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8.)

From here, Jesus is taken up from their sight in a cloud to sit at the right hand of God until His return.

~Refuge Takeaways: Available.  Available to receive the Gospel.  Available to receive the Holy Spirit.  Available to wait on God’s promises.  Available to meet with God.  Available to be used by God.

Acts 2-7: Pentecost (the Holy Spirit comes,) in Jerusalem and the Birth of the Church
The Holy Spirit suddenly comes upon the disciples as a great wind, and something like flames appear over each person’s head. Together, the disciples start announcing and telling stories of “God’s mighty deeds” (Acts 2:11), speaking in all these languages that they didn’t know before. And remarkably, all the people gathered nearby understand their words perfectly.

In order for us to see what Luke is emphasizing in this account, it’s crucial to see the Old Testament roots in the key images. First of all, the wind and fire are a direct allusion to the stories about God’s glorious, fiery presence filling the tabernacle and temple (Exod. 40:38; 2 Chron. 7:1-3). These images also remind us of the prophetic promises that God would come live, through his Spirit, in the new temple of the messianic Kingdom (Ezek. 43, Hag. 2). Here in Acts, God’s fiery presence comes to dwell not in a building but in his people. Luke is saying that the new temple spoken of by the prophets is actually Jesus’ new covenant family.

Luke describes in detail the international, multi-tribe makeup of the people who first responded to Peter’s message at Pentecost. The apostles start calling Israelites to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, and thousands do, forming new communities of generosity, worship, and celebration. Churches!

But not everyone’s celebrating. Luke also shows how these new believers quickly faced hostility from the leaders of Jerusalem. We see here that in spite of persecution these believers had all things in common, shared all things including burdens and prayed that the Lord would continue to use them boldly!

Jesus’ followers continue to multiply, requiring a new generation of leaders. One of them is Stephen, who is a bold witness for Jesus in Jerusalem, but he ends up arrested and accused of speaking against and even threatening the temple (Acts 6:12-13). Stephen gives a long speech/sermon, showing how Israel’s leaders have always rejected the messengers God sent them, including Jesus and now his disciples. The Jerusalem leaders become enraged and murder Stephen, launching a wave of persecution against Jesus’ followers and driving most of them from the city. The crisis has a radical impact, however. Luke shows how this tragedy actually becomes the means by which Jesus’ people are now sent out into Judea and Samaria, just as Jesus had planned (remember Acts 1:8).  Persecution is so often where God is at work! See here, God using the persecution and martyrdom of Stephen to eventually start churches where there are none!

Acts 8-12: The Church goes Global!
In the following section (chs. 8-12), Luke has collected a diverse group of stories that show how the mostly “Jewish” community of Christians became a multiethnic, international movement. The first story is about Philip’s mission into Samaria, which is the land of Israel’s hated enemies. Many come to know and follow Jesus (ch. 8, Luke 8). Then we see the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, later and better known as Paul have his eyes opened to Jesus as His Savior.  Paul was the sworn enemy and even a persecutor of Jesus' followers until he personally met Jesus as the risen King. Paul went on to become one of the greatest missionary/church planters of all time!

Next is Peter (chs. 9-11), who has a dream or vision, in which he learns that God does not consider non-Jewish unworthy of knowing Jesus and joining the Church.  Peter is led by the Spirit to the house of a Roman soldier, full of non-Jews, who all respond to the good news about Jesus. This all culminates in the founding of the church at Antioch (ch. 11), the largest, most cosmopolitan city in that part of the Roman empire. Luke tells us that Barnabas, a Jewish leader from the Jerusalem church, went with Paul to help lead this church community. During their time there, it also became the first large multiethnic church in history, as well as being the location at which Jesus’ followers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). From this church, the first international missionaries were sent out, and Jesus’ great commission became a reality!

~Refuge Takeaways: Available. Available Together!  -Am I available to God? What might God want to do with US?  Moving from am I available to are WE available? Moving from am I available to meet with God, to are WE available to meet with God?  Are WE available to be used by God? Are WE available to hear from God?  Available Together: On mission together, Moving in the same direction, Unity, Wanting better for others than you do yourself, how do you speak of people at Refuge?

Acts 13-20: Missions, Church Planting, Sending and Persecution
The church in Antioch became the flagship church, the hub of Gospel ministry of the first international Christian missionaries. Barnabas and Paul were serving in this church and were prompted by the Spirit to go, opening the second main section of the book.  Paul and various coworkers travel around the Roman empire to announce the good news that Jesus is King. The first journey starts in the interior of Asia Minor (located in modern day Turkey) and ends with an important meeting of the apostles back in Jerusalem (ch. 15). The second trip is through Asia Minor and into ancient Greece (chs. 16-18a), and the third trip goes through the same territory once again, concluding with Paul’s journey back to Jerusalem (chs. 18b-20).

In recounting these accounts, Luke has highlighted a number of key themes, beginning with the continued mission to Israel. Upon entering any new city, Paul always visits the Jewish synagogue to share how Jesus is the risen King who is now forming a new multiethnic people of God and starting new communities called churches. Many Jewish people come to recognize Jesus as their Savior and many others, oppose Paul and sometimes even run him out of town as a dangerous rebel who opposes “God,” the Law and Jewish tradition.

Paul learns that there are some Christians in Antioch claiming that unless non-Jewish people become Jewish by practicing circumcision, they can’t be a part of the Church. Paul and Barnabas disagree with this, so they take the debate to a leadership council in Jerusalem. There, Peter, Paul, and James, the brother of Jesus, discuss and discern from the Scriptures and from their experience that God’s plan was always to include the nations within his covenant people. While they do require non-Jewish Christians to stop participating in pagan temple sacrifices, they don’t require them to adopt an ethnically Jewish identity (to be circumcised.)

Luke records multiple disturbances in Philippi, Athens, and Ephesus (chs. 14, 16-17, 19). Paul announced Jesus as the revelation of the one true God who is the King of the world. The implication of this claim is that all other gods and idols are powerless and garbage. This message was consistently viewed as a threat to the Roman way of life, and Paul was accused of being a dangerous revolutionary. The ancient world had simply never seen anything quite like these Christian communities - the Church.  Even more, Luke makes it clear that the Christians aroused more than just suspicion. Multiple stories show Romans accusing Paul and the Christians of rebellion and treason against Caesar.  But every time Paul is arrested and interrogated by Roman officials, they can’t see any threat, and they end up releasing him.

~Refuge Takeaways:  Available. Available Together.  Available is costly.  Available brings persecution. Available together is hard and must be fought for.  Available Together takes everyone.  You can’t be available alone.

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