Gospel Meditation on Acts #1

An Introduction

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Part 2 of a two volume work is the Book of Acts.
7. Lucas, or Luke, (name meaning ‘Light Giving’), a Gentile perhaps from Antioch of Syria; as a physician, likely having graduated from one of the universities of that day, maybe of Alexandria, Rome, or Tarsus, his home town.
8. He may have been a proselyte of Judaism or a “God-fearer’. Less is known of him than any other Gospel writer.
9. Acts is the longest book in the New Testament, 1007 verses. It has the best Greek in the N.T. Luke was a careful researcher, a reliable historian, having talked with a number of the Twelve including Mary the mother of Jesus. Luke is correct in his times, places, and persons.
10. The “we” passages of Acts, like in 16:10, indicate he was a companion of Paul on at least two missionary trips.
11. Luke was faithful to Paul—“Luke alone is with me” Paul tells Timothy, 2 Timothy 4:11.
12. Luke abruptly ends his narrative of the early church probably about A.D. 62 or 63 while Paul was under house arrest in Rome. The book covers part of the history of the church from A.D. 30 to 63.
13. “Acts”—the question is, Whose acts? The Apostles, the Holy Spirit, the early church, or the working of the early church to fulfill Acts 1:8?
14. Acts 1:8 may be the key verse in all of the Book of Acts.
15. There was no title or name of author on the book; these became attached to Acts after the middle of the 2^nd How much we owe Brother Luke!