Highlights of Acts 1-11

March 5th 2023

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: Highlights of Acts 1-11

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Various

Sermon Blurb: In this message, we will review the highlights of Acts 1-11. What are the key things to take away from each chapter before we pick up in chapter 12.

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!!!!!

Family Moment

Welcome back to week #2, which is really sermon #22, in the book of Acts.

Last week we laid the groundwork for the book of Acts.

We talked about who wrote the book.

How the book started.

What was the point of the book.

And so on.

If you missed that message, let me encourage you to go back and listen to it.

PAUSE

This week we will do something that I think will be fun!

Because again we want everyone on the same page and no one to feel like an outsider or that they are behind…..

Today……

We are going to catch everyone up fully!

How you might wonder….how….

We are going to give you all the highlights from the chapters we have already covered in the books of Acts…

To make sure we are all on the same page as NEXT week as we will DIVE into chapter 12!!!!

Sound good church?

Come on work with me today!!!

Sound good church????

PAUSE

Grab your Bibles and open them up to Acts chapter 1.

As you are getting there let me make a suggestion.

As we do a broad overview of these chapters today…..

Let me suggest that you read them completely later today.

That way next Sunday it will be far more meaningful for you.

So……

As you can see in your Bible Acts 1 begins with Jesus being taken back up to heaven.

If you cannot see that it is because you didn’t bring your Bible to church and you should ALWAYS bring your Bible to church!

And if you do not have a Bible, cool!

After service as in our lobby, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACEand get one for FREE!!!

Last week we covered Jesus’ return to heaven and His charge to all people to GO make more disciples of Jesus.

If you drop down to verse 12 in your Bible you will see the rest of the chapter is about a guy named Matthias being chosen as a replacement to Judas.

Judas was the guy who betrayed Jesus and lead to His death.

But let me point out something again we see right here at the START of the early church…..

Act 1: 13-14 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Stop reading there…..

Very clearly you see right here….

Jesus’ movement was NOT a man-only thing….

We see women with Jesus all the time during his life and ministry.

Right here there are women actively involved in the early church.

PAUSE

Who remembers….did Jesus appear to a man or a woman first after his resurrection?

Yes….a woman!

There are a LOT of people who try to push women to the side in church ministry…..understand Jesus did NOT do that.

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…. Verse 15

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Stop there….

I want you all to star this in your Bible and write “original church size” by it.

This is the church right after Jesus’ ascension.

There are 120 dedicated people who are there still.

The first church had 120 people.

This might surprise some of you but if you rewind in our church’s history back in 2017….our church was about the same!!!

Cray right!

know you newer folks cannot imagine us being that small just a few years ago but we were!

PAUSE

Now you see in your notes this…..write it down.

Jesus’ first church started with 120 people.

Now……let me challenge you to do something I said when we started this journey.

As we walk through the book of Acts I want to challenge the mindset of some of us.

I know there are some who LOVE small churches and want the church to always be small.

And hey….here is the first church and it is small.

But STAR every place in the book of Acts that God talks about church growth and I think many of you will be shocked!

PAUSE

Now shift over to Acts chapter 3.

In Acts chapter 3 we see the event in church called “Pentecost.”

That event was when the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God came to live inside God’s people.

And as God’s Spirit came to live inside of God’s people……

Amazing things started to happen!

Let me show you two of them in this chapter…..

Acts 2: 1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Ok, stop reading there for now….

So…. There was a phenomenon at Pentecost.

Sound of wind…

Tongues of fire….

Why or what does that mean?

The Spirit filled the disciples in a miraculous way and throughout the Book of Acts, we will see different reactions when people receive the Holy Spirit so we should not conclude that any ONE particular pattern is the only way God sends us His spirit.

If you want to see that just keep reading in the book of acts!

We will get to it in time!

PAUSE

So why did Jesus send us His Spirit to live in us and at through us????

To teach us…..these deep things in the Bible….

To help us….and sometimes helping us is helping us AVOID what is NOT best for our life….

To guide us to TRUTH…

Truth as defined by God

NOT truth as defined by your will or mine.

NOT truth as defined by culture.

NOT truth as defined by politicians.

And sometimes…..truth is hard…but that does not mean it is not truth.

Acts 2: 5-13 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound,

What sound?

The crazy wind of the Holy Spirit…that sound…

And this tongues thing….now what is that????

Well, you are about to see….

a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?

9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

Ah…..so tongues is some kind of amazing power where God allows someone to speak in a langue they do NOT know!

Yes!!!!

That is exactly what it is right there!

This is not some crazy babbling in a language no one knows, don’t miss that……

This was 120 people having the Holy Spirit descend on them and they start speaking….

Shouting…..

Praising God…..

And everyone hears them and comes to see what is going on….

And everyone is SHOCKED!!!!

Because these people who hear them are from ALL over the world….

And these regular people are speaking in the native language of ALL these people….declaring the wonders and goodness of God!!!!

AMAZING!!!!

Crazy…….

Bewildering…..

I am sure some of you are thinking right now…..that is impossible.

And you are 100% right it is…..unless God shows up!

PAUSE

And then Peter gets up and preaches a sermon in verse 14-40….you can read that later today….

It is a great sermon…

It is also a funny sermon if you read the start where Peter talks about not being drunk!

But let me show you one part….

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

How many church…..

How big was the church before this sermon?

120 to 3,120….

This means in this ONE SERMON, 3,000 people gave their lives to Jesus!

WOW!!!!

I cannot imagine being that good of a preacher!

I am excited when a few people give their life to Jesus when I preach!

But 3,000!!!!! In ONE DAY!!!!

Wow…..

PAUSE

Then we get into chapter 3 and Peter does a miracle!

Peter heals a guy who had been handicap his entire life!

Peter then deflects all the credit for it back to Jesus!

Then Peter calls out all the religious people for focusing on the wrong things in life.

So then all the religious people get MAD at Peter and chapter 4 is all about that!

Let me show you…

Acts 4: 1-4 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.

Stop there….

They got thrown in jail for talking about Jesus!

BUT it says in verse 4…….

4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

WOW!

Because they followed God and were doing what God called them to do….even though something bad happened to them…..the church just grew by 2,000+ people!

This first church has gone from a humble 120 to 3,000 to now 5,000 in a VERY SHORT period of time!

And bear in mind this is talking family units, not individuals so we are talking about WAY more people than just 5,000 people!

PAUSE

Let me ask you a question…

When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone that does not know Jesus?

Really….

Think about that….

Because the reason the early church grew was because EVERYONE in the early church was sharing with all their friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers about Jesus!

How are you personally doing at that????

PAUSE

And I know some of you when we ask that think…

I cannot share Jesus with people I am nobody…..

I don’t know my Bible well.

I am not the smartest person in the world….

If you think guess what…..

That is what they thought about the early church as well!!! But God worked through those kind of people!!!!

Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

And pause here….

The most common reason why people do not share their faith is…..

I just don’t know the Bible very well.

I just don’t know what to say.

I just don’t know how to answer questions.

It all stems from this idea…that we all need to be trained pastors to lead someone to Jesus ….which is NOT TRUE!

Look at what you just saw with Peter….God gave him the words to speak RIGHT when he needed them!

Verse 13 says they were unschooled, ordinary men!

AKA they were just dumb fishermen!

They didn’t even graduate from high school most likely!

They didn’t go to college or rabbi school!

They weren’t leaders in the synagogue!

PAUSE

They could not explain how these men could say the things they did in such an articulate way…..

Other than to say it had to have come from being with WHO???

Jesus!!!…

These SUPER educated religious people were questioning them, and they could not figure out how it was possible they could respond as they did….

And so they were amazed….

Because GOD was working through them!!!!

PAUSE

Here is the point….write this down.

God can work through me if I let Him!

PAUSE

Chapter 5 starts out with this crazy story about two people who lie to the leaders of the church and die instantly.

That comes on the heals of the end of chapter 4 and this radical generosity in the early church.

And so we can see this struggle….

This struggle with wanting to FULLY trust God and this worldly desire to hold some back for ourselves incase we need a plan B.

Which if you are honest……

I know there are a LOT of us that struggle with that!

PAUSE

After that story more early church leaders get thrown in jail for sharing Jesus’ story.

God springs them from jail, for real…read it later!

The religious leaders get mad that they got out of jail and go looking for them…..

And they find them sharing Jesus back at the SAME place they got arrested sharing Jesus again!!!!!!

So they BEAT them!!!

And they REJOICE for being worthy of being beaten for Jesus’ name!

WOW!!!

PAUSE

Then chapter 6 it starts with this….

Acts 6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,

By the way this is the 6th time so far in the book of Acts that we read that the church was growing….

Clearly, God wanted us to understand a growing church is a GOOD thing!

Growth is good!

But just because it is good, it does not mean it is not without problems.

And what we are about to read shows us the early church also had some issues with their growth, just like we do…..

Check this out… In those days when the number of disciples was increasing and it continues….

the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

Pause there….

So, the early church leadership got together….

The early church leaders made a decision together on how to handle this situation….

After they figured out the best next steps….

They called a church meeting…..

At that church meeting the leaders clearly said here is the call God gave us’…. look in your Bibles…..

It says, “What God has for them is to be about the ministry of the word of God.”

They are called to be preaching.

They are called to be teaching.

They are called to be leading people closer to God.

That is their calling by God.

They also said clearly….

That would NOT be right….for them to neglect their focus on

Preaching

Teaching

Leading people closer to God

They said it would NOTbe right for them to replace their calling from God with a NEW focus of taking care of the widows……

That is exactly what the Bible says…

Like it or not, that is what the leaders of the first Christ following church in the history of the world said…..

So……

So…..there is no way they are just going to say SORRY that is NOT our call and so forget the widows…..

And you’re right…..

So let’s see the rest of the solution….Verse 3

3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

So the church had problems..

People falling through the cracks….

So, they added more leaders and restructured the church.

And it leads to the church growing again as you can see in verse 7.

We have done this same thing SO MANY times as we grow…

We just follow the lead of the Bible!

PAUSE

This chapter ends with a guy named Stephen being arrested.

The next chapter, chapter 7, is all about his trial and defense.

And that chapter ends with Stephen becoming the first Christian martyr.

But I want to show you how it ends….

Verse 59

Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed,

In the midst of being killed……Stephen prayed…

In the midst of being pelted with stones…..Stephen prayed….

And I am going to read this prayer slowly….because it is sooooo humbling to me as a Pastor and I hope it is to you as well….

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

He says, God…..I am yours….

God, here I come!

God, I know this is the end!

God, receive my spirit….

60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

He ends….by forgiving…..

Stop and think about that…..

Stephen’s life ends by being murdered by a large group of people.

And Stephen’s last words are: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

PAUSE

Here is the point…..….write this down.

Forgiven people forgive.

Forgiven people forgive.

Forgiven people forgive.

I know some of you have been deeply hurt by others…. But if Jesus forgives you for all your sins and Jesus expects us to extend that kind of Grace and forgiveness to others….

Just like Stephen did…..

PAUSE

Chapter 8 is about the church being persecuted more and scatter all over the place…

But everywhere they are scattered they share the Good new of Jesus!

Chapter 9 is about the conversion of Saul.

The conversion of the GREATEST persecutor of the early church.

He encounters Jesus in a vision and his life is changed in an instant!

And the same thing can happen to anyone here today!

If you will give you life to Jesus…..

It does NOT matter how much messed up stuff you have done Jesus will forgive you and change you!

Saul was the guy who led to Stephen becoming the first martyr!

Saul was a guy who destroyed churches!

Saul destroyed people’s lives!

Saul did a LOT of BAD stuff!

But Jesus transformed him and Saul went on to become on the greatest builders of Jesus’ church in the history of the world!

There is NO one too far gone for Jesus!!!!

PAUSE

Chapter 10 & 11 are about God working through people that the early church would never expect!

God correcting the early church leaders to not get STUCK in OLD church traditions!

Something some of us still struggle with if we are honest!

Change is hard!

It is hard in your lives.

It is hard in your places of work.

It is hard in church as well.

BUT we have to be careful not to place our traditions AHEAD of the movement of God.

And that is the struggle Peter and the early church battle through in chapters 10 & 11.

PAUSE

And one other cool thing here in chapter 11….verse 26….

Acts 11:26 The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Did you know up to this point there was no “Christian” or “Christianity!”

Up to this point it was all people following what was known as the way.

Which should make EVERYONE here think of this….(star wars the way picture)

WOW!

How better to end a recap of the book of Acts but with Baby Yoda and the Mandalorian!

And let me just say come back next week!

As we get into chapter 12…..

Maybe I will find a way to work in some other epic movie or TV show!

Let me give you your life application today…..

Life Application: God can work through anyone. Pray this week and ask God to work through you.

Let’s Pray…..