Elements Of Acts Of The Apostles

The disciples are witnesses to the decent and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then by their witness the are to proclaim the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samar and to the all the ends of

In continuation, Christianity began in Jerusalem with the birth of Jesus Christ. During Jesus' lifetime, he accumulated many followers; over 500 or so disciples. When Jesus was crucified, his disciples traveled the Mediterranean to evangelize the masses about Jesus. Among these disciples, Peter and Paul shined the most. The reason they became very important to Christianity is because they were very intelligent. However, their lives came to an end when Nero executed them. On their

St Paul's greatest achievements and contributions are the three long missionary journeys throughout the Roman empire, Building churches, preaching the gospel and encouraging and supporting early Christians. His first missionary journey was his shortest in time and distance. He was accompanied by Barnabas. This journey ended when Paul went back to Jerusalem for the Council. During that time he was already working with Gentiles and was convinced that all, Jews and Gentiles, should hear about Jesus. He strongly argued for this position at the Council of Jerusalem. On his second missionary journey, he travelled with Silas. They spent a lot of time in Athens and Corinth, the two major centres of Greek culture and learning. Paul would preach to

Acts of the Apostles chronicles the rapid advancement of the Gospel by way of the gift of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles: The Charismatic Community in Mission” takes into account the narratives succeeding Pentecost including Spirit Baptisms from Samaria to Ephesus (Acts

The book of Acts is known as 'the birth of the church'. Acts recounts the story of


To be a missionary in early Christian times was a very dangerous and risky thing to do. Before Constantine ordered the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christians were persecuted for their beliefs. So to go out and openly preach their faith and even try and turn people away from the worship of their original gods was something that could ultimately end up with you being executed - which is something many early missionaries were (martyred). However, many faithful servants of Jesus (such as the apostles) did it anyway, because they believed that spreading the Word of God was more important than anything else.

The unique experience of the Jerusalem church at Pentecost in Acts 2 occurred in similarly public and significant ways for

Paul was the most effective missionary of the early church. A missionary is a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country. The Damascus road experience was both a conversion and a call to advance the life of the new movement. Paul preached the gospel of Christ, beginning at Jerusalem and continuing his journey to Rome. He preached is local synagogues, city markets, outdoor arenas, private homes and public halls.

Answering God’s call to proclaim Christ, Paul and Barnabas left the church at Antioch in Syria. At first, their method of evangelism was to preach in the town synagogues. But when many of the Jews rejected Christ, the missionaries recognized God’s call of witnessing to the Gentiles.

In reading Howard I. Marshall, “Acts”, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. He implied, the most significant for studying and interpreting the book of Acts is how a reader gets out of what he is reading and how he approaches it (Marshall, 17). He states that, “an average reader studies the books of Acts as a history book of the early church” (Marshall, 17). Readers should use critical thinking to seek a deeper revelation. For example: recognizing the authorship to the Gospel of Luke. And seek for what the author’s purpose of writing Luke-Acts (Marshall, 19). Accurate information gives better understanding. In fact, if a reader did not know the culture or customs of the first-century Christian writers of the early church. They would not know the first-century Christian writers were only known to write Letters and Gospels, and not large history literature, as the author did in the book of Acts (Marshall, 18). Who was the author addressing with his literature (Marshall, 18)? With these considerations, it is most significant to have accurate information to be able to study and interpret the true of the book of Acts.

The Holy Spirit had an immeasurable impact on believers and nonbelievers in the book of Acts. He brought about significant conversions of nonbelievers throughout the text, including the conversions of Saul of Tarsus and the 3000 that heard Peter preach. The Holy Spirit used conviction, repentance, and baptism for conversion in the lives of many non-believers. In the case of Saul the prosecutor, Acts 9:1-30, the Holy Spirit spoke to him while in the midst of his Christian prosecution with instructions to follow His command. Saul was eventually converted, preaching the Gospel with boldness through the Holy Spirit (Woods, 1). Likewise, the 3000 who gave ear to Peter’s speech in Acts 2:22-41 were convicted, led to repentance, and baptized. Immediately following their conviction, their hearts sought repentance and right standing with God. Afterwards, they were fully adopted in to the faith and devoted to the ministry according to verses 42-44 (Woods, 1).

Distinguished pastor and scholar John Piper wrote that there are two types of missionaries in the world today —Timothy-like and Paul-like missionaries. Timothy left his home in Lystra and joined the apostle Paul during his second missionary journey. He crossed different Mediterranean cultures and eventually became the overseer of the church in Ephesus. He served as a resident missionary in that renowned city away from home. On the other hand, the apostle Paul was an itinerant evangelist or a “frontier missionary,” who went about preaching the gospel and establishing churches in different places. His aim, as he categorically stated, was to “preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” (Rom. 15:20).

Paul writes in Acts 22:6 that he experienced a vision, ‘I fell to the ground and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me... I am Jesus of Nazareth.”’ Paul was blinded but continued on to Damascus where he became certain that his vision of Jesus symbolised his calling to spread the Gospel. When he arrived his sight was restored by a disciple named Ananias and Paul was baptised as he became a Christian, a follower of Jesus. This conversion to Christianity enabled Paul to believe that he had been given a mission to go preach the word of God. Paul embarked on journeys to towns where he would seek employment and gradually get to know people. Paul wanted to influence these people by speaking of his experiences he had with God and what they had taught him about Christianity and the teachings of Jesus. In these towns, Paul also established local churches and invited elders to run them whilst he was out of town spreading the word of God, ‘Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust’ (Acts 14:23).

Paul knew that God had set him apart to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles (non-Jews). The gospel was his life, and he poured himself out to see the name of Jesus go to the ends of the earth. He stopped at nothing to see the advancement of the gospel. Paul says, “I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews” (Acts 20:19,

The book of Acts describes how Paul was ministering in Antioch with Barnabas, when he was directed by the Holy Spirit to be released from his Church duties. The Holy Spirit had another assignment for Paul, and that was to go and take the Gospel more widely. Some believe that this notion came from the Holy Spirit through fasting and prayer. Paul began his first missionary in the town of Antioch. Throughout Paul’s first missionary journey he was accompanied by Barnabas and Barnabas cousin John Mark.