Acts 2 - How are we doing?

Acts 2:42-47
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

I appreciate the fact that we see Acts 2 as a good way of doing things. Baptism is one of the most fundamental practices of the early church and so were several other things that are just as important. Acts 2 contains a snapshot of the first "church." I think we really make an attempt to study the Bible together. What about the other things? What about our willingness to sacrifice for each other? How can we better encourage our members to open up in loving generosity toward each other? How about hospitality? Meeting for three hours a week in an alternate location that isn't anyone's home just isn't enough. I really feel like hospitality has nearly been lost even among our members. That is a real shame. If we are going to hold up Acts 2 as a model of the church, maybe we need to be turning to those verses in our assemblies to prove more things than just baptism. There is a lot more there than just baptism.

Opening Eyes by Closing Them (Acts 9)

The story of the spread of Christianity in Acts 8 is juxtaposed with Saul's persecution of the church in Acts 9. Paul is heading to Damascus to round up Christians to take them back to Jerusalem. Little does he know that he will return to Jerusalem (Acts 9:26) but not to bring these Christians to justice. He will be preaching their message in Jerusalem! Their message will become his message. Their "heresy" (from Saul's perspective) will become his dogma.

Notice the connection of Jesus with His church - "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Saul hadn't inflicted physical harm on Jesus but he had on His church. This was a direct attack on Jesus. Saul is blinded by Jesus in order to open his eyes to the truth and to teach him dependence on God in order to get his eyes opened back up. He will have to listen to the voice of Jesus and obey the one he persecuted in order to regain his sight.

Meanwhile, Ananias also hears a word from Christ. Obviously Ananias is reluctant to go and see the one who had been persecuting Christians. God responds, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name" (Acts 9:15-16). Ananias obeys the Lord as does Saul. Saul is baptized, regains his sight and eats some food for strength (was he fasting?)

Saul spends time in Damascus and Jerusalem preaching Jesus and easing his skeptics' fears. Ironically the Jews begin to look for ways to kill Saul (9:23) and the Christians save his life! Another bit of irony takes place in 9:31 - the church experienced a time of peace and now lived in fear of the Lord (not in fear of Saul).

God certainly has a sense of humor but that is not the point. God is powerful and able to accomplish His purposes even in the most unlikely ways. He can get His purposes done whether we like it or not, whether we resist Him or not. God can use the most unlikely people to accomplish his purposes. That gives us hope that he can use us too because we all have been unlikely in the whole scheme of things. I wonder how many times I have passed by people and discounted them wihtout thinking about all the ways God could use them. How many people do you deal with who are as oppossed to Christ as Saul was? Probably few to none. How able is God to use even His critics to spread His message? Very. I wonder how much need I have to really have my eyes get opened again to see things more like He sees them.

Simon the Amazed & the "ends of the earth" - Acts 8

Acts 8:4-40
With the persecution of the church, the Christians scattered. Philip went down to Samaria...an interesting phrase since Samaria is to the North. Luke uses this phrase because Samaria sits geographically below Jerusalem so you literally go down to Samaria. Then Luke sets Philip and Simon the Sorcerer side by side.

Simon
In Samaria
Drew Crowds
Performed Magic
Brought Amazement
Preached Simon

Philip
In Samaria
Drew Crowds
Performed Miracles
Brought Joy
Preached Jesus

Philip baptized Simon and many others in Samaria and carries on the progression Jesus told them in Acts 1:8 - "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Peter and John hear of what has happened and come down from Jerusalem to Samaria. Something different happens here. The people have been baptized but not received the Spirit. When the Jews in Jerusalem were baptized in Acts 2 they received the Spirit. We teach that we receive the Spirit at baptism today. So why the absence of the Spirit at baptism here? Samaritans were second class citizens and many viewed them as half-breeds. There is some confusion here in the literature and even Fergusson Backgrounds of Early Christianity tells the story two different ways. Nonetheless, in order for it to be clear that God had really accepted these people who had been rejected for generations, he showed his acceptance in a special way - receiving the Spirit by laying on of hands. We see it again in Acts 10 with Cornelius, the first Gentile convert. Again, baptism and receiving the Spirit will be separated to show in a special way that God has indeed accepted these believers.

Acts 8:18 - Simon, the one who astonished so many people for so long was himself astonished when he sees them receive the Spirit at the laying on of hands and he is amazed! The one who spent so many years amazing the people is now himself amazed. He offered to buy this power from them! Peter told him what he had done was wicked and that he needed to repent. Still not getting it but at least a little terrified, Simon asks for their prayers for them, not for his sin but to keep him from harm!

Acts 8:26-40 Philip and the Ethiopian

Here is a story we normally turn to to talk about baptism. That is not exactly Luke's point, although it is one component. This pious Ethiopian had been to Jerusalem to worship. He was in the middle of studying Isaiah and unwittingly was reading a messianic prophesy in Isa 53. Led by an angel of the Lord, Philip finds this man and rides alongside him. He answers his questions about this scripture and teaches him about Jesus and how He fulfilled it. The man was baptized and went on his way home. Finally the Gospel is on its way "to the ends of the earth."

God has a plan and a purpose for his people. It was true then and it is true now. There are people to be reached if we will just listen and look. If we will be available to listen when people have questions. If we are willing to be patient with those who have not grown up in church. If we are willing to go when he says go. If we are willing to ride alongside of people and listen to their concerns and honestly and openly address them. If we are willing to share the hope that we have in Christ. If we are willing to see sin for what it is and see Jesus for who He is. Then we will be open for the harvest God has prepared because God is at work and all He asks is that we respond to His call. We don't have to say "If God..." because He already has. He has done it all. How are we going to respond?

The Best Laid Plans...Often Go Better Than We Intended (Acts 8)

Have you ever thought you were zealously serving God only to find out you were mistaken? I remember in my undergraduate days I used to love to have a really good argument about the Bible. My first roommate at Harding and I didn't exactly see eye to eye on everything (duh) and got in some pretty heated discussions. What further fueled the flame was the fact that we had the same freshman Bible class and so we would discuss what had been taught in class. I must have thought God had a points system for winning arguments or something because I tried really hard to always come out on top. My roommate became a Christian that semester and I was priviledged to baptize him. Sometimes I think he did that in spite of me and my example that semester. I am glad to see that God's plans trump me and my own weakness.

In Acts 8 the stage is set for the disruption of the church. Saul has his plan all worked out. A little persecution and they will scatter. And he was right. The scattered all over the place! It would seem Saul was victorious at disrupting this "Christ conspiracy." He thought he proved himself righteous by his acts. Little did he know God had bigger plans. What is often missed in this section of Acts is just how important this scattering of Christians was. This scattering set the stage for many gospel victories in chapter 8 and a string of fortunate events lay out that all depended upon these Christians being scattered. It sets the stage for the message to be shared around the world and has a dramatic impact on the rest of Acts. God had bigger plans than Saul. He was able to use what Saul did to spread the message about His Son. Isn't it good to know that God is able to take our feeble attempts to please him and make them better than we could have planned?

More on Acts 8 soon.

Acts 7 - Upping the Ante

For the text of Acts 7, click here.

Acts 7 is one of the longest speeches recorded in Acts and it is directed to religious people. Stephen goes to great lengths to recount how God made good on his promise of the land. The men Stephen addressed lived in the land but were far from God. I wonder how often we do that ourselves - be so near to God but yet still so far away. How often do we participate in the blessings God has promised but yet resist His will for our lives. The Pharisees lived in the land of promise but did not live up to their own covenant obligations toward God.

Stephen concludes his speech by appealing to God's greatness and their underestimation of God. He is not confined to one place and time. In all their study they misunderstood him. They not only misunderstood where He dwells but also in the fact that Jesus was the Christ. Stephen points out their track record of prophet hospitality. They scored an F, unless you think persecution is a plus. Acts 7:53 - "you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." Not the words Pharisees enjoy hearing. The result? Anger and rage! Stephen's response sure didn't help his situation - "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." They don't stop to ask, "really?" Instead, infuriated, they drag him out and stone him. In a Christlike fashion Stephen offers up his spirit and forgiveness of his murderers.

Finally, the opposition has been more than jail and lashes. It has resulted in murder. Things have gotten serious. The call of Christ has come true - "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life^[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels" (Mark 8:34-38).

What price are we willing to pay to follow Christ? How faithful are we when the ante is upped? We may not be asked to lay down our lives at one moment in time and pay the ultimate price in an instant. How much harder is it to give all our decisions over to him on a day-to-day basis? Is it more difficult to give over our lives to Him day after day over an entire lifetime than it is to die for him in a matter of moments?

Acts 6 - More Opposition, More Growth

Acts 6 begins with a story of chosing seven men for looking over the widows. Five of these men may be the least talked about men in all the New Testament - Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch. The growth of the church has been a major highlight in the book of Acts to this point and will continue on after chapter 6. Chapter 6 is normally focused on delegating responsibility within church leadership, etc. There is more to this chapter than that. This chapter introduces Stephen who will be key in the next chapter and will show that the persecution and opposition they faced developed into more than floggings and jail. Secondly chapter 6 shows that the Christian community continued to grow despite opposition and persecution.

This is a key component to Acts that many people have missed. One scholar who has not missed the acceptance of the Gospel and the growth of the Christian community in the midst of the opposition is Jacob Jervell. His books are extremely important in any study in Acts. He debunks the popular theory that I have heard many times that goes something like this - "A Jewish rejection of the Gospel opened the door for it to be offered to the Gentiles." What that fails to recognize, as Jervell points out, is that there was a pretty widespread Jewish acceptance of the gospel. Acts 6:7 is one of the key verses showing the growth - "The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith." The Jews were accepting the Gospel with more regularity than they were opposing it. Jervell points out and I think rightly so that it was a Jewish acceptance that led to the fulfillment of prophesy which allowed the Gentiles to be offered the Gospel, not a wholesale Jewish rejection. This totally flips on its head what I have always heard of Acts and makes better use of the text than what we normally hear.

Following this statement of growth comes what we have seen so many times already, oppostion to the Christian community by the Jewish authorities. This is in contrast to the many Jews and even priests who were coming to Christ that Luke has just mentioned. Just as with Jesus, they accuse Stephen of blasphemy, they stir up the people, and they put him on trial. More opposition. More to come...

To Speak or Not to Speak - Bearing Witness in Acts 5

God's power is once again evident in the opening of Acts 5 with the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Remember, Luke didn't use chapter divisions and while this is a different story his theme is the same - God is accomplishing his purposes in a very visible way despite opposition.

• Chapter 1 - Jesus comissioning them and his ascension into heaven.
• Chapter 2 - The wind, the fire, the tongues in opposition to the naysayers and those who had killed Jesus.
• Chapter 3 - Healing a man crippled for over 40 years and opposition by Jewish authorities.
• Chapter 4 - Healing a crippled man and speaking through uneducated men in opposition by the Jewish authorities.
• Chapter 5 - Solidarity of the community opposed by Ananias and Sapphira. God's healing and message opposed by the temple authorities.

For the text of Chapter 5 click here.

Peter's words in 5:9 are important and key to understanding how the story of Ananias and Sapphira fits the broader context of this passage - "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Bottom line is God is to be respected and not to be trifled with. He will accomplish his purpose his way and no one can withstand him.

In the verses that follow 5:12-16 tells us that the apostles were highly regarded among the people and then 5:17 says that the high priest and his associates were filled with jealousy. The apostles are thrown into jail and during the night an angel of the Lord released them. The angel tells them, "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life." This is in direct violation of the orders from the Jewish authorities in 4:18. The NIV has 4:18 say "not to speak" and 5:20 to has "and tell the people." Even though the NIV doesn't reflect this, Luke uses the same word in both verses. It is a clear distinction that God's command is in direct opposition to the religious authorities. When Peter is confronted by the authorities in chapter 4 and 5 he tells them the same thing - that he will obey God over man every time (4:19-20 & 5:29). Peter also uses a word we heard in chapter 2 - that they are witnesses of these events, which also has to do with telling someone about something.

The result? They are flogged and again ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus (5:40). Do you think they learned their lesson? Discipline normally hopes to associate a negative outcome with a particular action. The Jewish leaders wanted them to learn that preaching and teaching in Jesus' name results in pain and would surely discourage them from doing that again. What was their reaction? Acts 5:41 - they went on their way rejoicing! How can you rejoice amidst this kind of treatment and pain? How can you rejoice when your back is torn ragged and the social shame that you experienced is so intense? Some of you have found yourselves in the midst of pain and suffering and still found the strength and resolve to rejoice! In the coming chapters we will see that these Christians were willing to take far more than a beating for Christ. They will even lose their lives for the priviledge of proclaiming the message of the Christ.

What cost are we willing to pay to proclaim the message of Jesus? In a world of political correctness that says exclusivism is not an option we bear the message of the one who says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6)." Jesus says he is ultimate truth in a world that is trying to hard to reject truth. Are we willing to tell others the truth that is found in Jesus even if it costs us something? In a world that threatens us with socially unacceptable labels if we stand for Jesus, maybe we too could use to pray the prayer these believers prayed in Acts 4:29 - "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness."

Crowd #3, Speech #3, Acts #4

For the text of Acts 4, click here.

Following the healing of the crippled man in chapter three the Jewish religious leaders (click here for a picture of Caiaphas' ossuary-bone box) arrest Peter and John. They ask Peter and John all the right questions - "By what power or what name did you do this?" Many who practiced magic in the ancient world would attempt to heal people by manipulating the name of a little "g" god. The common belief was that to know the name of the deity in some way granted you some power or control over them. In the Old Testament the third commandment has hints of this - to not misuse the name of the Lord. God is telling them, as with many of the other commandments, to not be like the other nations or practice what they practice. You cannot manipulate or control God. Jesus did not call on the name of God when he healed. Peter and John healed this man in the name of Jesus in Acts 3:6.

You think Peter has an answer for their question, "by what power or what name did you do this?" Speech #3 commences but this time for a different crowd. The first speech was to Jews from all over the world. His message? Christ. The second speech was to Jews in/around the temple. His message? Christ. Do you sense a pattern forming? This third speech is now to the religious establishment. Again Peter preaches to them Jesus Christ and their responsibility for his death.

These leaders just didn't get it. Instead of being astonished at the truth of Peter's words, they are astonished that these men speak so boldly and with no education. They weren't "cut to the heart." They didn't marvel at the power of God. They marvelled over these men's lack of educational pedigree. Their decision? They tell Peter and John to speak no more in the name of Jesus even though the man they healed is right there with them! Can you be any more self-centered than to demand that people stop healing others to save face!?! Peter and John reply that they will indeed continue to speak and just as in chapter 1 where Peter says they are witnesses of these facts. Peter says, "we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard (4:20)."

You probably know the rest of the story. Peter and John join the other Christians and tell them what had happened. Their response? They prayed. This prayer did several things. The first thing this prayer did was put their focus where it needed to be - on God. Secondly this prayer showed the rulers of this world for who they really are? Powerless and impotent. Their apparent power is little more than cheap circus acts compared to God. This prayer depicts a realization that these earthly powers have been disarmed. The result? Faith that this case will be no different and that the powers that be are still really no powers at all. With this in mind and God as the focus of their lives they will continue to speak and heal in his name. 4:31 - God confirms his presence with them by divinely shaking the building and by filling them with his Spirit.

Solidarity. The chapter concludes with a brief account of the extent of their solidarity. Their solidarity did not extend only as far as common beliefs. That is about the limit most in churches today take it. For them they were united by God's Spirit, how could they not be united in their lives and their possessions? They will prosper together, grow together, suffer together.

What threats do we face today that can help us show our solidarity with each other? What principalities and powers stand before us that can embolden us to band together and fight against the powers of darkness? In that day the church was growing every day! And yet they faced resistance, persecution, and eventually even the threat of death. What is it going to take for us to mobilize against the forces of darkness and oppression that are just as alive and well in the world today? Or even more difficult is when we find ourselves in the shoes of these religious leaders, condemning those who are God's frontline troops in the war against sin all because that is not how we would have done it or it doesn't bring us glory. Let us do as those Christians did and be in constant prayer for boldness. Let us remember that anything that is not part of God's purposes is just as they prayed, "in vain." But let's not stop with a good sounding, scriptural prayer. Let us also move forward with boldness to speak the word of life to a world that is consumed with death. Let us take a day and leave our desks and books behind and go into our neighborhoods to seek and save the lost, boldly and in Jesus name. And before you go, let us never confuse bold with harsh. There is certainly a difference!

Holding On - Acts 3

Click here for the text of Acts 3 (NIV).

Acts 2 ends with people spending time together in the temple courts "praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people" (2:47). Chapter three picks up in the same location with Peter and John walking up to the temple one afternoon. The saw a man disabled from birth begging at the temple gate. While we could spend some time on his ironic question for help from Peter and John being limited to a request for money when they are able to do so much more than that. We could spend some time on how we often do the same thing by asking God only to solve symptoms and not asking him to solve the core problems of our lives.

Unlike Jesus who asked a man in a similar state if he wanted to get well Peter tells him to walk. The man followed them into the temple courts, "walking, jumping, and praising God (Acts 3:8)." Hardly behavior becoming someone in God's courts! You are supposed to sing "Tiptoe, tiptoe in God's House" in places like that. You are supposed to walk slowly and reverently in places like that. Tell that to a man who has just experienced the grace of God. Believe it or not, people began to notice. They were amazed because they recognized who he was and saw that now he was healed (2:10).

Then Luke says something a little strange for a man whose legs have been made well - "While the beggar held on to Peter and John..." When you are healed you are healed, 100% God doesn't just sort of heal you. The only exception to that is in Mark 8:22-26 when Jesus heals a blind man twice. We can talk more about that later but basically Jesus used this man as an object lesson for the disciples, who were sort of seeing who Jesus was but still did not quite see him clearly yet. Why would this now healed ex-beggar hold on to Peter and John? What made him go from leaping and praising God to holding on to Peter and John? Could it be that he held on to them in response to the crowd that was beginning to encircle them? Could it

Cut to the Heart - Acts 2

For the text of Acts 2, click here.

Normally I like to work through a text and get to things as they unfold. But this time I am going to do something different. I want to start with the reaction before talking about what caused such a reaction. In Acts 2 the people were "cut to the heart" by the Gospel. The message of God confronts us. It is personal and demands a response. When our hearts are cut there are two possible responses: 1) our hearts are cut and we allow God inside to change us or 2) our hearts are cut and we callous it over again and again until there is no more feeling left.

Response #1 is clearly what is hoped for. I want to talk for a moment about what causes response #2 - having a calloused, hardened heart.

We are bombarded with emotionally charged stories continuously in the news - 3,000 dying in the twin towers, troops killed in Iraq, earthquake kills 150,000, tsunami kills 100,000, Katrina devastates New Orleans and the gulf. How do we respond? At best most of us send money. What does that teach us? We learn that major news requires no response. I wonder how that impacts our reaction to the message of Jesus? Have we been trained to relegate ourselves from having to respond to emotionally charged information by hardening our hearts to it? Or maybe we have heard the message of Jesus and sang the songs so many times that the meaning no longer has an edge to it that is capable of cutting our hearts. Have we dulled down the message or do we put up our defenses to keep the message from cutting us the way it should? For those of us who have been around the gospel for a long period of time we may have forgotten that this story is meant to cut our hearts. It is meant to make us uncomfortable with our sinful lives.

Maybe it is time our hearts became sensative to Jesus Christ again. There are so many people with deep spiritual needs in our auditorium any given Sunday morning and yet when it is time for a response, nothing. I wish all of us could hear the words of Peter today as if you had never heard them before and find out exactly how we would respond to Jesus. It is not "old hat" or cliched. It is the transforming message of the God who was willing to die in our place. Let's listen in to the words of Peter in Acts 2.

He tells them to "listen" (2:22). With a crowd of thousands, Peter points them to Christ. He doesn't talk sports or fishing or who came for Pentecost. He shows them Jesus and lays out the original Case for Christ. This was no ordinary man - "Listen!", Peter pleads!

God has already gotten their attention with the wind and the fire and the tongues. Does he have your attention when the gospel of Christ is presented? Does it pierce your soul? Does it still cut away the sinful habits and reveal the spiritual reality of our lives? Or do we put up walls and keep our comfort level to a maximum when we hear the Gospel? It is no ordinary story that we have heard so many times that it now has no meaning - this is the story of how God is saving the world!

Peter says Jesus "was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know (2:22)." Did you know that the opponents of Jesus who wrote not long after his death did not try to deny his miracles? They admitted that they really happened (See Blomberg Jesus and the Gospels, 241-242)!

"This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge..." (2:23). What are you supposed to do to the Messiah when he comes? You are supposed to crown him, respect him, love him, and revere him! What had they done with Jesus? Killed him. Peter says, "and you, with the help of wicked men,^[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross." That's bad news! You mean we killed the Messiah? Yes you did. You are responsible for his death. That is the worst news a Jew could imagine hearing - you killed the Messiah we had all been waiting for!

The entire sermon hinges on the next three letters (both in Greek and English) - B - U - T.
I am so glad that the story didn't end with an executed messiah and a bunch of guilty people standing around wondering when they would get punished for it. With these three little letters Peter turns the whole story up on its end and shows them the extent of God's power. "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (2:24)." Any good western movie would tell us that is bad news - you killed the king but he has returned! Showdown at high noon. That is the way the world would write the story but God is writing this story and he has a different ending in mind.

Peter reaches the climax of his sermon in 2:36 - "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." That is the conclusion you have to draw. Look at the scriptures and prophesy. Remember the miracles he performed. Understand that he was raised from the dead - we are witnesses that it is true. He is Lord and Christ (that is, Messiah).

2:37 - "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

They were responsible for piercing Jesus' hands and feet and now Jesus pierces their hearts. These men who were responsible for the death of Jesus less than two months prior had softer hearts than some of the people sitting in pews today. They were ready and willing to respond! Learning that you are responsible for the death of God's Son is BIG news! Yet today people do not feel compelled to do anything about it. Their hearts remain at status-quo. Their comfort zones will not impinged upon. Response is kept to a minimum and rotten, sin-stained hearts remain intact when what they really need is a good cutting.

How have you responded to the gospel of Christ? We often want to jump very quickly to Acts 2:38 and talk about repentance and baptism but that is not the whole story. While that is important and a part of the story, it does not do justice to the facts of who Jesus was that Peter first had to lay out to get people's hearts ready for those bigger steps. How often have we rushed people toward repentance and baptism but never really spent the time softening their hearts first? Let us never be so hard hearted that the message of Christ no longer seems exciting. Let us keep our hearts sensitive to him, even if it hurts - because it will.

Impossibility in Perspective - Acts 1

In Acts 1:8 Luke records Jesus' last words to his disciples:

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

I have often read those words and never thought that seemed like too difficult a task. They are just supposed to go to Jerusalem and wait. What I had never stopped to consider was each place Jesus mentions is potentially threatening to the health and well being of these disciples. The other day I was thinking about the places Jesus mentions:

1. Jerusalem - less than 2 months prior Jesus was killed
2. Judea - faced oppossition there
3. Samaria - not a favorite destination for Jews
4. "ends of the earth" - Gentile country - again not a top destination for Jews

Some point to Luke's structure and how he reverses the structure of his gospel here in Acts 1:8:
Gospel of Luke:

1. "birth in the context of world history and Roman rule"
2. Jesus in Galilee
3. Samria/Judea
4. Jeruslaem

Book of Acts:

1. Jerusalem
2. Judea & Samaria
3. throughout the Gentile world (preaching by Paul all the way to Rome - which is probably the reason we never find out what happened to Paul in Acts. Luke was trying to show the reader that the message did in fact reach the "ends of the earth" just as Jesus said in 1:8 with Paul's arrival at Rome.)
   

See Blomberg Jesus and the Gospels 143

While I do think this is significant in Luke's structure I also think there is more here than a structural marker. Jesus has told them to go back into those strongholds of opposition and tell their opponents that they have just killed the messiah. Now that is a difficult task! We often look at Elijah's showdown with the prophets of Baal and marvel at the odds and the results. This is a far more precarious mission with larger implications and even more opposition. They are told to preach it all over the world with no modern technology or transportation! Impossible! From Jerusalem to Rome is at least a 2 month walk in one direction and that is just one-way not to mention to the "ends of the earth!" "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

When the whole world is turned against God - he can still pull it off. He can still come through to accomplish his purposes. There is no nation that can withstand his power. There is no ruler that can undermine his authority. There is no principality or power in heaven or on earth that can outlast his divine will or exempt themselves from his judgment. When it is God's plan, it will happen.

Isaiah does a nice job of putting the power of God into comparison with the nations Isaiah 40:12-15:

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind [a] of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust."

The nations are just a drop in the bucket. They appear as nothing before God. When it is God against the rest of the world, God wins!There is no place so far away it cannot be reached. God even brought the converts to the disciples! They had not even taken the first 100 steps of Jesus' commission and representatives from all over the world came to their doorstep! We often speak of the providence of God at the coming of Jesus and the start of the church in terms of good roads, a common language, etc but here God provides the travel and even the language!

That is the God we serve and he can still do it today. Who has he sent our direction hoping we would give them a word from God? How many nations have been by our congregations or our homes or our places of work needing the life saving message of Jesus? We just need open eyes to see the spiritual harvest that God is sending our way every day. Some will say, "But isn't that awkward to ask someone if they know Jesus or have a deep spiritual conversation with someone who is lost? How about we ask Peter and see how easy it was to talk to people guilty of the death of Jesus to let them know they killed the Messiah. Too often the focus of our mission becomes us and not Him. When he is the focus of all we do the impossible becomes reality. Let's never be afraid to dream bigger and to rely on him more and ourselves less. Let us focus on what he can do and not on what we can do and open up our lives to be instruments for his purposes. Let us not be afraid of the opposition because nothing can oppose God's purpose and plan.

TNIV - Headings and Subheadings

Is it just me or does the TNIV appear to have sub-headings under some of the titles. I have only noticed this in the Old Testament and only in the minor prophets. Here is a very clear example:

Zephaniah 2:1
(View it here - http://www.tniv.info/pdf/TNIV_NewTestament.pdf on p.642)

Main Heading (bigger font) - "Judah and Jerusalem Judged Along With the Nations"
very next thing in the print - Subheading (slightly smaller font than previous - same font size as text but in italics and not part of the text) - "Judah Summoned to Repent"
= 2 headings in a row
Then you see this...
2:4 - Subtitle - "Philistia
2:8 - Subtitle - "Moab and Ammon"
2:12 - Subtitle - "Cush"
3:1 - Subtitle - "Jerusalem"
3:6 - Subtitle - "Jerusalem Remains Unrepentant"
3:9 - Main section title (bigger font) - "Restoration of Israel's Remnant"

I thought that would sure be nice in the NT and starting looking through some places where chapter disctinctions totally throw off many readers - like 1 Cor 6-7 to see if they used subheadings to keep things more coherent rather than all big titles. They didn't. It seems strange to me to use a totally different formatting tool in so few places. This would be very useful elsewhere in the TNIV.