Who is acts of the apostles addressed to

Throughout Acts, Luke emphasized the workings of the Holy Ghost on individuals and congregations. Acts 1—2 Jesus Christ ministers to His disciples for 40 days following His Resurrection and then ascends into heaven. The Holy Ghost is poured out on the day of Pentecost. Peter boldly testifies of the resurrected Savior, and about three thousand people are converted.

Acts 3—8 Peter and John heal a man who has been lame from birth. Peter and John are arrested for preaching and healing in the name of Jesus Christ and are delivered from prison. The Apostles call seven men to assist them in their ministry; one of these men, Stephen, testifies before the Jewish council, and the council members put him to death.

Philip preaches throughout Samaria. Acts 9—12 Saul is converted and begins his ministry. Through a vision, Peter learns that the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles. Acts 13—15 Saul and Barnabas are called to be missionaries. There's no question that Paul wrote the most New Testament books. Things change, however, when you look at the word count. If you add up all the words Paul wrote, it comes to about 32, Definitely a respectable amount.

But Luke wrote nearly 38, words in just two books! Paul, on the other hand, is responsible for about 23 percent. In fact, Luke is one of five biblical authors responsible for 45 percent of the Old and New Testaments:.

When writing his Gospel, Luke plays the part of a reporter, compiling the eyewitness accounts of people who saw Jesus. But in the Book of Acts, he's part of the action. Luke talks about himself being part of the second missionary journey in Troas and Macedonia Acts — After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them Acts These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days Acts When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.

We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us Acts —2. Luke wasn't a simple historian writing about the birth of the church. He was a hands-on participant! The Gospels tell the story of Jesus's ministry, death, and resurrection. The Epistles are letters written to various first-century churches and individuals. Acts plays a pivotal role as the linchpin between those two elements.

It's in Acts that we discover how God's plan of salvation would play itself out in the world. We witness the impact of Christ's death and resurrection as the gospel unfurls. And as it spreads, churches are planted, the Epistles stand as records of the work God was doing in individual congregations. If you read at an average pace, the Book of Acts can be read in a little over two hours. It's relatively short and action-packed, so it's easy to miss that it covers more than 30 years of church history.

The Gospel of John records a critical discussion between Jesus and His disciple:. All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.

I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, "Where are you going? But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned John — This advocate that Jesus is talking about is the Holy Spirit.

We see the fulfillment of this promise in the second chapter of Acts as the Spirit is poured out on Jesus's followers in Jerusalem. And it's just as exciting and as dramatic as you might expect:.

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

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them Acts —4. Acts is certainly intended as a history of the early church, and it is the most complete and valuable history we have of the Christians in the first century.

However, it is not necessarily historically reliable, either in terms of its depiction of the first-century development of Christian theology and religion, or in its description of the political history of the church. Whether or not it was intended to be a historically accurate text, Acts can be read as a devotional and instructional history, whose religious purpose remains unaffected by its inaccuracies. It depicts the story of the spread of Christianity, the growing distance between Christianity and Judaism, the move toward earthly concerns rather than apocalyptic expectations, and the triumph of the Christian message despite persecutions.

Peter serves as the leader of the apostles and the small congregation of the faithful in Jerusalem. Their first order of business is to elect Matthias as the twelfth apostle, replacing the traitor Judas Iscariot. The Holy Spirit descends upon them. Peter delivers a sermon explaining the miracle. A remarkable story is told about an exceedingly costly jewel that for many years was considered of no more value than a mere pebble. Mihok, who was a laborer, drew out of his pocket a rough red stone and handed it to Gillman.

When I landed in this country, I found it in my valise. It has been lying around the house ever since. The children played with it. My last baby cut his teeth on it. One night I dreamed it was a diamond and worth a lot of money, but it's not a diamond, it's red. It is believed to be the largest ruby in this country and possibly the largest in the world. How sad it is in many homes the Book that is worth more than gems is neglected and considered of little value.

Some people will never know the worth of a thing unless someone tells them. It was the same for Theophilus - Luke had to tell him the value of the historical authenticity of the Gospel.

Many people need to know the worth of these facts in history because they have eternal worth for every individual. Interaction with unbelievers needs to be intentional. The Gospel of Luke was written with the intention of leading Theophilus, a lost man, to faith in Christ. Luke knew his relationship with Theophilus was an opportunity for helping him to place his faith in Christ. He became intentional by presenting the claims of Christ to him in written form so that Theophilus could have a clear understanding of all he needed to know about Jesus.

We need to take advantage of those opportunities by being intentional. Sitting in a church on a snowy Sunday morning, C. Spurgeon listened to a man who wasn't even a preacher. This man noticed Spurgeon and intentionally took the opportunity to point him to faith in Christ as he preached on the text, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.

Then he looked at me under the gallery and I dare say, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. However, it was a good blow struck. But if you obey now, this moment you will be saved. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun. I could have risen that moment and sung with the most enthusiastic of them about the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Ah, that somebody had told me that before.

Because that lay preacher was intentional in his interaction with Spurgeon as a lost man, he provided the spark that caused Spurgeon to see Jesus for the first time. Let the next person you meet be that person God wants you to win to Christ.