Acts 1:1-2\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0In my former book,\u00a0Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach\u00a02\u00a0until the day he was taken up to heaven,\u00a0after giving instructions\u00a0through the Holy Spirit to the apostles\u00a0he had chosen.<\/i><\/p>\n
The author of the book of Acts is Luke.\u00a0 He was often a companion of the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 Evidence seems to point that Luke was a doctor.\u00a0 In\u00a0Colossians 4:14<\/b>\u00a0Paul confirms that.\u00a0 That is proof enough.<\/p>\n
The book of Acts was likely written circa AD 63.\u00a0 Supporting this date is what is not included in Acts, such as 1) What happened after Paul\u2019s Roman Imprisonment?\u00a0 2) Why didn\u2019t Luke include the burning of Rome and the subsequent persecution of the Christians (AD 64)?\u00a0 3) The martyrdoms of Peter and Paul?\u00a0 4) Glaringly missing is He did not record the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70).\u00a0 It would be inconsistent that if Luke was writing the book after AD 63, perhaps around AD 70 or later, that he would not have included these historical events of the church.\u00a0 The year that this book was written is important.\u00a0 In fact the year all of the NT was written is important.\u00a0 Jesus was crucified and resurrected about AD 33.\u00a0 Paul (Luke\u2019s mentor) was martyred about AD 64.\u00a0 It seems incomprehensible that Luke would not have recorded Pau\u2019s death and also would not have recorded the death of Peter (circa AD 64 and AD 68) if the book was written after their deaths.\u00a0 The date of authorship seems strong at AD 63. \u00a0The Gospel written by Luke was written shortly before Acts.\u00a0 When historical documents are questioned, the further they are dated from what they are writing about, the more that critics can be skeptical.\u00a0 However, the book of Acts was contemporary to the events making its accuracy much more likely.\u00a0 The book is well acknowledged as historically accurate.\u00a0 The book of Acts is a very reliable document, written by an educated man, and that book was written contemporary to the events he was writing about.\u00a0 Luke\u2019s literary skill was outstanding and is conceded a being so.<\/p>\n
The book of Acts is the second book of Luke recording the life, works and continuing ministry of Jesus.\u00a0 The Gospel according to Luke primarily deals with the life and works of Jesus up to His Ascension to Heaven.\u00a0 The book of Acts displays that through Jesus (now in Heaven), His Spirit remained with His church to save, guide and empower them.\u00a0 Jesus had promised He would not leave them alone (John 14:18, Hebrews 13:5<\/b>).\u00a0 It is a promise that remains for us.\u00a0 The book of Acts could be considered book two of a two part work. It flows naturally.<\/p>\n
Acts presents the history of the church during Luke\u2019s life.\u00a0 It gives us powerful defenses that the early church used to defend the Gospel to both the Jews and the Gentiles.\u00a0 It provides a guide to modern believers as we observe how the early church lived in times of both prosperity and persecution.\u00a0 Clearly revealed is that Jesus\u2019 church is not a work of man, not a very clever scheme of men, but the church lives because Jesus lives.\u00a0 It is empowered and protected by Jesus Himself.\u00a0 The church is loved by the Triune God.\u00a0 Family, as the book of Acts displays, and the fact that the church is alive and abounds today (in spite of contrary claims and what seems to be evidence otherwise), it is proof that we belong to the only God and we are safe in His hands!\u00a0 As the Lord told Peter in\u00a0Matthew 16:18<\/b>, not even the powers of hell will prevail against His church.\u00a0 When we are going through tough times (because we all do at times) the books of Acts is a reminder that God is our champion and He has never lost, and will never lose, in that spite of the spin of those of the world.\u00a0 Family, we are winners because our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are winners who cannot be defeated.\u00a0 Though the enemy will shout across the battle lines to us that we are defeated, it is never so.\u00a0 We belong to the Almighty God and we are His beloved.\u00a0 God has declared our victory through Jesus before the enemy ever lived (He is a created being (Ezekiel 28:15<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0 God, who was, who is and who ever more shall be, is our God.\u00a0 Our win is completed, we are just looking for the time we will reap the rewards of living for Christ.\u00a0 \u00a0We must remember that no matter how dark the day, it is God who leads us out of it into the Light.\u00a0 Through Jesus, are victory is assured, in fact, it already is in place.\u00a0 Praise God who is so good to us!\u00a0 Praise our God who loves and cares for us so!\u00a0 We are winners because our Savior and Lord Jesus has already won.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 1:1-2\u00a0–\u00a0In my former book,\u00a0Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach\u00a02\u00a0until the day he was taken up to heaven,\u00a0after giving instructions\u00a0through the Holy Spirit to the apostles\u00a0he had chosen. The author of the book of Acts is Luke.\u00a0 He was often a companion of the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 Evidence seems…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1863,705,104,100,101,94,17],"class_list":["post-1191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-colossians","tag-ezekiel","tag-hebrews","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1192,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions\/1192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}