Acts 1:1-5\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.3\u00a0After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them\u00a0over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.\u00a04\u00a0On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command:\u00a0\u201cDo not leave Jerusalem, but wait\u00a0for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.\u00a05\u00a0For John baptized with\u00a0water,\u00a0but in a few days you will be baptized with\u00a0the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
In\u00a0Luke 1:1-3<\/b>\u00a0our author gives some background to why he is writing.\u00a0 He states that he has \u201ccarefully investigated everything from the beginning<\/i>\u201d and so He is writing in order to give a cohesive, structured and orderly account of the life and works of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Luke identifies that he is writing to Theophilus.\u00a0 There is much conjecture about who he was, but the Word of God does not specifically say who He was.\u00a0 His name means \u201cfriend of God.\u201d\u00a0 This has led some to believe that Luke was not writing to an actual person but to those who love God and who love His Son.\u00a0 Certainly the message in both Luke and Acts applies to all Christians.\u00a0 The generally accepted view is that these books were written to an actual person in order to, as Luke himself states, give an \u201corderly account<\/i>\u201d of the life of Jesus and what He taught and did during His physical life on earth and what He continues to do even to today through His people.<\/p>\n
In\u00a0Luke 1:3<\/b>\u00a0Luke refers to Theophilus as \u201cmost excellent<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 It is a term or honor or rank as Paul used it at\u00a0Acts 23:26\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Acts 24:2<\/b>.\u00a0 Therefore, whether a Roman or not, Theophilus seems to be a person or rank and influence.\u00a0 Some have theorized that he was a wealthy benefactor who helped support Paul and Luke on their missionary travels.\u00a0 Other theories about who Theophilus was is that He was Theophilus ben Anna who was high priest in Jerusalem during A.D. 37-41, or Mattathias ben Theophilus who was a later high priest who served during A.D 65-66.\u00a0 Still another theory was that he was a Roman lawyer who defended Paul during Paul\u2019s trial in Rome.\u00a0 Yet another theory is that Luke was once a slave under Theophilus and that after Theophilus became a Christian shared his faith with Luke, and then set Luke free.\u00a0 Concerning Theophilus, ultimately we cannot specifically identify him as the bible does not.\u00a0\u00a0 When the bible does not give us clear direction it is best that we not \u201cguess\u201d but to be content with what God has decided we need to know.\u00a0 Certainly, we know that Luke has given us great content to consider regarding the life and ministry of Jesus on earth and on the life and ministry Jesus through His disciples.\u00a0 We know that Luke accomplished his purpose as stated in\u00a0Luke 1:3-4<\/b>\u00a0\u201cWith this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account\u00a0for you, most excellent\u00a0Theophilus,\u00a04\u00a0so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 We can be confident in what the Word of God instructs us.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Acts 1:1-2<\/b>\u00a0summarizes and reinforces what we have learned in the Gospels.\u00a0 We learned that Jesus did good supernatural works and taught eternal truths while He was in the flesh on earth.\u00a0 He continued doing so up to His death, and even beyond, till His ascension into Heaven. He not only taught the Apostle concerning eternal spiritual matters, but He gave them instructions for them to follow.<\/p>\n
Acts 1:3<\/b>\u00a0refers to suffering, or passion, which is His suffering by the torture and crucifixion and death at the hands of the Romans.\u00a0 Luke testifies that Jesus, after His death, rose from the grave and appeared to many giving them a proof that He had risen from the dead.\u00a0 The proof that Jesus gave was no light proof, but the \u201cconvincing\u201d proof of He Himself presented to them that they saw He was alive and in a bodily form.\u00a0 Jesus was bodily with them and made sure that they knew no imposter was with them as they touched His pierced hands, feet and side.\u00a0 Jesus was in the flesh and no mere apparition.<\/p>\n
Acts 1:4<\/b>\u00a0Jesus commanded the Apostles to go to Jerusalem and wait for the gift that Father God had promised to them.\u00a0\u00a0V5<\/b>\u00a0clearly shows that they are to wait for the gift that Jesus was referring to as brought by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Yet, was Jesus telling them to wait in Jerusalem for something He has already given them as told in\u00a0John 20:22<\/b>\u00a0\u201cAnd with that he breathed on them and said,\u00a0\u201cReceive the Holy Spirit.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 So we see that Jesus had already given to them the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 They had received it.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit within is what seals us as belonging to God (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 4:30<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Ephesians 1:13-14<\/b>\u00a0states that we hear the word of Truth, which is the gospel of our salvation, we believe in Jesus and then we are sealed by the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance.\u00a0 The Apostles had heard the Word from the Word Himself.\u00a0 They believed Him, and Jesus in\u00a0John 20:22\u00a0<\/b>gave to them the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He had then sealed them to Himself.\u00a0\u00a0Romans 8:9<\/b>\u00a0confirms that if we do not have the Holy Spirit within then we don\u2019t belong to God.\u00a0 Family, Jesus did not tell the apostles to wait till they again receive the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 They already had the Spirit within.\u00a0 Once we are born again, we never need to be born again again!\u00a0 He is telling them to wait for something they did not yet have.\u00a0 We shall see that it was that the Holy Spirit giving to them gifts of power to enable them to better proclaim and glorify Jesus to the world.\u00a0 Very exciting, and we will later see that exciting day!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
We see again see the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 He does not forget His promises to us.\u00a0 He does not get too busy.\u00a0 He remembers and He fulfills.\u00a0 Likewise, just as He remembers for all of the saints of the past, so He remembers and offers for all of us today the gifts of the Spirit of God.\u00a0 We all have different ministries, and even receive different gifts, but the gifts of God are for us today as they were for the saints in the times of the Apostles.\u00a0 God is faithful.\u00a0 He is good.\u00a0 He loves us.\u00a0 We are truly blessed by Him.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 We are His!\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 1:1-5\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.3\u00a0After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them\u00a0over…<\/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":[82,129,1841,100,106,94,17,10],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-ephesians","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204","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=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1205,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions\/1205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}