Acts 1:1
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began
both to do and teach. The former treatise that Luke the writer of the
Acts of the Apostles, is referring to is Luke’s Gospel account. Jesus’s
ministry, His divinity and His humanity, was and is confirmed by what
he said and what he did. No teacher before or after has said the things
that Jesus said in such a profound way. Men of every tribe and tongue
have looked to heaven and reached up seeking divine knowledge
through human effort. Paul confirms this in Acts 17 when he states,
even your own poets say “we are his offspring.” Men seeking truth have
often found the sublime and the beautiful and represented the human
race well in their efforts. In Jesus however we find the very Words of
God. The Gospel of God the Bible has no equivalent in the History of
mankind. No other book answers the questions that plague mankind in
such a succinct manner. Jesus said to the teachers of the Law that you
search the scriptures because in them you think that you have eternal
life but they are which speak of me. In other words the Bible, all of it, is
about Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill the will of the father and to make right
the error of Adam. It was Adam’s error that caused all of mankind to be
in bondage to sin. It is the concept of sin that many find so hard to
accept. It is however an acknowledgement of sin that helps us to
understand the conditions that effect all of creation. It answers the
question about death, disease, poverty, political and business corruption,
wars, famines, pestilence, and natural disasters. It explains to us the
uniqueness of mankind on the planet and our hunger to know our
creator. This hunger is found in every culture, and every nation. The
promise of a redeemer for mankind was made to only one nation
however. Luke a gentile writer will make clear how the things Jesus
began to do and teach effect every nation of men.
The words of the Bible are one confirmation but they are not the only.
Luke speaks of the things that Jesus did. The resurrection is the most
important of His miracles. He said I have power to lay down my life
and I have power to pick it up again. He said destroy this temple and I
will raise it up again in three days. It was not just the magnificence of
Jesus' miracles that make them great. In magnificence’s Mosses
miracles are greater but it was the nature of Jesus’s miracles that move
us to understand His divine message. It was the touching of the leaper,
the healing of the blind accompanied by the removal of accusation of
guilt of sin. “Neither he or his parents sinned, but that the Glory of God
might be revealed through him.” Jesus healed the man of his present
blindness, his past accusation, and sent on his way with a future hope
and an ever present savior.
Acts 1;2-3
Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy
Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen. To whom He also showed himself alive after his passion by
many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Jesus' work continues during his 40 days of appearing on the Earth after
His resurrection. He taught on the Road to Emmaus, He challenged
Thomas to believe like those who would not see and in accordance with
this verse He gave commands to the Apostles he had chosen. Many
have been called but few have been chosen the scriptures tell us. The
twelve are unique in their calling but they are typical to those God calls.
Most he calls are not noble or of high position. That is because most
men are not noble or of high position. Our Jesus is not a respecter of
persons but he desire that all would repent and come to the knowledge
of God, those of high estate and those of low. Jesus' command to all of
us is that we be witnesses to others. His initial witness was among those
who were most like himself. Jesus worked with men who knew what it
was like to labor with their hands. Jesus himself labored with his
hands. We can be most effective in our witness to others whom we
understand. Yes, many are called to far away places but not most.
Jesus himself was not called to a far away place. He was called to the
lost sheep of Israel. Where is our Israel and who are our lost sheep.
Like Jesus our message must be specific. It must be about the Kingdom
of God. This Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking but of
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. What motivates our
righteousness. It should be many infallible proofs. The work of God in
our life must be proof of His resurrection, for we are to be living epistles
read by all men. Like each message preached by the Apostles a history
must be reflected. Look what the Lord has done in us. Joy and peace
should be evident because of the confidence we have in a redeemer who
delivers and forgives again and again and again. We must be confident
in the witness of the Apostles whose eye witness accounts of His
resurrection is proved by their courage just weeks after their total
defeat. John says he testifies to what he has seen and heard, that which
he has touched with his own hands. The apostles were not collectively
deceived men deluded and misguided. They were eyewitnesses. They
could not deny what they had seen. So they obeyed God rather than
men.
Acts 1:4
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me Jesus was with them.
They were part of His team, His friends. They had earned the right. I
no longer call you servants but I call you friends. Many are making the
presumption of friendship with Jesus without ever having served him.
In many cases our best friendships are found in working relationships. I
once worked in a very stressful adolescent hospital with a co ed staff.
Two other men were hired with me. We all left that job with wives that
were well suited to us, indeed friends. The stress had revealed our true
selves. The stress of the Passion, of three years of travel had revealed
the truth of the friendship Jesus had with His disciples. They trusted
His word regarding the Father and were obedient to it. They remained
praying together, in one accord, in Love, in brotherhood and sisterhood,
in harmony with mutual affection directed toward Jesus, as friends.
Deep abiding friendships are one of the benefits of the Kingdom. They
will know you are my disciples by the Love you share one with
another.
Jerusalem is the seat of His Kingdom. It extends from Melchizedek in
the past to the New Jerusalem of the future. The Price of Peace was
about to ascend but he was going to give gifts to men. They were not
carnal weapons but spiritual and they would bring down the powers of
Rome in time, not by might and not by power but by the Spirit says the
Lord
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began
both to do and teach. The former treatise that Luke the writer of the
Acts of the Apostles, is referring to is Luke’s Gospel account. Jesus’s
ministry, His divinity and His humanity, was and is confirmed by what
he said and what he did. No teacher before or after has said the things
that Jesus said in such a profound way. Men of every tribe and tongue
have looked to heaven and reached up seeking divine knowledge
through human effort. Paul confirms this in Acts 17 when he states,
even your own poets say “we are his offspring.” Men seeking truth have
often found the sublime and the beautiful and represented the human
race well in their efforts. In Jesus however we find the very Words of
God. The Gospel of God the Bible has no equivalent in the History of
mankind. No other book answers the questions that plague mankind in
such a succinct manner. Jesus said to the teachers of the Law that you
search the scriptures because in them you think that you have eternal
life but they are which speak of me. In other words the Bible, all of it, is
about Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill the will of the father and to make right
the error of Adam. It was Adam’s error that caused all of mankind to be
in bondage to sin. It is the concept of sin that many find so hard to
accept. It is however an acknowledgement of sin that helps us to
understand the conditions that effect all of creation. It answers the
question about death, disease, poverty, political and business corruption,
wars, famines, pestilence, and natural disasters. It explains to us the
uniqueness of mankind on the planet and our hunger to know our
creator. This hunger is found in every culture, and every nation. The
promise of a redeemer for mankind was made to only one nation
however. Luke a gentile writer will make clear how the things Jesus
began to do and teach effect every nation of men.
The words of the Bible are one confirmation but they are not the only.
Luke speaks of the things that Jesus did. The resurrection is the most
important of His miracles. He said I have power to lay down my life
and I have power to pick it up again. He said destroy this temple and I
will raise it up again in three days. It was not just the magnificence of
Jesus' miracles that make them great. In magnificence’s Mosses
miracles are greater but it was the nature of Jesus’s miracles that move
us to understand His divine message. It was the touching of the leaper,
the healing of the blind accompanied by the removal of accusation of
guilt of sin. “Neither he or his parents sinned, but that the Glory of God
might be revealed through him.” Jesus healed the man of his present
blindness, his past accusation, and sent on his way with a future hope
and an ever present savior.
Acts 1;2-3
Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy
Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen. To whom He also showed himself alive after his passion by
many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Jesus' work continues during his 40 days of appearing on the Earth after
His resurrection. He taught on the Road to Emmaus, He challenged
Thomas to believe like those who would not see and in accordance with
this verse He gave commands to the Apostles he had chosen. Many
have been called but few have been chosen the scriptures tell us. The
twelve are unique in their calling but they are typical to those God calls.
Most he calls are not noble or of high position. That is because most
men are not noble or of high position. Our Jesus is not a respecter of
persons but he desire that all would repent and come to the knowledge
of God, those of high estate and those of low. Jesus' command to all of
us is that we be witnesses to others. His initial witness was among those
who were most like himself. Jesus worked with men who knew what it
was like to labor with their hands. Jesus himself labored with his
hands. We can be most effective in our witness to others whom we
understand. Yes, many are called to far away places but not most.
Jesus himself was not called to a far away place. He was called to the
lost sheep of Israel. Where is our Israel and who are our lost sheep.
Like Jesus our message must be specific. It must be about the Kingdom
of God. This Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking but of
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. What motivates our
righteousness. It should be many infallible proofs. The work of God in
our life must be proof of His resurrection, for we are to be living epistles
read by all men. Like each message preached by the Apostles a history
must be reflected. Look what the Lord has done in us. Joy and peace
should be evident because of the confidence we have in a redeemer who
delivers and forgives again and again and again. We must be confident
in the witness of the Apostles whose eye witness accounts of His
resurrection is proved by their courage just weeks after their total
defeat. John says he testifies to what he has seen and heard, that which
he has touched with his own hands. The apostles were not collectively
deceived men deluded and misguided. They were eyewitnesses. They
could not deny what they had seen. So they obeyed God rather than
men.
Acts 1:4
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me Jesus was with them.
They were part of His team, His friends. They had earned the right. I
no longer call you servants but I call you friends. Many are making the
presumption of friendship with Jesus without ever having served him.
In many cases our best friendships are found in working relationships. I
once worked in a very stressful adolescent hospital with a co ed staff.
Two other men were hired with me. We all left that job with wives that
were well suited to us, indeed friends. The stress had revealed our true
selves. The stress of the Passion, of three years of travel had revealed
the truth of the friendship Jesus had with His disciples. They trusted
His word regarding the Father and were obedient to it. They remained
praying together, in one accord, in Love, in brotherhood and sisterhood,
in harmony with mutual affection directed toward Jesus, as friends.
Deep abiding friendships are one of the benefits of the Kingdom. They
will know you are my disciples by the Love you share one with
another.
Jerusalem is the seat of His Kingdom. It extends from Melchizedek in
the past to the New Jerusalem of the future. The Price of Peace was
about to ascend but he was going to give gifts to men. They were not
carnal weapons but spiritual and they would bring down the powers of
Rome in time, not by might and not by power but by the Spirit says the
Lord
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| ACTS 1-4 By Reverend Don Boucher |
Copyright Gates of Praise Ministries 2006