ACTS CHAPTER 1

MAIN THINGS
Some of the main things that I got out of this chapter were to trust even more in the gift of the Holy Spirit that God has given me, to imitate the disciples as they spent much time in prayer, and I was also challenged by the low numbers of people that were at the start of this great movement of God. The last thing that gives me hope and trust is that Jesus is truly still alive and has given convincing proofs of that. I am thankful that we serve a living savior and not a dead philosopher. Thank you God, for your love for us in giving us your very presence. Thank you Holy Spirit for indwelling me and giving me the power, boldness, and courage to follow hard after God and proclaim truth to the people around me and to the nations.

What challenged you today as you read chapter 1?

I have added some questions and thoughts I had as I looked through the chapter. I hope this will help guide you through this chapter and ask some questions of God's word.

Questions & Thoughts
v. 3 – What is the significance of 40 days?

vv. 4-9 – Luke begins by detailing more of what happened at Christ’s ascension. How do you put together the different accounts of the last things that Jesus said to His disciples? How do you harmonize the gospel of Matthew with this account in Acts? (Same Question as before different words)

v. 8 - What are you going to do now to begin to reach your Jerusalem? You have received power, do you feel that you have? Do you experience being filled by the Holy Spirit? Is this statement only for the disciples or all believers in all time periods?

v. 10-11 – I wonder how long they were looking in the sky for angels to come down and tell them to stop.

v. 14 - This is a great look at the disciples turning to God to wait for the Spirit. I wonder how long this lasted. What was this experience like?

v. 15 – Isn’t that crazy that the believers who were still around were only about 120. How quickly those fell away that worshipped Jesus on the way in, but threw stones at Him on the way to the cross.

v. 23 – What happened with Barsabbas, “Justus”? I wonder is he still followed even though he didn’t get the apostle position.

v. 26 – Casting lots is equal to rolling dice or flipping a coin in that time period. We are not commanded anywhere in scripture to do this and it is surprising that the will of God was determined here by casting lots. They have a pretty awesome trust in the sovereignty of God. They trusted so much that He would even control the lots as they cast them to see who God would choose. What do you think of this practice?