Acts 1

1. To Theophilus, The first book I wrote was about everything that Jesus did and taught.

People call the book of Acts as the Acts of the Apostles, but it is really the acts of the Holy Spirit.

2 I wrote about the whole life of Jesus, from the beginning until the day He was taken up into heaven. Before this, Jesus talked to the apostles He had chosen. With the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told them what they should do.

Jesus had told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem. If the Lord tells you to wait until He gives you the power to do something for him, will you wait? Luke 24:49

3. After his death, He showed Himself to them and proved in many ways that He was alive. The apostles saw Jesus during the 40 days after He was raised from death. He spoke to them about the kingdom of God.

Today Jesus shows Himself to the world through us. Think about that.

4 – 5

Once when He was eating with them, He told them not to leave Jerusalem. He said, “The Father has made you a promise which I told you about before. Wait here to receive this promise. John baptized people with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

But when the Father sends the Spirit as My down-payment—that is, the Holy Spirit—He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. John 14:26

6. The apostles were all together. They asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to give the kingdom back to Israel?”

Maybe the disciples were thinking that now they would be ruling with Jesus in God’s future kingdom.

7. Jesus said to them, “The Father is the only One who has the authority to decide dates and times. These things are not for you to know.

When Jesus was willing to become a man, He gave up the power to know everything. He is our example.

8. But the Holy Spirit will come to you. Then you will receive power. You will be my witnesses—in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, in Samaria, and in every part of the world.”

We see that the disciples were to start first in Jerusalem. It is always hard to be a witness at home , but if you cannot take a stand for Christ at home. You will not take a stand anywhere.

9. After He said this, as they were watching, He was lifted up. A cloud hid Him from their sight.

We live by faith not by what we can see. 2 Corinthians 5:7

10 – 12

As He was going, they were looking into the sky. Suddenly, two [angels] wearing white clothes stood beside them.

They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky? You saw Jesus taken away from you into heaven. He will come back in the same way you saw Him go.”

Then they went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. This mountain is about half a mile from Jerusalem.

On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. Zechariah 14:4

13. When they entered the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon (known as the Zealot), and Judas son of James were there.

It is always good to go back to the last place you met with the Lord when you do not know what else to do!

14. They all continued praying together. Some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers were also there with the apostles.

Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” Mark 6:3

15. During this time there was a meeting of the believers. (There were about 120 of them.) Peter stood up and said,

We know that there were seventy disciples sent out besides the 12 apostles. Luke 10:1

16 – 17

Brothers, in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit said through David that something must happen. The Spirit was talking about Judas, one of our own group, who served together with us. The Spirit said that Judas would lead men to arrest Jesus.

Zechariah said that these things would happen.

And I said to them, “If you like, give me My wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for My wages thirty pieces of silver.
And the LORD said to Me, “Throw it to the potter”—this amazing amount of money at which they thought I was worth! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the LORD. Zechariah 11:12 – 13

18. Judas bought a field with the money he got for his evil act. But Judas fell to his death, his body burst open, and all his intestines poured out.

When Judas hung himself something else must have happened that we do not know about

19. Everyone in Jerusalem learned about this. This is why they named the field Akeldama. In their language Akeldama means “field of blood.”)

This is also shown to us in Zechariah 11:13.

20. In the book of Psalms, this is written: May his place be empty. Leave no one to live in it.’ And it is also written: ‘Let another man replace him as leader.’

It is amazing that the leaders thought of Peter as someone who did not know the Scriptures. We see many places where Peter was quoting the Old Testament, so he must have known more than they thought he did. Also, the Holy Spirit was helping him to remember these things.

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. Acts 4:13, Psalm 69:25, Psalm 109:8

21– 22

So now a man must join us and become a witness of Jesus’ being raised from death. He must be one of the men who were part of our group from the beginning. He must have been with us from the time John began to baptize people until the day when Jesus was taken up from us to heaven.”

We see here that an apostle must be someone who was with the original apostles from the beginning, and must have seen Jesus after He was raised from the dead. 1 Corinthians 9:1

23 – 25

They put the names of two men before the group. One was Joseph Barsabbas, who was also called Justus. The other was Matthias.

The apostles prayed, “Lord, you know the minds of everyone. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to do this work. Judas turned away from it and went where he belongs. Lord, show us which one should take his place as an apostle!”

Church history says that Matthias went to Ethiopia. God may have planned for the apostle Paul to be the man to replace Judas. It is never a good idea to tell God that He has to pick from one of your suggestions. After they received the Holy Spirit they did not pray this way again.

Last of all, as though I [Paul] had been born at the wrong time, I also saw Him. For I am the least of all the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15:8 – 9

26. Then they used dice to choose between them, and the dice showed that Matthias was the one. So he became an apostle with the other eleven.

This is the last time they used dice to ask God to show them what to do. From now on the Holy Spirit would show them what to do. Acts 13:2