Transcript

John Barnett speaking. If you're watching this, you're right in the middle of our Acts course. This is chapter 1 of the Book of Acts, and I'm going to be demonstrating how to study one chapter of Acts each week, how to journal it, and how to mine out of it the truths that I'm going to share with you. Now, you're going to notice in this class that this opening is right here in the studio, but the class is somewhere else, and each of them is somewhere else. One of them is in London, in a Airbnb. Another one is in a home that we borrowed and lived in. Another one is at a conference. Another one is in a classroom. They're just wherever my wonderful wife Bonnie, who's sitting right there helping me through this class, it's wherever we are ministering that week, but we're perpetually teaching the Book of Acts. So let me jump right into the slides. My goal for you is this, to give you a concise overview of the whole class, but right here at the front end. And the reason for that is that YouTube has told me that many of you only last 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes. So, I thought, why not give them the best of everything and those that persist can go all the way to the end and see even the videos. Because while we're in London, I take our class through the British Museum and we do other field trips, but here we go.

Acts chapter 1 is Christ's Prophetic Plan, and it's right there in Jerusalem. And it's the beginning of our overview of all of Paul's epistles.

But the New Testament itself has a three-part grand narrative. Our Redeemer arrives, that's what the Gospels are about. Our Redeemer sends us, and that's what we're looking at right here in the Book of Acts and all the way through the 13 epistles that are segmented all the way through the Book of Acts. And then the final epistles, out Judge returns.

The Book of Acts is set in this world that is so ready for the Gospel. The red is the Roman Empire. The star there is Jerusalem and the Gospel goes to the furthest reaches of the Roman Empire.

In this class, I'm talking about the launch of the Gospel in the first seven chapters, the expansion of the Gospel and all the difficulties that entails the journeys of the Gospel and the wonders that God performs, and then finally the path to Rome. And you can't quite see that because it's underneath the picture-in-picture.

Ground zero, look at this, this is where the Upper Room is right here. And this is where the Mount of Olives is, where Jesus ascended from. So right between these two is the whole context of the book of Acts chapter 1.

Now look what the disciples say, Lord, will You restore at this time the kingdom to Israel. What was their question? They were totally thinking about Earth and so are we so often. And look how Jesus reframes them in verses 7 and 8 and says, it's not for you to know the times the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be My witnesses. We're supposed to not be concerned about the worldly kingdom, but the heavenly kingdom. That's why we're here.

Let me go through, and this is the first one, the lessons that we're going to cover. And we're already at minute three and some of you are cutting out already. But number one, God has a unique plan for each of our lives. We're going to study the first three verses and see how that plays out with Paul and Luke and God's whole plan to get the Gospel out.

The second lesson, Gospel sharing is God's command for each of us. That's what I just quoted to you in verse 8. Once we're saved, we receive power to be His witnesses. And as I've told you before the three concentric circles were, Jerusalem, Judea and Samari, and the uttermost parts of the Earth. And we, you and me right now, are called and commanded and equipped and empowered to go for the Lord.

Now, I love this. The third lesson I'm going to share with you is starting in verse 9. Life is a shower of blessings and fills us with living hope. That's how Jesus ascends to Heaven. I'm going to take you right there through a group we took to the Holy Land. We filmed the spot where Jesus ascended to Heaven, and I teach that lesson.

Then, I go into starting, right here, do you see in verse 12, we can have a shared holy passion with believers around us? Look at this, prompted by the Holy Spirit. Now this Greek word is what we're studying, homothymadon. In the Bible it's translated in these passages with one accord, one mind, one passion.

Now look at this, our homothymadon, our one accord, our holy passion, born again Christians have a Spirit prompted passion to worship, to be together with other believers, to fellowship, sharing life and meals, with gladness to pray, we're drawn to prayer by the Spirit, to move as a cohesive, as a body, we're united going the same direction, doing the same thing, we're collectively and individually responsive as you see there, and involved in following biblical leadership. Those are the seven times that word occurs. I give you a chart, you can download that chart, you can mark all of those, and I'm going to be showing you all the way through this lesson, how you can actually make your Bible a tool that will remind you all the time of how God wants us to continue His plan into this world.

Okay, the fifth lesson, I'm going to teach what we do for Christ will last forever. And that's in Acts 1:15-26. It's a contrast between Judas here, who lost everything and threw away his own life, and the wonderful work of the Apostles who stuck with Christ to the very end.

So that is chapter 1 of the Book of Acts. That is how the Gospel went global. That is the local ministry right here in Jerusalem, the cross-cultural ministry that went out from Judea and Samaria to Antioch and to Ephesus and to Corinth, and then to the ends of the Earth as Paul travels and the Gospel radiates out. But the entire book of Acts, you see, at the top there is adopting this holy passion. And that's what I'm going to pray that you ask the Lord this week.

Now remember, the whole purpose of this class, and I'm going to say it again in the classroom setting, is that you study chapter 1 all week, that you find the truths and principles and then look on this slide, that God shows you He has a unique plan for you. He curated your geography, your limitations, everything about your life. God put together for a purpose. You have a mandate. I have a mandate. It's the greatest way to go through life, knowing that we were designed to do something for God that no one else can do. And I'm not trying to do what someone else is doing and someone else shouldn't try and do what I'm doing except for this mandate. Paul said, follow me in every way, I'm following Christ. I'm an example. That's my prayer for my life and that's my challenge to you. Be followers together of Christ just as I am, just as Paul was, and then have others in your life that you say, follow me as I also am following Christ. And then you are showered in blessings every day.

This morning, what a precious day, we're actually home and I'm doing these little fronts to the Acts classes. I woke up at 4:30am. I went out, and the beautiful sky here, and was looking at the stars. I was praying, I even recited as many of the Lord's Prayer. And I just felt outdoors, in the 40 degree weather, that I was being showered with blessings.

Here's my application prayer. Now, that's right out of my journal. Now remember, I'm doing this with you, this class with you. I'm writing out a title. I'm writing out a summary. I'm writing out all the truths and principles and doctrines and promises that are in there. And then this is my prayer and I'll pray it.

Lord, thank you that your plan was to penetrate the halls of the emperor through Paul's captivity. I ask for Your power to do all You've planned for me to do. I'm looking for Your return to take me to the place You prepared for me. Fill me with a holy passion to share Your unstoppable Gospel for. Jesus' sake, amen.

Remember what we do for Christ last forever. Now, and you can see, this part of the course was filmed while we were in Rome, and we're standing right there on the hillside looking over the Coliseum, but join me right now as we go right into the classroom, and as I explain how you can spend this whole week studying, what I just shared we're going to study, but I'm going to actually teach you through it in Acts chapter 1. God bless you on this journey through the Book of Acts.

John Barnett here, and welcome to class number seven. I'm so excited that Bonnie, my wonderful wife Bonnie is over there sitting in the studio recording all this. And we're home between travels out to missionary Bible institutes and where we speak at conferences to record this seventh class of Paul's life and letters. I'm going to show you real quickly everything you need because I know some of you, this is your very first class and I just know that you just dropped in somehow and you're watching number seven. And I want you to understand the context of where we are and be able to make this class useful. I'm holding our MacArthur Study Bible. Down in the description of this video, you can see the link to look at a MacArthur Study Bible on Amazon. You can buy it anywhere, but you can look at the one I'm talking about right here. And what you can see, and here in my Bible cam you can look at what's most important. This is what's most important. This is the Bible, God's Word. Down here are the study notes and this is what's vital for our class that you study those study notes. So, you need your MacArthur Study Bible. And I just posted last week's message, that I posted, and it's being watched right now. We're living in a time where most people rely on an electronic copy of everything. Now, I have, as Bonnie and I travel overseas, this entire Bible on my phone, an electronic copy of the MacArthur Study Bible. It's wonderful. If my phone runs out of battery or if the cloud service that sends the MacArthur Study Bible to my phone has a glitch. I don't have a Bible. That's why I always carry with me a physical copy of the Bible. Now, I have a much smaller one that fits in my suitcase. So, this is your MacArthur Study Bible.

Secondly, this resource you'll see described down in the Amazon link is the narrated Bible. Let me show you over here in the Bible cam, what's so important about this. What we see here is, it's, this is Acts of the Apostles, see. This is going through the Book of Acts, but as you're reading Acts 18, all of a sudden, it starts going into what's right here. The first letter to the Corinthians, do you see 1 Corinthians? The letter is written sometime after Acts 19, 21 and 22. Now that's amazing. This one tool is probably my favorite way to study Paul's life and letters. F. LaGard Smith that wrote this has little introductory notes in between the text that kind of bridges what's going on in Paul's life.

So, I have a doctrinal resource, my study Bible that I read every one of the 25,000 footnotes, that are down at the bottom about every verse. I have this resource, which I know the MacArthur Study Bible is a huge investment, but it's an investment for life the rest of your life. You'll be using it wherever you study in the Bible, and you'll have a consistent theological framework of someone that believes the Word of God, believes inspiration, believes in salvation by grace through faith, all of those things. That's what's so important, to have that right grid. This is the key resource [Narrated Bible] for understanding Paul's life and letters and the chronology and where each of the epistles fit within the book of Acts. So, that's a second resource.

Of course, every course I teach, I talk about having your journal. This is my journal that I use. In the front, is chart number one that I'll show you [in] just a minute. It's on Facebook. It's on actually all of my Facebook pages for you to get. Within it I have just written each of the chapters of Paul's life and letters starting Acts 1, Acts 2, Acts 3. I give a page or two for each one. You can do whatever you want, as many pages as you want. And I do my devotional study of each chapter. I'm constantly working on this. In fact, I've already, I'm ahead of all of you. I've already finished all the chapters from Acts through Philemon, and I have another one of these that I'm starting on the next course that I'm teaching, to follow up with this, with our students. And that's the final epistles, the whole prophetic course. So that's my journal.

I'll show you now over here at the Bible camera, I'll show you these maps. There's a whole video on this. Most of you are only able to see this video because you're already a part of our Holy Land tour. And this is the map for the Holy Land tour. It's the National Geographic Israel Map for the Land of the Book video study tour, for that's where we start Paul's life, in letters, in the Holy Land in Jerusalem. We're going to see that today. This is the ending. Paul ends up in Rome. In between he's in Greece, and his beginning in Greece is in Athens. So, these four maps are vital and I hope you'll just gradually get these resources and watch the video that shows how to mark them.

Okay, let's go to the slides and I'm going to begin. Paul's Life and Letter course. Were on number seven. There are six prior introductory courses. I talked to you about the Roman Empire. I talked to you about the life of Paul. But look what we're doing today and this is why I'm so excited, understanding Acts chapter 1. Now I'm standing there, notice there's my study bible and my journal right there in my hands. What's this? Yeah, that's the Flavian Amphitheater. You know what that is, right? Yeah, it's the Colosseum. Only, it was really the Flavian Amphitheater and it's just been popularized by tourists as the Colosseum. But that's the Colosseum. I'm in Rome teaching the book of Romans, which you're going to get to in a little while. Okay.

We are going to take this course as a part of serving the entire New Testament in the Lands of the Book. Okay? So, this is the Holy Land course that many of you joined us and have started on. It's a 52 week long course going through everything that the Gospel say about the arrival of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. It's a course about who Jesus is, why He came. Matthew, the book of Matthew opens with Him coming to sit on the throne of David, which points to Revelation 20's Millennial rule.

Now, here's where we are today. This is the middle course of three. The Holy Land course going through the Gospels goes next, look at this, to Acts, the Book of Acts. And that's Paul's life and Letters course. And our redeemer, who arrived and died on the cross and saved us and gave us endless hope, that Redeemer sends us to do something. We were bought at a price to do something. And that's what all of Acts and the epistles are about. Acts, shows us how to do what Jesus left us to do. Now, today, Acts 1 starts with verses 4-8. Look over here at my Bible, I want to show you what I mean. This is my Bible. This is how I mark it... This is the Bible you can read about in that Amazon link. This is a very inexpensive, nothing, no study notes, it's just a simple Bible with little bit of room around the edges. And this is the one I carry everywhere in the world. If the plane goes down and they say, you can't take your bags, I'm grabbing my Bible. Okay?

But here's the Book of Acts, and I've read this through with you doing my devotional study guide. And look what it says in verse 4. And being assembled together with them, He command them not to depart from Jerusalem, but He says until you receive the promise of the Father, which He said, you have heard from Me. And therefore, when they came together after Jesus said that, they said, Lord, look at verse 6. When will You restore the kingdom to Israel? That was a political question. It was all about the future. Now look back at my slide. Acts 1 starts with, when will You restore the Kingdom of Israel? Look, in verses 4-8 over here in my Bible, and especially verse 6, when they came together, they ask Him saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Now, notice what I wrote. This is a political or a scatological question. After 40 days of Jesus talking with them, and I'm going to show you that when I look at the harmony of the Gospels, they were still mixed up [about] what's coming next? Now look at verse 7. And He said to him, it's not for you to know the time or the seasons which the Father has put into His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, that's the day of Pentecost, and look at this and you shall be witnesses to Me.

Back over the slides. This whole course is our Redeemer has sent us, and that's what Acts 1 and all the epistle says. And Jesus said, God's timing is not for us to know of, when Jesus is going to return and the Tribulation, the Millennium. What we do know is this, Jesus ask us to live for Him until He returns.

Now remember, there are three parts to this survey of the entire New Testament, the Holy Land course, the Paul's Life and Letter course, and then look, this is basically the outline of the New Testament. There is, our Redeemer arrives, our Redeemer sends us, and look, the Judge is returning. Those are the finally epistles, and that's the third course. In fact, Bonnie and I, and you can look up for a second. Bonnie and I are launching out this Saturday. This is Wednesday. And by the way, we're right in the middle of that huge double mega quake in Turkey, right in the Bible lands that shook Antioch, that shook Tarsus where Paul was from and born, but that quake, that was this week on Monday, that reminds us of how vital it is to get the Gospel out. This morning it said 10 or 12,000 people did not survive the quake. It's a reminder that the Judge is returning. We don't know when our life will end, and therefore we must be busy sharing the Gospel, and that's what this whole course is about.

But look back at the slides. The final epistle course is about our Judge returning and it's how we live through suffering and the end of everything. Now look what this third division, remember the Gospels start with Matthew talking about the king sitting on the throne. Our Redeemer sends us. We just saw that in Acts chapter 1, but look at Hebrews chapter 1 over here in my Bible, and I want you to see how the final epistle starts. Hebrews 1:1. God, who at various times in various ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets. Look at verse 2, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. So, God wants us to know we're living in the last days. So, back looking at the slides, Hebrews 1 starts with the last days, verse 2, and concludes with the Book of Revelation as we watch our Creator, Redeemer and Judge return in all His glory to set up His thousand year rule.

Now the Book of Acts starts in Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives. So right there, this is the Mount of Olives over here and continues right here on Mount Zion. That's the upper room. And here, let me commend to you, if you want to look this up it's down in the description, but Todd Bolen, his website is called bibleplaces.com is a wonderful servant of the Lord, personal friend of mine, fellow... I was faculty at the Master Seminary and he currently is faculty there; he has the best pictures. And just for you to see, this is what we would call the old city of Jerusalem right here, and the Christian Quarter, Arminian, Jewish and Muslim quarter, and of course the Temple Mount right here and the Dome of the Rock right there.

This is just an overview of the Book of Acts, and it starts between the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion, everything we're reading about.

The Book of Acts also traces all of Paul's travels. He gets saved on the road between Jerusalem and Damascus. So, he's traveling up over here to Damascus, gets saved. You know the story. He's trained by the Lord over here in the desert. Barnabas gets him and sends him back to Tarsus, his hometown. Finally, he is reintroduced in Jerusalem. Meets James, the, the whole thing after he's in Tarsus and he goes from there to Antioch. See right here? And he's sent off on his missionary journeys and look at all those lines. Those are all the missionary journeys. See the first missionary journey, the second, the third, and his journey to Rome. So right here in this square you're looking at is the entire Book of Acts. All the places mentioned in Acts, all the journeys of Paul. Everything that we're going to study is right in that little square on your screen.

But look where the Book of Acts ends. It ends in Rome. Now there's the Flavian Amphitheater, AKA, the Coliseum. This is the aqueduct of Nero. And we even have a lesson we're going to look at where the continuation of it by Claudius is done. You all know this, the Circus Maximus, that's the spot and I'll be showing you clips from there, that's where more Christians died than any other spot in Rome. More than in the Coliseum right here. But where was Paul all this time? Right here. That's the theater of Marcellus. And this whole area here, even today, is the Jewish quarter of Rome. And that's where Paul was kept near the Jewish community under house arrest, within earshot of the Coliseum, or I mean of the Circus Maximus. Paul could hear the roar of a quarter million people right there as he was in his house, right there. And it's just amazing to think that in the Book of Acts, it ends right there with Paul in house arrest.

Okay, the Book of Acts picks up where the Gospels end. Now you remember, this... see what this is? P, L, and L. That's Paul's Life and Letter chart number seven. Remember that's available for you, and I'll show you in just a second where, but this is from our Holy Land class, the same chart where we take Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and show all the events either at 262 events that are covered in the Gospels, and look, it shows which one of the four Gospels up here records it. Now these are showing you the Upper Room because that's where actually the Book of Acts begins. And look, here it is. It's event 258. Jesus stays around for 40 days after the resurrection, basing His meeting with the disciples in the upper room. And that's where we're going to start in Acts 1:1-3. And then, the disciples go from 3-8 to the Mount of Olives. We're going there next. And then from there, Jesus ascends from the Mount of Olives to Heaven. They go back to the Upper Room, and so basically from here to here is our whole lesson today. And then when we come back, next time, they're gathered in the Upper Room, the 120 in chapter 2, and they go to the Southern Steps, and that's the day of Pentecost. So that's for you to understand Acts chapter 1, it picks up right here where the Gospels end and tells us the rest of the story.

Now, where do you get all those? This is our, there's my wonderful wife Bonnie, right there. This is my Facebook page. And so, you, right here under photos, so you just go the photo tab. There are all those charts that you're going to see today. See them all the way across. And this is the one right now I'm talking about. That's the 250 events, tying the end of the Gospels in with the Book of Acts. So, you can get your charts on my Facebook page. Now, actually it's on all my Facebook pages. Some of you are part of the Land of the Book page. Some of you are part of the Biblical Counseling and Discipleship page. Doesn't matter which one you're on. Those resources are on all the pages.

Now, real quickly, we learned this from our Holy Land journey together. The Upper Room we studied site 44. Jesus goes to the cross, is buried, and He rises again on the third day at the Garden Tomb. But He goes back and starts meeting with His disciples in the Upper Room. Where is that?

Right here is the Upper Room. This is Mount Zion. This is the last night of our Lord's life. He's having communion, launching with His disciples, communion. He goes over here to the Garden of Gethsemane. From there, He's arrested and taken to the High Priest house. He's taken from there over to see Pilate. He's taken from there to be scoured at the Antonian fortress. He's taken from there to be crucified, right here at what we would call the Church the Holy Sepulchre And then He is taken outside the city to be buried right here in what we call the Garden Tomb. Again, this is an incredible picture by my friend Todd Bolen, who did all these aerial shots and labels them.

So, this is basically where we're beginning. It is back here at this site, number one, the Upper Room.

Now, what is going on around the world during the Book of Acts? The bright red here is the Roman Empire. Notice it's even up here into Britain, all across Northern Africa, surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. But not a part of the Roman Empire is Sarmatia. That's what we would call the Ukraine right now. The Parthians were always fighting with the Roman emperors. And you can see all these others. The Chinese. There were all kinds of empires. Look, even over here in, in Mezzo America and the Yucatan and in Mexico there are civilizations. There are all kinds of people groups all over the world in the 1st century, but this is God's focus for the scripture. He wants the Gospel to go to all of these places, and that's what the Book of Acts is about, how He accomplishes that.

But God's focus in the Bible, all the Bible from Genesis through Revelation, centers on Israel. So, this is the Roman empire surrounding the Mediterranean all the way up here to Britain, all the way down here into the deserts of Africa, all the way over here into the Persian Gulf area but the focus is always on Israel and because the prophetic bullseye of time and history and all of prophecy is right there in Jerusalem.

Okay, this is chart number three back to the charts you can get there on Facebook. The Book of Acts, see it's got the box around it; the red box is written sometime between 61 and 63. That means during the Caesarian imprisonment and before Paul's released from his Roman imprisonment. And the theme, see, this is the date, the name of the epistle, your place that it's written from if we know, like Corinth, Macedonia, either Caesaria or Rome, Rome, we're not sure on Matthew, and then what's the theme or message of the book? And look at this, Acts is how the Gospel went global.

Now this is chart number six. See how important it's to get all these charts down. Now look up for a second. I print these off and I have them in my journal. See, I just make a copy, cut them so they fit and tape them in because all these resources I'm using as I read, I'm using as I'm journaling. I just want to keep looking back at them because my goal is, I want to understand the message. Now, let me take you to these boards and I'll, I'm going to kind of give you an overview because I've been covering the slides so much. You are right now taking the Discovering the Life and Letters of Paul course. It's a journey through the Book of Acts to see the context and message of all 13 of Paul's epistles. And so, we're looking at his 13 books, but we want to see them through the lens of the Book of Acts because, and that's why I'll pull this one back out, that's why I recommend to you this narrated Bible. If you have this narrated Bible, this Bible will actually put each of the epistles where they fit in the Book of Acts.

Now for this course that you're in, we have three goals. Read and devotional journal. We're on the road, Bonnie and I are on the road all the time, over 10 months a year. We were, we're leaving on Saturday. We'll be headed overseas Saturday. And it's just the beginning of a journey that's going to be at least 8, 10 weeks long. I grab my Bible and I grab my journal and whether we're in a hotel or staying in someone's home, or if Bonnie and I are staying in some dorm, every morning because I wake up early every morning, I grab my journal and my Bible, I bow my head and say, Lord, open my eyes that I behold wonderful things from Your Word. I read the scriptures. I read the chapter I'm covering and then I go back over it and fill out all the parts of our devotional study. So, look, that's number one read and devotionally journal from the Book of Acts to Philemon. Now, wherever you are. In this class, you should pause the tape or the video or whatever until you get your journal ready and you have your Bible and read, start reading in Acts 1. I just got a note from someone. They said, I'm still reading and you haven't done another lesson. I thought, good. You'll get all the way through all the chapters because the goal is for you to study these through and then to watch this class. And whatever chapter I'm covering, and let me find Acts number 1 in here, you just take notes. See I have extra space on each page. Take notes from watching this class, anything you didn't find, anything you didn't read in your MacArthur Study Bible, or anything you didn't find?

Number two, read those study Bible notes for each book and chapter. So, you read the Book of Acts, now let me show you over here on my Bible cam. I'm going to show you the Book of Acts. Now, look what I mean. Here is the Book of Acts, the title, the author, and date, the background and setting, the historical, theological, the interpretive challenge. Here's the outline. Let me turn the page. This is your MacArthur Study Bible. And now, so that's for the book. So, every time you start a new book, you read this. Then when you read a chapter, you read the chapter, but you pause. See, verse 1, there's a note. Verse 2, there's a note. Verse 3, there's a note. Verse 4, there's a note. Reading these notes is the heart of this course. Okay? I don't want to wear you out and I want to finish this course, but if you read your study Bible notes for each book and chapter, you are getting the equivalent of a Bible college education. This Study Bible contains everything from what I was teaching with all the other faculty members at the Master Seminary with John MacArthur. This is like a complete course of Bible Education for every Book of the Bible.

Now, I can't stress enough, read the Bible itself devotional and journal, read your study Bible, and then you watch these lessons. We're on number seven right now. Watch each course lesson, take notes, marking your map. So, getting where we are right now. We're on the Israel map, we're in Jerusalem. We're headed toward Greece before long. And actually, there's going to be another map in the next few weeks that I'm going to show you, which is when we start covering Turkey, where the earthquake was.

Okay. Back to the slides. So, this is the message of the Book of Acts. So, this is chart six. It's the message of Acts, how the Gospel went global. Now look, here are the 28 chapters of the Book of Acts. Let me just go through them with you one at a time.

Chapter 1 is the continuation of Christ's prophetic plan. Now, look up here on the marker board, the Book of Acts, how the Gospel went global. Now each chapter has its own theme, message, and chapter 1 is the continuation of Christ's prophetic plan. Chapter 2 is the birth of Christ Church. Chapter 3 is God the Savior offers hope. So, this, we're looking at Acts, we're looking at the whole Book of Acts as how the Gospel goes global but there's an emphasis within each one of these chapters. And the main thing that I want you to see is that Acts is just a continuation of God's whole plan that He's had from the beginning. And so, that's why when we discover the life and letters of Paul and journey through Acts, we're going to see the prophetic implications.

Okay, back to the slides. Let's go through each chapter and I won't pull away so you can follow this. Chapter 1 is how Christ's prophetic plan is continued; that's from the Gospels. And look at this, what we're going to run into, we as believers are to have one holy passion to do what Jesus left us to do. Chapter 2 is about the birth of the Church. What only a few had in the Old Testament is now for all. There were a few people that had the Holy Spirit living within them and filling them, but now it's for all.

Chapter 3, God the Savior offers hope. Do you know what we're going to see in chapter 3? The offer to blot out all sins. Now look up for a second. Bonnie and I were home, we had to have our car fixed, we took our car in, we had to leave it, some people at the car dealership came and talked to us. We were actually there, how many hours? Any three hours, four hours. And if you've taken any courses with me, guess what I always have in my wallet. Here it is, my Gospel tract. Now, the reason I don't have one in my wallet is that I was burdened, that I was around these people and they kept coming and talking to us. It was the car salesman and the salesman manager and we were sitting there and so they were talking to us because we needed, our car is getting old. And so, this tract was just burning a hole in my pocket. And finally, I was praying and I thought, Lord, I don't like to talk to people at work because I don't want to take their time but it appears that they just had time and they just kept coming over and saying, do you want a little water? Do you want a cookie? So finally, I said, hey, where are you from? And they told me. And then I said, tell me about what kind of church you went to growing up. And the man said to me, I am from a background of Hinduism and Islamic belief. I said, wow. And he told me the country, and it's half Islamic and half Hindu. I said, wow. And I said, has anybody shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with you? He said, oh, I've, yeah. He said, I've heard about Christianity. I said, but has anybody shared with you what God has done to them? And he said, no.

I pulled this out. I took my wallet out and this was right here, my tract that I prayed over. And I said, now it's bent a little bit. It's been in my wallet and I prayed over this. I said, can I just share the Gospel with you for one minute? He said, oh, sure. So, I said, this little booklet has bible verses, and I started with the pictures. What is that tract? You can read about it on our website, discoverthebook.org. It's just, it's called Knowing Him Personally by Son Life, Knowing God Personally. It's my favorite tract. Now, I use others. Here's John MacArthur's promise of Heaven. I use many different tracts, but this is my favorite one because it fits in my Bible or in my wallet so well. And I said, look at me. I'm right there. And look where God is. And look what's between us, this huge gap. And I said, that gap is my sins. And I read him a verse from over here, because I only have a minute with him. And I said, my sin separates me from God. And he went, that's my problem. He said, I don't know what to do about death. Even with Islam and Hinduism he said, I don't know what to do about death. And I said, well, here. And I was getting near the end of my minute. I said, you see the cross, Jesus Christ on the cross took my sin. I said, I'm the worst sinner I know in the whole world. And I just shared how Jesus forgave me of my sins. And I said, here, I don't want to take your time, but I do want to leave this with you. The greatest thing I could give you is the plan of salvation. I handed him this tract. Look back at your slides. God, the Savior offers hope. The offer to blot out all sins.

Now look at these red ones, chapter 4 of Acts is the adversary, Satan, stirs up persecution. The adversary, Satan's war against the Church. He starts getting the saints to misbehave. He sends division in the Church. There's complaining by chapter 6. Then there's martyrdom. Stephen is killed. He starts fake Christians in chapter 8. And in chapter 9 he has the biggest adversary of all, Saul who gets saved and God gains a champion. And the Gospel goes global. Paul gets discipled. Paul and Barnabas give a preview of missions. Chapter 13. We see the Antioch ministry model of prayer, fasting, and missions. And the first missionary journey is launched, piercing the darkness.

So, Satan starts to poison the Gospel of grace, and that's what chapter 15 is about. Paul invades Europe and the Gospel marches westward, aren't you glad that it got to us? Salvation is following a new king named Jesus. Paul starts the Corinthian rescue mission. Look at his theme we're going to study, God's recovery program is sanctification. By chapter 19 Satan's busy again. And his shadow is over the city of Ephesus and he's got all kinds of demon powers, but God's power is greater. And the miracle of a church at Ephesus, one of the greatest miracles in the Bible. Then chapter 20, Paul completes his mission. He finishes the course. His enemies think they won. They get him in jail. He becomes Rome's prisoner. And look, that's how to reach every part of the empire.

Look up for just a second. I'm going to, I love showing you this. What Paul probably thought was, oh no, I'm not going to be able to go out and do missions. God had a different plan for him. For the next four years, after Paul's captured in chapter 21 and 22 there, for two years he's in Caesarea, for two more years he's in Rome. Guess what? Because he is the emperor's prisoner, he always has to have Roman Legionnaires directly in contact with a centurion who is going up the line to a tribune all the way to council, all the way to the emperor, because he was a prisoner of the empire and of the emperor himself, because he appealed to Nero. For four years, Paul had a continuous flow of Roman soldiers either chained to him or in the house sitting there guarding him so he wouldn't escape. He probably had on shackles or something so he couldn't run away. What did Paul do? Did he hire a good lawyer? Did he start a petition drive to get him freed? I don't know. What I do know is what the Bible tells us, that from Paul's imprisonments, do you know what he wrote from his third imprisonment? His first major imprisonment was Caesarea. His second was Acts 28 in Rome. His third was the one that he's writing to Timothy before his execution. Do you know what he wrote from those three imprisonments? He said, those of Caesar's household greet you. What's that? That's code for I've been leading them to Christ. Did you know that Paul's converts, those soldiers, were able to go to the furthest reaches of the Roman Empire? They were career Roman soldiers. Do you know what we find every time they excavate a Roman camp all over the Roman Empire? The furthest point of the Roman Empire is in Roman Britain. You know what they found up there? A church in the commander of the Garrison's house along Hadrian's Wall. That's a reminder of Paul's missions.

Okay, back down to the chart. Paul becomes Rome's prisoner. He ministers in Caesarea. While he's waiting, he writes and he witnesses. He defends the Gospel before Felix, the Roman governor. That's a great lesson, how to reach the rich and famous, we're going to cover. He tells Festus that he appeals to Caesar, and that was because God wanted him to reach the very heart of Rome. Paul gives his own biography in chapter 26. Then, what's God's plan for shipwreck ministry? How to reach the doomed and dying. We see that in chapter 27 when they're on that doomed ship. And then Paul makes it to Rome. Wow.

Acts 1 is the continuation of Christ's prophetic plan. If we summarize the Old Testament like Paul does, in Acts 17 Paul gives a three part outline of the Bible. He says chapters Genesis 1 and 2 is about our Creator. From Genesis 3 all the way through Revelation 5 is about our Redeemer. And then of course, Revelation is about the Judge. Our Creator introduced in Genesis, our Redeemer's promise from Genesis to Malachi.

And then in the New Testament, our Redeemer arrives, our Redeemer sends us, that's where we are right here, and our Judge returns. And I've already shared that with you. But all of that is understood as we study the Book of Acts.

So basically, this is what I've written down in my journal. And in my journal, I always get a title and I've shown you that. My title, see, look up here on the board, for the Book of Acts is how the Gospel went global and for chapter 1 of Acts is the continuation of Christ's Prophetic Plan. And I'll show you why.

Back here at the slides, I look for as many lessons, in my journal. Every day I'm reading my MacArthur Study Bible notes, I'm marking up everything, and then we're going to end our class with that application prayer.

Okay. Here's my first lesson. God has a unique plan for each of our lives. Look over here in my Bible. So, I'm reading, the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up through the Holy Spirit and given commandments to the apostles whom He chose, to whom also He presented Himself... wait a minute, who's writing all this? Look up for a second. We know who wrote all this because he starts showing up in the we. All of a sudden, it isn't Paul alone, it's we. And we know it's Dr. Luke, most likely from Philippi. Paul bumps into him in Acts 16, and he starts becoming a traveling companion. He starts listening to all Paul's messages and stories. The Holy Spirit chooses him to be a vehicle through whom two of our books of the Bible are written. Luke writes, Luke and the book we're studying, Acts. Now, look back at my slide live.

God has a unique plan for each of our lives. What was God's plan for Luke? The only thing we know Luke did is, he wrote a two-part inspired record of Christ's life, that's the Gospel by Luke and the launch of the Church, that's the Book of Acts. Why did he write them though? Most likely they were the attending documents for that other person, we're talking about Paul, his case before Nero at the Court of Rome called the Basilica Julia, in the Roman Forum. And we're going to, when we get to chapter 28, I'm going to show you the basilica. I'm going to walk around it and everything. Why? God's unique plan was that these two, Luke and Paul, were going to get God's documents, message, that's the Gospel, into the Roman legal system.

Look up. Rome is the underlying basis for all American law, jurisprudence, that's Latin by the way, all of that. We are Roman to the core in our legal system and in our representative government system. And all of that required anybody who was a Roman citizen who appealed to Caesar, instantly, that locked them into this journey, legal journey, where they had to have legal documents presenting their case, and the emperor's lawyers had to read those documents, distilled down what they said to the emperor so he could come in and summarily make a decision. Perhaps based on the documents, perhaps on his whim. He was the emperor. But their legal system required the exchange of documents. The documents Paul brought to court before Nero and were presented to Nero's lawyers were the Gospel by Luke and the Acts, the Book of Acts. Look down at the slide. That was God's unique plan for Luke and for Paul. But guess what? He has a unique plan for each of our lives.

Okay. Number two. Look over my Bible at verse 4, I've already read. See verses 4-8. Look what it says. It's not for you to know the times or seasons, don't mess around spending endless time speculating about prophecy, looking for how many toes of the beast you see in the news every day. But look at verse 8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me. Witnessing is to Jesus Christ, wherever we are in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Earth. Now, look up. Paul witnessed to Jesus' work in his life before Felix, before Festus, before Nero, and before everyone else he could get to listen to him. I witnessed to the man at the car repair place with my tract. I witnessed to Jesus giving me a new heart, to giving me hope, giving me peace, giving me forgiveness, giving me the reality that I have endless life, that whoever lives and believes in Jesus will never die. My body's dying a little more every day, but my immortal spirit is going to be clothed endlessly with life in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Back to the slide. Here's my second entry in my journal. Gospel sharing is part of God's command for each of us. That's what you read right there in verses 4-8. God empowers us to do all He planned for us. It's not me, whether I'm strong enough. Christ in me is strong enough. We're to be a part of local, cross-cultural, and distant personal evangelism. Jerusalem, that's local. Judea/ Samaria is cross-cultural. Distant, to the ends of the Earth.

Now, this is what the disciples wanted to know. They want to know when is the Tribulation coming and when is the Millennium coming, that's Christ literal rule. And Jesus said, don't worry about all that, you're in the Church. You are supposed to be my witnesses. I am going to do all this that I have planned. He's going to restore. His representatives. There's going to be the rise of the Anti-christ, he's going to make a covenant and break it. Israel's going to seek the Lord. Jesus is going to return as Jerusalem is attacked. There's going to be a judgment. Old Testament saints are going to be raised at the end of the Millennium. The universe is going to be burned up. God's going to make a brand new universe. Satan and all the rebels are going to go into the Lake of Fire. And look, this is our endless hope, we have life with Jesus.

Now, we're going to see next week that what started at the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem had people hearing the Gospel from everywhere, all of these places. Jewish people had come to this feast, even from Rome. They hear the Gospel, they go home, and what's the whole Book of Acts about? Paul traveling through all these areas, finding these people exposed to the Gospel, and leading them to Christ. It's amazing.

Okay. Here's the third lesson real quickly. Look over at verses 9-11. Right here in Acts chapter... Acts chapter 1, verse 9. Now, when He had spoken these things, as they watched, He was taken up and a cloud received them out of sight. Wow. And then look at verse 11. The angels said, you men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into Heaven will come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven. Woo, that's really important. Look, let me read this slide. Jesus will return like He left. That's the Rapture by the way. Let's see how He left. Luke 24. Come over to my Bible again. Luke 24, starting in verse 50. 24:50. Remember Luke and Acts are a two-part account, and if you just put them together, it's amazing to read what happens. Luke ends, this is the last chapter of Luke, and He led them as far as Bethany. Now the Book of Acts doesn't tell us that, so that's why it's so important to read all the passages. They all give clues. He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now, oh, look up for a second. Jesus is standing there on the Mount of Olives and He's talking to His disciples and He lifts up His hands like this and starts blessing them. Now look back at the text and it came to pass while, verse 51, He blessed them He was parted from them and carried up into Heaven. Oh, look back. Jesus is standing there. He's got His hands out blessing the disciples and He starts going up into the air. He's ascending to Heaven. What's the last thing the disciples saw? Jesus looking down at them and saying, Peter, you've done so well. You denied me, but I restored you. Go. Oh, John, I've loved all the fellowship with you, be faithful to Me. I'm going to come back and see you. Matthew, you've been so carefully… right? And He just blessed them, had all these special words for them. It's like He rained down blessings on them. And remember what He told them in John 14. I go and prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'm going to come again and receive you onto Myself. Now look at the slide. Jesus is going to return just like He left. Luke 24:50-52 portrays Him blessing the disciples as He ascended. Jesus will return like He left, encouraging, comforting, and blessing His own from the Mount of Olives. That's how He left. Only they saw Him. No one else in Jerusalem other than believing eyes saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. That's how He promised them and us that He will return, either in the personal rapture at our hospital bed or the group Rapture in the clouds. Wow.

Now look over here. I want to show you; I've written all these lessons down for you. God has a unique plan for each of us in our lives. Gospel sharing is part of the plan. You should have your tract always ready and have your Bible marked with the Romans Road. Life for us is showers of blessing while living in hope that we're going to be, either walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death by our Good Shepherd, or He's going to call in a moment, in a twinkle of the eye and bless us as we rise up to go with Him to the place He's prepared. But life from the instant of salvation is a shower of blessing from Jesus Christ while we live in hope. That's what I shared when I pulled out my tract at the car repair place. That's what we share every time God gives us an opportunity.

I have a quick question for you. When's the last time you personally shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ? When's the last time that you reached in and said can I share this Bible study with you? When's the last time you said, my sins are forgiven, I have endless hope no matter what happens in the world, earthquakes, war in Ukraine, economic struggles. Did you know after President Biden's State of the Union address last night; do you know what 70% of Americans said? They're worse off now than they were one year, two year, three years, four years, everyone's feeling this economic gloom, this global gloom about our economy, about our climate, about tensions racially, tensions nationally. China's sending spy balloons and we're shooting them down and all that stuff. What's God's answer? Life for us is showers of blessings while living in hope. If that's not how you feel, then you need to spend a little more time with your devotional Bible study, because that's what Jesus offers.

We're going to see two more. So, let's go back to the slides. I have two more lessons for you.

By the way, this is the Church of the Ascension. This is the Mount of Olives. This is the temple mount. We're standing up by the Dome of the Rock. They led us up there, Bonnie and I, the last time we were there. Looking over where Jesus wept, Dominus Flevit, this is the Russian Orthodox Church of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed. This is where Jesus stood with the disciples, somewhere up here on top of the Mount of Olives. And while He had His arms out blessing them, He ascended to Heaven, right there. Isn't that fun to see that?

The apostles returned, it says In Acts 1, to the temple. This is a temple. Holy of Holies. The entire holy place, the Southern Steps. We're going to see this next week so we don't need to worry about it.

I'm going to show you this chart over and over again. Southern steps is number one. Gate Beautiful, chapter 3. See right there where Peter and John find the paralyzed man. Solomon's portico, this whole area, this surrounding wall right here. Look what happened there. That's where Jesus taught John 7, 8, and 10, and the Early Church gathered in Acts 3 and Acts chapter 5. So, we're going to study all that.

This is where these events happen. But Jesus said, until I return, this is what you have to look forward to. Me, coming to bless you and take you home. Me, checking whether or not you have done what I left you to do. I'm going to send wrath upon sinners, the Tribulation, when it's time. By the way, see this, I'm tracking with you all of the Book of Revelation, which is really what explains all prophecy. This is Christ's Second Coming. So that, what did the disciples ask? Remember what they ask in Acts chapter 1, verse 4, when are you going to let Israel be ruled by You as our Messiah? Right then? But Jesus said, I've got this to do, I've got this to do, I've got this to do, and I've got this to do. And so, you do what I left you to do until I come and get you. And then of course, the final rebellion and then we're going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So that's basically what Acts 1 is about, the continuation of the prophetic plan.

What's the fourth lesson? What in verse 12? Look over here in the Book of Acts. Chapter 1, verse 12, when they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivette. So, they were up there, I just showed it to you, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went into the Upper Room. I've already shown you that. And they were staying there. Remember, that was their base. And look at this, they continued with one accord. Do you see what I wrote in my Bible? Number one, passion to commune with God in prayer. The first activity after Christ's ascension was prayer. These continued with one accord in prayer. Now back to the slides. In Acts 1:12-14, the disciples had one holy passion for prayer, their first activity after Christ's ascension. God wants to unite our hearts for what makes us most useful and pleasing to Him as we go through life in His Church. What am I talking about?

We're standing, this railing is on the Mount of Olives. Guess what that is? That's the Church of the Dormition. Built next to right there, that's the Upper Room right there. So, you're looking from where Jesus ascended to where the disciples went back, the Upper Room right there.

What did they do in the Upper Room? Do you remember what happened, that the Last Supper was in the Upper Room, they had the Passover. Jesus washed their feet up there. They celebrated communion. He gave them the New Commandment. He promised that the they were going to their Father's house because He was the Way, Truth, and Life. He promised the Holy Spirit. He walks to Gethsemane and told them about being the Vine.

And this is the Upper Room. There's that church, the Dormition. Here's the sign. Here, walk through the Zion Gate and see the Jaffa Gate is that way. The Western Wall is that way. And look, you walk down this little corridor and you come to the Upper Room and this is where we are.

See, Acts 1:12-26, they return to stay in the upper room. See, that's chart seven. You need that chart. Get it on Facebook, okay?

This is us in the Upper Room. See, I'm reading. We're sitting in the upper room. There's Bonnie marking her Bible, and this is what we're reading about.

Look at verse 14. As Christ's body, we share a life of worship. This is the holy passion of the early saints. Look back at my Bible. See how I wrote number one right here. Now look in chapter 2, verse 1. I wrote, number two, passion for fellowship. Then look at chapter 2, verse 46. Number three, passion for worship, right there. Then look over in chapter 4, verse 24. 23, 24. Number four, a passion for needing God. Then look at chapter 5, verse 12. They were with all in one accordance, Solomon's porch. They had a passion for fellowship.

Now go back to the slides. If you will download chart 4. You need that because it introduces us in verse 14 of chapter 1. That's where we are to this Greek word homothymadon. It's right here, described. You can read it when you get your chart. And look, that word occurs in 1:14, 2:1, 2:46, 4:24, 5:12, 8:6 and 15:25. And so, that means all the way through Acts you're going to see me talking about it. They had a passion for worship, life together, fellowship, a life of prayer, being united, responding to the Word of God, and sharing a life of investment, of giving your life to serve the Lord.

Okay, we've got to finish last lesson in chapter 1. Here it is, what we do for Christ will last forever. Starting in Verse 15, Judas ends his own life, the disciples pick a new member, they go on and represent Christ. In verse 24, they pray over their decision. God may have had someone different since Jesus personally called to 12. Judas abandoned his calling, so Jesus went to another one named Saul, called him Paul, and he was probably the pick to be the 12th apostle. Most likely Paul's name is on the foundation stones of Heaven in Revelation 21:14. All of that is just a reminder what we do for Christ will last forever.

Real quickly, you're in the middle of discovering the Life and Letters course, a journey through Acts to see the context.

The Bible is our textbook.

This is chart number one, and we just have covered only this much right there. Acts chapter 1. Next time we get together, we're going to start with 2 and cover more than one chapter. This chart is so important because it talks about the places, who the Roman emperor is. Look at this Tiberius until chapter 10 is Caligula, and then we're going to get into Claudius and what he does for Paul's missionary journeys. Who the Roman governor is, the date, the key events, the focus, chapter 1 through 12 is primarily Peter, and what epistles are written. So, that's why you need that chart.

Remember our course goals, I showed them to you over here. Read your Bible devotionally, study the notes in the MacArthur Study Bible, watch and take notes on these videos, and write a prayer for every chapter.

Now let me pray this prayer with you. Okay? I wrote this in my journal and I'm going to read it right now with you.

Lord, thank you for staying and training Your team for 40 days. Your Great Commission at Arbel and then restated on the Mount of Olives is my desire. Thank you that Your plan was to penetrate the halls of the emperor with the Gospel through Paul's suffering and trial before Nero. I ask for Your power to do all that You ask and plan for me to do. I look for Your return to take me to the place that You've prepared for me. Fill me with the holy passion for You. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Just quickly, my last three challenges, find someone you can share your findings with. Now, look up for a second. I just got a note from a fellow this morning. I was going somewhere and I got a message; I don't remember where I was but I got a message. I looked down and it was a message from someone on YouTube, and they said this. They said, in your video this morning you said that we are to find a local church. I am in Australia. In my part of Australia, there are no local churches. I live in such a small town there's no local church. I so rarely ever answer any comment. I get hundreds of those kind of comments every day on YouTube. But for some reason, I was sitting there, I had a minute, it popped up and creator studio had a little box that said do you want to respond to this person? I said, yes. And I hit, yes. And you know what I wrote to him? What I just read to you. I said, if there really is no local church in your part of Australia, where you live, I said, if you know any other Christian in the entire town you ought to say to them, I am involved in a study and I would like to share what I'm writing in my journal, what I'm finding in the Bible with you. And if there's no other Christian in your town, then I said, why don't you ask God to let you lead someone to Christ and then disciple them. Instead of lamenting, I have nowhere to go to church. I don't have a good church. We were left here and all of us, look at this, God has a unique plan for each of our lives. That person, His plan is they live in a remote part of Australia. Gospel sharing is part of God's plan for every one of us. For me, when I'm at the car repair shop, or on an airplane, or standing in some part of the world teaching students, that's God's plan for me. His plan for you is the same. He made you unique. He wants you to share the Gospel. We're supposed to live like we're under the constant shower of blessing of Jesus saying, hey, I picked you. I chose you. I died in your place. I took all your sins. I want you to have endless hope. I want you living in hope. And we should be asking God to prompt us by His Holy Spirit to have that shared passion.

The shared passion, look back at the slides; to find people we can share the application of God's Word and how we're letting God change us.

A way to get bold is to start scripture memory. The navigators, and you can read about that down in the description of this on that Amazon link. You can get the 60 best verses, right there it says it, the 60 best verses in six versions of the Bible, one of them you'll like, that you can memorize and they teach you how to memorize. You should be memorizing scripture.

And I encourage you to pray for us.

Before we go. Look up for just a second. I'm going to close this video. I'm going to start running a video for you to get ready for next week, okay? And I'm taking you to the Upper Room, to that group I showed you, and I got my camera and I just held it while we sang in the Upper Room on Mount Zion, just like what you're going to see in chapter 2 next week. We sang Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me. My prayer for you is this, that you will pause and say, Lord, you made me uniquely. You left me here to share the Gospel. You're showering me with blessings. I want your Spirit to fill me with a passion to do what You left me to do because what we do for Christ, we last forever. Okay? That's God's plan. That's the Book of Acts, how the Gospel went global and we're part of it. And chapter 1 is, it's the continuation of Christ prophesied plan. He's already told us what's going to happen, and what we're supposed to do is understand His Word and go do what we were left to do. Look down to slides. Here comes that moment of us singing and I pray that you will surrender again to the Spirit of God, today. God bless you. See you next week.