Kaleb

Luke includes this long section about the apostles' imprisonment, trial before Sanhedrin and flogging; I think he tries to put emphasis on perseverance. Our faith requires consistency even in difficult circumstances, apostles show this character, they continue their ministry despite the threats and flogging from Sanhedrin. Since this is among the important themes of our faith that is why the writer spend a long section as possible that we as readers may grasp what is going on. In my culture i thank God we have grace to share about our faith openly, as long as you follow the law procedures, you can conduct even a crusade. And the church in our country we utilize this grace as far as we can. There is no hindering at all, for this may God help us to utilize even more, because we have no excuse to preach the gospel. Yes i do share my faith openly.

The central sin of Ananias and Sapphira in which they were guilty of was to lie that the amount of money they brought at the feet of the apostles as a result of selling a piece of property was exactly the same of the whole amount sold in reality. They wanted to be seen as they have given great amount to the less fortunate while in secret it wasn't true. Lying to Peter same as lying to the holy Spirit and lying to God because Peter didn't see what they did, the holy Spirit saw what they did in secret. And it was the holy Spirit who testified to Peter about what they did and the holy Spirit is the Third person of trinity, He is God. Acting towards the church as mere human institution put us under God's judgement because the church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Also board of management is responsible to God in heaven. Therefore sometimes we found ourselves under the punishment of God just because we failed to obey or failed to do things according to what the church of God gives us directions what to do. Knowingly or without knowing we must be very careful concerning what we treat the church institution. To test the Spirit of the Lord is to think that we can lie to God and get away with it. This is a terrible thing to do. It was wrong because it implies unbelief to God and to what is capable of doing.

Having everything in common is at the root of true Christian fellowship; This should never to be misunderstood with a certain socialism or comunism, no. This is an ultimate manifestation of the true Love in which Our heavenly father was the first one to show to us in John 3:16- "God so loved the world that He gave...." This is clearly the main root of true Christian fellowship. Disciples knew exactly what their Lord Jesus did on the cross, He was crucified for their sake and for the sake of the whole world. Therefore when persecution came upon them they found out that only loving one another could at least easy the situation, remembering the words of Jesus their Lord from John 13:34-35 commanding them to love one another that people may know that they were His disciples. The church fall short of this mainly because of ness among many christians. Not all but many of them, selfishness when it comes to help others who are in need, this is what makes church to fall short of this. However we have to forsake that selfishness because it hinder us to obey our Lord's command "Love one another" failure to do so will cost us not only in heaven but also here on earth we will never experience the blessings promised in the Bible.

Yes they were already baptized bya the holy Spirit when he came at the day of the Pentecost. But when the bible says they were all filled with the holy Spirit, this implies the following two great facts; 1. Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ(1 Corinthians 12:13) 2. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit(Matthew 3:11). Therefore from the two facts above, we can concentrate on the second in which we can see when the disciples prayed for boldness they were asking Jesus to give them power to proclaim His word confidently. And how the Lord responded It's amazing, the bible says the earth were Shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. That means whenever we ask the Lord to do something which is according to his will, and at this particular phenomenon; strength,enablement to preach his word, The Lord will fill us again with the power through the Holy Spirit in which we can stand and do it boldly no matter what circumstances is facing us.

Boldness is the fearlessness confidence of doing something that one couldn't do normally. Believers pray for boldness because the situation sorrounds them was difficult to face, they were most wanted people that authorities looked for in order to persecute and to stop them from what they were doing; preaching about the risen savior and Messiah named Jesus. They need boldness in this circumstance because they needed to continue to do what they were doing. This was just the beginning of their journey to do what the Lord Jesus commanded them. The opposition was so huge, that's why they needed boldness to move forward. Faith is the assurance of the things hoped for, conviction of things unseen. This tell us that believers had 100% sure of what they believed. They had a distinguished character, never compromise in whatever difficult situation they faced. This is what we need to grasp especially in our generation, today's church seems to be Easily to compromise and go against what our faith direct us.

The bible commands us to be submissive to parents, authorities and those who above us. The bible is the word of God, when God commands us to to something it's for our own good. There's always blessings when we obey the word of God no matter what environment culture or any situation we face. The important thing here is how do we balance this, it's not easy with our own ability or fleshly efforts. We can only be able by being empowered by the help of the Holy Spirit. Even apostles were able by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Therefore we must seek daily intimacy relationship with God to be able to balance being able to obey God and being humble and submissive to authorities.

Jesus is the exclusive way to God, the implications to this truth is that those who will choose to believe this truth will have eternal life, and not only eternal life to come but even their life here on earth will have benefits mentioned on the book of psalms 103:3-5. On the other hand for those who reject this truth by whatever reason they have, the bad news is that they are already condemned John 3:18. Also they will be eternally damned in the lake of fire as written in the book of revelation 20:15. This conviction energize evangelism because it gives us as the church that urgency of making more effort to reach those people who are unreached yet bay this gospel of truth. And to those who have been reached but they hardened their hearts we continue to pray for them that grace of God to reach them one day that they will believe. Our culture resists this belief so adamantly because of some several factors in which to me is vain and it's the deception of the evil one whom from the beginning was against the salvation. However he will end up in the lake of fire with those who will choose to follow him.

Repentance means to change (to turn). When we have a true repentance the result is that God forgives us and we find peace of mind and our hearts experience newness. Therefore this situation of peace of mind and heart obviously results into personal 'times of refreshing'. The ultimate "time of refreshing" according to acts 3:19-20 will come when Jesus returns on the earth as a ruler. Prince of peace will reign as the messiah.

The kind power we do possess in the name of Jesus is so remarkable, since this name has a huge impact in our faith that gives us the following; Identity- power comes from one's identity, the name of Jesus identify us as believers with power inside us resulted from the name of Jesus we have given. Renown- the name of Jesus is the only name that is famous above all names in all generations. For us having this name we possess power resulted from it being renown. Person- we possess power through the name of Jesus because that name puts Godly personality inside us. When the enemy sees us, see God inside us, and hence we are untouchable. Authority- Above all we have authority through this name, thus we possess power resulted from the authority the name of Jesus have. Many believers conclude their prayers "in Jesus name, Amen" because of the authority that is in this name. It's like a seal over everything. Praying in Jesus' name relates to pray in God's will because Jesus told His disciples that if they saw Him they have already saw the Father(God the Father.) Therefore the will of God is in the name of Jesus. Yes we can misuse the name of Jesus, that's when we use it independently, for our own interests; outside God's will.

Characteristics of the early church according to acts 2:42-47 are necessary for our today's churches. 1. Devotion to apostle's doctrine- apostle's doctrine was all about Jesus,and Jesus always taught about true repentance, this is also necessary for our churches today, we may have other teachings but we must insist people especially in our congregations to turn from sinful life and live a holy life that pleases God. 2. Devotion to fellowship- this fellowship we see from the early church is necessary to us today, we really need it. People nowdays seem to be very busy to a point that they miss fellowship between one another and if that is missing, there can never be true prayer, true service in our congregations. 3. Devotion to breaking of bread- today's church we have it as the Lord's table, this is also so necessary because it when we commemorate how Jesus gave His life for us. Devotion to prayer- prayer must be a life style of today's church. In our days we need prayer more than anything else since the world now is in great trouble. As church we must stand together praying with all the efforts. Devotion to care for one another- This shows love, a true love that Jesus taught us. Even if we would not apply it as the early church did, but we can show it in other and a very good way of caring for one another as a a church of Christ. In our church, we are more healthy in apostle's teaching (doctrine), in Prayer, and in breaking the bread.(Lord's table) We are unhealthy in taking care for one another, True fellowship is not consistent because people are very busy. May the Lord help us.

Repentance means change of mind/heart this implies that you must turn away from a way of thinking you had before. So it's not only about asking for forgiveness, it's more than that. And that's how makes it vital for forgiveness from God. Baptism means one immersed fully in water. Actually once we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, The Holy Spirit baptize us (immersed us in the body of Christ. That is an action of faith. Therefore baptism in water also is vital to forgiveness since it shows how our faith is complete. The gift of the Holy Spirit is to all; the Jews and gentiles; the bible says this gift is for you and your children, for those who are far off and those whom God will call. The only way that we can be saved from this corrupt culture of today is for us not to conform to the ways of this world. As the bible says in Romans 12:2.

The preaching of Peter in all it's parts full of the Holy Spirit had a very clear message to his audience who were there that day. He preached about Jesus from the beginning to the end of the sermon. Since they knew Jesus and they were familiar with what happened few days ago, the people were hugely convicted when they were led in the truth of Jesus by the holy Spirit, especially when they heard about; 1. His incarnation (verse 22) 2. His crucifixion (verse 23) which declares divine sovereignty and human responsibility which tells us that the Lord died for a purpose. 3. His resurrection (verse 24) Peter showed that this Was predicted in the old testament (verse 25-28) and this was always a very great emphasis on apostolic teaching and preaching.

These messages in tongues so convincing to the crowd due to the fact that it was amazing. They were highly perplexed, Imagine in an environment that you don't expect this; that you hear someone speaking in your own native language, and above all the different languages even your colleagues from other countries say they hear the same thing. I can't even imagine this! It's so hard to explain. The content of the message was so clear ; they were telling the mighty deeds, wonderful works, in general the greatness of the highly exalted and mighty GOD. We also find these messages in Old Testament books of the bible. Especially prophetic books. But even some of the books of Moses, among those five. For example in Exodus chapter 14.

Sound of wind; violent rushing wind(pnoe) filled the house they they were gathered(acts 2:2). The synonym pneuma which refers to breath or Spirit. This signifies that there were an audible manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Of the flames; something that looked like flickering tongues of fire rested on them(acts 2:3). When you look at the fire flames ? ? it's like a separate parts. This signifies that there were the Visible manifestation of the holy Spirit. Of the spontaneous speaking of the praises of God ina other languages; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance.(acts 2:4). Speaking in tongues here means Miraculously speaking in a recognizable Foreign language which one has not previously learned. This signifies that there were linguistic manifestation of the holy Spirit. This filling permanent dwelling of the holy Spirit inside the believer. Where as in the old testament holy spirit dwelt temporarily inside the believer. However the outcome and manifestation is the same, that is how they conform.

Prayer is a very wonderful experience one needs to have. I can't imagine and even trying to describe this unit of 120 people gathered together with one accord praying to GOD. Yes I have participated in a group of people of that number or more when i attended prayer conference. Yes I do value prayers and in small groups of our church we regularly meet to pray. Prayer meetings at our church is non stop; we have a chain of prayer every week there's a group of people who are responsible to pray in those seven days! Quote