Acts by Gary DeLashmutt (2008)

Throughout the first half of the book of Acts, we see that spiritual renewal is propelled and accompanied by two things: Word and deed. Jesus' followers share the Gospel, and their actions practically demonstrate God's love for people. Word and deed are completely interrelated, and we explore the necessity of action accompanying sharing the Good News.

Luke records the event that led to the first spiritual renewal - a time where God works powerfully in and through Christians - in the early church movement. This event, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, led to thousands coming to Christ in a day. From this event we can glean four elements we should expect to see during a spiritual renewal. We should see: 1) Christians united in ongoing, corporate prayer, 2) Christians being moved by God to speak personally about Him to others, 3) God mobilizing His people to reach other cultures, and 4) people being polarized by the message of Christ.

Acts three demonstrates a continued pattern for spiritual renewal, or times where God works powerfully through His people to demonstrate the goodness of Jesus. The pattern is that Jesus' followers pray, Jesus acts, people question, the followers answer with the gospel of Christ, and people come to believe. So, what is this message Jesus' followers were sharing? We break down Peter's explanation of the Gospel as well as the proper and improper responses to this message.

Satan is opposed to spiritual renewal. In Acts four and five, we see an example of one of his usual tactics, attacking from within using hypocrisy, and how God intervened. We analyze what is so damaging about hypocrisy, why God punished Ananias and Sapphira the way He did, and how we can cooperate with God and experience a low-hypocrisy church.

In times of spiritual renewal, when God is working powerfully in and through His followers to demonstrate how real and good Jesus is, one element we can expect to see is many people converting. This conversion is not a somber commitment to a religious code, but a joyous, life-altering encounter with the living Jesus. The account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch illustrates two universal lessons about conversion: 1) God draws all kinds of people to Himself, and 2) He uses His willing followers to help those people He's already reaching out to.