New Testament

Acts

What happened when a frightened group of friends stopped being frightened.

History · 28 chapters · About 2 hours

Luke's second volume, c. AD 62–80

Overview

Acts begins with a hundred and twenty people in a room and ends with the message in Rome. In between: prison breaks, shipwrecks, riots, and a lot of arguing about who is welcome.

The real protagonist is the Spirit, who keeps pushing the church across borders it did not want to cross — to Samaritans, to an Ethiopian official, to Gentiles.

It ends abruptly, without resolution, because the book is still being written.

What it keeps returning to

Widening

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. The circle never stops expanding.

The Spirit

Every major turn in Acts is initiated by God, not by strategy.

Community

They shared meals, money and prayers — and people noticed.

Start here

  • Acts 2

    Pentecost, and the first sermon.

  • Acts 9:1–19

    The conversion that changed the map.

  • Acts 16:16–34

    Midnight singing in a Philippian jail.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the end of the earth.

Acts 1:8