New Testament / Acts

  • The Ecumenical Council

    Acts 15:1–35

    The church is not immune to the temptation to elevate “custom” to the level of law. Fueling that temptation is the desire to see those who are different become like us. Examine the standard with which you judge people. Does ...Read More

  • The Final Judgment

    Acts 17:22–34

    The assurance of the coming final judgment should motivate us to share the Gospel with our loved ones who do not know Christ. Friends and family who do not follow Jesus will suffer for eternity because their sins have not ...Read More

  • The First Christian Martyr

    Acts 7

    Three things in Stephen’s speech enraged the Jews: He pointed out (1) that they had always persecuted the prophets; (2) that the prophets had often gone to the Gentiles and been better received; (3) that the Greater Temple and ...Read More

  • The Fullness of Prophecy

    Acts 2:14-39

    The impoverished life led by so many believers results from not walking in the power of the Spirit. Understand the importance of our union with Christ and of the Spirit’s work since Pentecost. Do not neglect, grieve, or quench ...Read More

  • The Great Conspiracy

    Acts 4:23–37

    Satan did not stop conspiring against God and His Anointed after the work of Herod and Pilate. He is continually at work. C. S. Lewis said that we often err either by ascribing too much or too little power to ...Read More

  • The Greater Pentecost

    Acts 2:1-13

    The manifest presence of God emboldened the early church to the monumental task at hand, going into all the world and making disciples. That task still lies before us. Remember the boldness of the early church in the face of ...Read More

  • The Marks of the Church

    Acts 2:42

    True churches are identified by their faithfulness to the Word of God, not by their size or influence in the community. A church that hears and obeys Scripture cannot help but reach out to the society around it, but the ...Read More

  • The Power of Prayer

    Acts 12

    For the Gospel to spread, we must pray for the deliverance of oppressed Christians and the destruction of the enemies of the church. We do not dictate to God how to destroy them. He may destroy them as He did ...Read More

  • The Return of Christ

    Acts 1:6–11

    The sure hope of the Lord’s return has provided strength to many a suffering Christian. Knowing that Jesus will come again to consummate God’s kingdom helps us see the trials of life in their proper perspective and endure ...Read More

  • The Sign and the Things Signified

    Acts 2:38

    The passage for today’s study is drawn from question and answer 66 of the Heidelberg Catechism, which reminds us that the promise sealed in the sacraments is the promise to forgive the sins of all those who rest in ...Read More

  • The Spread of the Gospel

    Acts 9:19–10:8

    Think about your own locality. How is the Gospel spreading in your town, city, or metropolitan area? Does your church have a strategy for reaching ever wider through ministries of the church and community, and by supporting missionaries around the ...Read More

  • The Sure Blessings of David

    Acts 13:13-52

    Being faithful and true, God must keep His covenant promises, so His pledge to give David’s greater son the holy and sure blessings of David is a pledge to bring Him back to life that He might, as the ...Read More

  • The Touch of Worship

    Acts 6:1–7

    Paul exhorts us to “greet one another with a holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16). The way in which we can appropriately convey the love of God physically differs from culture to culture. But whether it is a handshake, hug, or ...Read More

  • The Transfer of the Kingdom

    Acts 13–14:7

    Just as the first missionaries took the ministry of the Good News to their own first, in some sense we also have home ministry obligations to the family of God which should take precedence over those outside the covenant community ...Read More

  • True Confidence in Christ

    Acts 4:1-22

    Arrogance is a false confidence based on your own ability. True confidence comes from faith in our omnipotent God. Peter was doubtless courteous but also consummately bold before the highest court among the Jews. These men had put Jesus to ...Read More