The Twenty-Ninth Chapter

The Twenty-Ninth Chapter

As we look back on the 28 chapters of Luke’s account of the early church, we find Jesus making and keeping a promises to his followers: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth…”  (Acts 1:8)  Notice the form of this verse. It’s not a mission statement. It’s not a command. It’s a promise: “You will be my witnesses…”, and by the end of the Acts-account, we find that this has happened.  And here we are, in the remotest parts of the earth, carrying that same mission.  In Acts we find a church which, though 2000 years distant, very closely resembles ours today. We find an unstoppable, gospel-powered church. And we find the pattern of the church we are to be: a worshipping, caring, proclaiming, expanding, and never-fearing church.