ACT-101
The Book of Acts I (chs. 1–12)
The birth of the church at Pentecost and Peter's Acts 2:38 sermon, studied verse by verse.
Topics: Acts 2:38, Pentecost, Early church
Suggested resource: Your own Acts 2:38 lesson series and Project Zion materials as the primary text.
Week 1: Waiting for the Promise, and the Day It Arrived
Reading: Luke 24:44–49; Acts 1, 2:1–21
Luke's gospel and the book of Acts are really one continuous story by the same author, and Acts 1 opens exactly where Luke's gospel ended: the risen Jesus commanding His disciples not to leave Jerusalem “until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Acts 1 shows forty days of resurrection appearances, Jesus' ascension in front of witnesses, and the disciples returning to an upper room to wait and pray with one accord — joined by Mary the mother of Jesus, His brothers, and about 120 believers total (1:15), who also handle the practical matter of replacing Judas among the twelve.
Then Acts 2 opens: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (2:1). Pentecost was one of Israel's three mandatory pilgrimage feasts, held fifty days after Passover, which meant Jerusalem was filled with devout Jews and converts to Judaism from across the Roman world — Acts 2:9–11 names Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Crete, and Arabia. Into that packed, multinational crowd came “a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,” filling the house, and “cloven tongues like as of fire” sitting upon each of them, and “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (2:2–4). The visiting crowd was amazed to hear their own native languages coming from Galilean disciples, while others mocked, assuming drunkenness. Peter's answer — that this was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy of the Spirit poured out on all flesh — sets up the sermon whose response, Acts 2:38 and its aftermath, you'll study verse by verse in Soteriology (THE-102) this term.
Key terms: Luke-Acts as one continuous narrative, The 120 in the upper room, Pentecost's pilgrimage-feast setting, The multinational Acts 2:9–11 crowd
Discussion Questions
- Why does it matter that the Pentecost crowd was made up of Jews and converts from so many different nations, rather than just local Jerusalem residents?
- What do you think it was like to wait ten days in an upper room, as the 120 did, not knowing exactly what the promised power would look like when it came?
Challenge: Read Acts 1–2 in one sitting without stopping, and write a simple timeline of events from the ascension through the crowd's reaction to the tongues.
Week 2: The Church in Jerusalem
Reading: Acts 3–4, 5:1–11, 6–7
The young church immediately begins operating in the power it just received. At the temple gate, Peter tells a lame beggar, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (3:6) — and when the healed man draws a crowd, Peter preaches Christ again and is arrested along with John. Brought before the same council that had condemned Jesus, Peter answers with the boldness that becomes the young church's defining mark: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (4:12) — the same name, and the same confidence, you studied in Acts 2:38.
Acts 5 shows how seriously God treats hypocrisy inside the church: Ananias and Sapphira sell property, secretly keep back part of the proceeds, and lie to the Holy Ghost about it — and both die on the spot, so that “great fear came upon all the church” (5:11). Acts 6–7 then introduces Stephen, a Spirit-filled deacon whose defense before the council retells the whole history of Israel to demonstrate that the nation had always resisted the Spirit's messengers, ending with his martyrdom — stoned to death while praying, in words that echo Jesus' own words on the cross, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (7:60). Stephen's death, and the persecution that follows it, becomes the hinge that scatters the gospel beyond Jerusalem in the very next chapter.
Key terms: Acts 4:12 (none other name), Boldness before the council, Ananias and Sapphira, Stephen's martyrdom
Discussion Questions
- What does the believers' response to persecution in Acts 4:23–31 teach you about how to pray under pressure?
- Why do you think Luke includes the uncomfortable story of Ananias and Sapphira right alongside stories of the church's growth and power?
Challenge: Read Stephen's speech in Acts 7 in full and outline, section by section, how he traces Israel's history to make his final point.
Week 3: The Gospel Breaks Out
Reading: Acts 8–10, 11:1–18, 12
Persecution scatters the believers out of Jerusalem, and instead of shutting the gospel down, it spreads it. Philip preaches in Samaria with signs following, then is sent by an angel to a single Ethiopian official reading Isaiah 53 in his chariot; when Philip explains that the passage points to Christ, the man asks to be baptized immediately, and Philip does it on the spot (8:26–39) — a picture of the gospel reaching “the uttermost part of the earth” exactly as Acts 1:8 promised. Acts 9 then records the dramatic conversion of Saul, the church's chief persecutor, blinded by a light from heaven on the road to Damascus and told directly by the risen Christ, “why persecutest thou me?” — the same Saul who becomes the apostle Paul.
Acts 10 breaks the largest barrier yet. Peter, still assuming the gospel is for Jews only, is given a vision three times commanding him not to call anything God has cleansed common, then is sent to the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion — a Gentile. While Peter is still speaking, “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word,” and the Jewish believers with Peter “were astonished… because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God” (10:44–46) — the identical evidence given to the 120 at Pentecost. Peter then commands them to “be baptized in the name of the Lord” (10:48), applying the exact Acts 2:38 pattern to Gentiles for the first time. When the Jerusalem church questions Peter about eating with Gentiles, his defense is simple: “forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us… what was I, that I could withstand God?” (11:17) — and the church accepts that the New Birth experience was never meant for Jews only.
Key terms: Philip and the Ethiopian official, Saul's conversion (Acts 9), Cornelius's household (Acts 10:44–48), The pattern extended to Gentiles
Discussion Questions
- Why was it significant that the Gentiles received the Holy Ghost 'as we did at the beginning' (Acts 11:15), with the identical evidence of speaking in tongues?
- How does Saul's conversion encourage you about anyone you know who seems far from God right now?
Challenge: Compare Acts 2:1–4, Acts 10:44–46, and Acts 19:1–6 side by side, and write down exactly what evidence is identical in all three accounts.
Course Exam
Five questions for review or self-testing.
Q: What are the three parts of Peter's instruction in Acts 2:38?
Reveal Answer
Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Q: Who does Peter say the promise of Acts 2:39 is for?
Reveal Answer
'You, and to your children, and to all that are afar off' — every generation and every nation.
Q: What happened to Stephen, and why does it matter?
Reveal Answer
He was martyred after a Spirit-filled defense before the council, marking a turning point toward the gospel spreading beyond Jerusalem.
Q: What breakthrough happens in Acts 10?
Reveal Answer
The Holy Ghost falls on Cornelius, a Gentile, exactly as at Pentecost, proving the Acts 2:38 experience was for every nation.
Q: How did persecution affect the spread of the gospel in Acts 8–12?
Reveal Answer
Rather than stopping it, persecution scattered believers and caused the gospel to spread further.