Trips taken to preach the Gospel and establish churches, primarily taken in the Bible by Paul. Extrabiblical history indicates most of the apostles journeyed away from Jerusalem preaching the Gospel, traveling thousands of miles altogether.

However, Acts only focuses on some of Peter’s work and most of Paul’s as it demonstrates the progression of the Gospel as Jesus depicted in Acts 1:8.

It also shows the fulfillment of Matthew 10:16-20, where Jesus told the apostles they would preach in synagogues but eventually be brought before kings. As Acts progresses, Paul gains access to higher and higher authorities to share the Gospel with them.

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Folk wisdom tells us that there are two ways to spur others to action: we can entice people with a reward, called the carrot. Or, we can motivate with a threat, called the stick.

The Gospel is both carrot and stick.

It is good news, but failure to accept and respond to the good news will result in bad news. God calls us with His love and kindness toward us, but if that is not sufficient to motivate us to listen and obey, perhaps the threat of judgment will.

We see this two-sided dynamic in arguably the three most famous evangelistic texts in the Bible.

In John 4, Jesus offered living water to the woman at the well, an obvious carrot. This grabbed her interest from the start. But, in the course of conversation, Jesus also pointed to the error of her religion and her lifestyle. There was a beautiful promise, but it came with a corrective.

In Acts 2, Peter did not mince words in convicting the crowd for crucifying Jesus. Yet, the message ended with the offer of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit in baptism. Their guilt introduced the stick, cutting them to the quick. His solution extended the carrot.

And, in Acts 17, Paul told the people on Mars Hill that the true God was near to them, if they would but reach for Him. He immediately followed this message of hope with a reminder that it was time to repent, for that same God had fixed a day of judgment. Once again, carrot and stick.

The more we grow in Christ, the more we see the goodness of God, and the more we appreciate the carrot as a motivator. But, on the days when our faith in God’s goodness grows weak, the stick can help us stay on track, too. May we give thanks, appreciate, and respond properly to God’s motivation from both directions.

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Actually named Joseph but known as Barnabas (which is translated “son of encouragement”), he was introduced as one who sold his land and brought the proceeds to the apostles to help poor brethren (Acts 4:36-37).

Later, his reputation as an encourager was displayed when he vouched for Paul, urged the apostles to accept the former persecutor (Acts 9:27), and recruited Paul to work with him at Antioch. They would later take a missionary journey together, converting many and establishing churches in towns where the Gospel had not yet reached. They parted ways in a “sharp contention” over Barnabas’ cousin John Mark, who had deserted them on their mission (Acts 15:36-41).

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Non-Jewish people. Under the Old Law, Gentiles had to fully become proselytes (converts who accepted a new Jewish identity, circumcision and all) to have full participation with the Jews in worship (Exodus 12:48-49).

Though the Law was exclusionary, the Israelites were always meant to show God’s grace to the Gentiles as a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). One of Jesus’ charges against Israel when He cleansed the temple was that they had not become the light to the nations that they were meant to be (Mark 11:17).

Though Jesus made it clear the kingdom was to spread to all peoples (a teaching documented especially in Luke’s Gospel), the early church was hesitant to include the Gentiles.

God called Peter to the house of a Roman centurion named Cornelius and showed the apostle the door was opened to the Gentiles by pouring the Spirit out on Cornelius and his household (Acts 10-11). Romans 9-11 is an extensive explanation of God’s plan to bring Jews and Gentiles together into one new family in Christ.

The degree to which the Law applied to Christians, and particularly Gentile Christians, was one of the New Testament church’s primary concerns. Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and other texts feature direct discussions of the matter.

After Paul and Barnabas’ early mission work, the church had to decide what to do about a number of Jew/Gentile cultural matters, so, in Acts 15, they gathered a council of apostles and leaders in Jerusalem. The foremost of these issues was circumcision.

Some were insisting that Gentiles who converted must also be circumcised. The council rejected this idea, as it would mean salvation was not by grace. In the book of Galatians, Paul passionately advocated for this point and strongly condemned the Judaizers who “bewitched” the Galatian Christians (3:1).

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“Back to School.” Even after nearly two decades since my last school year, those three words still instinctively make my heart sink just a bit.

That’s a leftover effect from when I was a kid, and those back to school sale commercials signaled that the end of my freedom was drawing nigh. Soon I’d be back at a desk again, pencil in hand, plodding through another school year.

Though I’m thankful to not be taking algebra anymore, I did eventually come to realize that learning was fun, and that it need not stop with the daily bell or the final walk across the stage at graduation.

Unfortunately, it can be easy to settle into life routines as adults and lose the hunger for knowledge that keeps us learning. There are many reasons to be a lifelong learner, but that goes double for Christians.

We get to learn the Word.

One of the greatest joys of Bible study is that you soon realize you will never run out of things to learn. On a literary level, the Book is spectacularly complex and always makes study worthwhile. On a personal level, the way it shapes us as we read it should always keep us going back for more.

We get to learn who God is.

Every day is another chance to grow more familiar with our Creator, Lord, and Savior. What a privilege it is to get to know Him!

We get to learn about others.

Part of being a Christian is developing a curiosity about other people. Loving and serving one another requires being familiar with one another and paying attention to each other’s needs. It’s another privilege to know each other enough to get to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

Even if school days are well in your past, learning should never end. Every day we get a chance to learn things that make our lives better, and we should take advantage of the opportunities.

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A Pharisee and persecutor of the church who converted after an encounter with Jesus. Paul was sent by God as the apostle to the Gentiles, completing missionary journeys all over the Greco-Roman world. He also penned 13 or 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament.

His name change is a matter of some confusion. It’s not necessarily true that he became Paul upon conversion, as he continued to be called Saul until his first missionary journey. And, it wasn’t technically a name change as Paul is merely the way the Latin and Greek languages translate Saul. Still, the shift from Saul to Paul does seem to align with his commission from God as apostle to the Gentiles.

He embodies a number of striking parallels to King Saul beyond just the shared name. Both were from the tribe of Benjamin, both considered themselves to be “the least” and unworthy of their role, both “stood above” their peers (one physically, the other in achievement), and both persecuted the Davidic King. The only difference is, Paul eventually repented and bowed before the King.

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Stephen

The church’s first martyr, a deacon of the church at Jerusalem who was stoned to death based on false accusations for preaching the Gospel(Acts 6-7). Paul’s first appearance (as Saul) occurrs at Stephen’s death.

Deacons

An official position of service to the church. In Acts 6, seven men were appointed by the apostles to make sure all of the widows were receiving a fair share of bread. Paul gave a list of qualifications for those who would serve as deacons in 1 Timothy 3.

In the Acts account, the apostles explained they needed men to fill the role of deacon as they themselves were occupied with prayer and ministry of the Word. This establishes a division of labor of sorts for official church positions.

Those who are charged with spiritual teaching and oversight should not be forced to concern themselves with material concerns such as upkeep of the church building. Rather, they should delegate such tasks to faithful men who meet the qualifications given in 1 Timothy 3.

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Before Jesus’ ascension, He told the apostles to go and tell people of His death and resurrection, and that they should respond by repenting of their sins (Luke 24:46-47). As you read Acts, you see that’s exactly what they did. Everywhere they went, the resurrection was at the heart of their message.

Obviously every Christian knows the resurrection happened, but have you considered its’ many implications that gave it such a prominent place in the church’s mission?

There is a God

We might be able to resuscitate someone who flatlines for a short time, but coming back from being dead all weekend just doesn’t happen. It requires supernatural intervention. That Jesus rose from the dead proves definitively that there are powers beyond what we know in this world—indeed, that there is a God.

The Bible is real

Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Talmudic Judaism, and countless other religions have their sacred texts and doctrines, but what sets the Bible apart? It’s the only one whose Founder was witnessed coming back from the dead. Game, set, match: Christianity is the true religion.

Jesus is Lord

If somebody among us says they came from heaven and claims all authority over us, it’s pretty natural for people to be skeptical. If He calls His shot by saying He will die and rise again… and then does it? Yeah, that settles it. He’s in charge, and what He says goes. We all must bow the knee to Him.

Death is conquered

Despite what scientists are attempting, mankind’s biggest problem is not one man can fix. Death comes to us all. But now that we have a resurrected Lord who promised to resurrect His own, just as He was resurrected? Problem solved. Death’s sting is gone.

Everything hinges on the resurrections. As the apostle said, if it isn’t true, we’ve wasted our lives, and we are the most pitiable people alive. But it is true, and it changes everything. Praise God, Christ is risen, and we will rise, too!

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Also known as Feast of Weeks, a holiday described in Deuteronomy 16:9-12. It was a celebration of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22). The name Pentecost derives from the number 50, because this feast occurred 50 days after Passover.

It was on this holiday the Holy Spirit was sent upon the apostles with the sound of a rushing wind and the appearance of tongues of fire above their heads. Because so many Jews had traveled from foreign lands for the holiday, the apostles were given the miracle of tongues to preach the Gospel so that each person could hear it in their own language (Acts 2).

This serves as a reversal of sorts of Babel (Genesis 11). Rather than God confusing the languages and dispersing the people, He brought scattered people of different nations together as one in the name of Jesus.

The Pentecost account concludes with 3,000 being baptized in response to Peter’s message and the early church uniting in service, fellowship, and worship (Acts 2:37-47).

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One of the frustrating things about the Biblical narrative is how often you see sins and mistakes repeated. One generation gets themselves in trouble, and only two or three generations later another will get themselves in the exact same trouble.

On the other hand, it’s refreshing to see a past mistake avoided the next time around. When that happens we see that we don’t have to learn lessons the hard way.

We see this kind of hopeful correction happen in Ezra and Nehemiah.

In Ezra, Zerubbabel led the Jewish captives home to rebuild the temple. They had the blessing and financial support of the Persian emperor, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Then, discouragement came. Accusations were made, rumors were started, and the work was brought to a halt. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah had to come along to remind the people that God was on their side, and that the job must be finished (Ezra 5:1-2). Zerubbabel and co. were emboldened, and the work began again.

Later on, Nehemiah’s story took a similar path, but he made a far better choice. He led workers home to rebuild Jerusalem’s city walls, and he, too, had the support of the Persian emperor. Just as before, discouragement came. Accusations, rumors, threats, and deceptive plans were all thrown at Nehemiah and his crew of builders.

And… he didn’t care. He dodged their schemes, refused to play their games, and kept the work going. He prayed (Nehemiah 4:9), encouraged the people (4:14), equipped them to defend themselves (4:21-23), and shut down the critics’ attempts (6:3). He knew the work was what God wanted him to do, and so he kept right on doing it.

We can learn from his determination, but we can also learn from his course correction from his predecessors.

Just because things were done a certain way previously, it doesn’t mean we have to fall into the same mistakes. Nehemiah didn’t need a Haggai or Zechariah to tell him to get back to work, because he knew not to stop.

We, too, should be able to learn from examples good and bad to inform better decisions today.

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The Great Commission

Jesus’ command to His disciples to take His message to the world and make more disciples, given shortly before His ascension. Matthew 28:18-20 is the passage most closely associated with the term, though Mark 16:15-16, Luke 24:46-48, and Acts 1:8 give similar charges to go and preach.

Though typically taken as our charge to evangelize, Jesus’ words in Matthew go beyond just evangelism to include teaching those who are baptized to observe His commandments.

Taken together, these elements give us the church’s primary role in the world. The book of Acts depicts the way the first Christians carried out this Commission.

Disciples

A disciple is a student or follower of another. Jesus had a number of disciples during His time on Earth, and upon His ascension He commanded His disciples to go forth and make more disciples. It is not enough to be a Christian in name only: one must be a disciple, a true follower of Jesus.

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In one sense, all sins are equal in their power to separate us from God. In another, some of them are far easier to slip into than others. As Jesus pointed out, we may not ever murder somebody, but we sure can hate them, and that’s no good either.

So, it’s those little sins that can tangle up our feet as we run our race toward Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Consider a few of the more commonly accepted ones and why they can be so detrimental:

The juicy gossip

It’s hard to resist listening in on that tidbit about so-and-so, or chiming in with an unflattering story about someone being discussed. But does it pass the Golden Rule test? If you were the one removed from that room, would you want it being said about you?

The lingering look

It’s far less than a pornography addiction, so that lingering look at a body that catches the eye can be easier to justify. Whether it’s a person walking down a street or someone in an unfortunate internet ad who has just a little too little clothing on, they can serve as a test of our belief that we are better off serving God than indulging the flesh.

The casual grumble

Mondays, amiright? Ugh, bills. You know the type of speech. It’s ok to be frustrated at some of life’s inconveniences, but grumbling is incompatible to our command to rejoice in all things. And, it becomes a self-feeding habit in which things to complain about are easier to see with each passing grumble, and we end up surrounding ourselves with people who like to complain with us.

If you committed adultery or robbed a bank, it would be headline news, and you’d probably face strong opposition. Commit one of these “little” sins though, and most won’t confront you or even know that they need to.

Policing our thoughts and our words is one of the toughest parts of our sanctification, but it’s vitally necessary if we’re going to enjoy Christ as we should.

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Jesus’ bodily assumption into heaven following His resurrection. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He is seated until His enemies are all made His footstool (Psalm 110:1, Acts 2:34).

After He had disappeared out of their sight, the apostles were told Jesus would return in the same manner in which He had left (Acts 1:9-11).

Some believe Daniel 7:13-14 and Revelation 4–5 depict the scene in heaven at the time of Jesus’ ascension.

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When the hard times come, most Christians ramp up their time spent in prayer—and understandably so. A scary diagnosis, a job loss, and other major upheavals send us seeking God’s aid, as He is a present help in our troubles (Psalm 46:1).

However, it can be easy to forget that He’s there for us in the little challenges, too.

A car accident might send us before God’s throne seeking help in a way that the stress of a busy week, or the anxiety from a difficult boss, or the pain of occasional marital strains might not. But God still sees our pain in those struggles. He still cares, even when we feel our concerns might be a bit trivial for Him.

In the context of discussing our various trials, James told us to ask God for wisdom, with the faith that He will give it to us (James 1:5-8). Notice what James didn’t do: he didn’t put a size limit on the trials we’re allowed to ask about. Elsewhere, when the Bible speaks of God’s comfort, there is no footnote that says He’ll comfort us in the death of a loved one, but not when we feel overwhelmed with our daily duties.

It is only our arbitrary standards that decide what constitutes a big trial and a little trial. God has not put such limitations on Himself, so we should not feel embarrassed to take our burdens before Him—even if they are lighter than other burdens.

As you go about your week, notice the little things that put you on edge or nag at you. Don’t hesitate to lay them at the Father’s feet and ask for wisdom and peace so you can have a clear head and glorify Him by your attitude and response.

What a blessing it is to have a Father who cares about us and our stresses, no matter the size.

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To be raised from the dead, as Jesus was on the third day. It is Jesus’ resurrection which is at the center of Gospel preaching (Luke 24:46-47, Acts 2:29-36, 3:14-16, 4:1-2, 4:33, 17:18, 17:31-32).

Why? Because if our sins had been paid for but death, the curse of sin, were not conquered, we would still have no hope of eternal life. Also, because the resurrection establishes Jesus’ Lordship.

No other religious leader has ever declared He would defeat death and then successfully done so, attested by hundreds of eyewitnesses who would willingly go to their deaths to defend what they had seen.

Without the resurrection, there is no point to Christianity (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). Jesus’ death paid the debt for our sins, and His life gave us the hope of conquering death unto eternal life. Because He has been raised, so also all who are baptized into Him will be raised to eternal life (Romans 6:3-9).

Every person who ever lived will technically be resurrected, with some resurrected unto life and some resurrected unto judgment (John 5:28-29, Acts 24:15). According to Revelation 20:13-15, those resurrected unto judgment will experience a short-lived resurrection as they will then be cast into the lake of fire.

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Much has been said about some of the top anti-baptism arguments, such as the thief on the cross or the idea that baptism is a work. However, there are plenty of other arguments that are thrown out against the necessity of baptism, and it’s good to be prepared to answer those, too.

One such argument comes from 1 Corinthians 1:17a, which says, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Baptism’s detractors use that phrase to argue that Paul downplayed baptism as unessential.

Is that really what that verse means, though? Of course not. Here are a few reasons why:

Paul still wanted the Corinthians to be baptized

He wasn’t saying that they didn’t need to be baptized. The key is 1:15. There, he gives the reason for why he is thankful he didn’t perform many baptisms, and it is explicitly because he didn’t want people boasting that he had baptized them.

He was merely reminding them that there is no added prestige to your faith based on who baptized you.

Paul DID baptize

To further drive that point home, even in that same context the apostle noted that he had baptized some of them (1:14,16). If Paul’s point here was “you don’t need to be baptized,” then it would be strange for him to point out that he had performed baptisms in Corinth.

Paul talked about baptism more than anybody

The argument tries to separate preaching the Gospel from baptism, as though the Gospel can be preached without baptism. But Paul was only separating the concept of preaching the Gospel from the act of administering a baptism.

Elsewhere he noted how baptism washed away his sins (Acts 22:16), showed how it served as our way of uniting with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection into new life (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12), and said it is how we are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27).

Don’t let a cherry picked, twisted out of context verse trip you up—Paul was absolutely a proponent of the essentialist of baptism.

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The act of being made right with God. You will occasionally hear it said that God made it “Just-as-if-I’d never sinned,” a basic but helpful mnemonic. Sin creates a debt of death (Romans 6:23) which must be paid by blood (Hebrews 9:22). Good works of obedience are not sufficient for justifying our debt (Romans 3:19-20).

Only those washed in the blood of Jesus are justified, or made right, with God. This justification comes by the grace of God and through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16), a true faith which bears the fruit of good works (James 2:17-26).

To be justified is synonymous with being saved.

When someone is justified, their sins are paid for and they can stand confidently at the judgment because of Jesus: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

Relatedly, Scripture also speaks of Jesus’ death as an atonement, a propitiation, a ransom, and a reconciliation.

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The scene is Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 1903. Wilbur and Orville Wright stand on the precipice of becoming the first human beings to ever achieve powered flight. With their plane all ready for testing, the brothers finally get perfect weather for an attempt on December 13.

There was only one problem: December 13 was a Sunday, and the brothers had long since vowed to not work on Sundays. Though historians debate how personally religious the brothers were, it’s undisputed that they practiced a number of Christian principles that they inherited from their father, a minister, including the Sunday day of rest.

As I read this story for the first time recently, I could not help but be shocked at how times have changed. Now, merely suggesting that families should not skip worship for youth sports is often controversial. Sometimes, camping or a trip to the lake win out over assembling with the saints. Some people take Sundays off from church attendance because they’re “too tired” or “have a busy week ahead.”

How far we have fallen. To the Wrights, ceasing from work on Sunday was such an iron-clad commitment that they passed on the perfect chance to literally invent flight. We can’t be bothered to make Sunday observance more important than little Aiden’s t-ball game. The point isn’t necessarily that we have to cease from all activity on Sunday, but we certainly have no business letting anything take precedence over the worship assembly (Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:24-25).

Think of the message it sends to a family when Dad and Mom don’t prioritize Christ and His church above all else. Think of the example it sets to the lost when they see that God is less important to us than a day on the lake. Think of the message it sends to the church when we look the other way and allow attendance and Lord’s Supper participation that is subject to a Christian’s whims and scattered priorities.

If the Wright Brothers can put off inventing flight for a day, we can put our interests on hold for a day, too. Make Sunday the Lord’s Day in practice and not just in name only.

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A brutal form of capital punishment practiced by the Romans which involved a crossbar on a vertical post to which the convict’s hands and feet would be nailed.

Many important things took place at Jesus’ crucifixion. Colossians 2:13-14 says Jesus took the certificate of debt against us and nailed it to the cross, giving us forgiveness. The veil of the temple was torn (Matthew 27:51) as Jesus entered the Father’s presence as our new high priest with His atoning blood (Hebrews 6:19-20, 9:11-12).

He also triumphed over Satan and all of his armies (Colossians 2:15) by taking away the power the Law had in accusing us. At the very moment His heel was bruised, He was crushing the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).

While those who killed Him meant it as a mockery, we know by hindsight that the elements of coronation intended to be ironic were true in their application. He was given a robe and a crown, hailed as king, and lifted up before the people under a sign which proclaimed Him “King of the Jews.” Through great pain and suffering, He was being crowned King in reality.

You may sometimes hear that upon His death Jesus went to hell, but that is a common misunderstanding based on a mistranslation. He descended to Hades, or Sheol, common terms for the grave or the realm of the dead.

If the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is to be taken literally, this realm contains a separation of the good and the wicked, but it is not made up of heaven and hell.

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Baking loaves of bread with my kids has become one of my more enjoyable pastimes in the last year or so. It’s especially interesting to leave a lump of dough roughly the size of a softball and return a while later to a big, pillowy blob that has expanded up over the sides of the bowl.

That happens, of course, because of yeast, the leavening agent. When you look at the recipe, the yeast is one of the smallest ingredients, but without it, that rise into a delicious, fluffy loaf would never happen. In short, it changes the entire loaf.

Jesus famously drew on this reaction twice in His teachings. In Matthew 16:6-12, He warned His followers about the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” On the other hand, a few chapters earlier He compared the kingdom of heaven to leaven that a woman hid in her flour.

In both cases, it’s clear the Savior was using leaven as an illustration for influence.

If the Pharisees’ and Sadducees’ ways of thinking got into the disciples’ minds, they would be led astray. If the kingdom acts as it should, though, it can start small and influence the whole world.

He was not alone in using this metaphor. Twice Paul said “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9). We also can read the Feast of Unleavened Bread, established as Israel left Egypt in Exodus 12-13, as a symbolic purging of Egypt’s influence on the people.

The point is, leaven changes anything it’s mixed into. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a bad thing. That raises two questions we should ask ourselves: what leaven am I allowing into my life, and how am I being God’s leaven in the world around me?

Just as Israel had to purge Egypt’s leaven, so we have to diligently purge worldly influences from our lives and our homes, less they grow in our hearts and change who we are. And, as Jesus preached of a kingdom that acted as leaven, how are you changing the world around you for the better?

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