Power: God Gives His Spirit
After Jesus had gone back to heaven, his disciples stayed in Jerusalem waiting for God’s spirit. At this time, there was another religious holiday and Jewish people from all over the world had come to Jerusalem to celebrate. One day the disciples were gathered together in a room. Suddenly they heard a big noise like a strong wind and what appeared to be flame of fire came on each of the disciples and they were filled with God’s spirit. They began speaking in different languages about all the wonderful things that God had done. When the people heard this, they came running and gathered outside. They asked, “How can we hear them speaking our own languages?” Some people laughed and said that they were drunk. Peter ran out and said, “Listen up, they’re not drunk. It is only nine in the morning. What you see happening is what God promised to the prophets that one day, God’s spirit will come on his people. They will have dreams and visions. God sent Jesus as his promised saviour and he proved this by doing many miracles. You and your religious leaders killed him. God raised him back to life. It is this Jesus who sent God’s spirit to us. The people asked him, “What should we do?” Peter said, “Turn from your sins and turn back to God for the forgiveness of your sins. Receive God’s spirit and be baptised in the name of Jesus.” That day, three thousand people believed. They began meeting together and they were known as the church. They listened to the teachings of the disciples. They ate together and they sold their properties and possessions. They shared the money with those in need. People thought well of them and they became known as Christians. Everyday God kept adding more and more believers to their number.
Stand Up and Walk: Peter Heals a Crippled Man
Sometime after God’s spirit came to the Christians at Jerusalem, two of the disciples of Jesus named Peter and john were going to the temple to pray. Sitting outside the temple, there was a man who had been paralyzed from birth and he was begging for money. When he saw Peter and John coming, he asked them for money. Peter said to him, “Look at us.” The man looked up at them and expecting to receive something from them. Peter said to him, “I don’t have any money but what I do have I will give you. ‘In the name of Jesus, Stand up and walk.’” Peter took the man by the arm and helped him stand. Immediately, his legs were strengthened and he was healed. He began to walk, celebrate and to praise God. The three of them walked into the temple together. When the people who were in the temple saw the man, they were surprised because they recognized him as the one who had been paralyzed sitting by the temple gate. Peter seeing his opportunity to speak to the whole crowd at once said to them, “Why are you staring at us as if we healed this man? It is by faith in the name of Jesus that this man was healed. That is the same Jesus that you rejected and killed but God brought him back to life.” All these things happened to fulfill what the prophets had spoken about that the promised saviour would have to suffer these things. Now turn from your sins and turn to God that your sins would be forgiven. Peter and John continue to teach about Jesus. Some religious leaders came up and overheard them. They did not like what they were hearing so they had Peter and John arrested and thrown in jail. That day, many people believed their message and the number of Christians grew to about five thousand.
Boldness: Threats from the Religious Leaders
The next morning after Peter and John were arrested, they were brought in front of the religious counsel for questions. The religious leaders asked them, “By what power or in whose name did you heal this man?” Peter who was filled with God’s spirit responded and said, “Are you asking us this because of something good we did for this man? It was in the name of Jesus that this man was healed. This is the same Jesus that you had killed but that God brought back to life. In fact, Jesus is the only way people can be saved.” The religious leaders were amazed because they knew that Peter and John were ordinary men who had not been educated. They remembered that Peter and John had been with Jesus. The religious leaders did not know what to do with them because the man who had been healed was standing right there and everybody had seen it happened. They were afraid that if they punished Peter and John, the crowds might riot. So they just ordered them not to speak about Jesus anymore. Peter and John responded and said, “You decide for yourself that it is right for us to obey you or to obey God. As for us we can’t help but speak about what we have seen and heard.” The religious leaders still did not know what to do with them so they threaten them some more. Then they went ahead and let them go. Peter and John went back to where the other Christians were meeting and told them everything that had happened. They all prayed to together and said, “God, you created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and you know how they have been threatening us. Give us boldness to continue to tell people about Jesus. Please keep healing people and doing miracles through his name.” Immediately the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with God’s spirit. They went out and continued to tell about Jesus with great boldness.
The Cost: Stephen Killed
The church was continuing to grow and as they were growing, they ran into a few problems. One of the things they were doing was they were giving out food to the widows. One of the problems they ran into was that some of the people started to complain that their widows were being discriminated against when food was given out. The disciples gathered the whole church together and they said, “You should choose seven men who are full of wisdom and God’s spirit and put them in charge of this. That way, we will still have time to focus on teaching about Jesus and prayer.” Everyone thought this was a good idea and they chose seven men. They chose Stephen and Phillip and five others. They brought them to the disciples and the disciples prayed for them and appointed for the task. The word of God continued to spread and the people were coming to believe in Jesus. Stephen was a man who was full of God’s spirit and of faith. God used him to do many miracles and many people were continuing to believe including some religious leaders. There were some other religious leaders who came up to Stephen and started arguing with him. God gave Stephen wisdom and he answered them very well. This made them angry so they started telling lies about Stephen. They dragged him in front of the religious counsel. There they said that Stephen was disrespecting and insulting God and their religion. The high priest said, “Stephen, Is this true?” Stephen said, “You are such a stubborn people. God gave you many prophets who told you all about the promised saviour but you just killed him. When the promised saviour came, you killed him too.” The religious leaders were furious at this. Stephen looked up and saw heaven. He said, “I see heaven and Jesus is at the right hand of God and in the position of authority.” This was adding fuel to the fire and the religious leaders lost it. They grabbed Stephen and dragged him outside of town. They started throwing huge stone at him to kill him. As they were stoning him, Stephen said, “Jesus, I give you my spirit. Forgive them.” And then he died and a huge persecution broke out against the Christians and they had to flee Jerusalem to go into the surrounding cities except the disciples who stayed in Jerusalem. Everywhere the Christians went, they continue to tell people the good news there about Jesus.
Divine Appointment: Philip and the Ethiopian
After Stephen was killed, a great persecution broke out against the Christians. All of them except the original disciples of Jesus were forced to scatter to other cities. As they went, they kept on telling people about Jesus. Like Philip who went to the capital city of Samaria where he told people there that Jesus was the promised saviour. Many people gathered to hear him and to see the miracles he was doing. He would heal people who couldn’t walk so they can walk. People who were controlled by demons, Philip would cast the demons out in Jesus’ name. The city was glad with what was happening. One day, an angel told Philip, “Go south into the desert.” Philip left the city and went into the desert. When he got there, he saw a man sitting in a carriage. This man was from Ethiopia and was treasurer to the queen there. He was returning home to Ethiopia after worshipping God in Jerusalem. He was sitting in his carriage reading the book from the prophet Isaiah. God’s spirit told Philip, “Go catch up to that man.” Philip ran to the carriage and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man said, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” He invited Philip into the carriage with him. The part he was reading in Isaiah was this. “He was led as a lamb to be sacrificed but he didn’t fight back.” The man asked Philip, “Is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” Beginning with this very part, Philip explained that Jesus was the promised saviour that Isaiah was talking about. As they were going along, they passed by a place where there was water and the Ethiopian asked, “Here is some water. Why can’t I be baptised?” They stopped the carriage and went down into the water. Philip baptised the Ethiopian treasurer. As they were coming out of the water, God’s spirit took Philip away so that he showed up in another city where he continued telling people about Jesus. Meanwhile the treasurer returned home to Ethiopia full of joy.
One80: Paul’s Conversion
There was a religious leader named Paul who was trying to arrest as many Christians in Jerusalem as he could. He went to the head of the religious leaders and asked for the permission to go to the neighbouring city of Damascus to do the same thing there. This leader gave him that permission. On the way, suddenly a bright light shone all around Paul and he fell to the ground. A voice called out, “Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me?” Paul said, “Who are you?” The voice said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Get up and go into the city and wait until I tell you what I want you to do.” Paul got up and now he was blind so the people who were travelling with him took him and led him into the city where he spent three days without eating or drinking anything. Then Jesus appeared to a Christian in Damascus named Ananias and said, “I want you to find a man named Paul. I want to use you to give him his sight back. I have chosen him to be my messenger to the Jewish people and many other people as well. I have also shown him how he will suffer as he follows me.” So Ananias found Paul and he said, “Jesus gives you your sight back. He also gives you God’s spirit.” Immediately, Paul’s sight came back. He got up and was baptise and he ate something. Paul spent several days with the Christians in Damascus. He also went to the Jewish people and told them the good news about Jesus. They knew that he had come to Damascus to arrest the Christians like he had been doing in Jerusalem. They are amazed that he is telling them about Jesus instead. Paul continue to prove to them that Jesus was the promised saviour. Some of the Jews there tried to kill Paul but the Christians found out about it and got him out of the city and send him to Jerusalem. When Paul got to Jerusalem, he tried to see the Christians but they were afraid him. Barnabas, one of the Christians there took Paul and presented him to the disciples. He explained how Jesus had appeared to him and now he was telling everybody about Jesus. Paul was with the Christian in Jerusalem and he also went to the Jews and was telling them the name of Jesus. After many days, Paul left Jerusalem and went to his hometown. Then the Christians had a period a peace and God’s spirit cause them to grow in faith and in numbers.
Diversity: The Church Expands to Antioch
After Stephen was killed and persecution broke out in Jerusalem, the Christians fled to nearby regions including the city of Antioch. Wherever they went, they were telling people about the good news of Jesus that he had died for the forgiveness of sins. But that God had raised him back to life and many of them believed. However, they only told Jewish people. Yet, when these new Jewish Christians went to the city of Antioch, they didn’t just tell Jewish people. They also told the non-Jewish people and many of them believed. When the church in Jerusalem heard about it, they sent a man named Barnabas to check it out. Barnabas was a good man full of God’s spirit and strong in faith. When he got to Antioch, he was overjoyed because he saw it really was a work of God’s grace. He encouraged them and told them to stay truth to their faith in God and more people believed. Barnabas went to Paul’s hometown and found Paul. He brought him back to Antioch and they taught there for a full year. While they were there, some prophets came from Jerusalem. One of them stood up to prophesy that there was going to be a famine throughout the Roman Empire of which the city of Antioch was a part. When the Christians of Antioch heard this, they began to collect money and everyone was giving as much money as they were able. They gave it to Barnabas to take back to Jerusalem to care for the church there.
Help: God’s Spirit Leads Paul
Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch and were gathered with other Christians. While they were praying together, God’s spirit said, “Appoint Paul and Barnabas for the work I have called them to do.” They fasted and prayed and God’s spirit sent them out. They travelled to other regions and countries and started telling people about the good news of Jesus, how he had died for their forgiveness of sins but God had brought him back to life. After a while, Paul and Barnabas went back to all the towns and cities where they had visited and they encouraged the believers with this. They said, “If you follow Jesus, you will have difficulties but don’t give up.” They appointed leaders for the churches and prayed for them. Finally, they made it to Antioch and told the Christians everything that God had done. Sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back to those places where we had told the good news of Jesus and see how they are doing.” Barnabas liked this idea but they had a disagreement on who to take with them. They decided to split up and go to different places. Paul took a Christian named Silas and after the church had prayed for him and sent him out, they went to several of the cities they had went to and taught and encouraged them. The churches were growing day by day. Paul and Silas decided to continue on to new regions. There were two places they tried to enter but the spirit of God stopped them. Continuing on, they arrived to a city on a seacoast and while there, Paul had a dream there of a man from Greece. He said, “Come over and help us.” The next morning, having decided this is what God had wanted them to do, they got into a boat and went to Greece. They made their way to a major city called Philippi. After a few days in Philippi, they went to a place for prayer. There was a woman there and they were tell her about the good news of Jesus. One of the woman there was named Lydia who was a wealthy merchant in expensive cloth. God helped her understand exactly what Paul was saying and she believed. She and her whole household were baptized. She invited Paul and his companion to stay in her house.
Worship in Chains: Paul and Silas in Philippi
Paul and Silas were in Philippi and they were staying at Lydia’s house. Every day, they would go out to their place of prayer. They would tell people about Jesus. One day, there was a fortune teller who started following them around. She was controlled by a demon and she would say, “These men are servants of God and they are telling you about the way to be saved. This happened day after day after day and finally Paul got so annoyed that he turned around and said to the demon in her, “Come out in the name of Jesus.” Immediately, the demon left. The men who made money off of her fortune telling found out about this, they were furious. They grabbed Paul and Silas, and dragged before the city Counsel. There they accused them saying, “These men are throwing the whole city into an uproar. They are advocating customs that are illegal for us Roman to practice.” A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas. The city council had them beaten and they ordered them to be thrown in jail where they told the jailor to guard them securely. The jailor took them and put them in the most secured cell in the whole jail and he chained them up. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing and worshipping God when suddenly there was a huge earthquake. All the chains fell off the prisoners and all the jail doors flew open. When the jailor saw what had happened, he drew his sword to kill himself because he was afraid that all the prisoners had escaped. Paul cried out, “Don’t kill yourself, we are all still here. The jailor rushed in and knelt before Paul and Silas’ feet and he said, “What do I need to do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in Jesus and you will be saved.” The jailor took them to his house and there Paul and Silas told them all about Jesus. How if they follow Jesus, they can have a right relationship with God. The jailor and whole family believed and were baptised. The next morning, the city council gave order for Paul and Silas to be released. They left and went back to Lydia’s house. There they encouraged all the Christians and then they left town.
Transformed: God Works in Ephesus
During Paul’s travels, he went to the city of Ephesus and he taught the word of God for many months. There were many people who believed and became Christians. When some people in the city made trouble for him, he took the Christians to another place where he continued teaching them for many months. His teaching was so effective that even people outside the city of Ephesus heard the word of God. God was doing unusual miracles through Paul. The cloth that had touched Paul’s body when it was taken to the sick, they would recover. When it was taken to those who were controlled by demons, the demons would leave them. There were some people in the city of Ephesus who were trying to use Jesus’ name to cast out demons. There were seven sons of a local religious leader who were doing this. One day, they saw a man who had a demon and they said to him, “In the name of Jesus whom Paul teaches about, leave this man.” The demon responded and said, “I know Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you?” He jumped on them and beat them up so badly that they fled their house bleeding and naked. News of this incident spread everywhere and people greatly honoured and respected the name of Jesus. Those who believed confessed their sins. Those among them who used to practice magic brought their magic books and burned them publicly. Even though the cost of them was more money than people would make in a life time. The word of God spread everywhere in the city of Ephesus.
Joy: The Church Gives
Paul was going from place to place sharing about the good news of Jesus. In some places, he was telling Jewish people and in other places he was telling non-Jewish people. Sometimes Paul would work to provide for his own needs. Like in Ephesus, he built tents for a living. Other times, Paul would stay in people’s homes like in Philippi, he stayed with Lydia and her family. Then there were other times where a church in the region would gather together money and send it to Paul so that he could focus on sharing about Jesus full time. The church in Philippi sent money to Paul on multiple occasions. Sometime later, Paul wrote them a letter of thanks in which he said to them, “I thank God every time I think of you because you have partnered with me in all of my journeys to share about Jesus. I hold you in my heart and I can’t wait to see you again. When I was in need, you were the only church to send me aid and you did this more than once. I want you to know that I am grateful for you and that God is pleased with you because your gifts are an offering to him. I also want you to know that whether I live or die, the important thing is that Jesus is glorified through me. Nothing matter except for knowing Jesus. Be humble like Jesus was humble. Be of the same heart and mind. Don’t complain or argue about anything but pray about everything. Above all, be joyful.”
New: A New Heaven and a New Earth
As the years passed, Christians continued to be persecuted but they stayed true to their faith. John, one of Jesus’ original disciples was in exile for his faith. One day, he wrote the churches a letter describing a vision he had seen. In his vision, he saw Jesus. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, I was dead but now I am alive and I have all power over death.” Then John saw heaven. God was sitting on his throne and Jesus was standing at his right hand and millions of angels and people from every language, culture and nation were gather around the throne worshipping and saying, “Worthy is the lamb who gave his life to receive all honour and glory and praise.” John saw what would happen at the end of time. He saw Satan raising up a great army to fight against the Christians. Before they could even attack, God would defeat them. He will take Satan and throw him in the fire that never goes out. God will judge everybody who has ever lived. If anyone believed in Jesus, their name will be written in the book of life. Anyone whose name is not written in the book of life will also be thrown in the fire that never goes out. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth. God will live with his people. They will be with him and worship him and see his face forever. There will be no need for a sun because God himself will be their light. There will be no more pain, no more sickness, no more sadness, and no more death. Nothing evil will ever be allowed to enter. There will be a river of living water flowing from God’s throne and on either side of the river will be a tree of life. Anyone can come and drink from the water or eat from the fruit. Jesus said, “I am the beginning and the end. I am coming back soon.”
