Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus ascended into heaven. Acts tells us what happens next. Acts tells us how the Holy Spirit came upon the church, and how the gospel spreads from Jerusalem to Rome. The book picks up where the Gospels (four accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry) leave off. The book of Acts begins with the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit and goes on to show how the apostles preached Christ to the world. Peter and Paul are the primary human actors in this story. While Peter emerges as the leader among Christians at Jerusalem, Paul becomes the key missionary to Jews and Gentiles across the Roman empire. With their leadership under the Holy Spirit, the church expands from a group of believers small enough to fit in one house (Acts 2:2) to a worldwide fellowship said to have turned the world upside-down (Acts 17:6). Acts is the second book from Luke, who also wrote the Gospel that shares his name. Theme verse of Acts “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

BIB-207 Syllabus.docx