Day 21 - Acts 6:8-10:48

Today is the 21st day of our 40-day challenge. We're half way through the course and half way through the New Testament! We're done with the gospels and yesterday we began to read in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

Just as the Pentateuch (the 5 books of Moses; that is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) serves to describe the beginning of the Jewish nation and the need of redemption for all men, the book of Acts serves to describe the beginning of the Church and the plan of redemption for all mankind. It moves beyond the prophets and beyond the gospels into the Greek world, in fact, "to all nations" to present the saving grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The book of Acts describes the events surrounding the birth and early years of the church and her greatest leaders: Peter, Stephen, Paul, Barnabas, James, John Mark and the many who accompanied them and supported them on their missions to evangelize the world. Acts pulls no punches in its descriptions of the early Church, its people and their issues – many which are still prevalent in the Church today. In its pages are found the very human stories of struggle which are as full of pain and joy, setbacks and victories, death and life as any in the pages of Holy Scripture. Acts, through telling the accounts of the evangelists, demonstrates that the early Church was as full of men's arrogance as was the young nation of Israel, or as 21st century America. Yet through it all, God's hand is visible in the lives of those who trust him – the apostles' release from jail (Acts 5:17-32); Paul and Silas in the Philippian prison (Acts 16:16-34); Paul and the ships' company at Malta (Acts 27:13-44) – are but examples of God at work in the world to bring about His purpose.

Click on the link to read day 21: Acts 6:8-10:48

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