Someone once said that every miracle in the New Testament is a parable, designed to illustrate physically what God can do spiritually. Today we are looking at such a miracle in this passage in Acts. It certainly wasn’t the only miracle that was done in those days. And yet Luke singles out this particular miracle to illustrate an important spiritual principle. We know that it wasn’t the only miracle because in the previous chapter, Acts 2:43 it says that “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” And looking ahead, we see in chapter 5 vs. 12 it

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There is much misinformation in Christian circles today as to the nature and purpose of the church. Many books and articles have been written on the subject of church growth. Many different strategies have been proposed for the building up of the church. And as a result I think that in the last generation the church has changed more than at any other time in history. However, I’m afraid that it has not always been for the better. I’m sure that many of the great ecclesiastical leaders of history would not approve or even recognize what is happening in many

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To misunderstand this passage we are looking at today is to put in jeopardy the entire purpose of the Holy Spirit and His ministry to the church. Understanding this text correctly is crucial to understanding not only the purpose of the church, and the function of the church, but the empowerment of the church. One of the main reasons that the church is not functioning effectively in our society today is that many people are completely clueless about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is one of the main reasons why

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A few days ago I watched the video released by the terrorist group ISIS, in which they set afire a captured Jordanian pilot. It was a gruesome video, and I don’t recommend that you watch it. It’s one of those things that you won’t be able to get out of your mind. But I had my reasons for watching it. Not the least of which was that many Christians have been burned at the stake over the centuries. For instance, William Tyndale who was the first to translate the Bible into English was burned at the stake in 1536. And

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Last week we looked at the lessons learned on the road to Emmaus by two of Jesus’ disciples. And the lessons that these two men learned was basically a completion of their theology. They had an incomplete theology concerning the Messiah, and so Jesus helped them to see how the Old Testament scriptures spoke of His suffering. That was what they had not understood. They thought that Christ’s death eliminated Him from being the Messiah. Jesus showed them from scripture how His suffering and death were in fact predicted and consequently proved that He was the Messiah. And then if

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A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I remember as a boy, I had a voracious appetite to read books. I grew up without a television and so reading was for me the primary source of entertainment. Everything I became interested in, I first of all went to the library and checked out every book I could find on the subject. And that was all fine and dandy until one day I decided I wanted to learn Karate. There were no Karate schools around, and if there were I would not have been allowed to attend them anyway. So

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