Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides): Faith That Changes the World
    A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides): Faith That Changes the World
    A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides): Faith That Changes the World
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides): Faith That Changes the World

    By Baker Publishing Group

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Christians all over the world trust Walk Thru the Bible to help them deepen their spiritual lives through a greater understanding of God's Word. The Walk Thru the Bible small group Bible study series uncovers the richness of the Scriptures. Each guide explores a book of the Bible, a prominent Bible character, or an important biblical theme, offering rich insights and practical life application.

    These discussion guides are perfect for Bible study groups, Sunday schools, small groups, and individuals who want a deeper understanding of the Bible.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBaker Publishing Group
    Release dateJul 1, 2010
    ISBN9781441238030
    A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides): Faith That Changes the World

    Read more from Baker Publishing Group

    Related to A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides)

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Fake News, Fake Gospels!

      Dec 31, 2021

      Fake News, Fake Gospels!
      5 min read

    • Article

      CHARACTERS OF THE BIBLE Jonah

      Jun 15, 2020

      We like to throw around the term “man of God” today, with the implication that such a person is mighty, anointed by God, and spiritually superior to all others. Often, people love to call themselves a “prophet” for similar reasons. They believe that

      3 min read

    • Article

      Mary & Martha

      Feb 10, 2020

      Mary & Martha
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Burden On The Heart Of The Believer “I Charge You Therefore, Preach The Word!”

      Oct 21, 2019

      Most of us would recognise that the last words of a great and godly man or woman before their death would likely be words of great value. Words to consider and ponder. Jesus’ seven statements from the Cross are of that category and are thus recorded

      5 min read

    • Article

      When Your Lamp is Trimmed

      Nov 19, 2021

      When Your Lamp is Trimmed
      4 min read

    • Article

      Where is God IN THE CHAOS?

      Mar 18, 2022

      We live in extremely challenging times. Our unemployment rate is among the highest in the world. Our economy is tanking. Skilled people are emigrating. Crime, poverty, corruption, and violence are endemic in our society. Chaos seems to be overtaking

      3 min read

    • Article

      Joshua

      Sep 24, 2021

      Joshua
      3 min read

    • Article

      Famous Fathers In The Bible

      May 20, 2019

      Scripture is filled with people who we can learn much from. When it comes to the challenging vocation of fatherhood, several fathers in the Bible show what is wise to do—and what is not wise to do. Of course, the most important father figure in the B

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Dec 30, 2019

      Letters To The Editor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Keeping Christians Informed

      Mar 10, 2023

      Last month, tens of thousands of Christians gathered at a university campus in the USA to worship the Lord, share their testimonies, and praise His holy Name. This unplanned explosion started as part of a scheduled chapel service on the morning of Fe

      6 min read

    • Article

      Why Study Church History?

      Jun 15, 2020

      Why Study Church History?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Jul 30, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides)

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Walk Thru the Book of Acts (Walk Thru the Bible Discussion Guides) - Baker Publishing Group

      © 2010 by Walk Thru the Bible

      Published by Baker Books

      a division of Baker Publishing Group

      P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

      www.bakerbooks.com

      Ebook edition created 2011

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

      ISBN 978-1-4412-3803-0

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

      Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

      Contents

      Introduction

      Session 1    Unprecedented

      Session 2   Unquenchable

      Session 3   Uncontainable

      Session 4   Uncomfortable

      Session 5   Unleashed

      Session 6   Unflinching

      Session 7   Undeterred

      Session 8   Unhindered

      Conclusion

      Leader’s Notes

      Bibliography

      Introduction

      As soon as the call was issued, Francis Asbury volunteered to go to the American colonies, and he preached and traveled tirelessly once he arrived. But only a few years later, when the American Revolution broke out, Methodist ministers were recalled to England. Their assignment was over.

      But for Asbury, this wasn’t just an assignment. It was his calling. He decided to stay, regardless of America’s fate and regardless of his own. Over the next four decades, he pushed himself tirelessly. He rode at least twenty miles a day on horseback, sometimes twice that in his relentless circuit riding, and he had to endure extreme cold and hunger to cover his vast territory faithfully. He usually rose at 4 a.m. and prayed for two hours before riding to the next place he would preach. He received roughly a thousand letters a year and responded to every one of them—thoughtfully and by his own hand. He suffered from asthma, rheumatism, boils, consumption, and numerous other ailments, but bore them gladly for the sake of God’s people. After what turned out to be his last sermon, he was so weak that he had to be carried to his carriage. He died at the age of seventy-one, completely spent.

      Asbury is just one example of many throughout Christian history who poured their lives out for the cause of Christ. David Brainerd, for example, endured such hardship among the Native Americans of Massachusetts that his frail body succumbed to pneumonia at the age of twenty-nine. Did he regret his calling? Not according to his journal: I hardly ever so longed to live to God and to be altogether devoted to him; I wanted to wear out my life in his service and for his glory.

      John Hyde, a missionary to India, rarely slept a full night. Sometimes he would spend the entire night in prayer, and at other times he would rise at midnight, 2 a.m., and 4 a.m. to pray because he felt he could hardly go more than two hours without talking with his Father. He petitioned God for one soul a day, and four hundred came into the kingdom through his personal witnessing that year. He doubled his request the next year, and then again the next, until his testimony drew 1,600 people to Christ in one year. When his rigorous schedule finally took its toll and Hyde died, it was discovered that his heart had physically moved several inches from where it once had been—an appropriate spiritual metaphor for someone so burdened for the kingdom of God.

      Even today, people volunteer to smuggle Bibles into closed countries, knowing that if a guard opens the right suitcase at the right time they may spend the next decade in a filthy jail. Believers devote their lives to learn a language that has never been written so they can take the gospel to a place where it has never been preached. More Christians have been martyred in the last fifty years than in the rest of Christian history combined. Again and again and again, people come face-to-face with Jesus and decide that their lives are worth sacrificing for him.

      What causes people to expend themselves so selflessly for a greater purpose? It depends on the purpose. Some get caught up in a movement simply because of the human need to belong to something larger than ourselves. People have been swept up in cults, political agendas, nationalistic fervor, holy wars, and more, simply because a life focused on oneself is never really satisfying. We need to be involved in something huge, something lasting, something that can change the world. Most greater purposes offer to do that to a degree. But none are as lasting or as truly transforming as the kingdom of God being established through his Son.

      In the book of Acts, we see more than a new movement, a higher purpose, or lasting change. We see an eternal kingdom crashing into human history, and human beings divided over what to do about it. The ones who become the heroes in the story are those who give themselves completely over to the truth of Jesus—his death and resurrection and the power of his Spirit manifesting himself in amazing and unexpected ways. Those who follow this risen Savior are those who are changing the world and have overcome the worst this world can offer. It’s a story of God’s triumph over sin and its devastation. And it’s a story that is still playing out today—through the stories of people like Asbury and Brainerd and Hyde; through average, ordinary Christians who decide to fully commit to the hope and calling of Scripture; through people who are fully convinced that the eternal kingdom of God is greater than the temporary things of this age, and who stake their lives on that truth.

      It’s impossible to read Acts without encountering the message and power of Jesus and deciding how it applies to us today. Do we have the same calling that the early Christians had? Should our fellowship look like theirs? Do we serve the same Lord? Does he lead us

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1