Acts (Part 2)

Fall 2023

“…who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
Acts 11:17

Anyone, anywhere at any time can be involved in what God is up to.

Some choose to join in. Some choose to resist. Some choose to ignore what God is doing.

What a person cannot do is get in the way of it because the movement of God…is UNSTOPPABLE.

It was the last thing that Jesus said before he was taken up into heaven, at least as Luke tells the story in Acts. “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7). As if to remind them (and us) “…you may not have the full picture, but you need to know…God is not winging it.” Times have been set. Dates have been set. The future is not up for grabs, and it’s not uncertain. History is moving in the direction of a designed and carefully laid plan and no one and nothing will ultimately get in the way of that.

God’s plan is unstoppable.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Anyone, anywhere at any time can be part of what God is doing. The Pentecost event was a catalyst and the first few chapters of Acts paint a beautiful picture of what happens when people decide to be part of what God is doing. Those early accounts also reveal how difficult it can be to participate in God’s plan…just ask Stephen. If Acts were the story of what a few people were up to it might well have ended after seven chapters. But this is not ultimately the story of the Acts of the Apostles this is more accurately the story of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Acts is about what God is doing…and what God is doing is UNSTOPPABLE.