ACTS: The Birth of the Church

By Ralph Robert Gomez

This is a Precept Bible Study on the book of Acts, which means you will be looking at the Bible, one verse at a time to help you understand God's Word so that you can apply it to your daily life.

The four Gospels described Jesus's life and ended with His death and resurrection. The book of Acts continues His-story after the resurrection and follows the transition from the Old Covenant into the New Covenant, where the Holy Spirit came to live in the heart of the believer.

This is a twelve-week study and is the first of three studies on the book of Acts:

Acts: The Birth of the Church (12 weeks)

Acts: Paul's Three Missionary Journeys (10 weeks)

Acts: Paul's Arrest, Trial and Imprisonment (8 weeks)

This study is about God's plan to establish His church by empowering His people with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the good news of salvation to a fallen world and save people from the gates of hell. God used ordinary people like Peter, James, Stephen, Philip, Barnabas and Paul to be the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world" to carry out the great commission.

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 as far as the remotest part of the earth. (Acts 1:8 NASB)

The early church faced strong resistance from the religious and political leaders of the day, as they tried to intimidate the apostles through lies, betrayals, violence and murder. The book of Acts contains some of the Bible's biggest villains attempting to silence God's people. But their bullying did not work. God is bigger than any villain and through the power of the Holy Spirit, many heroes emerged, who overcame their fears and despite great danger, they continued to proclaim the good news.

We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:20 NASB)

There is even a villain who became a hero after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus. God changed the heart of Saul of Tarsus and used him to plant churches and evangelize most of the Mediterranean world. If God can forgive a murderer like Saul and use him to write half the New Testament, then God can certainly use you and I for His plan of redemption.

This study ends with Barnabas and Paul returning to Jerusalem after spending a year discipling the elders in the church at Antioch. After Paul and Barnabas returned, King Herod beheaded the Apostle James and threw Peter into prison. This signified a shift in the way the apostles were being treated and ushered in a new wave of persecution against the believers.

Buckle up and get ready to experience the power of the Holy Spirit working through the lives of some of God's most faithful servants!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638852827

Ralph Robert Gomez

Ralph Robert Gomez is a retired software engineer who loves Jesus and came to the Lord later in life. At the age of thirty-nine years old, while attending graduate school, Ralph had a “road to Damascus” experience and has been walking with the Lord since. Ralph is a native of Colorado and has been married to his high school sweetheart since 1975 and has two children and three grandchildren. Ralph has been writing Bible studies for the past twenty years and sharing them with his home group, “The James Gang” and a men’s group called “The Band of Brothers.” In addition, Ralph and his wife have hosted numerous marriage groups over the years and have a passion for helping marriages succeed. At the urging of his friends and family, Ralph assembled his home group studies into a series of Precept Bible Studies that challenge the reader to probe deep into God’s Word (interpret) and to apply it to their daily lives (application), while having fun at the same time! Ralph’s background as an engineer, writing software and technical documents, has uniquely qualified him to use his analytical skills to dissect God’s Word, verse by verse, making it easy and simple to understand. Here are other precept Bible studies available from Ralph Robert Gomez. Acts: The Birth of the Church (ch 1-12) Acts: Paul’s Three Missionary Journeys (ch 13-21) Acts: Paul’s Arrest, Trial and Imprisonment (ch 21-28) Galatians: Oh, You Foolish Galatians Ephesians: The Queen of the Epistles Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord All books are available at www.ralphrobertgomez.com or any book store