You Are My Witnesses: The Message of the Acts of the Apostles (Welwyn Commentary Series | WCS)
Overview
Christians have always found the book of Acts to be enjoyable, exciting, and encouraging. Here we find our own roots as followers of Jesus and learn what it means to be citizens of heaven while living upon the earth. If the Gospels tell us what the gospel is, Acts tells us what the gospel does.
Acts is first and foremost the history of the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. It brings together the promises of "another Counselor," who would lead the disciples into all truth and the Great Commission to preach the Gospel to the whole world in the assurance that he would be with them always, "to the very end of the age."
Acts is also the record of costly campaigning against a fiercely resistant enemy, over the eternal destiny of lost men and women. The sounds of battle echo from almost every scene. But so also does the scent of victory, as lives are changed and the light of Christ spreads from nation to nation!
As the book of Acts closes, the work still goes on. The fulfillment of Christ's commission continues today as his followers take up the unfinished task: "You will be my witnesses. . . to the ends of the earth.
Top Highlights
“Those who are really trusting the Lord pray first, and then act while continuing to look to the Lord. Those who trust themselves act first, and then pray only in desperation, and to whoever will hear.” (Page 143)
“We would be enthusiastic too, were we to see a miracle or two in our lives! But let me ask this: if you have been given good health all through your life and with it the gifts and capacities to live, work and provide for yourself and your family, is that really less of a work of God’s infinite love and sovereign grace than the Lord’s restoration of the beggar? Why do you take for granted all the blessings you have enjoyed all along? Did the Lord owe you these good things? Are you more entitled to them than the beggar, who was deprived of them?” (Page 50)
“Christ’s followers would be equipped for the task, for they would ‘receive power’ when the Holy Spirit came upon them (1:8). The implication, later to be confirmed in the experience of the church, is that, once come, the Holy Spirit would always remain to empower the true church while the world lasts. The church would never be left to act in her own strength, but would be enabled to follow the clear leading and working of the Spirit.” (Page 15)
“Many Christians are better at protesting against the evils of the day in the strident tones of implacable righteousness than at reaching out with quiet and loving concern and compassion to those who desperately need to be won for Christ. Christians are to be clothed with the beauty of holiness.” (Page 43)
“In prayer, Christians do not, in any case, merely seek to get their own way: their requests are set in the context of seeking God’s way, and trusting that he will bless us with whatever he deems best for us.” (Page 143)
- Title: You Are My Witnesses: The Message of the Acts of the Apostles
- Author: Gordon Keddie
- Publisher: Evangelical Press
- Series: Welwyn Commentary Series
- Publication Date: 1994
- Pages: 336
