Reading Acts Like Soldiers

We are beginning our series in the Book of Acts and it is important that we have the right posture when we read the description of the church and the progress of the gospel as it is proclaimed. While this book is a historical account, it also presents models of mission, reliance on God's sovereignty and how a church empowered by the Holy Spirit functions. 

How then might we read Acts? Tony Merida highlights three typical ways people study acts, as scholars, admirers, and soldiers. It is as soldiers we should be reading. 

"Not like cold scholars: Our purpose is not merely to analyze dates, places, and people as if we were cramming for a test. Instead, our goal is to allow the message of this book transform our hearts and lead us to a mission We must not study the Bible as people scrutinizing a book for insights into the distant past. Rather, we should approach it as people who are desperate to see the God about whom we read move mightily in the present...

"Not like casual admirers: Some who study history are more hobbyists than scholars; they have a casual interest in historical events... Seldom do they allow the events they read about to change them in the present. We, however, must move beyond merely admiring things about the history of the early church...

"Like Committed Soldiers: Good soldiers are known to study history, and they do so to become better soldiers. Good soldiers know there is much to be done. And they see themselves - and we must view ourselves - as continuing a mission. Acts is not merely the history of the early church; it's the history of the mission of the early church. And we are to continue that mission. So let us dive into the contents of the book that we may better serve our King." 

Off we go on this adventure that is a life of mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus.