Week 1: Monday
Session 1: Purpose and Power
Read Acts 1 Watch session 1
Read through the content guide below, then answer. Each day, a new blog post and question will be live on so check back often.
It can be easy to go through the motions—to get so caught up in the demands of our lives that we don’t even think about what the purpose of those days might be. In the book of Acts, God shows us that he has a purpose for us in every moment, even when it seems like nothing much is going on.
Read Acts 1:1–8.
These opening verses set the stage for the entire book of Acts, giving us an overview of Jesus’s work between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. While Luke, the author of Acts, does not give us an exhaustive list of everything Jesus did, these brief verses make one thing clear: the church was founded on the resurrected, living, and active Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Jesus commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. His command gave them a place, a purpose, and a promise, but they had to wait a few days to receive that promise. What makes waiting on a promise different than waiting on an uncertain hope?
Verses 6–8 show us that the disciples still did not fully understand Jesus’s purpose. Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God, but they thought he came to throw out the Romans and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. Their hope for Jesus was far too small, focusing on temporary changes rather than his eternal kingdom.