By Ken R. Speakman
Member, Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory

Focal Passage: Acts 9:36-43

As we continue our study of Acts 9, we find Peter performing two miracles – he heals Aeneas and raises Dorcas from the dead. During the events of Saul’s conversion, Peter has been engaged in an itinerant ministry with John (Acts 8:25), and finds himself visiting the believers in Lydda, a city close to Jerusalem.  It’s possible this area had been evangelized by converts at Pentecost, or by believers who had been scattered during the great persecution. Philip could have ministered there when leaving the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:40). [Read more…]

By Ken R. Speakman
Member, Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory

Focal Passage: Acts 9:3-9, 15-20

In Acts, chapter 9, the Scripture focuses on a zealous young Pharisee named Saul. He is mentioned in chapter 8 as the young man who guarded the robes of those who stoned Stephen. Saul had studied under the brilliant Pharisee scholar Gamaliel. Gamaliel was convinced that the apostles should be left alone (5:34). Saul disagreed and considered them a threat to Judaism and felt they were a blasphemy against the God of Abraham. Saul felt Christians must be exterminated and “The Way” (the earliest designation for Christians) stamped out.  Chapter 9 opens with, “Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” [Read more…]

By Ken R. Speakman
Member, Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory

Focal Passage: Acts 8:26-31, 35-39

The mandate of Acts 1:8 which Jesus gave the disciples is about to begin. Following the martyrdom of Stephen, persecution of the Jerusalem church intensified. Believers (except the apostles) flee Jerusalem for their lives into the nearby regions of Judea and Samaria. [Read more…]

By Ken R. Speakman
Member, Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory

Focal Passage: Acts 6:1-10

The Jerusalem church was experiencing growing pains that impacted the apostles’ ministry.  The membership of the church had grown into the thousands and the staff of only 12 found it difficult to attend to the needs of so many. The first dissension in the church arises.

There were two kinds of Jews in the early church. Our text names them as Hellenistic Jews and Hebrew Jews. The Hebrew Jews were descendants of the faithful Jews who left Babylon under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. They endured the difficulties of rebuilding Jerusalem. They were committed to the Hebrew Scriptures and spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hellenistic Jews descended from Jews who had chosen, for whatever reason, to live outside the land of Palestine. They were still Jews, but they spoke Greek and absorbed some of the Greek culture into their lifestyle. [Read more…]

By Ken R. Speakman
Member, Tulip Grove Baptist Church, Old Hickory

Focal Passage: Acts 5:25-35, 38-42

As word about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira spread, a wave of godly fear swept over the church, which now has great power and great fear. Growth continued and believers were now meeting regularly at the Temple and house to house. God gave the apostles power to perform great miracles and many believed, both men and women. Crowds came from villages surrounding Jerusalem and began to bring their sick to the apostles for healing (vv. 15-16).

The center of the apostles’ message was the Lord Jesus Christ, the very name the Sanhedrin had condemned and the person they had crucified. Because of the great success the apostles were having, the high priest and the officials were filled with jealousy. They had commanded Peter and John not to mention the name of Jesus but they obeyed the Lord and not man. They arrested the apostles and put them in jail, but an angel miraculously delivered them without unlocking the doors or alerting the guards.   [Read more…]