Author Description

The book of Acts is not a record of the Acts of the Apostles, as it has often been wrongly titled-it contains the acts of only three apostles. Rather, it is a book about the acts of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, Whom he sent from the heavens to take his place among the disciples and the members of the church. Acts is filled with references to the Holy Spirit, so much so that it might appropriately be titled "The Acts of the Holy Spirit." As Jesus had outlined (Acts 1:8), the Spirit would come and see that the message was powerfully preached in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria and, finally, to the ends of the earth. Preaching was extremely important to the work of missions, and so was counseling. Counseling followed the preaching as the means of establishing the infant congregations in their newly-found faith. Because preaching and counseling are but two sides of the same ministry of the same Word to the same people to meet the same problems and needs, there is also much for counselors to learn from this inspiring preaching. Acts is therefore a valuable book for study from many angles.