Good morning. Today we start the book of Acts. As you know, Luke also wrote this book. The first account I composed, “Theo”, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. At the end of Luke, he wrote that Jesus led the disciples as far as Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them; and while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Back to Acts: to these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Remember that the day of Pentecost is 50 days after Passover; so they only had to wait a few days after He left. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, He said, you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. The word translated “with“ can also be translated as “in, or by“. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel? They still did not understand His mission. He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. He is about to give Luke’s version of the great commission. Neither Luke nor John had it in their Gospels. Mark’s version was in chapter 16 in the part that is under dispute; and was probably tacked on later. Matthew’s, the one we actually call the great commission, was given in Galilee (remember that I said that Matthew’s gospel is the only one that did not have Jesus meeting the disciples in what was probably the upper room, but had them going straight to Galilee). We will see Luke’s version next time. Father thank You for the rain. Help us to receive the rain of Your Holy Spirit.

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