Witness- Jesus' instruction:
     in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria
     and to the ends of the earth.

Power - the Holy Spirit:
     wind, flames, tongues
     all hear the witness.

Conversion - many are changed:
     many follow The Way,
     in Jerusalem.

Persecution - Stephen is stoned:
    believers persecuted
    disciples scatter.

Witness - Phillip in Samaria,
     an Ethiopian eunuch
     baptized.

Vision - Peter, a sheet, 3 times,
     "What God has made clean"
     Caesarea, a Roman Centurion.

Vision - Paul, Road to Damascus
      bright light, conversion -
      a new witness.

Sent - the Holy Spirit sends
     Paul & Barnabas
     to the Gentiles. 

Controversy - Self-Righteous
     believers from Jerusalem
     say, "No!"
     Gentiles cannot be admitted
     to Jesus' church!
     unless they cease being who they are,
     unless they repent being Gentile,
     and are purified
     in the Jewish way,
     become like us,
     they cannot be Christian!

Confrontation - Paul in Jerusalem
     wins for the Gentiles, but
     is persecuted, threatened, arrested.

Christianity spreads - witness continues
     Gentiles are included,
     new churches
     around the known world.

Inclusion spreads the Word
Exclusion does not!

Acts ends - story does not
     Still today
     there are the self-righteous
     who say
     some cannot be included,
     unless they repent of being
     who they are,
     become like us.
     Those self-righteous ones
      must not have read
     The Acts of the Apostles! 
                   
                          Joyce Alexander
                                   5/23/21