Keener - Immersion Bible Studies: Acts

Copyright 2011 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Common English Bible, Copyright 2010 by Common English Bible, and are used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Keener, Craig S., 1960

Acts / by Craig S. Keener.

p. cm. (Immersion Bible Studies)

ISBN 978-1-4267-0985-2 (Curriculumprinted/text plus-cover, adhesive - perfect binding: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T. Acts Textbooks. I. Title.

BS2626.K44 2011

226.6'07dc22

2010049895

Editor: Mark Price

Leader Guide Writer: John P. "Jack" Gilbert

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2010 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Manufactured in the United States of America

Diane Blum, Pastor
East End United Methodist Church
Nashville, Tennessee

Susan Cox, Pastor
McMurry United Methodist Church
Claycomo, Missouri

Margaret Ann Crain
Professor of Christian Education
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Evanston, Illinois

Nan Duerling
Curriculum Writer and Editor
Cambridge, Maryland

Paul Escamilla
Pastor and Writer
St. John's United Methodist Church
Austin, Texas

James Hawkins
Pastor and Writer
Smyrna, Delaware

Andrew Johnson
Professor of New Testament
Nazarene Theological Seminary
Kansas City, Missouri

Snehlata Patel, Pastor
Woodrow United Methodist Church
Staten Island, New York

Emerson B. Powery
Professor of New Testament
Messiah College
Grantham, Pennsylvania

Clayton Smith, Pastoral Staff
Church of the Resurrection
Leawood, Kansas

Harold Washington
Professor of Hebrew Bible
Saint Paul School of Theology

Kansas City, Missouri

Carol Wehrheim
Curriculum Writer and Editor
Princeton, New Jersey

A fresh new look at the Bible, from beginning to end,

and what it means in your life.

Welcome to IMMERSION!

We've asked some of the leading Bible scholars, teachers, and pastors to help us with a new kind of Bible study. IMMERSION remains true to Scripture but always asks, "Where are you in your life? What do you struggle with? What makes you rejoice?" Then it helps you read the Scriptures to discover their deep, abiding truths. I MMERSION is about God and God's Word, and it is also about younot just your thoughts, but your feelings and your faith.

In each study you will prayerfully read the Scripture and reflect on it. Then you will engage it in three ways:

Claim Your Story

Through stories and questions, think about your life, with its struggles and joys.

Enter the Bible Story

Explore Scripture and consider what God is saying to you.

Live the Story

Reflect on what you have discovered, and put it into practice in your life.

I MMERSION makes use of an exciting new translation of Scripture, the Common English Bible (CEB). The CEB and The I MMERSION B IBLE S TUDIES will offer adults:

• the emotional expectation to find the love of God
• the rational expectation to find the knowledge of God
• reliable, genuine, and credible power to transform lives
• clarity of language

Whether you are using the Common English Bible or another translation, IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES will offer a refreshing plunge into God's Word, your life, and your life with God.

Acts 12

Do you ever feel your faith is, well, inadequateas if Jesus' first followers had access to a dynamic that you don't? Of course, we each have different gifts and backgrounds; some of us are introverts, and some are extroverts, for example. The first disciples also had the advantage of knowing Jesus on a personal level before starting their ministry. Perhaps that fact itself accounts for our feelings of inadequacy.

No doubt the early church experienced a special dynamic. Part of that dynamic was that Jesus' first followers were so sure of their message. The other part was that they were also sure God had given them power. What was so dynamic about the early church was its Holy Spirit-inspired boldness. Luke's narrative about the day of Pentecost and the events leading up to and following it is the story of how God gave them confidence to preach their message by giving them access to the Spirit's power.

Our problem today is not that we lack access to God's power. It is that we often neglect to plug our spiritual appliances into the power source by faith.

Luke contributed a two-volume work to the Bible: The first volume is an ancient biography about Jesus (the Gospel of Luke); the second is a selective history of the spread of the good news about Jesus to the very heart of the Roman Empire. The first volume begins and ends in Jerusalem; but the second volume, while beginning in Jerusalem, races toward Rome. The first volume grounds us in our Christian heritage; the second volume moves us out into our Christian mission.