Answer to Question #185506 in English for Peter

Question

Read the book of Acts of the Apostles and answer the following questions.

A. What parallels do you see between the start of Jesus' ministry in Luke's gospel and the start of the Apostles' ministry in Acts?(150 words)

B. How does Jesus equip the apostles to continue his work? What do you think the ramifications are for us today? ( 150 words)

C Stephen was persecuted because of his faith. Despite the fact that he was about to die, he remained firm. In what ways has your relationship with God caused you to be persecuted? (150 words)

Answer 1

A.   Parallels between the start of Jesus' ministry in Luke's gospel and the start of the Apostles' ministry in Acts

Both of these books of the Bible are credited to Luke. They also describe the narrative of those who continued to spread Christianity, ministry of Jesus and the subsequent ministry of the apostles and the Apostolic Age.

The gospel of Luke begins with the joyous account of Jesus' birth and ends on the victorious note of Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Luke portrays Jesus in the gospel in essentially according to the image of the divine man. The person in whom divine powers are visible and are exercised, both in his teaching and in his miracle doing. Luke's gospel is clearly written more for a gentile audience.

The book of Luke is primarily about Jesus and the book of Acts is about the Early Church. Also, the book of Luke was composed by investigative means while the book of Acts was mostly experienced by the author himself, Luke.

 Finally, the book of Luke reflects on the lives of the Apostles while the book of Acts focuses primarily on the ministries of Peter and Paul.

B.    How Jesus equipped the apostles to continue his work

Jesus brings them to a place/situation where there were others who were in need.

Jesus gave them real teachings prior to bringing them to people who were in need.

Jesus helped his disciples connect to God and to each other.

Jesus helped his disciples by sharing the truth that was new to them.

Jesus modeled discipleship to them as the disciples were all together. He expected them to reach a point where they could be independent in spreading the gospel.

Jesus also sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples when he ascended into heaven. Prior to doing this, Jesus had led his disciples to become spiritually mature as such being in a position to make more disciples. In doing do, the world today is filled with more disciples, for instance, the intentional leaders who know where the people being discipled are in their spiritual growth and also know where they are headed or being taken.

C.    Ways in which my relationship with God has resulted to persecution

The persecution of Jesus’ followers is happening across the world today. Since the Bible regards suffering as normal, part of this suffering comes from the fact that we live in a fallen world and this kind of suffering falls on Christians and non-Christians alike. Some of the ways that Christians are persecuted include the confiscation or destruction of property, incitement of hatred, arrests, imprisonment, beatings, torture, murder, and executions.