{"id":1892,"date":"2011-07-14T18:43:26","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T22:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=1892"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:26:53","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:26:53","slug":"the-outline-of-acts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-outline-of-acts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Outline of Acts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1929\" title=\"The-Outline-of-Acts\" src=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133720\/The-Outline-of-Acts-e1310734160581.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133720\/The-Outline-of-Acts-e1310734160581.jpg 540w, https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133720\/The-Outline-of-Acts-e1310734160581-300x97.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the previous post, <em><a title=\"Reading Acts For All It\u2019s Worth\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/reading-acts-for-all-its-worth\/\">Reading Acts for All\u00a0It&#8217;s Worth<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0I encouraged us to read Acts as a historical narrative.\u00a0 Acts tells a story.\u00a0 Of course, it is part of the larger story line of Scripture, but Acts has a wonderful story in and of itself.\u00a0 I also explained that, when reading Acts, the narrative moves quickly in some places (where years are covered in the span of a chapter or two) and, in other chapters, the narrative moves very slowly (where a speech or sermon is given).\u00a0 Now, let\u2019s look at some outlines that will help us read Acts.<\/p>\n<h2>#1:\u00a0 Outline based on Acts 1:8<\/h2>\n<p>In this case, the reader\u00a0looks at\u00a0Acts for how the Word expands from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.\u00a0 This is a geographical outline of the book based largely on what appears to be the organizing verse in Acts.\u00a0 This kind of organizing verse is not uncommon in the Bible; for example, see Revelation 1:19, Philippians 1:27-30, John 20:30-31, and 1 John 5:13.<\/p>\n<p>In the\u00a0geographical context,\u00a0one could read Acts merely looking for the changes in <em>where<\/em> the gospel is being preached [i.e. in Jerusalem up to the persecution in Acts 8:1, to Judea and Samaria through Acts 12:25, and then to the ends of the earth through Acts 28].<\/p>\n<h2>#2:\u00a0 Outline based on a key structural marker:\u00a0 The Word increased!<\/h2>\n<p>Whenever we try to outline a book of the Bible, we look for markers that the writer included in order to denote a section ending or section beginning.\u00a0 In the book of Acts, there is a key structural marker about the increase of the Word of God.\u00a0 Notice the following locations:<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Acts 6:7<\/strong> The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 12:24<\/strong> But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 19:20<\/strong> So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These three markers then divide the book of Acts into 4 sections:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Acts 1:1-6-7:<\/strong> The development of the church in Jerusalem under the leadership of the Twelve<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 6:8-12:24:<\/strong> Expansion to Judea, Samaria, and some Gentile regions through the seven, and the scattering due to persecution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 12:25-19:20:<\/strong> Expansion into far off Gentile regions through the leadership of Paul<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 19:21-28:31:<\/strong> The Word of the Lord continues to grow through the rank and file as leaders, such as Paul, are arrested.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>#3:\u00a0 Outline based on the editorial summaries given in Acts<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the Acts 1:8 passage, and the structural marker regarding the word increasing, there are also summary remarks that seem to end certain sections of the narrative.\u00a0 They give us reports on what has just happened.\u00a0 They are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Acts 1:12<\/strong> Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day&#8217;s journey away. <sup>13<\/sup> When they had entered <em>the city<\/em>, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; \u2026 <sup>14<\/sup> These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with <em>the <\/em>women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 2:42-47 <\/strong> They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles&#8217; teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.\u00a0 <sup>43<\/sup> Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.\u00a0 <sup>44<\/sup> And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; \u2026<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 4:32-35 <\/strong> And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one <em>of them <\/em>claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.\u00a0 <sup>33<\/sup> And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.\u00a0 <sup>34<\/sup> For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales\u00a0 <sup>35<\/sup> and lay them at the apostles&#8217; feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 6:7<\/strong> The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 9:31<\/strong> So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 12:24<\/strong> But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 16:5<\/strong> So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 19:20<\/strong> So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acts 28:30-31 <\/strong> And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him,\u00a0 <sup>31<\/sup> preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It should be clear that these outlines are not mutually exclusive.\u00a0 In fact, the markers in #2 are also included in #3.\u00a0 The geography is also remarkably similar, except we have no summary statement after the persecution begins in Acts 8.\u00a0 Therefore, I would suggest you start with #3 while seeing the purpose of Acts wrapped up in #1.\u00a0 Acts is about the development of the church numerically and geographically.\u00a0 Luke shows how it developed by placing key summary statements to help us.<\/p>\n<h2>So now what?<\/h2>\n<p>Let me make 2 final suggestions to you:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Write a one sentence description of the content of each section of Acts.\u00a0 Thus, you would have one sentence for Acts 1:1-14.\u00a0 You would have another sentence for Acts 1:15-2:47; one for 2:48-4:34; one for 4:36-6:7, and so on.\u00a0 When you are done you will have an 8 sentence summary of Acts.<\/li>\n<li>Go back and read Acts one more time \u2013 the whole book \u2013 and this time write a summary for each chapter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you take these two little steps you will be amazed at (1) how much better you know the book of Acts, and (2) how much better you will be prepared to hear the Word more carefully explained on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Have an awesome week reading and studying Acts and we will plan to see you Sunday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the previous post, Reading Acts for All\u00a0It&#8217;s Worth,\u00a0I encouraged us to read Acts as a historical narrative.\u00a0 Acts tells a story.\u00a0 Of course, it is part of the larger story line of Scripture, but Acts has a wonderful story in and of itself.\u00a0 I also explained that, when reading Acts, the narrative moves quickly&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-outline-of-acts\/\">read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4242,257],"tags":[4407,4166,4379],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Outline of Acts - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-outline-of-acts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Outline of Acts - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the previous post, Reading Acts for All\u00a0It&#8217;s Worth,\u00a0I encouraged us to read Acts as a historical narrative.\u00a0 Acts tells a story.\u00a0 Of course, it is part of the larger story line of Scripture, but Acts has a wonderful story in and of itself.\u00a0 I also explained that, when reading Acts, the narrative moves quickly... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-outline-of-acts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-14T22:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T14:26:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/files\/2011\/07\/The-Outline-of-Acts-e1310734160581.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rob Green\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rob Green\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading 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