The Book Of Acts

[soul man]

Out of all the great books of the bible the book of Acts may be the greatest of transition books in the written word.
Many powerful events take place, the HolySpirit being poured out on all flesh. The Church got it's start, you ever think about that moment when the time we live in with multiple churchs got it's start, powerful to say the least.
We have the Apostles now going about full of the Holy Ghost preaching, unenamored by the religious rule of their day.
The stoning of Stephen for his unwaving zeal for the gospel. The conversion of one Saul of Tarsus to Paul, who became the Apostle to the Gentiles. The many miracles that took place, unbelievable things were happening. Healing by clothes and kerchiefs that were from the body of the Apostles.
The very shadow these men cast could heal the oppressed and insane.
The transition from law to grace is well on it's way, these Apostles were in the cutting edge, if you will, of the greatest move God had ever done in creations history.
All through the book of Acts we can see the lord still trying to reach his beloved Israel.
Time and time again they have rejected him. If only the religious rulers would say "this is him whom the prophets prophesied about, accept ye him," all Israel would be saved.
In a Theocracy you do what the religious authority says because they are God's mouth piece.
But to the heart break of God himself, they could not do that.
And so we get the final word for Israel from the converted Christian killer Saul of Tarsus, now a Christian, Paul the Apostle, Acts 28:28

28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

All the covenants and promises of God to Israel will be placed on hold until the end of this dispensation.
God will not break his covenant with Abraham or anyone else, but he will put it on hold and move into the dispensation we know as grace.
Grace simple means; you have the life of another in you, even Jesus who is the first born among many brethren, Romans 8:29

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

 

[Willie T]

I think it was Chuck Swindoll who said this:
Acts can be neatly divided into two sections, the first dealing primarily with the ministry of Peter in Jerusalem and Samaria (Acts 1–12) and the second following Paul on his missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire (Acts 13–28). Acts is significant for chronicling the spread of the gospel, not only geographically but also culturally. It records the transition from taking the gospel to an exclusively Jewish audience—with Peter preaching to a small group in the Upper Room—to the gospel going out among the Gentiles, primarily under the ministry of the apostle Paul. The transition is best illustrated by Peter’s vision in which he heard a voice telling him, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (10:15). This led Peter to then share the gospel with many Gentiles. The lesson? God wants His message of hope and salvation to extend to all people—“in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth”