Homiletics Acts 1

 ** No, it's not Saturday but because I will be away from my computer this Saturday, I decided to be early (I know shocking!!!) and go ahead and post my homiletics.

Acts 1:1-26

Content:

1.  In previous book, author (Luke) wrote about Jesus up to ascension. vs. 1-2
2. After suffering death, Jesus appeared to and taught followers for 40 days. vs. 3
3. Jesus told followers to stay in Jerusalem awaiting promised Holy Spirit. vs. 4-5
4. In response to disciples "what's next question," Jesus says timeframe of God not for them however promises power of Holy Spirit. vs. 6-8 
5. Jesus ascends into cloud and angels appear promising one day Jesus will return in same manner. vs. 9-11
6. Returning to Jerusalem, disciples gather in upstairs room to pray. vs 12-14
7. Peter leads group in discussion regarding Judas who betrayed Jesus and  killed himself. vs. 15-19
8. Peter uses Old Testament to determine another apostle should be chosen from followers. vs 20-22
9. 2 men Justus and Matthias proposed. vs. 23
10. They prayed Lord show us your chosen vs. 24-25
11. Lots cast and fell to Matthias. vs 26.

Divisions:

1. Following resurrection, Jesus teaches and prepares disciples before ascending into Heaven. vs. 1-11
2. Peter leads disciples in choosing replacement for Judas who killed himself after betraying Jesus. vs. 12-26

Subject Sentence:  

• Disciples witness Jesus ascension, await Holy Spirit, and choose Matthias.

Aim: 

• TCMT (to cause me to) trust the empowering of the Holy Spirit to witness for Jesus as I seek to follow him

Application:

1. Is there some future event that I am worried about and how I will respond? Do I believe and trust in the empowering of the Holy Spirit when the time comes so that I can rest today?
2.  Do I seek scripture for guidance in moving forward? Do I ask God to guide my decision making trusting he will do so?

Today's Tip - Content

Typically a content list will have 10 to 20 points in the list. One of the tricks I use in determining how detailed to make the content list is to come up with an average number of verses per list number.  I take the number of total verses in the passage and divide by 20 and then 10. In Acts 1 there are 26 verses.  Divide by 20 and its 1.3. Divide by 10 and its 2.6.  So I know this list can be fairly detailed with an average of 1 to 3 verses per point.  This isn't a rule, just a guideline that is helpful to me, particularly with longer passages.