The book of Acts is a goldmine for the church. Throughout the book we see the church functioning in various ways and places. Much of this is positive in nature; some not so much. Although Acts is a narrative in genre, the models left for us provide us with bountiful information to instruct us in how to live today (we cannot ignore it just because it is narrative). Whether or not Acts is prescriptive or merely descriptive in nature is a matter for another time. My purpose in these upcoming posts is to look at positive aspects of church life we see in this book. You will quickly find (no surprise here) that I believe the majority of Acts is prescriptive.
I'm doing this in part because I love the book of Acts. I'm also doing it because I want to be able to focus on the positive for a while. Interspersed among the posts in this series will be posts of other types, some of which will no doubt be more negative. So be it.
Today's church institution has picked and chosen from Acts to support its traditions that stem mostly from man's ideas. I have no interest in this. Rather, I simply desire to read about what Luke shows us through his journey with the early stages of the church. God has given us this grand narrative to inform how we interact both with each other and with the world.
The church as a whole would do well to examine Acts more extensively and alter its practices to come in line with the positives we see there. I'll begin this look in Acts chapter 1. Does it contain anything positive? It certainly does.
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