We would not have seen the struggles of that infant church if it had not been for Luke. We would not have known much about Paul either if it had not been for Luke.
There were four rivers flowing out of Eden; here we have the four gospels flowing into one channel.
Three divisions of the Acts:—
I. Founding of the church.
II. Growth of the church.
III. Sending out of missionaries.
I believe that the nearer we keep to the apostles’ way of presenting the gospel, the more success we will have.
Now there are ten great sermons in Acts, and I think if you get a good hold on these you will have a pretty good understanding of the book and how to preach. Five were preached by Peter, one by Stephen and four by Paul. The phrase, “We are witnesses,” runs through the entire book. We say, to-day, “We are eloquent preachers.” We seem to be above being simple witnesses.
I. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. Someone said that now it takes about three thousand sermons to convert one Jew, but here three thousand were converted by one sermon. When Peter testified of Christ and bore witness that he had died and had risen again, God honored it, and he will do the same with you.
II. Peter preaches in Solomon’s porch. A short sermon, but it did good work. They did not get there till three o’clock, and I believe the Jews could not arrest a man after sundown, and yet in that short space of time five thousand were converted. What did he preach? Listen: