In What Jesus Did After the Beginning (Acts 1:1-3), Piper says, "The book of Acts is not just the acts of the apostles; it is the acts of the risen, living, enthroned Jesus. He said in Matthew 16, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This is Luke's point. Jesus began his doing and teaching until he was taken up to heaven. Now he goes on completing his doing and teaching—he goes on building his church just like he said he would."

What could be some implications of this statement with regard to our attitude in reading the book of Acts?

In You Will Be Baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.4-5), John Piper explains the basis of his belief that "the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a person, who is already a believer, receives extraordinary spiritual power for Christ-exalting ministry."

In You Shall Receive Power Till Jesus Comes (Acts 1.6-14), John Piper explains the background of the question asked in verse 6, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?", and why Jesus answered as he did in verse 7, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority." Piper then expounds the meaning of verse 8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit come upon you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth," by comparing to Luke 24, and moves on to ask a question of his own: "Is the power promised then available now?"

In What Judas' Death Teaches Us About the Spirit (Acts 1.15-26), John Piper highlights for us the invincible purpose of the Holy Spirit as demonstrated by the fulfilment of one passage of Scripture predicting the death of Judas, and another predicting his replacement.

Piper first argues for our need for understanding both sides of God: first, He knows, and loves us, always; second, His protection of us and of His good purpose for humanity requires of Him that he also must be stern and bold opposing those who work against us, His beloved children, and against His kingdom, so that when we are betrayed by trusted friends as Jesus was, we know He is there for us.

John Piper then goes on to observe that right in the middle of the passage under study are two quotes from the book of Psalms, the first one (Psalm 69:5) referring back to what was just said about Judas (Acts 1:17-19), the second one (Psalm 109:8) referring to what he is about to say about Judas replacement by Matthias (Acts 1:20). From this and other observations of Acts 1:15-26 and of its immediate context in the book of Acts, Piper concludes with the following application for the church today, and for everyone of us: The lesson for us is clear:

f we as a church long to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, to be clothed with power from on high, then we will devote ourselves not merely to the upward work of prayer for this blessing, but we will also give ourselves to the backward work of knowing the Jesus of the gospels. Something in our experience will correspond to the importance of the memory of Jesus that Matthias preserved when he replaced Judas. For if our roots are not sunk deep into the words and deeds of Jesus (preserved for us by the apostles), then it is certain that our branches will not reach very high into the sky of God's power.

Take these two things this morning for your hope and for your strength: the purpose of the Holy Spirit is invincible and he has an unwavering zeal for the glory of the God-man, Jesus. Everything he does is measured by Jesus and glorifies Jesus.
I found listening to Piper's entire sermon quite compelling, and encourage everyone to hear him out and provide feedback right here.

In Tongues of Fire and the Fullness of God (Acts 2.1-13), John Piper summarizes some of his previous teaching on Acts 1 as follows: In recent weeks the argument I have developed goes like this:

PREMISE 1: The power promised by Jesus in Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49 is an extraordinary power. The experience promised is beyond the power of the Spirit in new birth and gradual sanctification. This is plain, I think, from the terms ("clothing with power" or "the Spirit's coming upon"), and from the effects of the power seen when it comes in the book of Acts (as here in Acts 2), and from the fact that the disciples were already born again before Pentecost (Luke 10:20; John 15:3).

PREMISE 2: This promise that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8) and that they would be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49) was a promise given to sustain the completion of world evangelization, and all the ministry that supports it. The context of both texts makes that plain. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . . to the end of the earth."

PREMISE 3: The task of world evangelization is not yet complete.

CONCLUSION: Therefore the promise of this extraordinary power to sustain and carry forth the work is still valid.

Then, let's hear -- from his reflecting on Acts 2:1-13 -- what Piper has to say about knowing and experiencing God:
From Knowing to Experiencing

This is what happened, it seems, to the disciples in Acts 2 when they saw tongues of fire and heard the violent wind. It filled them with an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. Until that moment we can imagine them praying (Acts 1:14) and reciting to each other the 23rd Psalm and saying, "Though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me," and rejoicing that God was with them—he was right there in that very room. How did they know it? The Bible told them so. Just the way we know so many wonderful things: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Then suddenly something happens that utterly transforms their knowledge of God's presence into the experience of God's presence. They see fire on each other's heads and they hear a loud wind. And they are filled not merely with a deductive certainty of God's present reality based on Psalm 23, but with an experiential certainty based on the extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The fire begins to burn in their hearts (Luke 24:32) and in their mouths ("tongues of fire"), and the sound of the wind surrounds them and envelops them with the tokens of God's power. And they are simply overwhelmed with the greatness of God. And it begins to spill out in praise.

Piper insists in this sermon that the empowering of the Spirit experienced at Pentecost and that is still available for us today has one primary purpose in mind: the spreading of the Gospel to people who have not yet known Christ in a personal fashion. Moved by this?

John Piper, in I Will Pour Out My Spirit (Acts 2.14-21), opens up this sermon by asking the following two questions :

• (1) Are we living in the last days? Piper's answer here is "yes";
• (2) If war broke out tomorrow in the Middle East with terrible bloodshed and earthshaking ferocity, and began to draw the whole world into conflict, would that be a sign that God's purpose for our day is not a great spiritual awakening but only a bleak downward spiral of calamity and moral collapse till the end? Piper's answer to this second question is "no."

Piper pulls contextual input from Matthew 24:9-14, and Acts 1:5, 8, 17ff, then moves to Joel's prophecy quoted in Acts 2:17-21.

How would you answer Piper's first and second question and why? What does it change in your life now and in your expectations?

Edited October 5, 2023: correction to page layout.

In Did You Kill the Lord of Glory (Acts 2.22-36), John Piper invites his hearers to endorse God's endorsement of Jesus Christ, by working signs and wonders through him, by planning his death for the sins of the people, by raising him from the dead, by exalting him and subjecting all enemies to him, and as one worthy to receive and pour out the Spirit. How are our endorsements of Christ?

How sad the reality expressed in John Piper's sermon Repentance, Forgiveness, and the Gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:37-41):So I take the words at the end of verse 40 [of Acts 2] and apply them to all of us this morning with all the urgency that I can: "Be saved from this crooked generation." And the most crooked thing about this generation is that we have created ways of salvation without God and therefore without law and therefore without forgiveness—and therefore utterly without hope.
We may however rejoice with Piper when he says:But I declare this morning on the basis of God's Word that there is a God, there is a holy law, and in the name of Jesus Christ there is forgiveness. That is the first need we have. And God stands ready to meet it.
But there is more, says Piper: The second need, Peter says, is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 38: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins [the first need]; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [the second need]."

What does it mean to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Is this a promise of being baptized in the Spirit (1:5) or being filled with the Spirit (2:4) or being empowered by the Spirit (1:8; Luke 24:49); or being indwelt by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)? The longer I meditate on those alternatives the less I see reasons in the text to choose between them. My answer would be simply this: If you truly repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will be given to you, and will make a difference in your life. From that day on you will have the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). And nothing is said here in Acts 2:38 to limit the various ways in which he may manifest himself in your life.

All it says is that from the day of your repentance and your identification with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will be at work in your life as a gift. From the first day of your faith you can know he is yours because of this promise in Acts 2:38. And from that day on you can begin to seek his extraordinary empowerings (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8) and fillings (Acts 4:31; Ephesians 3:19) and gifts (Acts 2:17; 1 Corinthians 14:1).

Piper beautifully sums up these two human needs mentioned in the above quotes :These are the two great needs that we all have. The first is to be forgiven—to have all the violations and offenses and transgressions and disobedience and sins cancelled out. "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow!" (Isaiah 1:18). And the second need is to have God himself come into our lives where sin once reigned.

We need a personal relationship with God through his Spirit. We need wisdom and guidance and love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and self-control. And we need extraordinary power for the task of local and world evangelization. We need the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Piper then provides answer to the question "What shall we do" (Acts 2:37) asked by those present when Peter preached, after which he proceeds by concluding his study with the encouraging remarks that follow: Now let me close by reminding you of the almost unbelievable good news in this text. It shows us that even if you are a murderer of the Son of God (v. 36), God himself stands ready to forgive you! And not only to forgive you but to give you his Spirit! In other words he is willing to cancel all your debts and then come and live with you, and guide you, and change you, and empower you.

And for this you cannot work. It cannot be earned, or bought. It is a free gift to all who repent—who turn from darkness to light—and call on the name of the Lord.

What else would you like to share from Piper's Repentance, Forgiveness, and the Gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:37-41) audio or notes?

John Piper summarizes The Fear of God and Freedom from Goods (Acts 2.42-47) as follows: So let's sum up some the elements of this early church life.

• They focused a lot on the teaching of the apostles (which we have in the New Testament).
• They experienced wonders and signs (which are still valid for the church today, I argued last spring, especially through the means of spiritual gifts).
• They lived in a state of wonder and awe as they saw day in and day out the stark reality of God in healings and deliverances and changed lives of people being added to the church.
• They shared their possessions as freely with the needy as though they didn't even own them.
• They spent time in big groups in the temple.
• They ate together in their homes almost every day.
• And when they met each other, they met God. They prayed and they praised.

What made all this hang together, asks Piper? God was in the midst of them; God was a reality to them. How is God a reality to you?

Edited October 5, 2023: correction to page layout.

John Piper introduces his sermon Jesus' Name Made This Man Strong (Acts 3.1-16) saying: There is a miracle in this text and there is the beginning of a sermon—a wonder and a word. What I want us to see this morning is three things:

• the content of the word;
• and the content of the wonder;
• and the relationship between the wonder and the word of God preached—a pattern that seems to be developing. Is it a pattern for today?

Feel free to share portions of Piper's sermon that have been particularly helpful to your understanding of Christian life and ministry.

Edited October 5, 2023: correction to page layout.

In Times of Refreshing and the Restoration of All Things (Acts 3.17-21), John Piper suggests reasons for singing glory to God: God fulfils his hope-giving promises in spite of and through the opposition of ignorant people; God wipes away all the sins of people who repent and turn to Christ; God will one day establish the kingdom of Christ upon this earth. What do these blessings mean to you?

In God Sent His Servant to Bless You (Acts 3.22-26), John Piper highlights three blessings God gave us through His Son Jesus-Christ:

• First, Jesus came to prove God's truthfulness. It is a precious gift and I urge you to receive it: believe that God keeps his promises; God tells the truth; God can be trusted. [(Romans 15:8)]
• Second, Jesus came as a prophet like Moses. He reveals the truth of God and the God of truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is a reliable guide through the minefield of sin; and he will lead you to the promised land. Trust him. [(Matthew 7:13-14)]
• Finally, Jesus came to turn us from wickedness. He does not merely point; he empowers. He is not watching us struggle. He is with us on the way. [Hebrews 13:20-21]

Please share how you made these blessings from God yours or how you are still struggling to wrap your mind and heart around them.

Edited October 5, 2023: correction to page layout.

About There Is Salvation in No One Else (Acts 4.1-12), John Piper says: "We are saved only by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. It's the kind of truth that either makes converts or makes enemies." Where would you stand with regard to such statements?

About Abortion: Shall We Listen to Men or God? (Acts 4.13-22), John Piper says:

• "When people benefit from wrongdoing or wrong-thinking, they will turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the mounting evidence for what is right and what is true. The mind selectively sees what will justify the desires of the heart. In the end that is what must be changed."
• "One of the great obstacles to our speaking out in public about the truth as we see it with Jesus is that we think we have to win. Or we think we have to operate with the assumptions of secular leaders. But Peter shows us that this is emphatically not what we have to do. Our calling is not to win or to borrow the assumptions of the world. Our calling is to stand up and tell it like it is in the eyes of God. "

John Piper also argues in this sermon that advanced formal education is not what is needed to speak on the public place about issues that have to do with God's truth, but the courage that comes from a heart who knows God and has experienced him personally.

Are there topics that you don't dare speak about? How did Piper's exhortation help you be bolder than you have been thus far?

Edited October 5, 2023: correction to page layout.