Suffering in Jerusalem, Harvest in Samaria, Saul Saved

Listen as Ed Underwood teaches on Acts in this fifth episode of the Recentered on the Word podcast.

The time of “favor with all the people” (2:47) is over. Book 2 of Acts traces the Satanic attack on the church in Jerusalem as the Jewish authorities that killed the Lord Jesus turn against His people (3:1-6:7). The irresistible force of the church will not be stopped. The church continues multiplying disciples—including Hellenistic or Grecian Jews and many priests!

In Book 3, we read of the church expanding beyond the city of Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, just as the Lord Jesus had said (Acts 1:8). The narrative presents three momentous events in these critical transitions for the church from Jerusalem to Judea and from an exclusively Jewish community to the Gentile world—the martyrdom of Stephen, the ministry of Philip, and the conversion of Paul. Luke begins each new section with the central character's name (6:8; 8:5; 9:1).

The Law of Sowing and Reaping Spiritual Seeds: The harvest always involves suffering. Radical growth requires radical believers.