Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, this sermon definitely has some similarities to last week's sermon. It's another attempt to grapple with the big picture of where we are in Acts. Last week we looked at the manifestations of Christ's reign. This week, we're going to home in on one particular manifestation of His reign: How He rules different people and groups within the broader church. In other words, I want to pull out of the text what Luke has to say about those who aren't apostles. What non-apostolic characters appear in Acts, and what did they do for the church? With every character, I want to emphasize that these folks are not apostles. They are not the big guns like Peter and John. They are ordinary Christians, just like you, who did not hesitate to contribute substantially to the Kingdom of God by their ordinary Christian walk.
