I have personally read through the Book of Acts many times. I preached on it as well – multiple times. Plus, any preaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit invariably involves the Book of Acts, because it is the origin of the early church with its baptism by fire. However, this time is different because it is a forensic study of the Book of Acts as we examine new things.

There was a void in the lives of Jesus’ followers when they saw Him ascend to heaven forty days after the resurrection and realized no one had been appointed to take His place. The Son of God instructed them to stay in Jerusalem, and since most of them were from Galilee, the only place available was the upper room.

The Jewish leadership was still hostile to Jesus – and it goes without saying – His disciples as well. None of the apostles tried to do any form of public speaking or lead people to Christ.

They knew the Festival of the Weeks would commence in ten days and Jerusalem would be packed with Jews from different nations. They had no instructions beyond staying in Jerusalem and waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had not provided a timeline for when this event would occur.

Peter stated it was necessary to find a replacement for Judas Iscariot. No one asked Peter if Jesus had told him to do it; they simply acted like good Baptists and used logic to figure out whom they could appoint as an apostle to restore their number to twelve.

They came up with two candidates, and since they were moving in the flesh, they decided to cast lots on the matter, hoping this action would help the Holy Spirit reveal the correct selection. The Holy Spirit remained silent and the results revealed Matthias – one of the 70 others – to be the winner.

Matthias was undoubtedly a good man, but not the one Jesus wanted, because He had already appointed another man before the foundation of the world. That is why Matthias is only mentioned once in the Bible. He is never heard from again.

Working in the flesh is always disastrous. Good intentions do not carry any weight with God. He does not want us to operate in such a capacity. It is obvious that Jesus was not in a hurry to replace Judas even if Peter was hasty and zealous to restore their numbers.

Print out the sermon outline and let's examine the Scriptures together Sunday morning at 9:00 AM PST.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John S. Torell