Compelling Christianity (Studies in the Book of Acts, Volume 6)

Top Highlights

“There are two main causes for this fundamental failure in the whole approach to Christianity. The first is that it is regarded as just a teaching. People may say it is right or they may say it is wrong, but the point is that they approach it as just one of a number of possible teachings that are put before us.” (Page 6)

“But they think of it as just another possible answer to the questions, an alternative solution to some of the problems. They think that the main message of the Christian church and the Christian faith is merely a point of view to consider.” (Page 6)

“Another very common cause of this tragic mistake is that certain people tend to be carried along with the crowd, what is called today ‘getting on the bandwagon.” (Pages 139–140)

“My first proposition is that Christian faith and teaching are the result of historical events and facts and actions. That is what we are reminded of in this passage. The book we are studying is called the book of Acts; it is the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Or as the writer himself might prefer to put it, it is the book of the Acts of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how he begins: ‘The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach …’” (Page 8)

“There is only one answer to that, and it is this: the Christian’s position does not depend upon experience—it depends upon the word, it depends upon the truth. So these first believers and Philip did not talk about themselves but told the people the facts about our Lord. Like Paul they were preaching ‘Jesus, and the resurrection’ (Acts 17:18). They were witnessing to great, objective, historical facts.” (Page 41)