Chapter Twenty — Part Thirteen: The Book of Acts
By: Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 11/20/2022
Foundation Scripture:Acts 20:32
1. Commended to God and His Word.
a. Acts 20:32 NKJV — “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
b. Commend (Greek paratithēmi) — to place alongside; to present; to deposit (as a trust or for protection); commend; commit; commit the keeping of; put forth; set before.
c. Acts 20:32a AMPC — And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care].
d. Before Paul departed, he committed them all to God—depositing them in His charge, and entrusting them to His protection, provision, and care.
e. Paul is directing them to look to God in faith and depend on Him.
f. And asking God to watch over them favorably.
g. Acts 20:32b AMPC — And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor].
h. He commends and commits them to God and into the Word of God’s grace.
i. The Word is what saves us and keeps us.
j. The Word will keep us if we commit ourselves fully to the Word:
k. To be subject to the Word.
l. To enjoy all the wonderful benefits that come by His gracious Word.
m. To faithfully carry and preach the Word to others.
n. God’s grace is His good will, loving-kindness, and favor freely extended toward us:
o. It is the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ.
p. It keeps, strengthens, and increases the believer in Christian faith, knowledge, and affection.
q. And kindles them (ignites and stirs them up) to the exercise of the Christian virtues.
2. Build Up.
a. Acts 20:32 (Wuest) — And now, as to the present things, I commend you to the Lord and to the word of His grace which has power to build you up.
b. Build (Greek epoikodomeō) – build up; build upon; to edify; build up in the faith; or build any kind of structure; to repair or make new.
c. God’s Word has the power and ability to build you up:
d. To make a new creation of you.
e. To repair or replace anything that was broken or lost.
f. To build you up spiritually.
g. To build you up in the faith.
h. Nothing can grow without being fed.
i. Our spirit is fed by the Word of God.
j. Our mind (soul) is fed as it is renewed by the Word of God.
k. We need to feed on the Word of God, so that we can grow and be built up in Him (1 Cor. 3:1-15).
3. His Building.
a. 1 Corinthians 3:9 AMPC — For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God; you are God’s garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God’s building.
b. The Word of God calls us God’s garden; His vineyard; and His field under cultivation.
c. We are God’s building, built upon the (one and only) Foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11-15; Eph. 2:20).
d. We are living stones, being built up into a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5).
e. As we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we are to walk in Him—regulating our lives and conducting ourselves in union with Him and being conformed to Him (Col. 2:6-7).
f. The roots of our being needs to be firmly and deeply planted, fixed, and founded in Him.
g. And we will be continually built up in Him and become increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith.
h. We put off, strip off, the old, unregenerate man, with its evil practices (Col. 3:9-10).
i. And we put on the new man—clothe ourselves with the new spiritual self—which is in the ongoing process of being renewed and remolded in knowledge, into His image.
4. Glorious Inheritance.
a. Acts 20:32c AMPC — It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).
b. Inheritance (Greek klēronomia) – inheritance; property received (or to be received) by inheritance; possession; what is given to one as a possession.
c. We, God’s saints—His consecrated, purified, set-apart, and sanctified children—can expect to receive a glorious inheritance, a heavenly reward.
d. Colossians 1:12 AMPC — Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God’s holy people) in the Light.
e. We are born again into a holy and heavenly family, and the Father, Himself, has qualified as to receive the wonderful inheritance laid up for us.
f. Ephesians 1:18 AMPC — By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones).
g. The Father would like us to have a clear revelation of His rich and glorious inheritance that belongs to and is waiting for us.
h. By the Father’s boundless mercy, and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, you have been born again to an ever-living hope and born anew into an inheritance of full salvation—spirit, soul, and body—which is imperishable, unsullied, and unfading—reserved in heaven for you (1 Pet. 1:3-5).
i. Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV — And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.