David Hathaway

The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticised him and said, ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.’ Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw som...

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were ast...

The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware...

'At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?”...

Physical healing is an integral part of the atonement. It has been bought for us, together with our salvation, through Christ’s suffering and death. Isaiah 53 states clearly that ‘He was wounded for our transgressions and with his stripes we are healed.’ We all believe that our sin was taken away, and the penalty was paid by Christ’s suffering and death. We do not question our salvation, which is...

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” Peter went with them, and when he arrived...

As Peter travelled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralysed and had been bedridden for eight years. ‘Aeneas,’ Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. In Joppa there was a disciple n...

At once [Saul (Paul)] began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the M...

In this episode David continues teaching from Acts 9.10-22. In these verses Ananias, a disciple of the Lord, receives a vision, instructing him to go to Saul. It is revealed that Saul is God's chosen instrument to carry His name to the Gentiles, Kings and Israelites, and that Saul will suffer greatly for this cause. Upon being prayed for, Saul regains his sight and is filled with the Holy Spirit....

This passage recounts the conversion of Saul, (later known as the apostle Paul), on the road to Damascus. This encounter with Christ marked the beginning of Saul's transformation from a persecutor of Christians, to one of the most influential figures in spreading the message of Christianity. 'Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the hig...

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right be...

'Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralysed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. Now for some time a man named Simon had practised sorcery in the city and amazed a...

If we believe we are living in the last days, we need the same Holy Spirit desperately! The reason I first received the Holy Spirit was because I knew I had to preach the Gospel – with lives changed, souls saved into the Kingdom! I found Christ when I was 8, was baptised in water aged 12. The first time I spoke in my church I was only 13. I advertised, the people came; I preached, but nobody repen...

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 8.1...

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his f...

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly...

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven...

'During the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.” At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Isr...

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought those who were ill into the streets and laid them on beds and m...

I remember the day when the Lord challenged me to serve Him. I was 15, on holiday on the South Coast of England, walking on the sea-front with some young Christians and I couldn’t enter into the fun that they were having because God was speaking to me – and the devil was speaking to me. The devil was saying, ‘Don’t listen, it’s OK, things are fine. You’re doing well – you got saved when you were 8...

Looking at that first revival in Acts 4 we see some tremendous things. It’s amazing what I read in verse 13: When the religious council in Jerusalem saw the boldness of Peter and John, they took note that they were unlearned and ignorant men, and marvelled at them, because they could see that what marked out Peter and John as different from anyone else – was that they had been with Jesus! One of t...

This passage underscores the courage and determination of the early Christians in spreading the message of Jesus, even in the midst of persecution. 'On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made th...

In Acts 4:1-13, Peter and John are brought before the Jewish religious leaders for teaching about Jesus and performing a miraculous healing. The leaders are disturbed by their actions and begin to question them. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly defends their actions, declaring that the healing was done in the name of Jesus Christ. He emphasises that salvation is found only in Jesus. The...

The Acts of the Apostles is the story of what men did in the Name of Jesus through the Power of the Holy Spirit. It reveals how the Church should be today; we should be experiencing all the things we read about in the Acts of the Apostles – and greater! Christ’s last words in Mark 16 were, “Go out, preach the Gospel… These signs will follow those who believe, they will lay hands on the sick and th...

“Why are you so amazed at this? Why do you look on us, as if by our own power or holiness we made this man walk? The God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus! – Jesus whom you delivered up and whom you rejected when Pilate was determined to release Him. You denied the Holy One, you killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead – of which we are witnesses! It’s His Name, through...