ACTS
Spirit Empowered Church · Witness · Mission to the Nations
Expanded Museum Poster · Timeline Theme Table
1 · Core Story & Meaning
Acts continues Luke’s story: the risen Jesus commissions His followers, the Holy Spirit empowers witness, and the gospel spreads from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Along the way, the church navigates opposition, internal tension, and major turning points as Gentiles are welcomed.
Core Sentence · Acts in One Line
The Holy Spirit empowers Jesus’ witnesses, and the gospel advances from Jerusalem to the nations despite opposition.
Risen Jesus → Spirit poured out
├─ Jerusalem church forms
├─ persecution scatters witness
├─ Gentiles welcomed
├─ Paul’s missions expand the reach
└─ gospel arrives in Rome (open-ended)
Emotionally: excitement → boldness → pressure → unity struggles → breakthrough → resilient hope.
Four Major Movements
How the book actually flows:
1. FOUNDATION (1–7): Spirit, community, early conflict
2. EXPANSION (8–12): scattering, Samaria, Gentile door opens
3. MISSIONS (13–20): Paul’s journeys; churches planted
4. TRIALS TO ROME (21–28): arrest, testimony, journey, Rome
Narrative rail for the museum walk.
2 · Key Scenes & Emotional Gestures
Moments that carry theological and emotional weight.
Scene · Pentecost (Acts 2)
The Spirit ignites public witness.
Wind/fire → languages → sermon → community forms
Joy and boldness erupt into a new people.
Scene · Stephen’s Witness (Acts 7)
Truth spoken at great cost.
History retold → confrontation → martyrdom
Sorrow and courage; persecution begins.
Scene · Cornelius (Acts 10)
The Gentile door opens.
Vision → meeting → Spirit falls → inclusion confirmed
A shocking expansion of ‘who belongs.’
Scene · Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15)
Unity preserved without flattening differences.
Dispute → testimony → decision → peace
Tension resolves into shared mission.
3 · Timeline of Themes by Story Order
Top = early narrative; bottom = later narrative.
| Story Order |
Section Block |
Creation |
Fall |
Covenant |
Promise |
Faithfulness |
Exile |
| 1 · Acts 1–2 |
Ascension, Commission, Pentecost |
|
|
|
Spirit promised & given |
bold witness begins |
|
| 2 · Acts 3–7 |
Signs, Growth, Opposition, Stephen |
|
hostility rises |
|
|
power & courage |
|
| 3 · Acts 8–12 |
Scattering, Samaria, Cornelius, Peter |
|
|
peoplehood redefined |
gospel expands |
|
|
| 4 · Acts 13–15 |
Paul’s Missions & Jerusalem Council |
|
|
covenant inclusion clarified |
churches planted |
unity maintained |
|
| 5 · Acts 16–20 |
Further Missions, Suffering, Strengthening |
|
opposition persists |
|
mission momentum |
perseverance |
|
| 6 · Acts 21–28 |
Arrest, Trials, Voyage, Rome |
|
|
|
to the ends of the earth |
testimony endures |
life under empire |
Acts is the museum’s ‘hinge hall’: Spirit, witness, and mission—moving the story from Jesus’ ministry into a world-changing movement.