This resource is not meant to replace your Bible or turn Scripture into a tech demo. It exists to serve the Word by restoring “where” to the story and helping you track what God is doing as the gospel moves from Jerusalem outward. As you explore it, you begin to sense the scale of Acts. The early church interacts with dozens of cities and a wide range of people and worldviews, from religious leaders to Roman officials, from magicians to philosophers, from household servants to rulers. Across every setting, one truth remains constant: Jesus is Lord of all, and because He is Lord of all, the gospel can be communicated to all.

Acts and the Mission of God
Acts is not only a record of events; it is a history of how God moves the gospel through His people. God sends. Jesus reigns and leads. The Holy Spirit fills, speaks, forbids, guides, and empowers. The growth of the church does not come from clever frameworks or persuasive strategies, but from obedience shaped by dependence on the Trinity. As you read Acts closely, a pattern emerges. The apostles understood what had to come first, what had to come next, and what they could never abandon. They devoted themselves to prayer, they depended on God to open doors for His Word, and then they declared Christ as the answer to every person’s deepest need.

Devoted to Prayer
Acts shows us again and again that the apostles communicate vertically before they ever communicate horizontally. Before decisions are made, before leaders are appointed, before boldness is displayed, the church prays. The believers devote themselves to prayer with one accord, they pray for guidance, they pray and are filled with the Spirit, and they pray even in suffering. When the church in Jerusalem faced internal strain, the apostles protected the mission by refusing to abandon “prayer and the ministry of the word.” God honored that devotion, and the Word continued to increase. Prayer was not peripheral to the mission; it was foundational.

Dependent on God
Acts also shows a deep dependence on God to open and close doors. The apostles do not assume openness, and they do not confuse effort with power. Sometimes the Spirit pushes them forward, and sometimes He blocks paths they expected to take. In Acts 16, Paul is redirected multiple times before arriving in Philippi, where Lydia hears the gospel. Luke explains the moment simply and profoundly: “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” The message mattered, and the messenger mattered, but the decisive work belonged to God. That truth keeps the church humble. It keeps us praying. It keeps us from relying on technique rather than the Spirit.

Declaring Christ Clearly
Acts also teaches us how to declare Christ faithfully across cultures. The apostles never change the gospel, but they do change where they begin. They answer each person, not every argument. In Athens, Paul observes before he speaks. He learns the city, understands its longings, and begins where his listeners already are. He builds a bridge using their own poets and their own questions, then crosses that bridge with clear truth about repentance, judgment, and the resurrection. Some mock. Some hesitate. Some believe. That mix of responses is not new. Skepticism did not begin in the modern world; it is simply wearing new clothes. What remains unchanged is the dividing line of the resurrection. If Jesus is risen, everything changes. If He is not, nothing ultimately matters.

What You’ll Find Inside the Tool
Within the resource, you can trace the missionary journeys of Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and Silas and see where the gospel advanced and where opposition arose. You can explore every recorded instance of prayer and the activity of the Holy Spirit and observe how God directed and sustained His people. You can examine gospel proclamations across different contexts and compare sermons to see how the same message was faithfully communicated to different audiences. The full ESV text of Acts is integrated throughout, allowing you to move seamlessly between Scripture and the geography it describes.

Our Hope for the Church
Our hope is that this resource serves personal devotions, group study, and family discipleship. Use it to better grasp the cost of faithfulness. Use it to notice how often prayer comes first. Use it to see how dependent the apostles were on God’s direction. Use it to learn how to speak clearly and graciously to the person in front of you. Above all, use it as a reminder that the same Holy Spirit who empowered the church in Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome is the same Spirit at work among us today.

You can access the tool now at acts.thewellaustin.com, and we encourage you to explore it on a tablet or laptop during your next study. We’re grateful for the opportunity to steward creativity in service of God’s Word, and we’re praying it helps us become the kind of people Acts describes: devoted in prayer, dependent on God, and ready to declare Christ with clarity, wisdom, and grace.