In preparation for the upcoming series “Acting School” a series on the first half of the book of Acts I chose to read C. Peter Wagner’s “Spreading the Fire” which is book one in a three part series. There were a couple of reasons that I was drawn to this book. First it was recommended by both Kevin Korver and my brother Andrew Schmidt. Second it is a book that believes the entire book of Acts is built off of Acts 1:8 a verse in which thebridge was sent out with. Third it is a book that is willing to talk about the Holy Spirit – which is someone many historical commentaries don’t talk about.
This book was very beneficial for me in my studying and most importantly helped me choose which portions of Acts to chunk together. For example I’m leaning towards teaching Acts chapters 6,7, and 8 together. I also enjoyed the insight Wagner had on the Hellenist and Hebrew Jews and the significance each had.
