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As I write this, I’m slowly recovering from a stomach bug I picked up on vacation more than a week ago. My husband and I were supposed to be celebrating another year of marriage, along with a few months of what seemed to be good health for both of us. We might have celebrated that last milestone a bit prematurely!

I am feeling better now, thanks to time and the prayers of a special group of warrior women who have prayed me through many difficult situations. The effective prayers of righteous Christians really do accomplish much (James 5:16)!

Here’s what I noticed about repetition, special statements and lists in this passage.

Last Week’s Work

REPETITION

I found just one repeated concept here—not to say there aren’t others, just that the Spirit only called my attention to what the author said about seeing in the study verses.

First, Jesus tells the men they will be His witnesses (v8) to the world. Then, in the remaining verses, I noticed the following:

• were looking on, and sight (v9);
• were gazing into heaven (v10);
• were looking into heaven, and saw him go into heaven (v11).

I can’t help but wonder what they thought as they were standing there. How does somebody believe their eyes in a situation like that?!

SPECIAL STATEMENTS

I found three special statements in this passage, and all three are promises:

• you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (v8)
• you will be my witnesses (v8)
• Jesus… will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven (v11).

I know the first two promises were fulfilled, but was the third?

LISTS

Finally, I noticed just one list: the geographical locations where Jesus said they would be His witnesses:

• Jerusalem
• All Judea and Samaria
• To the end of the earth.

Again, I’m struck that these “men of Galilee” were called not to their fellow Galileans, but Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world at large.

Does it seem to you as we dig up these facts they beg more questions than they answer? Me, too! The only thing I know to do is to keep digging!

Dig-In Challenges

Next week, we’ll be wrapping up Step 3 by looking for three more elements of the lesson we’re learning from Acts 1:6-11:

1. PRAY: As always, start with the prayer we wrote for Step 1.
2. MINE: Read through the passage again to see if the author uses any comparisons. The quickest way to locate these is to look for phrases containing the words like or as, as well as more than/ less than and better than/ worse than. Do you find any comparisons that connect directly with your personal focus area?
3. MINE: Next, look for causes or motives in the text. These are actually pretty easy to spot, but there is some thinking involved here.
   First, look for these key words or phrases:
   because, for*, in order to, lest, since, so*, so that, that*, to*, therefore.
   Finding them almost always means you’ll find an action phrase (noun + verb) with the reason for that action, too. The *exceptions are for, so, that, and to—when these are used as other parts of speech like prepositions or articles, you won’t find an action or a reason.
   Next, look for the action (what’s being caused or motivated). With most of these words/phrases, you’ll find the action before the key word/phrase, and the reason will be after it.
   For example, I went to the store because I was out of milk.
   The action = I went to the store
   because
   The reason = I was out of milk.
   Occasionally you may see the order of the statements reversed, but the reason will still follow the key word or phrase: Because I was out of milk, I went to the store.
   However, with therefore and its synonyms so and hence, the action appears after these key words:
   Here’s an example using the same reason and action as above, just changing the key word:
   I was out of milk; therefore, I went to the store.
   Same reason = I was out of milk [but different location!]
   therefore
   Same action = I went to the store.
   Try it. I think you’ll see it’s easier than all these words make it seem (and, of course, feel free to reach out to me at jen@jencason.com if you have questions)!
4. MINE: Finally, see if you can find any conditions/methods by asking: does the author condition the action you’re studying on something else happening—for example, if or when this condition is met, [then] that will happen? Or does he describe a particular method by which something happens—for example, specific steps taken to achieve something, or more generally by or through attributes or action (i.e., grace, faith)? Does he use any adverbs (-ly words) that describe how the action was accomplished?

These exercises are a little harder, but I know you can do this—give it a try and check back with me next week. I’m looking forward to it. I hope you are, too.

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