How did God speak to people and let them know what he wanted them to do? This was a question I was asked recently and so I went through the book of Acts to try to answer this question.
I went to Acts because it was of a similar time period that we live culturally and because Jesus had ascended and given us the Holy Spirit as a direction and guide. I also chose Acts because of the time frame that it covers, thirty or more years of birth and movement of the early church.
What I discovered was absolutely amazing. It’s not what I thought I would find. It was quite disturbing to me as I considered how people normally look for direction from God.
My process was to look at each time a Christ-follower or group of Christ-followers made a decision. I then broadly categorized them and will use an example from scripture of each. The breakdown shows the following:
1. Visions, Trances, and Dreams – Acts 10:3-16
2. Wisdom and Common Sense – Acts 15:19-22
3. Inner Voice – Acts 16:1-10
4. Visitations from God or his Messengers – Acts 23:11
Contrary to what I thought I would find, wisdom and common sense appeared, in my judgment, in only one passage, possibly two. This does not take into account implicit decisions about which boat to take or whether or not to talk about Christ, only opportunities presented in Acts where a decision was made and it was stated that it came from God.
I was taught in seminary that the introduction to Acts was implying that Acts was the continuation of the ministry of Jesus. It says in verse 1:
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach…(1:1, ESV)
The first book was what Jesus began to do and teach and the second (Acts) is what Jesus is continuing to do and teach, now through the Holy Spirit.
Two things must be noted. If the above statement is true, and since both persons are God and would be consistent, then it appears the ministry of the Spirit, in Acts, and Jesus, in Luke, occur through signs. Inherently this is true. The way Jesus described his ministry was through signs. In Luke 4, Luke tells us of how Jesus introduced himself and his ministry to the people in the synagogue. It says:
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.“Luke 4:16-19, ESV
Jesus told the people what his ministry was about not by saying he was the Messiah. He told them through signs. “Here is what my ministry is about: healing, freedom, liberty…” These were signs of the Messiah, indications that the Messiah had come.
In Acts, most of God directives were pronounced through the use of visions, dreams and visitations. Again, these were signs of the rule and kingdom of God from Joel 2:28-32 that Peter picked up in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2.
Jesus chided the religious leaders in Matthew 16:1-4 that they could not read the signs that had already been given. We have fallen into the same hole.
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David is an entrepreneur, pastor, coach, and author. He has his doctorate from George Fox Seminary where he studied under Len Sweet, his M.Div. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and has done post graduate work in communications from the University of Alabama and the University of South Florida. He lives with his wife Brenna Phillips in Smyrna, DE. 
