Acts 1:8 is a table of contents for the entire book. If you understand this the rest of the book will make so much more sense.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Jesus said the good news would first spread throughout Jerusalem. That’s chapters 1-7. Check out Acts 5:28, “We [the Sanhedrin] gave you [the apostles] strict orders not to teach in this name,” he [the high priest] said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching…” So we see that the good news was first spread throughout Jerusalem.
- Jesus said that after the good news spread throughout Jerusalem it would next go to Judea and Samaria. That’s what happens in chapters 8-12. Check out Acts 8:1, “…On that day [when Stephen was stoned] a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” So we see that the gospel spread beyond Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria.
- Jesus said that after the good news spread throughout Judea and Samaria it would begin a trip around the world. And that’s the rest of the book of the Acts (chapters 13-28). The rest of the book tells of four journeys the apostle Paul went on to take the gospel beyond Judea and Samaria. We read about Paul’s commission for these journeys in Acts 13:2-3, “While they [Paul and his companions] were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” This was the work of taking the gospel beyond Judea and Samaria.
If you keep this simple outline in mind, no matter where you are in the book, you’ll know the author’s point in any given section (i.e. to show the spread of the gospel in Jerusalem, or the spread of the gospel in Judea and Samaria, or to show how it spread even beyond Judea and Samaria).