The Acts of Jesus: Continued - Empowering
Opening Prayer:
Lord God,
We thank You for your Holy Spirit.
We thank You for sending the Comforter,
Who is our Counsellor, our Helper, our Intercessor, our Advocate and our Strengthener.
He will teach us all things and lead us into Your wisdom and grow us in Your love.
Let Your Spirit fall fresh on us. As we read Your word and worship You, make us more like You.
In the name of Your precious Son,
Amen
Key Scriptures:
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:1-5
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Acts 2:1-13
Sermon Summary
This week we started a new teaching series “The Acts of Jesus: Continued”, journeying through the book of Acts together. Below Claire shares a brief summary of what she talked about on Sunday:
Questions to Consider:
What does Jesus' command to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit tell us about the importance of God's timing?
What does it tell us about how we are to continue Jesus’ work?
What does this tell us about our call as Christians and our mission’s relationship to His?
What is a witness? What does it mean to be a witness to something/someone?
What makes for an effective witness? What makes us effective witnesses for Jesus?
In your journey with Jesus, who was someone who was a good witness who shared Jesus with you? What did they do? How did it inspire you?
Why do we often try and do it on our own, without the Spirit’s power?
What does living out Jesus’ mission look like for you today? What are you doing? What are you involved in?
Who are you journeying with? Who has God called you to? Why does he call us together?
Practices to Consider:
Spend some time praying for each other to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Pray for the Spirit’s power through the laying on of hands and pray for healing too.
Prayer Prompts:
May we be a community of people empowered by the Spirit to join God in His world.
Additional Resources:
Find the full sermon recording here
For a printable version of this guide click here
If you are interested in going deeper the bible project have a helpful guide to the book of Acts, you can find it here