Acts: The Gospel In Motion

September 2nd, 2020

Wednesday Night Bible Class: Acts 2: 1-14

Where is the intersection between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will? If God’s sovereignty extends all of our actions being preordained, does that make God responsible for our sinful actions? Read 1 John 1:15, Psalms 92:15, and James 1:13. Can God participate in evil? How does our free will make Jesus’ sacrifice and our salvation more precious?
Read John 20:19. Before Christ’s resurrection appearances, the apostles met behind locked doors. After the resurrection, according to Luke 24:53 and Acts 1:15, the apostles are found teaching and praising God publicly. What caused their change in attitude? See Acts 1: 5, 7-8, 2:1-4. Does something keep you “behind locked doors” and prevent you from being bold about sharing Jesus with others? How can you deepen your connection to Holy Spirit to increase your boldness for the Lord?
Read Acts 2:1-4. On the day of Pentecost, how did Holy Spirit make Himself known audibly and visually? Think about times God made his presence known in Old Testament (see Exodus 13:22, Numbers 14:14, Job 38:1, and John 3:8). How would the familiarity of the Holy Spirit’s coming been both confirming and encouraging to the people in the upper room?
How is the baptism of the Holy Spirit experienced in the upper room DIFFERENT from receiving the Holy Spirit at baptism? How does receiving Holy Spirit after baptism work to both sanctify us and draw us closer relationship with God? What function did the special Holy Spirit baptism at Pentecost serve?
Even after hearing the apostles speak in dialects that Galileans would not have known, some of those who heard rejected the message. By suggesting the apostles were drunk, they were attacking the messenger in an effort to discredit the message. How is this tactic used today? Preview next week’s text and read Acts 2: 14-41. How did Peter respond to those who tried attacked the apostles’ credibility rather than the message? What does this teach us about how we should respond when criticized for sharing the Gospel?
If the apostles and others in the upper room were rejected by those who heard them AFTER they received the miraculous baptism of the Holy Spirit and kept sharing the Gospel, how should we respond to rejection in the 21st century? Should we be surprised? Should we be discouraged? What lessons about persistence can we learn from this upper room group?
Even as the church is founded, God is inviting all people. By miraculously allowing all people in earshot to hear the apostles in their native dialects, God is offering Himself to all people. How does God using the men in the upper room to speak in the native dialects of those who heard preview the gospel being spread to all people? Do you think non-Jewish people in the audience would have been surprised to be included? Do you think non-Jewish people would have been more or less open to the message of Jesus?
What mighty work has God done in your life? What has changed in you as a result of Holy Spirit living in you? What has God saved you from? Can you view these changes as mighty and powerful simply because they are changes you could not have made without Him?

Posted in Collegeside General Info