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Called to be Witnesses: Encounters in the Book of Acts Cell notes for Sunday, 14th May 2017 Called into Question Acts 4:1-21 Summary: Stephen Hance started by talking about the fact that Acts is a ‘Gospel of the Holy Spirit’. It’s often known as the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ but more accurately it’s the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Some of its key themes are: the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church; community, generosity and commitment of early Christians; miracles, signs and wonders; preaching Jesus’ death and resurrection and persecution leading to being scattered and preaching to Gentiles. All these themes come up in Acts 4. Story-wise, this passage follows from Acts 3, in which Peter and John have healed a lame man. They are then called up before the Sanhedrin (court), and asked to account for their actions, both in terms of preaching the resurrection and healing the lame man. As they are challenged they keep on preaching Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Stephen highlighted that the resurrection has always been the most controversial aspect of the Christian faith, and talked about how we respond, and how we need to seek more of the Holy Spirit to equip us to share our own faith. 1. If you are passionate about something, are you someone who likes to let everyone know about it? 2. How do you feel about sharing your faith with other people? Is it easy / difficult? If that’s different to your answer to question 1: why do you think that is? 3. Despite the difficulties and struggle here, what are the good things that come from Peter and John’s preaching in this passage? 4. Read verses 8-12. From these verses – and more generally – how does the resurrection change the way that we relate to our faith? 5. Even though there is nothing that stops us sharing our faith, why do we find it hard to do? 6. What can we learn from Peter and John’s actions in verses 13-20? 7. From the passage, and from our own experience: why do we need to be equipped by the Holy Spirit to share our faith, and what do we need him to give us? 8. How do we seek more of the Holy Spirit in our lives in practical ways? What would that seeking look like for each of us in practice / what one thing can we do this week to seek more of the Holy Spirit?