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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?