WEEK 2 : Hope in a Dying World
Ice breaker: Have you ever received any kind of inheritance? What was special about it?
Pray: Holy Spirit, would you speak to us and teach us today, helping us to surrender our will and forming us to be like Jesus.
Everything in this world dies. We have no hope apart from Jesus. The salvation of our souls is the ultimate goal of this life, but notice the wording in this passage shows this as an ongoing process, not just a done deal once you’ve prayed a prayer. Yes, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit when we believe, but then comes the refining process as we obediently walk with him.
Peter knows very personally what it is like to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He denied Jesus at his death, but then Jesus forgave him after he rose again (John 21) and then gives him instructions right before ascending into Heaven.
Read Acts 1:4-5, 8-9.
Following Jesus’ instructions, the disciples wait and pray.
Read Acts 2:1-13.
1. What happens when the Holy Spirit comes?
2. What do you imagine this was like for Peter?
Read Acts 2:14-41. The same Peter, who fifty days earlier had denied he even knew Jesus, now preaches the most effective evangelical sermon to that date, and thousands believe and are saved!
3. How did Peter get the words, boldness, and confidence to LOVE like Jesus and share the gospel?
The same Holy Spirit who was now empowering scared Peter to testify boldly about salvation through Jesus is available to each of us.
4. Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit was talking through you? What happened? How did you know it was him?
5. Do you allow the Spirit to give you boldness to testify to others about Jesus? Why or why not?
Read 1 Peter 1:3-12. Note all the benefits of salvation.
6. Why is it essential that we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us to be witnesses just like Peter? (Remember, this is a way we LIVE and LOVE like Jesus!)
7. Look back at verse 12. In what power does Peter say the gospel was preached to them?
Take some time to pray for the lost people in your life: neighbors, coworkers, family, and friends.
Holy Spirit, thank you that you will give us power, boldness, and words to say to testify about Jesus. Please increase my faith so I will trust you and be bold like Peter. Lord, we beg for thousands to be saved as we read about in Acts. We pray for ___________ (name lost people you know specifically). Holy Spirit, soften their hearts, and give me and others the words to say to them to share about the hope we have in Jesus. Amen.
Activity: Take a prayer walk through your neighborhood or a community near MCC. Pray for the salvation of the people who live in each home. For a guide you may find helpful, open the MCC app, click “groups” at the bottom, then “group tools,” then “Prayer Walking Guide.”