A Community Empowered by the Holy Spirit

A Community Empowered by the Holy Spirit
  • Dan Haakenson
  • Aug 29, 2010
  • Series: What are WE here for? Lessons from Acts
  1. Read Acts 2:1-13.  There are many aspects to the miracle of this day (the sound, the tongues of fire, the speaking in other languages, etc.).  Which is most impressive or intriguing to you?
  2. More generally, what do you think of miracles and what they mean? (Wee Acts 2:22; Acts records many positive / powerful miracles but also remember that miracles may still be rejected or counterfeit.  See John 10:25-30, 2 Thess 2:9, 10.)
  3. Who is the Holy Spirit?  How would you define or describe Him? (See John 14-17 and other passages.)
  4. How is the Holy Spirit’s coming a confirmation of OT promises? (See Acts 2:14-21; Joel 2.)  How does the Holy Spirit’s coming continue and further the work of God through His people?
  5. Why did the people in Acts 2:5-13 find the events so disturbing? Who was this audience and why were they gathering in Jerusalem? What is the significance of the Spirit’s coming at the day of Pentecost?  (Consider the background of this Jewish harvest festival.)
  6. When the Holy Spirit came, and the disciples were miraculously able to speak to the people in their own languages, what did these Christ-followers say (2:11)?  How is this a fulfillment of Acts 1:8?  (See also John 16:13-15.)  What can you say about God and what He is doing in your life?
  7. Do you have the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 6:19)? If so, how is He influencing your life?
  8. Acts does not limit being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ to just the experience of this day of Pentecost (2:4; 4:8, 31; 6:3, 5; 13:52 and others; also see Eph 5:18). What does it mean for you to be filled with the Spirit?  How could you increasingly “live by the Spirit”… be “led by the Spirit”… bear “the fruit of the Spirit”… and “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal 5:16-26)?

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