Hello Again,
Read Acts 4.23-37
The second half of Acts 4 gives us a glimpse at the prayer life of the early church as well as their passion to take care of the needy among them.
After being released from prison and interrogated by the religious leaders and told to not speak about or in the name of Jesus anymore, Peter and John return to their people. They report back to the church about what has just happened, which we read in Acts 3 and 4.
The church is moved to pray of course. They pray to God the creator and give thanks for the ways God has acted in history and in the present. Then they close their prayer focusing on the most recent events. But instead of praying for there to be no persecution, they pray for boldness to speak God’s word, while God heals, and performs miracles. Their prayer finishes and an immediate response occurs, the place is shaken, and they are all filled with the Holy Spirit and speak the word of God with boldness.
Does this prayer sound like how you pray? What would it be like for you to pray less about the frustrations and needs in your life and our society and to pray more for God to give you boldness to act and speak in his name? How might that change you? How might that change the people and situations around you?
May you be filled with boldness by the Holy Spirit to give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus and may God’s grace rest upon each one of you.
Grace, Peace and Boldness,
Matt
Inductive Questions: (These will be included each day and your work on them will be the foundation we build upon at our Wednesday evening in-person and Zoom Bible Study as we explore the church, mission, and Holy Spirit in Acts.)
Pick at least one of these to be a focus for all of Acts, but answer as many of them as you want.
- What does the church look like in Acts? Who is a part of it? What do they do? How is it formed? How does it relate to mission and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the ecclesiology of Acts?
- What does mission look like in Acts? Who does it? What do they do? How does it happen? How does it relate to the church and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the missiology of Acts?
- What does the Holy Spirit look like in Acts? What does the Spirit do? How is the Spirit active? How does it relate to church and mission? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the pneumatology of Acts?
Answer the question with the language of Acts as much as possible and cite the chapter and verse reference in your notes.