Small Group Study resources on Acts

Matt and I are running a study on Acts with our own Small Group at the moment.

We were looking for resources that were more than reading comprehension, but couldn't find anything that seemed quite right. If you want any 'study' to have a feeling of life and power as you journey through it, it would be Acts!

So we are coming up with our own resources. We are both teachers, so we thought we may as well put our lesson planning skills to use!

I'll be sharing everything we come up with on the Small Group page so if you are looking for materials on Acts, or other general Small Group tips, then check that page periodically.

Session 1 is up now - plus some general Small Group leading tips - and we'll upload more as we go. Feel free to use these as you like - as is, or take bits and pieces in coming up with your own study, photocopy, cut and paste etc etc. Just like we wanted to come up with resources that we feel are right for our specific group of people, you might just be looking for inspiration and ideas to do the same. Just please don't incorporate them into anything you are going to sell or make a profit from.

And if you do pass anything on to others, if you'd point them back to this blog as where you found them, that would be dandy!

May you feel the Spirit like it's pentecost with the disciples all over again! That's what I'm hoping for :)

Can't live with you, can't live without you

It occurs to me that life would be much easier if we lived in community like we are meant to. Just from a house wife's point of view, and a less than brilliant one at that, imagine one person not having to be responsible for all the cooking, cleaning and childcare all at once. Heaven. Pun intended.

You would have constant entertainment, conversation and support. The financial, physical and emotional burdens would not lie too heavily on anyone person. You would never be lonely.

That's all in ideal community. Community the way I'm sure God intended it.

But we would hate it at the same time. By we, I'm mean western society. Why? Because we don't really like to share.

In theory we are taught to share as children, but it seems to be a case of do what I say, not what I do. Because if a child sees the adults accumulating mine, mine, mine, will they do any differently? Because at heart we are selfish creatures. I include myself completely in that assessment.

For example, I love it when we have all our friends around to our house for a meal. Everyone plays a part in cooking, setting the table, baby sitting and cleaning up afterwards. Because our friends are thoughtful and generous, it all runs like a well oiled machine and everyone gets to have a good time, with no-one feeling like they shouldered all the work.

Or when family comes to visit, and helps out with the washing and dishes while they are there. It feels great.

But if my friends or extended family then said they were moving in to my house permanently, that we were going to do this every day, that now my kitchen was ours, my computer was ours, my house was ours...well, I'd probably have a problem with that. And by probably, I mean definitely.

But why?

I think in western society, we are conditioned to think this is normal. Self-centredness is the status quo. No-one questions it because that's what everyone does. Whether that is the product of a capitalist society or the other way around, I don't know.

But it would come as a shock to us if we found ourselves in a different time or culture, to discover, actually not everyone is like this.

There have been in history and there are in the world now, cultures where there isn't so much importance placed on ownership. There isn't so much of a division between mine and yours. Where free, welcoming hospitality is the highest honour, rather than a select, guarded privilege. Where is more about what you give than what you can get for yourself.

For a society theoretically based on Christian values, we are shockingly bad at caring for other people above, or even equal to ourselves.

Acts 2:44
All the believers were together and had everything in common. (NIV)
There was an intense sense of togetherness among all who believed; they shared all their material possessions in trust. (The Voice)
And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources... (The Message)
And all those who believed were together and everything they had was communal... (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

I don't know about you, but that sounds wonderful and terrifying at the same time.

We love the idea, yet most of us hate the reality.

We'd rather those verses read something like,

"They were together a lot having BBQs, and shared their time, money and stuff sometimes, but on their terms; then they went back to their own houses for some time out."

But no. They were together and shared everything. EVERYTHING.



We as the Church have a long way to go before our lives look anything like this. I have a long way to go. I long for it and I run from it in equal measure.

But the good news?

The people of the early New Testament church weren't just extraordinarily good people. They had something that we need more of.

Something - someone - who came like the sound of a rushing wind, and like tongues of flame, and turned their lives upside down.

We aren't just called to live a certain way and then left to our own devices. Jesus actually gave us the power to put it into action. And once we learn to do that, that's when we will start to see the kingdom of God...heaven on earth.

Speaking their language

You don't have to be qualified to speak the good news.


At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came and filled those gathered in the room, and the crowds heard them, they were amazed because they were hearing their own languages. These were people from all over, and the Galileans were speaking their languages.


This was not just unusual, like "Hey, I didn't know you spoke Cappadocian!"They were 'utterly amazed'. (Acts 2:7)


Utterly -completely and without qualification; absolutely. In other words - completely, totally, absolutely, entirely,wholly, fully, thoroughly, quite, altogether,one hundred percent, downright, outright, in all respects, unconditionally, perfectly, really,to the hilt, to the core;


Amazed -surprised greatly; filled with astonishment. In other words -astonished, thunderstruck, speechless, at a loss for words, dumbstruck; aghast, taken aback; bowled over, flabbergasted, blown away.


Entirely flabbergasted, thoroughly bowled over, unconditionally thunderstruck. The Amplified Bible says they were 'beside themselves'.


Get the picture?


These were Galileans - not exactly known for there high brow education or broad multilingualism. And yet here they were, speaking in all these different languages. And all declaring the wonders of God.


You don't have to be qualified to speak as a witness. God can use you to speak anyone's language. That may not mean the languages of different countries for you. It may mean the language of your neighbour, a person in the supermarket, a young person in your church, and old person in a home...all those people who have a different culture to you. Those people with a different life, age, gender, personality, education or interest to you. Those people with whom you normally have nothing in common and nothing to say. People not of your own 'kind'. Even people who normally look down on your or ignore you.


God can give you the words to say, and those words come with power.


Those people hearing the wonders of God spoken in their own languages probably could have understood other languages. They didn't have to hear it those particular dialects to be able to comprehend what was being said. But it was more than the words; it was witnessing the power of God to transcend the natural, to go beyond boundaries and borders. To speak right to the heart.


God isn't limited by your social circle, your education, your knowledge (or lack of it), your conversational skills, your age, race or occupation. So why do we insist on limiting ourselves? Why do we say 'I'm too old to talk to young people', or 'I have nothing in common with that person', or 'People will probably think I'm stupid'?


When we let God get a hold of us, when we receive the Holy Spirit, the words we speak will have power and impact. People will notice that you are speaking their language. They will notice the difference. They will be 'flabbergasted' by the power and wonder of God.


Perhaps some of them might think you are strange (or drunk - Acts 2:13) - but there will be plenty more who ask "What does this mean?"


Be ready to tell them.

Transformation

I think we'd agree that the stories told to us in the gospels about what Jesus did for us are kinda important.

But it's in Acts when things really get interesting for the followers of Jesus. This is where we see the effects of what Jesus did in action. This is where we see transformation.

They went from arguments 'among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest' (Luke 9:46) to everyone 'together and.... everything in common' (Acts 2:44).

And what would make Peter, of 'denying three times' infamy, become a bold witness? "When they saw the courage of Peter and John...they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13)

This seems impossible. If you've ever tried to change something about yourself, or tried to change someone else, you'll know how impossible it is. People just don't change radically, overnight. Their fears, weaknesses, insecurities and bad habits just don't disappear like that.

But the disciples and the subsequent followers of Jesus changed radically. And not just for a few days. Not just a few of them. And even in the face of opposition and persecution. They changed so radically that they disrupted 'the whole world'. (Acts 17:6)

What makes this possible?

What the book of Acts is trying to show us, is that the only answer is the Holy Spirit.

Peter spoke "filled with the Holy Spirit". (Acts 4:8) He was transformed.

And the thousands who witnessed the acts and transformations of the apostles - they weren't won over by convincing arguments - they were also transformed by the power of what they saw and heard and witnessed.


Too often we think of being a Christian as a moral standard that we have to project, to make sure everyone sees how good we are, to make sure we aren't letting Jesus down. So we try to be like him. We try and try and try. And yet we are still dogged by those bad behaviours, those bad habits, that anger, that fear, that weakness. And so we get discouraged because it seems impossible, and we are sick of failing over and over again.

But that's the point. It is impossible. Without the Holy Spirit.

Even those who had seen Jesus risen from the dead and ascended into the clouds didn't do much until the Holy Spirit came. They had seen Jesus more physically and tangibly than we have, and yet they waited.

Even Jesus didn't expect them to act on their own. "...wait for the gift my Father promised...For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1:4-5) "...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8)

It's a gift. A gift that comes with power and authority from God, and transformation.

The thing about a gift is, inherent in the meaning of the word, you can't earn it or work for it. It's not payment, it's a gift. You just have to receive it.

That is the way our lives are transformed. That is the way we become bold witnesses to the ends of the earth. Not through our own efforts to be good or say and do the right thing - but by the power of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God in us. A gift.