Discussion Outline for Acts 4
GOD’S SPIRIT BRINGS US BOLDNESS
WORD:
In Acts 3-4 the apostles pray for a man and he is drastically healed physically. It is a notable miracle that non-believers recognize. After the religious leaders learn that it was ‘done in the name of Jesus’ they are offended and retaliate.
READ 4:13-22
Can you foresee a period in America’s future where we will be banned from speaking or teaching about Jesus? Why? Explain.
Discuss the similarities and differences between how these people lived their lives and how we live ours. Focus on the difference in their surroundings
What was the fuel for the passion of the disciples during this persecution? (God showed up in supernatural ways. He proved himself.)
How did God use this environment/persecution to show his power?
Discuss the thought that God might need or require some of this persecution to demonstrate his strength.
Discuss verse 20. (They had seen the power of God demonstrated so strongly and obvious that it empowered their evangelism. They did not care about who judged them or what the law would do to them.)
Have you ever been in this position where they power of God gave you the strength to speak without reservation?
What was the main point of the supernatural signs that God was displaying in the disciples? (to spread his NAME to everyone, to spread the Gospel)
What keeps us from desiring more of God in our present life? (We do not desire the works of God for the right reasons, we are selfish, our faith is weak, we are spoiled, etc)
What will it take to put us in the place where the believers were in Acts 3-4?
LET’S PRAY FOR GOD’S POWER TO SHOW UP AND GIVE US BOLDNESS TO SPREAD HIS MESSAGE!
11 Days in Israel compacted into 13 minutes
It’s been 4 months since our trip to Israel, but our team got together tonight and we made this video that summarizes the once in a lifetime trip.
The Holy Ghost week1 | Sermon Notes
Sorry folks, this week’s notes are not as thorough as usual. There was a lot more in the sermon than represented here. Listen to the podcast for more info. They are posted Tuesdays on iTunes “PromiseLand” or go to our direct podcast site.
Gospel Message/Flesh and Spirit Living
Romans 8:3 …So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace… 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
In this series, we want to teach and preach about what happens when your life is FILLED with the Spirit and you are LED by the Spirit.
Here is a divine dichotomy: You can live in the Flesh or the Spirit. A brutal way to live is to try and live in BOTH the flesh and the Spirit. Remember last week we discussed that it is completely acceptable to be led by the Spirit and also work hard and plan things out. Working and planning things is not ‘living in the flesh’.
The difference in living in the flesh and living in the Spirit can be better described as living for the flesh or living for the Spirit.
BOTH | Sermon Notes
BOTH.
The world and especially the church is full of Dichotomies. Dichotomy – division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups “Either/Or Thinking”
There are Divine Dichotomies. Meaning that we have a choice to make. God clearly says it can not be both. Life or Death. It can’t be both.
Deuteronomy 30 “I hope that you choose life.” Either or but not both.
Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, “You can’t serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other. You can not serve God and Money.” Divine Dichotomy. It is either/or.
However, today we are going to talk about Dumb Dichotomies. One truth placed against another truth. A pressure situation. We have to deny one truth in order to accept the other.
With the world that we live in you are exposed to many different churches and truths of the Bible. There are so many different varieties and styles.
Rather than embracing the tension, the ambiguity, the versatility and the BIGNESS of what God is doing. You are tempted to go one way or the other.
Today, lets ponder the idea that maybe God is bigger than what you can figure out!
When we find a particular revelation and connect deeply with a particular scripture. It is tempting to set up camp on that text or that characteristic of God.
Thinking that we are really magnifying God by sticking with this one particular attribute or characteristic of God. However, we actually shrink God down to something smaller with our dumb separations.
We create unnecessary dichotomies in methodology or theology rather than embracing the bigness of what God is doing.
God is actually bigger than we think and big enough for BOTH. God is so much bigger than what our minds can shape and conform Him into. The box that we have put him in. When I was a kid we even sang the Song: Little Red Box
You want to play baseball or football? BOTH Do you want to play offense or defense? BOTH Do you want meat lovers or stuff crust pizza? BOTH Do you want 15 or 20 million? BOTH
The Apostle Paul was the Deon of the NT. He had dichotomies put in front of him all the time, and Paul picked BOTH
Community part 3 | Sermon Notes
7. Serve One Another through Accountability:
James 5:16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Healed from addiction. Healed from fear. Healed from depression. Your healing comes from God through your connection to others. Your accountability does not just keep you from sinning, but it heals you.
You are saved by God through faith. You are healed by God through community.
We often skip the confess your sins to each other part. And when it comes to the second part, we just highlight the pray part. We say…Pray and you will be healed. However, the “confess” AND “to each other” parts are JUST as important. “Oh I just can’t do that. It’s too personal. People don’t need in my business.” “OK, don’t get healed.” “Ok, keep sinning.”
Hebrews 3:13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.
Admit to sin and look to another human to help you overcome it.
Voluntarily develop a circle of Christian friends to whom we are regularly accountable for areas of behavior that are especially difficult, or in which self-deception is easy.
WE ARE TO LET OUR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS INTO OUR LIVES DEEPLY ENOUGH TO SEE OUR WEAKNESSES AND HOLD US RESPONSIBLE TO GROW INTO CHRIST’S LIKENESS.
The best way for accountability to work is for you to be around people enough for them to pick up on the difference. If you only have a meeting once a month where you are supposed to confess your sins to a person and you don’t even know them. It is much more likely for you to hide. However, if you are in close proximity with someone you are able to say…something isn’t right with you.
Robin Steele 