Acts
Week 2 Devoted Together (September 19-25)
Scripture: Acts 2:1; 42-47
Background: Last week you were challenged to spend an extended time praying together. In Acts 2, the early Christians spend time praying together and something amazing happened–the Holy Spirit comes upon them. It was a significant day for the early Church. The Day of Pentecost was a celebration that had its roots all the way back in Exodus. Read: https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/pentecost/ for more info.
Not only were the 120 from Acts 1 probably praying together still in chapter 2, they were completing 49 days of celebration the completing of the Harvest on this 50th day of celebration called Pentecost. In summary, these Jews from all over the known world were completing many many days of religious festivals including The Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits and the Day of Pentecost. They had celebrated together many of the things God had done for the Jewish people. Peter shares with a crowd what has happened to Jesus and let’s this crowd know THEY had caused his crucifixion and his death. This caused them to go from being devoted to keeping the festivals, to being devoted to a life of togetherness with those who had the Holy Spirit living and moving inside of them. They went from rituals to relationship with God. Be careful as a group to not simply ‘do’ what these Christians did, expecting similar results. As your LifeGroup does things together, think of ways to do life together without it being just a ritual.
Insights: Pentecost = Greek equivalent of Shavuos (Hebrew) and Azartha (Aramaic)
One of the most well-known Jewish Historians of the first century, Josephus records several times this feast in his writings, see http://www.josephus.org/Pentecost.htm; Devoted = “being focused on a particular thing almost exclusively”
Questions:
1. Share any results you may have experienced having spent extended periods of time in prayer this past week. What did you learn about prayer and the Holy Spirit?
What were the things these early Christians did while they were together? (studied apostles teaching, prayer, breaking of bread, selling their possessions, and giving to those in need.)
What steps could we take to be more together with other Christians? Are there activities you could monitor and spend less time doing in order to be more together with other Christians?
How can we as a group, not do these things simply out of ritual, but as a result of our relationship with God and each other?
CHALLENGE: Devote yourself to your LifeGroup this week. Each day, choose something to do for the group. This could mean, praying through the list of prayer needs, sending an encouraging email, text, or card to someone in the group (men encourage men and women encourage women, or couple to couple), take time to study a section of Scripture and share your insights with the group through an email, or something else God leads you to do. Mainly–be devoted to your group this week.