Devotional for the Week of March 12, 2007

On This We Stand

Day One        An Amazing Work                Acts 2:1-13

1.                  Jesus had promised his followers that they would not be left alone, that He would send His Holy Spirit, for when He was no longer with them in physical form.  If you had been one of the followers what do you think you would have been expecting?

 

If you had gone though the trauma of the crucifixion and then seeing Christ following the resurrection and then to basically be hiding out waiting for this promised Holy Spirit, do you think you would have been tempted to give up?  Why or why not?

 

2.                  We see the promised arrival of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-13.  How do you think the followers of Christ responded to this emotionally and intellectually?

 

How do you think they acted?

 

3.                  What do you make of the fact that everyone heard what was going on in their own language?

 

Why do you think that some heard and still explained it away as being a situation of drunkenness?

 

What similarities do you find in the world today to these reactions to the Holy Spirit?

 

Day Two       An Open Heart          Acts2:37-40

1.                  What makes it possible for you to receive and believe the message of Jesus Christ?

 

Why do you think that you believe and others who have grown up in the same world as you, possibly in your family or church, have not believed?

 

2.                  After the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the message delivered by Peter (detailed in Acts 2:14-36) we see an immediate response of the listeners.  Read this response as detailed in Acts 2:37-40.  This message was probably not new to these people so why do you think they responded now?

 

What internal and what external forces were necessary for them to be able to respond at this time and place?

 

3.                  Look back over the text of Peter’s message in Acts 2:14-36, what do you think was in this text the “pierced them to their hearts”?

 

What do you think it means to be “pierced to the heart”?

 

Day Three     Open Hands              Acts 2:41-44

1.                  Apart from the factor of belief, what do you think sets the Church apart from any other organization?

 

What do you think the world see when they see “Church”?

 

2.                  Acts 2:41-44 gives us a glimpse at what the first Church “looked like”.  How would you describe this church?

 

3.                  How would you compare this first Church with the Church today?

 

How would you compare this first Church with your Church today?

 

Day Four       Open Lives                Acts 2:45-47

1.                  Yesterday we looked at what “the” Church and what “our” church looks like.  Now take a moment to think about the impact of “the” Church and “our” Church has on the community and the world.  What is that impact?

 

2.                  What was the impact of the first Church on their community and their world as seen in Acts 2:47?

 

3.                  We can see in the verses that precede this impact a probable why of their impact.  Look at Acts 2:45-47 and define how they were able to make such an impact.

 

How much of their impact was due to what they did and how much was due to what was inside of them?

 

Day Five        Getting Personal      Acts 2:37-47

Take today to look back over your responses to the questions given in this week’s devotions.  Read back over the account of the first church in Acts 2:37-47.  Meditate on the basics of the first Church and spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal to you how you can be a more effective part of “Our” Church in our quest to be used to make a mighty impact by God on our community and our world.