Grow Guide | April 14, 2024
Series Theme: Community in Christ
Reading: Acts 3:1-10
Connecting Questions
Share a memory of helping someone.
What is a name that has power in your life?
Prayer for Illumination
God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for he is alive and has become the Lord of life. Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ. We rejoice with Christians all over the world today and help us to grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you. We pray through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
Context
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia. We begin a series, Community in Christ, learning about the formation of the early Christian community from Acts and 1 Corinthians. How did they build community when they had diversity and conflict? Let’s look at what we can learn from them. Being in one building will help us live as one community and focus our attention and resources on being community and on being good neighbors. Being community in Christ is BOTH growing in faith and carrying on the work of Jesus Christ. So glad you are here!
From Pastor Sarah Henrich at EntertheBible.org:
Acts should be read as history interpreted from the author’s theological perspectives. The writer’s goals included clarifying how the beginnings of the Jesus movement yielded an increasingly Gentile membership that remained faithful to the God of Israel but no longer strictly adhered to Jewish law. Acts also attempts to make clear that this group of religious women and men did not pose a major threat to civic order, even though the God who sent Jesus for the salvation of all people was the supreme God no earthly ruler could challenge, and in their own way the missionaries of Jesus were “turning the world upside down” (17:6).
Look at the Book
Open to Acts 2:43. What was going on?
Jump to Acts 3:1. What do we know about Peter and John? Google them for more.
The Temple was the place of God’s promised presence in the center of life in Jerusalem. People made sacrifices to wipe sin away; people prayed and gathered in community there. What has been one meaningful relationship you have made here at Easter?
Who is someone you would like to get to know better at Easter?
God is a relational God. God builds relationships called “covenants.” These are promises of God’s faithfulness to God’s people. Last week, in Acts 1:8, what is the promise given to the followers of Jesus?
Why was the man carried to the temple daily? (Verse 2)
What are alms? How does Easter talk about “alms?”
In worship, we offer children a chance to participate in giving with the noisy offering boxes. What has been a lesson in generosity that you would like to pass on to someone?
Why is it important today that all people, regardless of abilities, are “seen?”
What does Peter give the man?
Why is Jesus’s name used this way?
How is Easter sharing God’s “healing” work in the world today?
What is the response of the crowd in verse 10? What might that mean?
Healing is not always miraculous. This is NOT due to a lack of faith or sin in someone else’s life. What might that say about how God is at work? What might this story be pointing us to?
What would you like to talk about that we have not yet?
Taking it Home
Name a time when you experienced wonder and amazement.
Where is a place that might need God’s healing work?
God of the promise, you call your people together into your one mission in Christ’s name. Make us brave, grant us peace, challenge our expectations, and empower us to truly follow your Spirit’s lead. You are our one God who calls us together as one people, and we thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.