The Gospel Project: The Church Grows

Intro Option 1: Transformed

Show photos of youth leaders when they were a kid, getting students to guess who it is

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Q. Who changed the most?

Q. Who was the easiest to recognize?

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are completely transformed.

Some of us may even be unrecognizable from our former selves, especially in our words, actions, and treatments of others.

Peter transformed into a bold proclaimer of the Gospel, and the Lord wants to transform us too.

Main Point: The Holy Spirit Transforms People’s Hearts

God’s people are empowered to proclaim Jesus boldly

Acts 2:22–31 (ESV)

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,

“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;

26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

my flesh also will dwell in hope.

27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

or let your Holy One see corruption.

28 You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

Peter, the same man who denied knowing Jesus on the night of His arrest, now stood before thousands of people and proclaimed Jesus was the Messiah.

He even proved this to be true using Scripture from Psalms.

When Jesus restored Peter after the resurrection, He gave him a task of shepherding the flock (see John 21:15-17).

Jesus’s forgiveness released Peter from the shame he may have felt in denying Jesus.

Now, he boldly shared truth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

He tells these people that they are guilty!

And there is an interesting conversation to be had here, because...

On the one hand, Jesus’ death was a part of God’s sovereign plan

But on the other hand, it was the sinful actions of people that led to His death.

So what you have is God turning the best thing that happened into the worst thing that happened

But that doesn’t make an excuse for these people! They were still guilty

So yeah, needless to say, it took GUTS to say all of this!

Q. What does it mean to be bold? How hard is it to be bold about your faith?

Most of us associate boldness with being outspoken and confident.

It’s easier to be bold about our opinions on the greatest basketball player of all time or the greatest band, but being bold in sharing our faith is often much more difficult.

We worry about how others may view us, allowing fear to keep us silent.

Q. Why is it important for believers to be bold in sharing their faith? What happens when we aren’t bold?

Imagine if Peter hadn’t spoken up.

Imagine if the disciples hadn’t done what Jesus commanded them-to go into the world and share the good news.

We may not know the gospel today if they hadn’t been bold.

If you’re a believer, you likely became one because someone else was bold enough to talk about Jesus.

When we let fear keep us silent, we hinder others from hearing the gospel and possibly from coming to know Christ as Savior.

People need our bold faith!

Main Point: The Holy Spirit Transforms People’s Hearts

God’s people are empowered to proclaim Jesus boldly

God’s people are empowered to call others to repentance

Acts 2:37–41 (ESV)

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Peter’s message to the crowd was simple: Jesus, the Messiah, was put to death because of your sin.

But the message didn’t end there.

The people wanted to know what they needed to do to be right with God.

Feeling “pierced to the heart” wasn’t enough (v. 37).

Forgiveness required action on their part.

Q. Is it enough to just feel guilty about your sin to experience forgiveness? Why?

Guilt isn’t a bad thing; it’s a gift that helps us make better decisions.

But that’s the key: if we just experience guilt without making a change, then it’s pointless.

Guilt alone isn’t enough; repentance is the action required for forgiveness.

There are a few other things that Peter tells them to do, too (get baptized, receive the Holy Spirit), but these all follow from the initial act of repentance.

Repentance needs to come before baptism.

It is important that we understand this.

This means we don’t just acknowledge our sin, but we turn away from it and move in the opposite direction.

Q. Do you feel “pierced to the heart” over your sin? Why or why not?

This piercing of the heart is what we call conviction (see v. 37).

Piercing implies pain, right?

Here’s the deal: our sin should hurt our hearts.

But we often take it lightly.

If we have a right view of sin-that it leads to death and separates us from God-then we should want to deal with it through confession and repentance.

We should desire to flee from it.

Most importantly, Jesus died because of our sin, and when this doesn’t hurt us, we must examine our hearts.

Main Point: The Holy Spirit Transforms People’s Hearts

God’s people are empowered to proclaim Jesus boldly

God’s people are empowered to call others to repentance

God’s people are empowered to live together as one

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts records the beginning of the church as we know it.

This community of believers grew quickly, and they clung to one another for meeting physical and spiritual needs.

Some people over the years have said “this is socialism!”

But this just isn’t true.

Socialism forces you to share your possessions with everyone.

Here, they are choosing to do this out of the kindness of their hearts.

Plus, they didn’t literally sell EVERYTHING: later on in the book, people still had houses and possessions.

They took care of one another in a way we don’t usually experience, and they committed to growing in their faith together.

Big Question: What is the church’s purpose?

If we aren’t careful, we treat the church like a social group, as if it exists for our pleasure. The church is made up of believers in Jesus Christ, and it was established for clear reasons (see Acts 2:42). First, the church exists to bring glory to God (see Eph. 3:21). We do this when we worship Him together, love others, and live like Jesus. In fact, the church is referred to as “the body of Christ” (see 1 Cor. 12:27). Second, the church exists to fulfill Jesus’s command to make disciples and to take the good news to the world (see Matt. 28:19-20). Through teaching God’s Word, the church equips disciples to make more disciples. The church is a light in our world, pointing to Christ’s love and living out His Word. Community with other believers is one of God’s great gifts to us.

Q. What was the early church devoted to (see V. 42)? How can our group be more devoted to these things?

Believers were devoted to teaching, fellowship (being together), breaking of bread (Lord’s supper), and prayer.

They simply did life together, but life was centered around knowing Jesus.

And it led to joy (see v. 46).

When our group devotes itself to learning God’s Word, spending time together, remembering Christ through meals, and praying together, it will draw others in.

Q. What gets in the way of the church living this way today?

The early church was ideal, but it soon changed.

People began to disagree and make selfish decisions.

We can see the results of this even today.

Selfishness still affects churches, causing believers to lose sight of their purpose.

It causes us to cling to our own possessions, money and time rather than sharing them with others.

We live more like islands instead of living together.

God’s desire is for us to live selflessly connected to one another, taking care of one another and pushing one another to know Him more intimately.

All of this only functions when Christ is at the center of the unity.

The Holy Spirit guides this process.

When we do this, the world notices!

Essential Doctrine: Body of Christ

The New Testament describes the church as the body of Christ. The church lives and operates as Christ’s representative here on earth, with Christ as its head (see Col. 1:18). This means the church is an extension of Christ’s ministry, carrying out His work by fulfilling the Great Commission (see Matt. 28:18-20). In addition, the picture of the church as the body of Christ shows us the interconnectedness of individual Christians, with each member depending on one another for growth and sanctification (see 1 Cor. 12).

Christ Connection:

Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, a mere fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, demonstrates the Holy Spirit’s power to change those who trust in Jesus. The power of the gospel changed Peter, whom God used to preach Jesus to the crowd so that thousands of others would believe and be changed. All who believe in Jesus are changed forever.

Head: How does knowing other people depend on your boldness encourage you to share your faith?

We aren’t meant to keep our faith to ourselves.

Even though it’s much easier to do, staying silent affects the people around us-and maybe even our world.

We have no way of knowing how our faith could affect others.

Knowing this should encourage us to speak when God gives us the opportunity.

When the Holy Spirit leads you to share your faith in class, at a gas station, or at a football game, do it!

The ripple effect it may have in others’ lives is worth any awkwardness you may feel in the moment.

Heart: What sin had “pierced your heart,” and how can you turn away from it?

The Holy Spirit lives within every believer and convicts us when we sin.

It doesn’t feel good in the moment; in fact, it usually feels awful.

But God wants to move us from guilt to freedom.

When the Holy Spirit points out our sin, we have two choices: ignore His voice and continue in our sin or turn from it.

Turning from our sin may mean we have to physically walk away from something-profane music, addiction, porn.

We replace those sinful habits with godly habits-worship music, accountability, and so on.

We don’t just turn from sin, but we turn toward godly living.

Hands: What do you need to do to live more selflessly like the early church?

Churches are made up of people-sinners, actually.

And believers don’t always get it right.

People sometimes forget to act in love and instead act out of pride or selfishness.

But our actions can make a difference.

Even if we’ve been hurt by a situation in church, we can be the change.

When we live selflessly and love others, when we commit to growing in our faith and caring for others, we model Jesus’s intention for the church.

The Bottom Line: Share boldly. Repent quickly. Love selflessly.