This is That

Team Teaching Script / Navigation Map

Acts 2:1–21  |  Pentecost Sunday

Peter & Jon  —  30 Minutes

HOW TO USE THIS: This is a guided conversation, not two back-to-back mini-sermons. Think of it like a good podcast interview — one person draws the other out and the congregation benefits from the exchange. The questions are designed to open doors; walk through whichever ones feel most alive in the moment. [P] and [J] indicate who speaks. Lines in italics are suggested language — not a word-for-word script, just a starting point. Our best moments will be the ones we don’t see coming.

FOCUS

Big Idea: The Holy Spirit has been poured out on anyone who believes — and you don’t have to be impressive to be used.

Head: The Spirit’s coming wasn’t just a one-time spectacle. It was the inauguration of the age we’re living in right now — between Pentecost and the return of Jesus — in which ordinary people are the primary instrument God uses to reach the world.

Heart: You are not disqualified. Not by your background, your weakness, your uncertainty, or your track record. God seems to prefer working through people who know they’re inadequate.

Hands: Stop waiting until you feel ready. The Spirit has already been given. Step into the witness you’ve been equipped for — in your words, your neighborhood, your ordinary life.

SYMPTOMS

The real-world problem this message addresses — things people feel but haven’t named:

• The sense that spiritual power and impact are for someone else — the pastor, the theologian, the person with the dramatic testimony

• Waiting to share faith until you “know enough” or feel “ready enough”

• Assuming the Holy Spirit works primarily in extraordinary moments, not ordinary ones

• Feeling like your weaknesses disqualify you rather than position you

• Treating Pentecost as church history rather than your personal inheritance

OPENING  |  Minutes 0–4

Welcome, Setup, and Hook

[P] Warm welcome — brief. Introduce the occasion: two churches together for Pentecost Sunday. Introduce Jon naturally with genuine warmth. Then open the conversation:

[P] “Pentecost Sunday always does something to me. It forces a question I think most of us quietly sidestep: do I actually believe the Holy Spirit is at work in my life right now? Not as a theological proposition — but really, practically, today? Jon — what does that question stir up for you?”

This is an open door — Jon, answer honestly from wherever you actually are. There’s no wrong answer. Whatever you bring sets the tone: real over polished.

[P] Receive what Jon shares, affirm it genuinely, then connect it to the text:

[P] “I think that’s actually right where Acts 2 finds the disciples. They’re not a polished group of spiritual professionals. They’re a small, confused, very human group of people — waiting for God to do something they couldn’t manufacture on their own.”

SECTION 1  |  Minutes 4–10

What Actually Happened (and What It Echoes)

[P] Invite Jon into the text:

[P] “Jon, set the scene for us — walk us through verses 1–4. What’s Luke describing here?”

Jon walks through the scene: Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover, the sound like a violent wind, tongues of fire, speaking in other languages. Jon gives the exegetical ground — exegete this like no one’s buisness, own it!

[P] Build on what Jon laid out with the Exodus 19 connection:

[P] “What you’re describing connects to something that would have been deeply familiar to every Jewish person in that crowd. At Sinai, when God gave the law, there was thunder, fire, smoke on the mountain. But the people were told to stay back. Keep your distance. Only Moses went up.” (Exodus 19:20-23)

[P] “But here — the fire doesn’t stay on the mountain. It lands on each person in the room. That’s not a small detail. That’s a seismic shift in how God relates to his people.”

[P] Turn it back to Jon:

[P] “And then the crowd pours in — verse 5, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven, all hearing the wonders of God in their own language. Jon, what does that scene remind you of? Because I think Luke wants us to feel the weight of it.”

Jon covers the Tower of Babel reversal — Genesis 11. God scattering and confusing languages as judgment; now the Spirit gathers. The mission of God running in reverse, toward restoration.

[P] Land the section:

[P] “So none of this is random. God chose this feast, this crowd, this city. He’s been setting this up for a long time.”

SECTION 2  |  Minutes 10–18

“What Does This Mean?” and the Answer

[P] Open up the crowd’s response:

[P] “Now look at verses 12 and 13. The crowd splits. Some are genuinely asking ‘What does this mean?’ Others just write them off: ‘They’re drunk.’ Jon — does that split surprise you? Because I think those are still the two responses people have today.”

Jon reflects on the two responses — open-ended, not a lecture. This is a natural place to draw on something personal or pastoral if it’s there.

[P] Pivot to Peter’s response:

[P] “And into that chaos, Peter stands up and preaches. Now — I want to sit with that for a second. Because this is the same Peter who, not six weeks earlier, was hiding. Denying he even knew Jesus. To a servant girl. What changed?”

Jon answers: the Spirit. Not courage Peter summoned. The same dynamic Jesus promised in Acts 1:8 — you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

[P] Open up Joel 2:28–32:

[P] “Peter’s whole sermon is basically two words: ‘This is that.’ What Joel saw coming — this is it. And the vision Joel describes is remarkable. Sons and daughters prophesying. Old men dreaming. Young men seeing visions. And then — servants. Servants receiving the Spirit. Every category that normally sorted people into ‘qualified’ and ‘not qualified’ gets swept off the table.”

[P] “Jon — when you read that list, who do you identify with? Like honestly, if you put yourself in the room that day, where do you land?”

This is an invitation, not a prescription. Jon may go somewhere personal and honest here — or he may answer theologically. Either works. If he opens up personally, Peter receives it and builds on it. If he stays theological, Peter can share his own answer to the same question and then pivot.

[P] Either way, land here:

[P] “The crowd’s question when they hear these people speak is telling: ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?’ Galileans were the overlooked ones. The unsophisticated. Nobody’s first pick. And God built his church through them. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 12:9 — God’s power is made perfect in weakness. The people the world considers disposable are exactly who God tends to deploy.”

SECTION 3  |  Minutes 18–26

This Is Our Age. What Do We Do With It?

[P] Bridge from the text to the present:

[P] “Here’s what I don’t want us to miss about Acts 2. John Stott calls this stretch of history ‘the day of opportunity’ — the window between the day of Pentecost and the day of the Lord. The Spirit has been poured out. Jesus hasn’t returned yet. And in that window, according to Peter’s sermon, God’s people are the means he’s chosen to reach the world.”

[P] “That’s now. That’s us. Jon — what does it look like to actually live in that? What would you say to someone sitting here today who’s not sure the Spirit is doing much through them?”

Jon carries the main application here — his notes are strong on this: the Spirit has been given, we lack nothing we need, we can trust and go rather than wait to feel ready. This is Jon’s moment to preach from conviction.

[P] Build and expand:

[P] “I think the lie we tell ourselves is that the Spirit works for the impressive. But the text keeps undercutting that. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Anyone. The mom or dad whose most significant ministry happens around a kitchen table. The guy at work who thinks he doesn’t know enough theology to say anything useful. The person who’s been a Christian for six months and still feels like they’re figuring it out.”

[P] “Peter was six weeks out from his worst moment when he preached this sermon. What changed wasn’t his resumé. It was the Spirit.”

[P] Optional — invite Jon to share a moment:

[P] “Jon, has there been a time — maybe recently, maybe not — when you felt the Spirit working through you in a way you didn’t expect? Something ordinary that turned out to matter more than you thought?”

This is another open door. Jon shares if something is there. If nothing comes to mind, that’s honest too — Peter can affirm that and move on without making it awkward.

[P] “Luke records that the crowd heard them ‘declaring the wonders of God.’ Not a lecture. Not a performance. Just ordinary people, in ordinary language, saying what God had done. That’s still the assignment. And you’re already equipped for it.”

CLOSING / RESPONSE  |  Minutes 26–30

Invitation and Prayer

[P] “Peter ends this passage with a line that is both simple and staggering: ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Everyone. Not the qualified. Not the prepared. Everyone.”

[P] “For some of you, that’s an invitation you haven’t taken yet. If that’s you — don’t leave without talking to someone today.”

[P] “For the rest of us — the question isn’t whether you have the Spirit. The question is whether you’re living like you do. Are you stepping into witness, or are you still waiting to feel ready?”

[J] Closes in prayer — from an honest, personal place. No need for polish here. The most powerful thing we can do is bring ourselves humbly and honest before the Lord.

NOTES FOR PRACTICE

• Pacing: Let the conversation breathe. Don’t rush past a good moment to get to the next point. If something honest surfaces, we’ll stay with it.

• The open-door questions are intentional: they create space without demanding anything. Whatever we bring is the right answer. Receive it and build on it.

• Peter’s role is to draw out and amplify, not to fill every silence. A brief pause after a good answer often does more than the next question.

• Humor: The best moments will be natural and self-aware. Ie. “We’re basically a room full of Galileans” earns a laugh because it’s true.

• Don’t over-rehearse to the point of rigidity. Know the map well enough that you can get lost and find your way back.