27. Braveheart

FLASHBACK

What did you experience with God this week?
In the last few days, did you have the opportunity to share an experience with God with someone close to you that doesn’t know Jesus yet? Or could you pray for them or help them practically?
Do you need God‘s help in an area of your life?

■ Pray together: Give thanks for your experiences, ask God for help where you need it.

■ Pray together to learn new things about God and that your relationship with God deepens and gets stronger.

BIBLE STUDY

Context: Peter and John were teaching a large crowd about the resur-rection of Christ. They were arrested and interrogated by the Sanhed-rin because the captain of the temple guards and the Sadducees were offended by their preaching. After the Sanhedrin threatened them with severe consequences were they ever to speak of Jesus again, they were released.

Read the passage silently. What words or phrases stick out?
One person reads the passage out loud.
One person retells the passage in his/her own words (Bibles closed).
If necessary, the others complement what was said (Bibles closed).

Acts 4:23-31

²³ On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
²⁶The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.’

²⁷Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.²⁸They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.²⁹Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.³⁰Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Everyone by themselves:
- What words or phrases stick out now? Are there any differences to what you noticed before?
- Why do you feel drawn to those words or phrases?
- What can you learn about people?
- What could God be telling you?
Share in the group.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS & ACTION STEPS

What would you have prayed for if you were persecuted for your faith like Peter and John?
What did the Christians pray for? What does the attitude of the first Christians teach you and what do you want to apply? Is there something you should do that asks you to take a courageous step? Write it down and share it with your group.

■ Tell it to Jesus in prayer (in groups of two or three).

■ Pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for courage and daring and that your life with Jesus becomes visible among your (student) friends.

OTHER LANGUAGES