Ready for Impact (10 minutes)
Take time to catch up on the past week (over drinks or snacks if possible). Then ask group members to:
- Imagine you go away for a dream weekend with friends. Describe where you stay.
Over this term, we’re exploring the theme of moving. Many of us will have changes and moves ahead: this series allows us to look to God’s word for wisdom.
Ask for a volunteer to read Acts 2:1-13 to the group, praying a short prayer that, however much they’ve come to know God, they’d know him better as a result of your time together.
Watch
Download this video to watch offline.
Impacted by the Word (15 minutes)
- Make a spider diagram showing what could be seen and heard, and how the disciples may have felt (verses 1-4).
- Why are those visiting Jerusalem surprised (verses 6-11)?
- Why do you think Luke lists the wide range of countries the visitors to Jerusalem came from? (verses 9-11)
An international crowd was already in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish festival of Pentecost.
- Why might God have chosen to pour out the Holy Spirit at this time?
- Optional: Read Genesis 11:1-9. How does the partial ‘undoing’ of Babel’s curse further our understanding of what’s happening in Acts 2?
Sometimes our most profound moments with God come whilst we’re away from home – on a journey, in a different country or even on a CU weekend away.
- Have you had an experience like this?
- What was the long-lasting effect of meeting God in this way?
Pentecost literally means ‘fiftieth.’ It was another name for the Festival of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15-22), because it was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits. Pentecost was one of three feasts that all adult Jewish men were expected to celebrate in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). This is why there were Jews from all over the world already in Jerusalem as the Spirit is poured out.
Most basically, Pentecost marked the beginning of the wheat harvest: the early crops indicated there was more to follow. But it had wider significance because, according to the book of Exodus, Moses received the Ten Commandments on or around the day of Pentecost. So, in a sense, Pentecost celebrated the birthday of the nation of Israel. This means those celebrating would have commemorated God’s ongoing willingness to provide a harvest. But they would also have remembered God adoption of Israel as his people, and his willingness to grant them the Law as a guide for life.
As Jesus prepared to leave his disciples, he told them not to leave in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4). It turns out God had a very specific date in mind. He times the giving of the Holy Spirit to coincide with Pentecost.
A large international crowd, already in Jerusalem, hear the gospel in their own languages (indicating a reversal of the curse of Genesis 11:7). They are like the beginning of the ‘harvest’ of people that God plans to draw in. And having granted his people life through the death and resurrection of Jesus (see Acts 2:31-33), God is now forming a new international people, to be spread across the entire world. So Pentecost marks not only the birthday of Israel, but also the birthday of the church.
Acts 2 is one of five places in the New Testament where ‘speaking into tongues’ is referred to explicitly (see also Mark 16:17, Acts 10:46, Acts 19:6 and 1 Corinthians 12-14).
In Acts 2, the apostles speak such that those listening hear them declaring God’s praises in their own languages (verses 11). Peter explains that this fulfils Joel’s prophecy that the Spirit would be poured out on all people (verse 17).
Christians disagree as to whether this ability in Acts 2 is the same phenomenon as what’s called ‘speaking in tongues’ elsewhere, especially in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Christians also disagree as to whether speaking in tongues is something that some or all of God’s people can experience today. Whatever your Impact Group members believe about this, it’s worth recognising that – in Acts 2 at least – the Holy Spirit’s empowerment allows God’s people to bear verbal witness to Jesus that they’d previously have considered impossible.
Impacting Our Hearts (10 minutes)
Change means our regular rhythms of life get interrupted.
Discuss together:
- When are you expecting to be away from home over the next six months or so?
- What might it look like for you to adopt an attitude of expecting to meet with Jesus whilst you’re away?
Pray for one another that the Lord would help you to plan to do this well.
Impacting the University (15 minutes)
Watch Kana’s story of returning to Japan as a Christian (3 minutes):
- What challenges do you imagine Christian graduates heading back to a different country face?
- What opportunities for serving Jesus do you imagine they might have?
- If you were heading back from the UK to a different country, what would you want others praying for you?
Pray by name for those you know (in your Impact Group or elsewhere) returning home to a different country this summer. Pray that each of them would not only manage but thrive in all the changes ahead. Pray that the rest of you will be open to God meeting you as you’re away from home in the next few months too.
Amongst your Impact Group, you may know (or be!) an international student heading home after a spiritually significant time at uni in the UK. Friends International have two excellent resources to help students as they prepare to return:
- Returning Home – a workbook designed to help international students prepare for their return home after studying abroad.
- Think Home – designed to help students process faith changes that they have experienced while abroad and will experience through their return home. It’s especially suitable for those who’ve come to faith in Jesus during their time in the UK.
Wrap-up – TACOS 🌮
- Thank You – Thank everyone for coming, and ask someone to thank God for your time together in prayer.
- Ask – Ask those who are new to reading the Bible if they’d like to explore Uncover, a set of sessions in Mark’s Gospel, allowing them to investigate one of the earliest accounts of Jesus’ life alongside one of you.
- Church and CU – What does the CU have planned ahead? And what help would group members value in finding a local church?
- Others – Who else could you invite to join your CU Impact Group next week? These friends don’t need to be followers of Jesus and may really appreciate being invited.
- See You Soon – Tell the group where and when you’ll meet next week, and arrange who will bring snacks. (You might like to alternate healthy and less healthy weeks!). See if anyone would be up for sharing a meal or hanging out socially in the meantime!