ACTIVATED, Acts 8:1-13

Begin with prayer (5 minutes)
Gather together as a Community in a comfortable setting. Have somebody lead a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.


Read this overview (5 minutes)
The early church had likely become passive Christians like many of us today. They were dependent on the apostles and ministry leaders. Suddenly persecution is scattering them to new places and peoples, forcing every follower of Jesus the opportunity to live & communicate the gift of the gospel to total strangers & cultural outsiders. All they had was a simple, authentic message, and the power of the Spirit.

The Scriptures teach us that God is Father, but the Spirit makes that real to us. Gavin Bennett says it like this, "The Holy Spirit drives Jesus’ teachings from our heads into our hearts and emotions, so that we might live from a redeemed story. He fills our ordinary lungs with his creative ruach (breath, spirit) so that the words we speak can be the carriers of his healing power, which often comes in the form of encouragement, blessing, or even prophecy."

Read Acts 8:1-13

DISCUSSION (30 minutes)

Work through this discussion & questions together as a community & pray

After reading the passage, look at these four modern issues this passage brings up & process the questions together:

  • Passive Christianity. Imagine the contrast of the church that celebrated the beautiful community in Acts 2 after Pentecost with the death & persecution, fear & grief of Acts 8. Being passive with their faith wasn't an option. 

  • Circumstances. Seeing the early church respond to these horrific circumstances of being pulled away from everything they've known, with no security, and still being used to give the gift of the good news of Jesus to others gives perspective to our modern struggles and circumstances. 

  • New Opportunities. The early church allowed the Holy Spirit to turn terrible circumstances (persecution & things that were not God's idea) into new opportunities to be used by God. 

  • The Heart. Simon the magician is converted but if you keep reading (v. 14-24) you find that he wanted to offer money for the power of the Spirit after seeing others filled with the Spirit's power. He still didn't get it. Power will expose the heart. From politics, to money, to spiritual power... power always exposes the true motivations of the heart and what it really desires.

  1. How have you struggled with allowing your faith in Jesus to become passive in some way?

  2. Consider how this passage might give you perspective on current difficult circumstances in your life. Can you share a time when bad circumstances turned to unexpected opportunities in your life?

  3. For some groups, this section gives opportunity to discuss receiving the Holy Spirit. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit, but there is always more of the Spirit available to operate through us and fill us. The early church is discovering how the Spirit works. Have you ever had someone pray for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit over your life? Take some time to discuss and take time to pray.

Discuss the Coming Week’s Practice: “Intentionality over Passivity”  (5 minutes)
The practice this week is to become more intentional followers of Jesus instead of passive ones. Pick one of the following ways to practice becoming more intentional:

  • Practice intentionally letting the Spirit fill you & guide your day. Re-set any needed daily habits to make this more effective and share ideas. (Beginning the day by listening prayer and journaling as a suggestion) If heavy with current circumstances, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to re-frame these circumstances to become opportunities for the Spirit to use you and your situation this week. Give him the circumstances and pray that the Spirit would re-frame your mindset so that instead of feeling heavy, you can be used in the midst of the challenge.

  • Practice intentionally sharing the gift of Jesus with others. So many of us are in environments where we have to be so strategic with sharing our faith, but often we resort to full passivity instead of letting the Spirit show us fresh opportunities to intentionally show the love of Jesus with conversation and action. Take a risk this week.

Choose one of these practices to commit to this week, and go around the room and share about how you plan to put this into practice this coming week.

Close in prayer (10 minutes)