THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES
MEMORY VERSE
John 14:16, ESV
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever...
DAY 1
John 14:15-17 and 25-26, NIrV
15 “If you love me, obey my commands. 16 I will ask the Father. And he will give you another friend to help you and to be with you forever. 17 That friend is the Spirit of truth. The world can’t accept him. That’s because the world does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you.
...
25 “I have spoken all these things while I am still with you. 26 But the Father will send the Friend in my name to help you. The Friend is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you.
BIBLE STUDY
Before his death on the cross, Jesus let his disciples know he would soon leave them to return to his Father in heaven. But he also promised, “When I go, I’ll send a Helper to be with you: God’s Holy Spirit!” A spirit is a being without a body, so the disciples wouldn’t be able to see or touch him when he arrived. Still, they would know he was with them. How? Because the Holy Spirit would give their minds the power to remember everything Jesus had spoken to them during his time on earth. With Spirit-powered mega-memory, they’d be able to share his words with the whole wide world!
+ Where did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would live? (vs. 17)
+ What did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would do when he came? (vs. 26)
DAY 2
Acts 2:1-4, NIrV
1 When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers gathered in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound came from heaven. It was like a strong wind blowing. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw something that looked like fire in the shape of tongues. The flames separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages they had not known before. The Spirit gave them the ability to do this.
BIBLE STUDY
The day he rose to heaven, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with his disciples. But as they gathered together a week or so later, his disciples were still waiting for Jesus to keep his promise. On that day, the Holy Spirit put on a spectacular show of sights and sounds. The disciples had no doubt in their minds that their invisible guest had finally arrived. He filled the room with the rushing sound of a tornado-like wind. He made fiery-looking tongues float in the air and land on each man. And best of all, he gave the disciples power to perfectly speak in languages they’d never learned!
+ How could the disciples know that the invisible Holy Spirit had arrived (vs. 2-4)
+ How many of the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit? (vs. 4)
DAY 3
Acts 2:5-13, NIrV
5 Godly Jews from every country in the world were staying in Jerusalem. 6 A crowd came together when they heard the sound. They were bewildered because each of them heard their own language being spoken. 7 The crowd was really amazed. They asked, “Aren’t all these people who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then why do we each hear them speaking in our own native language? 9 We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites. We live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia. We are from Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia. Others of us are from Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene. Still others are visitors from Rome. 11 Some of the visitors are Jews. Others have accepted the Jewish faith. Also, Cretans and Arabs are here. We hear all these people speaking about God’s wonders in our own languages!” 12 They were amazed and bewildered. They asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 But some people in the crowd made fun of the believers. “They’ve had too much wine!” they said.
BIBLE STUDY
The Holy Spirit's arrival was quite the noisy racket! A crowd gathered to investigate what in the world was going on. These people were in town for the Pentecost feast. They came from faraway places and spoke many different languages. As they came near, they couldn’t believe their ears! Twelve ordinary guys were speaking the good news of Jesus in all sorts of different languages. Some of them thought, “These men have enjoyed too much wine!” Now, drinking too much wine can make you talk in a strange way. But there’s no amount of wine that can teach you a brand-new language!
+ Read verses 8-11. How many different places are mentioned?
+ If the disciples weren’t drunk with wine, how could they speak languages they didn’t know?
DAY 4
Acts 2:14-18, NIRV
14 Then Peter stood up with the 11 apostles. In a loud voice he spoke to the crowd. “My fellow Jews,” he said, “let me explain this to you. All of you who live in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I say. 15 You think these people are drunk. But they aren’t. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning! 16 No, here is what the prophet Joel meant. 17 He said,
“ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Holy Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will have dreams.
18 In those days, I will pour out my Spirit on my servants.
I will pour out my Spirit on both men and women.
When I do, they will prophesy.
BIBLE STUDY
A dozen disciples speaking a dozen different languages was definitely an odd sound to hear! But this strange sound did not happen because the disciples had emptied too many bottles of wine. Instead, God had filled them with his Holy Spirit, just like Jesus promised a few days before. Peter let the crowd know that the Spirit’s coming was actually a much older promise. The words he spoke to the crowd were 800-year-old words from the book of Joel! In that ancient book, God promised to pour out his Spirit on men and women everywhere, just like he pours down rain over all the earth.
+ Did God give his Spirit just to the men or to women, too? (vs. 17)
+ Read Joel 2:28-32. These are the verses Peter spoke to the crowd. What other promise did God make in verse 32?
DAY 5
Acts 2:22-33, NIRV
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this! Jesus of Nazareth was a man who had God’s approval. God did miracles, wonders and signs among you through Jesus. You yourselves know this. 23 Long ago God planned that Jesus would be handed over to you. With the help of evil people, you put Jesus to death. You nailed him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead. He set him free from the suffering of death. It wasn’t possible for death to keep its hold on Jesus. 25 David spoke about him. He said,
“ ‘I know that the Lord is always with me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will always be secure.
26 So my heart is glad and joy is on my tongue.
My whole body will be full of hope.
27 You will not leave me in the place of the dead.
You will not let your holy one rot away.
28 You always show me the path that leads to life.
You will fill me with joy when I am with you.’ (Psalm 16:8–11)
29 “Fellow Israelites, you can be sure that King David died. He was buried. His tomb is still here today. 30 But David was a prophet. He knew that God had made a promise to him. God had promised that he would make someone in David’s family line king after him. 31 David saw what was coming. So he spoke about the Messiah rising from the dead. He said that the Messiah would not be left in the place of the dead. His body wouldn’t rot in the ground. 32 God has raised this same Jesus back to life. We are all witnesses of this. 33 Jesus has been given a place of honor at the right hand of God. He has received the Holy Spirit from the Father. This is what God had promised. It is Jesus who has poured out what you now see and hear.
BIBLE STUDY
God gave Peter the gift of the Spirit, the power to speak new languages, and a huge crowd ready to listen to whatever he said. So Peter told them about Jesus. These people had sent Jesus to die, but Peter let them know Jesus had risen back to life. This Jesus was the Christ, Peter explained, the Savior God had promised to send for thousands of years. Peter even read David’s ancient words from Psalm 16. There, David said the body of God’s “Holy One” wouldn’t corrupt or rot away in the grave. Peter told the crowd that David’s ancient words were about Jesus, who didn’t rot, but rose to life!
+ In vs. 22, Peter mentions Jesus’ mighty works. What are some of Jesus’ mighty miracles?
+ What did David mean when he said God’s Holy One wouldn’t corrupt or rot? (vs. 27)
DAY 6
Acts 2:37-41, NIRV
37 When the people heard this, it had a deep effect on them. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter replied, “All of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then your sins will be forgiven. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children. It is also for all who are far away. It is for all whom the Lord our God will choose.”
40 Peter said many other things to warn them. He begged them, “Save yourselves from these evil people.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized. About 3,000 people joined the believers that day.
BIBLE STUDY
Earlier this week, we learned that the Holy Spirit came to the disciples during the feast of Pentecost. Pentecost was one of seven different feasts that God commanded his people to celebrate each year. At this point in history, God’s people had been celebrating these feasts for about 1,500 years!
Pentecost was the fourth of these seven feasts. It was also called the “Feast of the Harvest” or the “Feast of Weeks.” It happened on the 50th day after the feast of Passover, at the end of the grain harvest. In fact, the word “Pentecost” means “50th.” During this feast, the Israelites thanked God for all of the crops they grew and harvested (gathered) that year. It helped them remember that the food they grew was really a gift given to them by God.
After hearing Peter speak, many people in the crowd understood that his words were true. They believed that Jesus really had died for their sins and rose from the dead. They believed that he really was the Christ, the promised Savior from God! That Pentecost day, when Peter told the crowd the good news about Jesus, a different kind of harvest happened. Instead of harvesting grain from the field, the disciples harvested about three thousand people into God's kingdom!
After hearing the good news about Jesus, the people asked, “What should we do?” Peter answered, “Repent,” a word which meant to turn away from sin and trust in God. He also said, “Be baptized!” – to be washed or dunked in water in Jesus’ name. And as they turned from their sins to trust in Jesus, Peter said that God would do two amazing things for them.
First, Peter promised that God would forgive their sins. They wouldn’t ever be punished for the evil things they’d done. That’s because Jesus had paid for every single sin when he died on the cross. Peter also promised that the Holy Spirit would live inside them just like He had come to live inside the twelve disciples!
But the next thing Peter said to them should make people like you and me stand up and take notice. In verse 39, Peter said this promise (that God would forgive sins and give the Holy Spirit) was a promise not just to those three thousand people, but to their kids after them. It was a promise to any sinner who is far off from God. That includes us!
If we follow in the footsteps of those three thousand people on Pentecost, if we believe the good news about Jesus and repent of our sins, God will do the same things for us that he did for them. He’ll forgive each and every one of our sins. He’ll fill us with his Holy Spirit. And he’ll give us forever life in his good kingdom!
+ What did Peter say would happen if they repented and were baptized? (vs. 38)
+ How many people believed after Peter preached? (vs. 41)
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.