Jeremy Hoover

This is a bible study guide for our discussion in Acts 8:4-40 tonight. Previous study guides are linked beginning here.

You may download the study guide at the link below our use the questions listed in this post.

1. What happened as a result of Stephen's stoning (8:1)?

2. How did the ones that were dispersed respond (8:4)? What is impressive about this? Why do we generally not respond like they did?

3. Who is Philip? What is impressive about him?

4. What is significant about where Philip preached (8:5; 1:8)?

5. Did the crowd respond to the message alone? What's more important--the message, or the actions accompanying the message? What do you learn about evangelism today from Philip's example?

6. Describe Simon (8:9-13). What kind of man was he? Was he sincere in his conversion? Why or why not?

7. Why did the apostles send Peter and John to Samaria (8:14)? What did they do there? Why? Why hadn't the Holy Spirit come upon them? How does this fit with Acts 2:38? What does this teach us about overcoming prejudice?

8. How did Simon respond to the apostles (8:18-19)? Why do you think he offered to buy this power? How does his response regarding money and possession portray the intentions of his heart?

9. How did Peter respond (8:20-23)?

10. Did Simon repent (8:24)?

11. How did Philip encounter the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26; followed the Spirit)? What is significant about this man (8:27; also see Deuteronomy 23:1 and Isaiah 53:6-8; fulfillment of scripture)?

12. What do you learn from the interaction between Philip and the eunuch about evangelism (8:30-35)? What was the result?

13. What function does this story serve in the overall theology of Acts (1:6; 1:8; cf. Isaiah 56:3-8; the regathering of Israel)?

14. What did you learn about evangelism from this study?

15. What will you do or think differently about because of what you learned?

To grow spiritually, we need to regularly engage in four different areas of relationship: with God, with believers, with neighbors, and with strangers. This graphic describes these four areas by focusing on a core thought, a key scripture, a leading action, and several examples of each.

My personal view is that we should always be focused in our relationship with God and at least one other significant relationship in one of the other three areas. We can supplement this with ongoing activity in the other two relationship areas.

By taking action, we'll grow.

What do you think?

This is an outline of Stephen's speech. I identify the main person or thing in each block of his speech and why that person or thing is important to Stephen's speech.

Follow this link to read the bible study guide for Acts 7.

You may download this outline at the link below.

These are the main points and progression of Stephen's speech in Acts. I've organized his speech around the important person or thing in each block.

1. God (2). It all begins with God. God revealed himself to his people and called them to him.

2. Abraham (2-8). Abraham is their spiritual father and the inheritor of God's promise about God's people. He received God's covenant of circumcision, which was the mark of God's people.

3. The patriarchs (9-10). They partially fulfilled God's promise to Abraham (6-7, 17) by selling Joseph into slavery.

4. Joseph (9-16). Joseph ended up in Egypt, where he rose to prominence and later brought God's people (his family) into Egypt.

5. Moses (17-38). With God's people in Egypt, God fulfilled his promise to Abraham. God punished Egypt through Moses and used Moses to take God's people out of Egypt in order to worship God (see 7:7).

6. The ancestors (39-43). They were charged with obeying Moses and the "living words" Moses passed on (the law). But they disobeyed.

7. The tabernacle and the temple (44-50). Despite disobedience, the people still had access to God whenever and wherever they wanted. Not only was the tabernacle always with them in the land but the temple was also built. The greatest truth, however, is that God does not live in buildings made by human hands. Sadly, the access to God was ignored.

8. The people (51-53). They ought to have responded to God in humility but instead they responded in anger and resistance.

This is our bible study guide for Acts 7 for our bible study tonight. You may find previous bible studies on Acts by following the link.

I have an accompanying handout that is an outline of Stephen's speech, which you can find by following that link.

You may download the study guide (with answers) at the link below or use the questions posted here.

This section of Acts picks up where chapter 6 left off: Stephen was arrested and charged with blasphemy on the testimony of false witnesses. This section contains his defense.

1. Does Stephen answer the high priest's question (1)? How or how not? Why or why not?

2. Why does Stephen skip the origin stories in  his sermon (Genesis 1-11)?

3. Why did Stephen spend so much time on Moses?

4. What is most significant about Moses (37-38)?

5. Who is the coming prophet? How does Moses' passing on of living words that he received correlate to that prophet?

6. How did the ancestors disobey (39-43)? How is idolatry still a problem among God's people today?

7. What were the results of disobedience (42-43)?

8. What is the tabernacle associated with (44)?

9. What marks the tabernacle as pure and holy (44)?

10. Who are the two main figures who were responsible for upgrading the temple (46-47)?

11. Was the upgrade necessary? Why or why not? Why did God let them go through with it?

12. Whom did the people resist (51)?

13. What is the mark of their disobedience (51)? In what ways were they disobedient (51-52)?

14. What was their ultimate act of disobedience (52)?

15. Why should they have known better (53)?

16. How might we be just like these people in disobeying God even after having the same testimony they did?

17. How do the people respond to Stephen's sermon (54)? How did Stephen respond (55)?

18. What did Stephen see? Why is this significant (cf. 7:2)? What is the significance of Jesus standing? Why did Stephen call him the Son of Man?

19. What did they do to Stephen (57-58)? In what two ways did Stephen respond (59-60; cf. Luke 23:34, 46)?

20. What happened as a result of Stephen's murder (8:1)? Was this good or bad? Why weren't the apostles scattered?

21. What did Saul do (8:3)? Was this good or bad? Why? How would we respond to persecution today?

This is the bible study guide for 1 Timothy 6 (for Sunday). It completes our study in 1 Timothy. You can find previous study guides starting at the guide for 1 Timothy 5.

You may download the study guide (with answers!) at the link below.

1. What is to be the core of Timothy's teaching (3)?

2. What about people who disagree with this teaching (4-5)? Why are they destructive? Why are they teachers?

3. What is a greater gain than money (6)? Why (7)?

4. What are we to be content with (8)? Is this easy or difficult? Why?

5. What is the problem with wanting to get rich (9-10)? What is the most tragic thing that can happen to people who are eager for money?

6. What instructions are given to Timothy in 6:11-12?

7. How is a Christian to view their life or term of service for the Lord (14)? How does or should this affect how we live?

8. What commands are to be given to the rich (17-19)? Why? Is it right to "command" rich people to be generous and willing to share (18)?

9. What is the "true life" (19)?

10. What are the final instructions to Timothy (20-21)?

11. What did you learn from the bible study? What should we think or do differently as a result?

12. What are your top three insights from 1 Timothy? Why?

This is set of 4 bookmarks I'm handing out on Sunday as part of my sermon. Follow the link to find out more about the sermon, How to Find and Live God's Will.

To use the bookmark, download it and print it on cardstock. Then, use a paper trimmer to cut the sheet into 4 separate bookmarks.

This is the study guide for our bible study tonight in Acts.

This is the study guide for upcoming lesson from this passage in 1 Timothy. You may view it online or download it by clicking the download button.

Follow this link to find previous study guides for 1 Timothy.

Peter Lovenheim, In the Neighborhood (Perigree, 2010).
ISBN 9780399535710

In Luke 10, after sending the 72 out on an evangelistic mission, Jesus teaches about neighborly conduct. In Jesus' understanding, being a neighbor is, or at least opens the door for, the mission.

Yet, we often would like to take the evangelistic mission without the charge to be a neighbor. After all, does it really matter? If we preach or teach and the person makes a decision, isn't that enough? But it was this mindset that Jesus challenged when he taught about being a neighbor. When we seek to justify our behavior we have missed Jesus' mission. Being a neighbor means being proactive and involved--the Samaritan used his time, resources, and money to help someone who, under different circumstances, would have been an enemy. We are encouraged to go and do the same.

Peter Lovenheim wrote an interesting book called In the Neighborhood. After hearing about a neighborhood family involved in a tragedy (a murder-suicide while the children were still in the house), he realized that he did not know the family and that likely no one in the neighborhood did. This realization set him upon a goal of creating a community within the neighborhood he lived in, to enable and help physical neighbors become real neighbors to each other.

The book is very enjoyable and a quick read. Lovenheim sought to learn more about his neighbors by spending more time with them, even including sleeping over at their homes! As he began to meet his neighbors more he began to become aware of needs and he was able to make neighborly introductions between neighbors.

One neighbor he met had cancer. He realized that to be a neighbor to her he was going to have to help her. One chapter is devoted to this quest. In that chapter, he states that "the real measure of success of my whole effort [to neighborize the neighborhood] would be if someone who previously did not know Patti...woud join me in helping her out. If that could happen...we would have a real community" (204). Thanks to Lovenheim's work, it did happen. Patti and several other neighbors connected and Patti did not have to struggle alone.

I really enjoyed this book. It left me with several ideas I am thinking through:

• Being a neighbor to others is hard work. It takes time and sacrifice to get to really know someone. We cannot be real neighbors to people we see simply on a casual basis. (Wake-up call to churches here--if we spend only an hour a week with each other, and most of that in passive listening, how are we being a neighbor to each other?)
• It takes dedication and persistence. Once we have sacrificed time and made a real effort to get to know someone, it takes time and effort to maintain the relationship! Sometimes, we may have to call a neighbor whose mail appears to be piling up. We may need to finish mowing our yard and then spend another hour at an elderly neighbor's mowing hers. This is what we're called to when we embark on a goal of being a neighbor to others.
• It is more than merely "being nice." We are not a neighbor to someone simply because we say "hi" when we're both out collecting our mail. Being a neighbor is a mindset; we need to be thinking and acting neighborly to actually be one.

Lovenheim concluded his book with a statement from someone else. It's a fitting ending to this post:

"If we all cared about our neighbors, we could change the world one street at a time" (236).

Let us go and do likewise.