Out of the Shadows and Into the World: The Book of Acts

By Jay Strack and Scott Dawson

Jesus calls students to a radical faith and commitment. This study guide challenges middle and high school students to courageously take a stand for their faith in their culture, and to make a positive impact at home, at school, on the team, and in their relationships. The time to make a difference is now—not when they graduate, get married, or get a job.

Students who follow Jesus cannot afford to equate “good works” with evangelism, and cannot view missions as something that is only done in other countries. Through this study guide, students will learn to share their faith in real and practical ways here and now with the people around them every day.

Features include:

• 8 sessions of study, easily adapted into two 4-week sessions
• Practical steps for students to engage with their culture from a biblical point of view
• Leader helps

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Mar 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781401675257

Book preview

out of the

shadows

and into the

world

out of the

shadows

and into the

world

9781401675240_INT_0003_001

scott dawson & jay strack

9781401675240_INT_0003_002

© 2011 by Jay Strack

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations noted The Voice are taken from The Voice™ Bible. © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NCV are taken from the New Century Version®. © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Portions of this guide marked Adapted from the Impact Bible have been adapted from the Impact Student Leadership Bible by Jay Strack (Thomas Nelson, 2008).

ISBN 978-1-4016-7524-0

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 PP 5 4 3 2 1

contents

Introduction

Lesson 1: Out of the Shadows (Luke 24)

Lesson 2: Into the World (Acts 1 and 2)

Lesson 3: Ministry at the Gate (Acts 3 and 4)

Lesson 4: The Prize Is Worth the Commitment (Acts 6 and 7)

Lesson 5: Blinded by the Son (Acts 9)

Lesson 6: Kidnapped by Angels (Acts 12)

Lesson 7: They Turned the World Upside Down (Acts 17)

Lesson 8: Emerge and Engage (Acts 26)

introduction

OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO THE WORLD STUDY GUIDE

This study comes within the context of your life journey. It’s a journey that begins the moment you were conceived, and it will continue throughout your existence. There are certain things your soul longs for on this journey and, whether you’ve realized it or not, your life is shaped by your search for them—worth, significance, acceptance, love, peace, and beauty are needs felt by all.

Nearly everyone has a burning desire to discover a reason for their existence. We feel an all-consuming need at our very core to discover meaning and purpose in life. Our search may take us down many roads. Wherever our life choices take us, we all continually seek the way to have our deepest needs met.

The need to know our purpose and the persistent yearning to have our soul’s genuine needs met was placed within us by our Creator God. He wants us to seek for the only thing that will ever truly satisfy our souls— the Person of Jesus Christ.

Only through Him will we ultimately discover our soul’s contentment. Our souls cannot discover rest, until we rest in Him.

We are a people wired to worship. We can’t help that. All of us treasure something or someone above anything else in our lives. We give our devotion to somebody or something. So the question isn’t do we worship, the question is what are we worshiping.

Each person knows the inner hunger to find real answers to the very genuine questions we all share. As we walk together through these few sessions, we will begin to discover truths about our world and about ourselves. We can support and encourage each other along the way as we travel together on this journey toward understanding our search for identity and meaning.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO THE WORLD GROUP EXPERIENCE

Our search for meaning in life can be a lonely quest. We make wrong turns and often end up lost. By joining together with others as you pursue the truth behind your desire to find meaning and significance, you join with fellow travelers who are trying to navigate the same road. By using this study guide within a group you can offer encouragement to one another which cannot be overrated.

While walking this road together, you’ll encounter real-life situations and emotions that will challenge you; and by exploring and sharing your hopes, dreams, insights, successes, and failures with one another you will grow in your journey with Christ.

In order to create an environment where each person is free to be authentic and open, it’s important to agree on some small group ground rules from the start. First, create a safe zone for your group. This means that nothing said in the group can be repeated outside the group. Each person’s story is his or her own and should only be told by that person. Treating one another with respect and compassion will create a true sense of community which will grow from session to session. In this environment of respect, you should value and protect each other’s emotional, spiritual, and physical space; no one should devalue a fellow group member in any way, and no one can be touched by another person without permission.

The purpose of your small group is to invite open and honest sharing from your life, but there are some circumstances that call for limited sharing. Steer clear of sharing anything that will put another person in jeopardy, could lead to legal problems, could reflect poorly on someone