Bible Study Guide for Acts 4:23-5:42

Horton Road Church of Christ / Spring 2010

How the Church Responded to Persecution (4:23-5:16)

1. What did the apostles do after their release (4:23-24)?

2. What is the content of the church's prayer (4:24-30)? What is the point of the
referenced scripture (4:25-26)? Do we let scripture speak for our experience?

3. What did they request in prayer (4:29-30)? Do we request the same? Should we?
Why or why not?

4. What happened after the prayer (4:31)? How could this correspond to our
experience?

5. How did the believers express their one heart and mind (4:32)?

6. In what two ways was God's power working among them (4:33-34)?

7. Why is selling possessions mentioned this second time? Why is Barnabas singled out?
Who else is singled out?

8. What lie were Ananias and Sapphira guilty of? How does Peter characterize the lie?
What were the results to Ananias and Sapphira? What were the results to the church?
[Church: 1) great fear; 2) apostles emboldened; 3) people were fearful but still
responding; 4) opportunities were created]

Boldness Leads to More Persecution (5:17-42)

1. What happened when the apostles defied the order to stop preaching (4:18; 5:17)?

2. What was the motive for arrest (5:17)?

3. What did the high priest find the next morning (5:21-24)?

4. Where were the apostles? How did they get there? What were they doing (5:19-21)?

5. What was the content of Peter's sermon to the high priest (5:29-33)? How is it
similar to previous sermons?

6. How did Gamaliel defuse the situation (5:33-39)? Did he suggest they should stop
being opposed to this movement?

7. What did they do to the apostles (5:40)? In what two ways did the apostles respond
(5:41-42)?

© 2010 Jeremy Hoover / www.jeremyhoover.com / jeremy@jeremyhoover.com

Application Questions
1. What did you learn that we should do or think differently about?

2. How should we respond to fear or discomfort or unease in the work of Jesus?

© 2010 Jeremy Hoover / www.jeremyhoover.com / jeremy@jeremyhoover.com