What Shall We Do? | Acts 2:14-41
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Opening Think about a time in your life when you genuinely asked, "What do I do now?" — whether in a milestone, a crisis, or just a season of drift. What was that moment, and what did you do with the question?
1. How the Spirit-Filled Man Speaks (vv. 14–36)
Peter doesn't defend himself, blame anyone, or soften the message. He opens Scripture and centers everything on one claim: Jesus is Lord and Christ.
When you think about the people and voices that have most shaped your faith, what made them compelling? Was it volume, clarity, something else?
Peter's entire sermon builds to one sentence: "God has made him both Lord and Christ." If someone asked you, "What's the one thing your faith actually claims?" — how would you answer?
2. How the Spirit-Filled Heart Responds (vv. 37–41)
The Pierced Heart (v. 37)
The crowd is "cut to the heart." Can you identify a moment when truth didn't just inform you but pierced you — when you felt the weight of it personally? What was that like?
What's the difference between feeling convicted and feeling condemned? How do you tell the difference in your own life?
The Call: Repent and Be Baptized (v. 38)
Ben defined repentance as "alignment — stop orbiting yourself." Where in your life right now are you most tempted to orbit yourself instead of Christ?
For those who have been baptized: what did that moment mean to you then, and what does it mean to you now looking back? For those who haven't: what questions or hesitations do you carry about it?
The Promise: Forgiveness and the Spirit (vv. 38–39)
Peter promises forgiveness and the Holy Spirit to people who had called for Jesus' death weeks earlier. Is there an area in your life where you struggle to believe the mercy is really that wide?
What does it practically look like for you to rely on the Spirit rather than your own willpower for change?
The Pattern: Truth → Conviction → Turning → Belonging (v. 41)
Verse 41 says they were "added." Not spectators — added. Do you experience your faith as something you observe or something you belong to? What's the difference?
3. The Song That Never Stops (Application)
The sermon drew on Martin Luther's claim that "the entire life of believers is to be one of repentance" and Tim Keller's distinction between religious repentance and gospel repentance.
Religious repentance is selfish, self-righteous, and bitter. Gospel repentance is sweet — because grace makes honesty safe. Which kind do you default to? How can you tell?
Keller writes: "The sin under all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ." What does that statement stir in you — agreement, resistance, curiosity?
Consider these questions from the sermon: Have I looked down on anyone this week? Have I been too stung by criticism? Have I avoided something hard out of fear? Have I been self-absorbed? Which one landed? Why?
"Baptism is the first public answer to 'What shall we do?' Repentance is the daily one." What would daily repentance actually look like in your life this week — not as a discipline of guilt, but as a turning toward joy?
Closing Prayer Focus Ask the Spirit to show each person one area where they are orbiting themselves. Pray not for shame, but for the sweetness of turning back.
