A six-week small group series, working section by section through the Expanded teaching above.
This six-week study walks your group through the Expanded teaching above, section by section, so that by the end of the series you have effectively worked through the whole teaching together — meditated on, discussed, and learned, not just read. Each week stands alone and holds enough material for a full hour of group study. Print each week separately; each one begins on its own fresh page.
Week 1: Filled and Sent Out
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
The power of the Holy Spirit was never given so people could feel something in private and keep it to themselves. It was given to proclaim.
Pentecost did not happen behind closed doors and stay there. The apostles were filled inside a room, and the very next thing that happened was that they walked out of it and started speaking to a crowd.
Joel's prophecy, quoted by Peter at Pentecost, promised the Spirit would be poured out precisely so people would speak — prophesy, dream, see visions — not so they would simply feel something and stay silent.
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think the Holy Spirit's filling at Pentecost immediately led to public speech rather than private reflection?
- How does Joel 2:28 help you understand the purpose behind being filled with the Spirit?
- Have you ever felt the Spirit prompt you toward something public rather than private? What happened?
- What holds people back today from letting their faith move from private feeling into public action?
- What is one place in your own life where being "filled" should lead to being "sent out" this week?
- How is a crowd forming outside the room in Acts 2 similar to what happens when believers today let their faith become visible rather than staying contained?
Week 2: Arrested, But Not Silenced
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Peter and John were arrested for speaking publicly about Jesus, and standing before the very council that could punish them, they did not soften their message. They could not.
What the council noticed was not their eloquence or training — it was that time spent with Jesus was visible in how they spoke and carried themselves.
Jeremiah felt this same compulsion centuries earlier — God's word like a fire in his bones, impossible to hold in no matter how much trouble speaking it caused him.
Discussion Questions
- What do you think it means that the council recognized Peter and John "had been with Jesus"? What would that look like in a person today?
- How does Jeremiah 20:9 capture the same experience Peter and John had — being unable to stay silent?
- Have you ever felt like something was "a fire in your bones" that you couldn't keep quiet about?
- What is the difference between speaking boldly because you're naturally confident, and speaking boldly because of what you've personally seen and heard?
- What would it look like for people to notice you've "been with Jesus" just from how you talk and act this week?
Week 3: A Prayer for Boldness, Not Safety
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Once Peter and John were released, the church did not pray for the threats to stop or for an easier path. They prayed for more boldness, knowing the same council was still watching.
God's answer was not to remove the danger. It was to fill them again and send them back out with even more boldness than before.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego modeled this same posture centuries earlier — refusing to compromise even without a guarantee that God would rescue them from the furnace.
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think the early church prayed for boldness instead of safety?
- How does Daniel 3:16-18 show a similar posture of faithfulness regardless of outcome?
- What is a situation in your life where you've prayed for the difficulty to go away, rather than for boldness to face it?
- How does knowing God's answer to fear is often "more boldness" rather than "less danger" change how you pray?
- What would it look like to pray for boldness this week regarding something specific you've been avoiding?
- Discuss: is there a difference between reckless boldness and Spirit-filled boldness? What is it?
Week 4: Freedom of Speech Was Never Meant to Protect Lies
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Freedom of speech, at its core, was meant to protect the right to speak truth and goodness into the world, not to shield lies and treat them as though they carry equal weight.
The truth does not shift depending on the crowd, the moment, or the century. It simply is what it is, unchanging, whether anyone chooses to receive it or not.
Zechariah's instruction to "speak the truth to each other" and render "true and sound judgment" describes a healthy public square long before America's founding — one where truth-telling was expected, not merely tolerated.
Discussion Questions
- What does it mean that freedom of speech was meant to protect truth, not to make lies equally valid?
- How does John 8:32 make the case for speaking up rather than staying silent?
- Where have you seen a society treat a lie as "just another opinion" rather than calling it what it is?
- How can someone challenge a lie in public without becoming harsh or self-righteous?
- What is one lie in the culture around you that you feel God nudging you to address with truth?
Week 5: From Home, to Gate, to Public Square
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
A household is described in Proverbs as being respected precisely because its head is known and trusted in the gates, the public square of that era.
That respect started at home first, with family, and only then moved outward, to neighbor, and then to the wider public square. There is no shortcut to public credibility that bypasses private faithfulness.
Paul makes the same connection directly to church leadership in 1 Timothy — the ability to lead publicly is tested first by faithfulness in the home, where nobody outside is watching.
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think Scripture consistently ties public respect back to private, at-home faithfulness?
- How does 1 Timothy 3:4-5 reinforce the picture from Proverbs 31?
- Is there an area of your home life you've been neglecting while focusing energy "outward"?
- What would it look like for your family life to actually flow outward into your neighborhood and public involvement?
- Who is one neighbor you could intentionally build a relationship with this week, as a step between home and the wider public square?
Week 6: Light That Cannot Stay Hidden
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Light hidden under a basket fails at the one job light has. The public square is not an optional stage for the exceptionally gifted — it is simply where light is supposed to go.
A Christian who never shows up in public view is, in a very real sense, a light that has been quietly tucked away from the room it was meant to illuminate.
What makes public boldness possible without collapsing into fear is the same Spirit that filled the apostles at Pentecost — power, love, and self-discipline, not a promise of safety.
Discussion Questions
- What does Isaiah 60:1 add to your understanding of "letting your light shine"?
- Why do you think fear is such a common obstacle to public faithfulness, even for genuine believers?
- How does 2 Timothy 1:7 reframe what God actually promises in place of safety?
- Looking back over all six weeks, what is one specific way you feel called to show up more visibly in your own public square?
- What would "self-discipline" look like as you pursue boldness, so it doesn't become recklessness?
- Close this series in prayer, asking for the same filling and boldness the apostles received, and for wisdom in where God is calling you to be seen.
Want to read these passages in their full setting? Browse every book of the Bible on BibleRef (opens in a new tab), a free site with plain-language commentary.