45 minutes
- Opening
- 4
- Passage
- 5
- Questions
- 25
- Application
- 7
- Prayer
- 4
Total · 45 minutes
Sermon Study · Leader Edition
Mapping Out the Mission
June 7, 2026 · Austin Axen
Leader preparation · 2–3 minutes
Your aim for this conversation
The destination is Spirit-dependent, local faithfulness. Keep the conversation centered on Jesus' promise, the Spirit's power, and the purpose of being witnesses where people already live and relate.
Use all four questions in the 45-minute plan. If time runs short, prioritize Q2, Q3, and Q4. Q1 can be omitted without breaking the study's movement.
Let participants choose how specifically to identify a person or situation. Do not require anyone to disclose a sensitive relationship or turn prayer into pressure for a forced conversation.
Timing plan
The Big Idea
Jesus gives every believer his Spirit's power to be his witness, beginning in the place and relationships already around us.
Remember Sunday’s message
Sermon reminders
01
God's Promise
Austin connected Luke and Acts as one story centered on Jesus. God sent his Son for our salvation and sent his Spirit to live in believers, giving his presence and power for the mission.
02
God's Power
Jesus redirected the disciples from questions about God's timing to the work before them. God's kingdom advances through ordinary people who depend on the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit.
03
God's Purpose
Jesus sends his people to be witnesses, beginning where they already are and moving outward. Hope in his return should move us toward faithful action rather than passive observation.
Wednesday’s conversation
Reflect & discuss
Read Acts 1:4-11 together and pray. As you listen, notice what Jesus promises, what he redirects, and what he sends his followers to do.
1
Acts 1:4-5 · Optional · 6 minutes
A mission we cannot power ourselves
Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Father's promise before beginning their mission. What does that waiting teach us about the difference between God's work and activity powered only by ourselves?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Expose the limits of self-powered ministry and connect waiting with dependence rather than passivity.
Follow-ups to have ready
- Where is the difference between faithful initiative and self-reliance?
- What practices help you notice your need for the Spirit?
Background you may need
- Urgency can produce activity without prayer, listening, or reliance on God.
- Waiting may prepare people to receive what they cannot create for themselves.
- Keep the group in Acts 1:4-5, with John 16 available as Austin's supporting reference.
If it stalls
Jesus' command to wait was specific to the disciples before Pentecost. Apply the principle of dependence without suggesting that believers today lack the Spirit until they repeat this event.
6 minutes. Omit this question first if time runs short.
2
Acts 1:6-8 · Essential · 6 minutes
From speculation to faithfulness
The disciples asked about the timing of Israel's restored kingdom, but Jesus redirected them to the Spirit and their present mission. What questions outside your control most easily distract you from faithful action today?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Help the group distinguish legitimate hope and questions from speculation that displaces present obedience.
Follow-ups to have ready
- What did Jesus affirm about the Father's authority even while declining to give a timetable?
- What faithful responsibility is already clear?
Background you may need
- Political outcomes, world events, timing questions, or unresolved future plans.
- A tendency to wait for certainty before acting faithfully.
- Use Acts 1:6-8 and note Austin's supporting use of Psalm 103:19.
If it stalls
Do not dismiss serious questions as unspiritual. The movement in the passage is from what the disciples cannot control to the mission Jesus clearly gives.
6 minutes in the 45-minute plan. Essential.
3
Acts 1:8 · Essential · 7 minutes
Your Jerusalem
Austin described Jerusalem as the place and relationships already around us. What is one part of your current circle where prayer, care, or a faithful conversation may be needed?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Translate the mission from abstraction into a prayerful, concrete circle of relationships.
Follow-ups to have ready
- What makes this person or place part of your present circle?
- What would love look like before you think about what to say?
Background you may need
- Home, neighborhood, workplace, school, church, or a recurring community setting.
- Prayer, hospitality, practical care, listening, service, or a natural conversation about faith.
- Center the question on Acts 1:8 and Austin's local application.
If it stalls
Protect the choice not to name a person publicly. Do not treat another person as a project or pressure participants into an artificial evangelistic encounter.
7 minutes in the 45-minute plan. Essential.
4
Acts 1:9-11 · Essential · 6 minutes
Hope that sends us
The angels promised that Jesus would return and redirected the disciples from standing still to carrying out his mission. How can hope in Christ's return make us more faithful in the present?
Leader notes
Where it is headed
Connect the promised return of Jesus with active, grounded faithfulness.
Follow-ups to have ready
- How can hope become escapism instead of faithfulness?
- What does it mean to get to work without acting as though the mission depends entirely on us?
Background you may need
- Hope gives urgency, endurance, perspective, and confidence that the mission belongs to Jesus.
- The disciples are redirected from passive watching to the work they were given.
- Use Acts 1:9-11 and return to Acts 1:8 for the commission.
If it stalls
Keep Jesus' return as the passage's promise. Do not turn the question into a detailed end-times system that Austin did not teach here.
6 minutes in the 45-minute plan. Essential.
Carry it into the week
Next Steps
From the sermon
- Read Luke 24 beside Acts 1.
- Read John 16.
- Draw your personal mission circle and write down one name within it.
- Pray each day for the Holy Spirit's power to live on mission.
Application
Choose one person or place within your circle. Pray consistently this week, then take one concrete step of care, hospitality, service, or conversation as an opportunity becomes clear.
My notes
Close in prayer
Ask the Holy Spirit to make the group attentive, bold, loving, and faithful witnesses in the places God has already given them.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the June 7, 2026 sermon; questions and applications are editorial study material.
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