Guide for Sunday, May 24, 2026

On this Pentecost Sunday, we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the first believers in Jerusalem, the birth of the Church, and how we as followers today live by the Spirit. Before the outpouring though, it all started with a breath and a promise from the resurrected Jesus.

• Imagine you were one of the disciples in the locked and Jesus appeared out of nowhere. How would you have reacted?
  
  
• This passage in John is the only time the Greek word for “breathed” appears in the entire New Testament. It corresponds with the Hebrew word naphach/naphakh, which is used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathes life into the first human. What does it mean for you that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the first believers like God breathed into the first humans?
  
  
• Often our life is metaphorically like the disciples in John, locked in a room and living a distracted life. When has the Holy Spirit moved in your life when you were least expecting it?
  
  
• What do you think it would have been like to in the room with the apostles during that first Pentecost?
  
  
• What does Peter quoting Joel in reference to the Pentecost outpouring communicate to Peter’s audience in the narrative and Luke’s intended audience? What does this claim mean for us today?

Next Steps: Take time this week to acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life and the role which the Spirit has played. Write a prayer thanking the Holy Spirit for how the Spirit has manifested itself in your life and in the life of Trinity. After, discern how you can practically live by the Spirit this week by letting the Spirit speak to you/move you to serve someone in your life who is need of a friend/loved one.