WHY WE BELIEVE Week 3: We See the Bible s Promises Fulfilled 1. LEADER PREPARATION

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1 This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide WHY WE BELIEVE Week 3: We See the Bible s Promises Fulfilled 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW The Old Testament is full of prophecies that describe details of Jesus life long before he walked the face of the earth in human form. These prophecies cover events from his birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. Even though these events were described hundreds of years before his birth, they accurately describe elements of his life. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: The Old Testament predicted Jesus life in more than 300 prophecies. 2. WHY: Studying prophecy can deepen conviction and build faith. 3. HOW: Your students will see how this knowledge helps validate that Jesus is who he says he is and how these details can aid them when talking to friends about Jesus. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE Isaiah 53 SECONDARY SCRIPTURES John 10:17-18; 19:16-42 TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your small group lesson. The book of Isaiah was written approximately 700 years before Jesus, yet the details mentioned in this passage describe details from his life. These verses focus on the end of his life, describing the way he was brutally treated after being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and how his death would offer us the chance to be restored in our fellowship with God. Read Isaiah 53. THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry. What would it be like to know the future? Let s talk about it at small group tonight. Did you know people were talking about Jesus hundreds of years before his birth? Come learn more tonight at small group.

2 Parent We ve provided you with an below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the to fit your ministry needs. Dear parents, Our small groups wrapped up their series on Why We Believe with a discussion on how Jesus fulfilled more than 300 prophecies in the Old Testament. We focused on Isaiah 53, and learned about the suffering predicted more than 700 years before Jesus was born. Our students discussed how the many references to Jesus life that all came true can help verify that he was the Messiah and that God is real. We encouraged our students to think about how they can share God s love with their friends based on the overwhelming evidence of the Old Testament prophecies he fulfilled. During the week, take a few minutes to look at the Isaiah 53 passage with your teenager. Pray that your teenager will continue to study God s Word and discover that the Bible proves itself to be true. Here are some questions from this week s lesson you could use during your conversation: Why do you think the Bible was written by many people over many centuries? Why didn t God just drop the whole Bible from heaven almost like how he wrote the Law on stone for Moses? Have you ever heard someone say that Jesus really wasn t the Son of God? If so, how did you respond? What might be a good way of responding or engaging in a conversation with someone who believes this about Jesus? How might you use the many fulfilled prophecies about Jesus life to help someone see that God is real and lead that person to God? Thanks for all your prayers for our small group ministry. Have an incredible day!

3 WHY WE BELIEVE Week 3: We See the Bible s Promises Fulfilled 2. LESSON GUIDE GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] As you begin your small group, welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then start with this illustration: Beg, borrow, or steal a Magic 8 Ball and bring it small group (OK, maybe you shouldn t steal it). Pass it around at the beginning of your time together and let the students take turns asking it questions. After everyone has asked a few questions, What is one fact or piece of information you d like to know about the future, and why? If you knew about all future events, how would this affect the way you lived right now? What s the difference between using a Magic 8 Ball for predictions and the prophecies found in the Bible? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Of course the Magic 8 Ball is silly and the answers are just random. However, the Old Testament contains more than 300 predictions about the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of the Messiah Jesus. The incredible part is that all the predictions recorded in Scripture came true. If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you d like to share it with other youth workers, please us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com. TEACHING POINTS The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) Understand prophecies about Jesus and (2) Examine the fulfillment. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience. Read Isaiah 53 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let s dig deeper to learn more about Old Testament prophecies that accurately told about the coming of Jesus. 1. Understanding prophecies about Jesus SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Many writers wrote the Old Testament over a span of hundreds of years. Throughout their writings they made hundreds of references to the Messiah literally, the Anointed One. The Greek word for Messiah is Christ. The Old Testament prophecies described many of the aspects and events of the Messiah s life. They are the threads that foretold the life of Jesus the Messiah sent by God.

4 When you read Isaiah 53:4-6, what event from the life of Jesus comes to mind? [NOTE: See John 19:16-37 if your students need help.] What words in this passage are the most powerful and have the greatest impact on you? What other phrases or images stand out from Isaiah 53? Why? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: God inspired each of the writers of the prophecies in the Old Testament. This means that God placed in their hearts the events that would happen. This divine inspiration is what binds all the prophecies together like stitches in a quilt or blanket. Why do you think the Bible was written by many people over many centuries? Why didn t God just drop the whole Bible from heaven almost like how he wrote the Law on stone for Moses? Would your faith or confidence in the Bible be stronger or weaker if it had all been written at once instead of over many centuries? Explain your opinion. 2. Examine the fulfillment SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The amazing fact that all of the Old Testament prophecies describing the Messiah s life came true helps to underscore that Jesus was who he claimed to be and the prophecies ultimately form an incredible quilt that only God could design. The impossibility of events written so far apart occurring without divine involvement confirm the validity of Jesus declaration that he was the Son of God. There are more than 300 Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled all of them. But that evidence is still unconvincing to many are fulfilled prophecies enough to convince you that Jesus is who he said he was? Why or why not? If Jesus wasn t the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies, how would that affect the impact or significance of his life and ministry? Why? Have you ever heard someone say that Jesus really wasn t the Son of God? If so, how did you respond? What might be a good way of responding or engaging in a conversation with someone who believes this about Jesus? ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] Read Isaiah 53:7-9 and compare it to John 19: Even though these two passages were written over 700 years apart, how does the record of Jesus burial compare to the passage in Isaiah? Read Isaiah 53:10-12 and compare it to what Jesus says in John 10: How are they similar?

5 APPLICATION Pair up with another person in the group for these questions. How does it impact you to know that so many events that were written hundreds of years before Jesus birth actually came true? How might you use the many fulfilled prophecies about Jesus life to help someone see that God is real and lead that person to God? Where could we go for even more details about Old Testament prophecies and how Jesus was their fulfillment? How would this help us grow spiritually and be even more effective telling others about Jesus? SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or takehome challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time. FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all (Isaiah 53:6).