ENCOUNTER SERIES PRE ENCOUNTER CLASS 01

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1 ENCOUNTER SERIES PRE ENCOUNTER CLASS 01 I. A MESSAGE TO THE INSTRUCTOR Consolidation is the phase following a person s receiving of Christ as their personal Savior. During this phase, the new believer must receive constant care and attention until the character of Christ is formed in them. The Pre Encounter Course plays a vital role in the Consolidation process, and as the instructor, you ve been entrusted with this responsibility. Never forget that your role is not to lecture these students with facts and information but to impart life. Keep in mind that an instructor that doesn t have life cannot give life. You must live at the level of your message! The purpose of Pre Encounter is to lead the new believer through the basic steps of the Christian faith. After completing this course, each student should: 1. Possess an assurance of their salvation 2. Understand the benefits of their salvation as provided through the Cross 3. Experience God s power in delivering them from their past 4. Be prepared (encouraged and motivated) to attend an Encounter II. CLASS OBJECTIVES This class has the following objectives: 1. Know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 2. Understand His death on the Cross 3. Experience the benefits of His finished work on the Cross III. INTRODUCTION A. Welcome Students Since students can begin Pre-Encounter at anytime, you may have some new people in your class. If this is the case, you may need to briefly introduce yourself again.

2 B. Student Icebreaker 1. Have your class break into pairs (groups of 2). For students who attended class last week, ask them to partner with someone different. Ask each person to introduce themselves to each other. 2. Have each student share their answers to the following questions in their group. You may need to remind your students that there are no right or wrong answers just share from the heart! What made you decide to become a Christian? What s the biggest difference Christ has made in your life so far? III. LESSON: UNDERSTANDING THE CROSS A. Opening Illustration Once a year, Christie s auction house in New York City offers a free appraisal weekend. People bring in items from the back of their closet or a corner of their attic hoping to learn they have had an undiscovered treasure right under their roof. Often the items are of little value, but one appraiser still remembers the woman who brought in an 11.4-carat ruby that a previous jeweler had told her was costume jewelry! According to Christie s president Kathleen Guzman, We were able to confirm that it was made in 1904 by Tiffany and Co. They still had the original drawing for the piece, and consequently it was sold at auction to them for $385,000. But this was a lady who kept it in the back of her closet in her grandmother s costume jewelry box, along with everything else, and was convinced that it was fake. This woman had something of incredible value, but because she believed it to be fake, she treated it as common. As Christians, unless we understand the value of our relationship with Jesus Christ and the work He accomplished on the Cross, we ll treat that relationship as common and store it next to the rest of our junk! May it never be!!! B. Getting to Know Jesus 2 Peter 1:3 (TLB) 3 For as you know Him better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us! 1. Is Jesus someone you know by name only? Do you just know Him as a figure in history? Or do you count Him as a personal friend? Page 2 of 5

3 2. Jesus as a personal friend? This may sound strange since most people only see Jesus as a figure in the past. They ask, How do we have a relationship with someone who s no longer here? 3. First, we need to understand that Jesus life did not begin with His birth in a manger and it did not end with His death on the Cross. C. Jesus Christ IS God Matthew 26:63-64 (MSG) 63 Then the high priest said to him, "I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you claim to be the Messiah, the Son of God." 64 "Yes," Jesus said, "I am. And in the future you will see me, the Messiah, sitting at the right hand of God and returning on the clouds of heaven." (emphasis added) 1. One of the many things that set Jesus Christ apart from all other religious figures throughout history (Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, etc ) is that He was the only one to claim He was God (not just sent from God). Jesus is more than a good teacher, prophet, or religious leader. He was and is God. 2. And not only did Jesus claim to be God, but through His resurrection three days after His death, He also proved that He was (and is) God. D. As God, Jesus Christ is Eternal John 8:57-58 (NKJV) 57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 1. You may think of Jesus Christ only in terms of the thirty-three years He walked the earth, but He is eternally existent. He had no beginning and He will have no end. 2. We all had a beginning the day we were conceived in our mother s womb but Jesus wasn t created by God when He was born in the manger. E. Jesus Christ is God Who Became Man John 1:1-2, 14 (TLB) 1,2 Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. 14 And Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. And some of us have seen his glory --the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father! 1. Why did God have to become a man? Because of sin, man couldn t know God, approach God, or have a relationship with God. Page 3 of 5

4 2. Man would have to pay the penalty for his sin which was (and is) eternal death (more than death of the body, but eternal separation from God and punishment in Hell). 3. Jesus became a man so He could take the penalty of our sins. As God, He took all of our sins upon Himself and was nailed to the Cross as He took our place. In essence, God punished Himself for our sins so that we could be forgiven! 4. This brings us to the next part of our lesson today What s so important about the Cross? What did Jesus Christ accomplish through His death on the Cross? F. Why the Cross? An Illustration A particular church received a personal greeting from the Kejave Medical Center staff in Kenya and read of the following amazing story. Eight-year-old Monica broke her leg as she fell into a pit. An older woman, Mama Njeri, happened along and climbed into the pit to help get Monica out. In the process, a dangerous black Mamba snake bit both Mama Njeri and Monica. Monica was taken to Kejave Medical Center and admitted. Mama Njeri went home, but never awoke from her sleep. The next day, a perceptive missionary nurse explained Mama Njeri's death to Monica, telling her that the snake had bitten both of them, but all of the snake's poison was expended on Mama Njeri; none was given to Monica. The nurse then explained that Jesus had taken the poison of Monica's sin so that she could have new life. It was an easy choice for Monica. She received Jesus as Savior and Lord on the spot. Galatians 3:13 (MSG) 13 Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. 1. Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross to take upon Himself the poison of our sin. 2. The world doesn t understand why God would become a man to die a cruel and bloody death on a cross. Why? Because it cannot comprehend that God loves man so much He would be willing to die in his place and they don t realize that sin is so horrific that it would cost God so much. 3. But Jesus Christ didn t stop at simply taking our place He also died so that we could take His place. He became sin so that we could become righteous. 4. Christ s work on the Cross set us free from sin so we could live an abundant life. Let s look at a few things that the Cross set us free from Page 4 of 5

5 G. Through the Cross Jesus Christ Has Set Us Free From [Note to Instructor: The following list is by no means exhaustive and is meant to highlight a few truths the students should be aware of. Based on the where your students are at, feel free to cover other points or verses.] 1. Guilt & Condemnation We don t have to live under the weight of our past sins! Colossians 2:13-14 (NLT) 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. 2. Sickness & Disease Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 3. Poverty & Lack Malachi 3:10-11 (NKJV) 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," says the LORD of hosts; Page 5 of 5