who is god? Week 3: God the Holy Spirit Our Counselor This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW This lesson concludes our series on who God is by focusing on the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. Our teenagers live in a culture that is constantly dragging them toward risky, destructive attitudes and behaviors. One of the Holy Spirit s most powerful roles is to lead us away from the wrong path and toward the right path. He also gives us wisdom, and he uses us to make a difference in our world. This lesson will help your students discover how the Holy Spirit truly works as a counselor in their lives. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: The Holy Spirit provides us with guidance and direction for living in a way that honors God and draws people to him. 2. WHY: Our teenagers live in a culture that consistently encourages them to pursue paths that draw them away from God s plan for their lives. 3. HOW: Students will examine what it means to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit on what s right and what s wrong, to gain wisdom for smart living, and to make a difference in their world. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE John 16:5-15 SECONDARY SCRIPTURES John 15:26-27 and Galatians 5:16-25 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 lesson. Read John 16:5-15.
After Jesus returned to heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit to serve as a guide. This reveals how God genuinely wants the best for us. God knows we need help to live truly meaningful, significant, impacting lives. We receive this help through God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Giving us the Holy Spirit also shows that God wants a close relationship with us because of his incredible love for us. God sends his Spirit so that we can remain in constant communion with him until we arrive in heaven. The Holy Spirit allows us to be connected to God at all times and to understand God s incredible plan for our lives. As you conclude this series on who God is, encourage your students to recognize the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The Spirit will provide your teenagers with the strength and wisdom to survive the turbulent teen years an ever-present counselor and guide. 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. Parent Email Need some wisdom this week? Don t miss small group tonight. Tired of living life blindfolded? Join us tonight at small group! We ve provided you with an email 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 email to fit your ministry needs. Dear parents, This was the final week for our small group series on who God is, and we turned our attention to God the Holy Spirit, whom the Bible describes as a counselor or comforter or advocate for those of us who follow Christ.
After Jesus returned to heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit, and this reveals how God genuinely wants the best for us. God knows we need help to live truly meaningful, significant, impacting lives. We receive this help through God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Giving us the Holy Spirit also shows that God wants a close relationship with us because of his incredible love for us. God sends his Spirit so that we can remain in constant communion with him until we arrive in heaven. The Holy Spirit allows us to be connected to God at all times and to understand God s incredible plan for our lives. Our students examined what it means to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit on what s right and what s wrong, to gain wisdom for smart living, and to make a difference in their world. This week, I d encourage you to find time to talk with your teenager about our lesson. These questions might help generate conversation: Do you think it s easy or difficult as a teenager to avoid doing the wrong thing or people who want you to do the wrong thing? Explain. What are some of the possible rewards of smart living? What are some of the possible penalties or consequences for, well, not-so-smart living? What are some ways you can testify to our world about what God has done and is doing in your life? I pray that you and your family continue exploring what it means to follow Jesus and live lives that draw others to him. Have an awesome week!
who is god? Week 3: God the Holy Spirit Our Counselor GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] 2. LEsson guide Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, then jump into the activity below: When your students arrive, have them get into pairs if you have an odd number of students, you can serve as a guide for one student. Blindfold one person from each pair. Tell the student who isn t blindfolded to guide their partner around the room or the building, if permitted, and describe everything around them. After all the pairs have completed their tour, What was it like to be blindfolded? Was it hard to trust your partner? Why or why not? What was it like for those of you who were the guides? What were some of the challenges? What was the best part about being the guide? What would it be like to go through an entire day blindfolded WITHOUT a guide? When in your life have you gone through an experience or made a decision when you felt like you were blindfolded and couldn t figure out the right thing to do? What was that like, and what did you learn from that situation? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Most of us realize that it would be tough to go through an entire day blindfolded if no one was there to help us. We d trip on steps, we wouldn t be able to find our desk in class, we couldn t find the bathroom or cafeteria, and we couldn t do any shopping or play any video games. That would be miserable! It would also be miserable if we had to make life decisions on our own without any help or guidance. As followers of Jesus, we have the opportunity to receive help from the greatest helper ever God the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. Before Jesus returned to heaven, he told us that he was sending someone down who would help us and he described the Holy Spirit as the counselor. Think of a counselor as simply being someone who gives you good advice it s someone with wisdom who cares about your best interest and who wants to help guide you on the right path in life.
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 email 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) You can see what s right and what s wrong, (2) You can receive wisdom for smart living, and (3) You can make a difference in this world. 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 John 16:5-15 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let s spend a few minutes talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 1. You can see what s right and what s wrong Do you think it s easy or difficult as a teenager to avoid doing the wrong thing or people who want you to do the wrong thing? Explain. Why do we sometimes do the wrong thing even when we know it s the wrong thing? Verse 8 says one of the Holy Spirit s jobs is to convict the world of its sin. What does it feel like to experience that in your life? How do you recognize that it s God asking you to live your life differently? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We live in a culture that is constantly trying to drag us away from what s right and toward what s wrong. The Holy Spirit leads us the other direction toward what is right. It s what we call conviction, that inner sense that we re about ready to say or do something that just isn t right something that
will hurt other people, will hurt us, or will hurt our relationship with God. When we feel uncomfortable like this, it s God the Holy Spirit drawing us away from danger and harm. 2. You can receive wisdom for smart living What s the toughest decision you ve had to make in the last week or two, and why was it so difficult? When you face tough decisions, where do you turn for advice? Why? Verse 7 describes the Holy Spirit as a Counselor or Comforter or Encourager or Advocate, depending on which translation of the Bible you re reading. Which of those words are you familiar with, and what do the words mean to you? Verse 13 says the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. What does this phrase mean to you? What are some of the possible rewards of smart living? What are some of the possible penalties or consequences for, well, not-so-smart living? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Life is full of choices, both big and small. God wants you to make wise decisions in all areas because God desires what is best for us. In fact, the Bible says in Psalm 139 that before you were born, God knew all the details of your life. Jeremiah 29 says that God has a plan for you that is good and filled with hope. When we follow where the Holy Spirit leads us, we are able to know and follow that plan, and we can find wisdom for smart living. 3. You can make a difference in this world If we re following God s path toward good things and away from bad things, and if we re getting wisdom on smart living, how can this help us have a positive impact on the world around us? How do you picture God using you to make a difference in this world? What are some big dreams God has placed in your life? Read John 15:26-27. What are some ways you can testify to our world about what God has done and is doing in your life? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Once you choose to follow Jesus, God gives you the gift of
the Holy Spirit, who will give you opportunities to tell your friends about Jesus and do things that draw people toward the truth of Jesus. I d encourage you to pray regularly that God will use you to make a difference in this world even if that simply means making a difference in the lives of your friends and family members. ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] Read Galatians 5:16-25. According to this passage, what evidence will you see in the life of someone who is following the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit? How can you tell if someone is walking with the Holy Spirit? What characteristics will they have? Compare the list of actions and attitudes in verses 19-21 what happens when we are led by our natural, human, sinful nature and the actions and attitudes in verses 22-23 what happens we are led by the Holy Spirit and allow God to work in our lives. What are some of the differences and contrasts you see between these two lists? [NOTE: Your students may give a whole host of answers to this question, but the overriding idea is that living by our sinful nature leads to actions and attitudes that hurt ourselves, hurt other people, and hurt our relationship with God. Living by the Holy Spirit leads to actions and attitudes that create good, healthy relationships and consequences.] APPLICATION Ask students to find a partner for these questions. Go back to Galatians 5:22-23. Which of these Fruit of the Spirit is strongest in your life right now, and which one is weakest? Focus on the fruit that is strongest in your life right now. How might God use this to make a difference in the world around you including in the lives of your friends and family members?
Now think about the fruit that you believe is weakest in your life right now. How can you grow in this area? How might you pray for God s help, and how can we help each other? The Holy Spirit wants to lead you and give you wisdom and help you avoid doing the wrong thing. Take a moment to pray for each other. If you have any important decisions you need to make this week, ask your partner to pray for this. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom. Is there something that you are being pressured into doing, or tempted to do even though it is wrong? Take a moment and pray for each other, asking the Holy Spirit for help. How can you and I develop a greater awareness of the Holy Spirit in our lives? How can we become more sensitive to where he is leading and guiding and convicting us? SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home 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. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future (John 16:13).