JUDE THE JUDE DUDE SESSION 1 LEAD IT: COLLEGE AGE GOALS As students experience this session in Jude, they will... be introduced to several tools for meaningful Bible study. find the purpose of Jude s letter. discover who wrote Jude and explore his personal journey. be challenged to adjust their lives in light of these discoveries. MATERIALS: Each Student the student journal pages for Session 1 a Bible and pen (Students should bring their own Bibles. You can decide if you would like them to use a physical Bible or a Bible app like, YouVersion ) One Week Out: A week before you get going, challenge your students to read the entire book of Jude before the first session. Reading these 25 verses will give them a great overview for this study. You may also want to send out a group text, email or note reminding them to read the book of Jude before you get there. Make sure you also include where and when you are meeting! Be sure to commend your students for committing to be part of an in-depth study of God s Word. A Note About College-Age Students: Just because students are older it does not mean they ve quit wrestling with questions about their faith. Some students may actually be new believers, others may be in a new place of going deep for the first time, while others may be on a progressive journey of growing closer to the Lord. Wherever they are on their journey, these students are maturing and want to go deeper. INTRO Prayer After your students have gathered, thank them for being part of this study. Pray that they will go deeper with Jesus through this study of Jude, and be motivated to make God s Word a vital part of their lifelong pursuit of Christ. Open Ask the group to brainstorm on the following questions. How would you treat a love letter you received from someone you had a big crush on? What words describe the way you d read it? If you send to a love letter of some kind (text, email, or actual letter), what do you hope happens on the receiving end? You hope the recipient reads it thoughtfully and responds! Thinking of God s Word as a love letter to us (which it is), how do you think God wants us to treat it? What kind of response do you think He s waiting for? SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1 1
In your own words, explain these points to your students: We get the most out of the Bible when we read it with purpose looking for things (as we would in a love letter) and responding to what we find. These six sessions in Jude will help you learn how to read and study God s Word with renewed purpose and focus. Before you begin to get into the Book of Jude it will be helpful to explain some things about reading the Bible. Explain that every Book of the Bible falls into one of five categories. Tell students about them or write them in a place they can see them. Ask them to write these in their journal. a. History (like Exodus or Acts) b. Poetry (like Psalms) c. Prophecy (like Ezekiel or Revelation) d. Biography (the Gospels, like Luke) e. Letters (like Romans) STUDY TOOL: Ask Questions Point out that when you study any book of the Bible, it s helpful to ask six basic fact-finding questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? If any of your students have covered journalism in school, they may know these as the 5 W s and the H. These are the questions reporters and detectives use to get beneath the surface of a story and discover the truth. They can also be handy when you re trying to make sense of a tough Bible passage! Encourage your students to write Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? Suggest they write this idea on their journal pages. STUDY TOOL TRUTH: The more questions you ask of God s Word, the more questions God s Word will ask you. DIGGING IN Share that you re now ready to dive into the study of Jude. Explain that the type of book of the Bible you re studying helps you know exactly what questions to ask. Share in your own words: Read Jude 1 4 and try to figure out the type of book Jude is, looking at the five categories we just discussed. It shouldn t take long to see that Jude is a letter (v. 1 and 3). Getting a letter in the mail is a lost art. Today we re more likely to get a text message. But whether you receive a letter or text, what s the first thing you look at? The first thing you look at is who it s from. So when you study a letter in the Bible, the first question you should ask is Who? Since Jude is a letter, the question is, Who s mentioned in this letter? Next ask the group to read Jude 1 25. As they read, have them list on their journal pages all the whos in Jude. These are all of the different people mentioned within these 25 verses. If someone is mentioned more than once, they don t have to list them again, but instead ask them to keep count of how many times they re referred to. 2 SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1
After a few minutes, ask them to share what they found. Possible responses are noted below. -Jude, the writer of the letter (v. 1) -James (v. 1) -those who ve been called (v. 1) -God the Father (v. 1) -Jesus Christ (v. 1) -certain men (v. 4) -the Lord (v. 5) -God s people (v. 5) -angels (v. 6) The Whos in Jude Process this info about the people in Jude by discussing these questions: Who was referred to most in this letter? the certain men What does this tell you about the main subject and purpose of Jude? These guys must have been a serious threat to Jude s readers. Jude felt he had to write to his reader to warn them about these guys! NOTE: Right off the bat, your students may want to know more about some of the mysterious people and events in Jude. Handle their questions by saying they ll be studying this letter layer by layer, like peeling the skin off an onion. Let them know you aren t going to answer everything tonight. This is the first lesson and it is meant to be an overview. In six sessions, they ll be surprised at how much they understand about some of the weird happenings in Jude. Explain that the five most important whos to look for in any Bible letter are: 1. the writer of the letter 2. the recipient(s) of the letter 3. God the Father 4. Jesus 5. the Holy Spirit -the Sodom and Gomorrah people (v. 7) -Michael, the archangel (v. 9) -Cain, Balaam and Korah (v. 11) -Enoch (v. 14) -Jesus apostles (v. 17) -the Holy Spirit (v. 20) NOTE: Make sure your students understand the Trinity and why we are talking about Him in this way in this passage. We want to point out that we see different facets of the Lord in the way He presents His Word. They are always working together when presenting Scripture. If you have students who will have a hard time understanding the Trinity completely, then take a few moments and make sure they understand exactly how God is three in one, and what that means for us. Share in your own words: The message of a letter always relates to both the writer and the recipient(s). So the more we learn about the writer and recipient of a book of the Bible, the more we ll understand the message of the particular book. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the true authors of the Bible since they worked through guys like Jude to write it. So whenever we study the Bible, we should be on the lookout for info on God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For now, we ll focus on the book s human writer, Jude. Now share that you are going to go back over Jude 1-4 again, because you want to look for something deeper. Ask the group to read Jude 1 4 one more time to themselves. This time you want them to be looking for times the WRITER of the letter is mentioned. Have them circle (or highlight if in an App.) every mention of the writer. Tell them to include words like I and we. SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1 3
After a few minutes, ask the students to share what they found out about Jude. As they share, invite them to record responses in the space provided on their journal page. The list will look something like this: The Writer -his name is Jude (v. 1) -a servant of Jesus (v. 1) -a brother of James (v. 1) -a friend of his readers (v. 3) -was eager to write them about the salvation he shared with them (v. 3) -changed his mind about the subject of this letter (v. 3) -felt he needed to urge his readers to contend for the faith (v. 4) Take a moment to process these facts about the author with the whole group by asking: Based on what we just discovered, what do we know about Jude? He was a devoted follower of Jesus; he had a close relationship with his readers; he was looking out for his readers; he might have been worried about them. Do you see any place where Jude tells us why he wrote this letter? Verses 3 and 4 Jude wrote to urge them to contend for the faith because certain men had slipped in among them. Jude came right out and said why he wrote this book something many Bible writers didn t do. Ask the students to copy Jude s purpose statement into their journals. Explain that once you know the author s purpose in writing, you can understand much more about what he s saying. Everything you uncover in Jude s letter will be filtered through Jude s purpose in writing. STUDY TOOL: Cross-Reference Share: The thing is, we still don t know much about Jude, do we? In your own words, explain cross-referencing to your students. (Refer to the info on cross-referencing in your Prep It or use the bullet points below.) When you run into something you don t understand in Scripture, where do you usually turn? Your students may turn to you, a parent, a pastor, or to a website, etc. Ever think about the fact that since God wrote the Bible, He s the One who really understands it? And if that s true, wouldn t it be better to go to Him than to people (pastors, books, etc.)? Here s the thing: God s Word usually explains itself. When God thought we needed an explanation of something in the Bible, He gave one! You just have to find it. That s called cross-referencing finding another passage in the Bible that explains the one you re studying. So whenever you need insight about the meaning of a verse, the first place you should look is in the Bible itself! Bibles with tiny verse references in the margins help with this since they supply other passages to go to, there are also ways of using a Bible App or website to look up these. (See if anyone has a cross-reference Bible they can pass around, or take a moment and explain the use of an app or website in how to cross reference.) 4 SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1
Close your explanation by asking your students to write this on their journal pages: STUDY TOOL TRUTH: Scripture explains Scripture! CROSS CHECKING Recon on Jude Share in your own words: Jude is a nickname for Judas, and several Judases are mentioned in the Bible. We can learn more about Jude if we can find other places he s mentioned in Scripture. Let s take a look for a moment and see if he is the same guy as other Judas mentioned in the Bible. Ask students to break into small groups of two or three and explain these instructions: Read the passages referenced on your student guide under Cross Checking Recon on Jude. As you look up the Scripture, write in the chart any info you learn about the three Judases in Luke 6 and Matthew 13. Jude 17 helps complete the picture, though it doesn t mention Jude by name. While students are reading, copy the chart below (without the answers) on the board. When most students have finished, ask a representative from each group to tell you what they learned about Judas A, B, C, and Jude the author. Info on the Judas Mentioned Judas A: (Luke 6:13 16) Judas B: (Luke 6:13-16) Judas C: ( Matthew 13:54-56) Jude, the author: Jude 1,17 an apostle, the son of James Judas Iscariot, the apostle who later betrayed Jesus the brother of Jesus and James The author was the brother of James. Apparently he wasn t an apostle, but he mentioned them. TAKING IT INWARD Once the info is on the board, try to see if anyone could tell Jude was the half- brother of Jesus. You can do this by asking: What can we conclude about the author of Jude? -He probably wasn t the apostle Jude, since he referred to the apostles without including himself among them (Jude 17). -He wouldn t have been Judas Iscariot. This Judas betrayed Jesus and committed suicide. -Jesus had half-brothers named Jude and James. -Jude, the author, had a brother named James. -Therefore, Jude the author was probably the half-brother of Jesus (Judas C)! Why do you think Jude didn t identify himself as Jesus brother? Let the group think about this and share some answers for a moment. Then ask a volunteer to read Philippians 2:5 7 and 1 Peter 5:2 3 from his or her Bible. Ask whether these verses give insight into why Jude didn t mention his family relationship with Jesus. Draw out the observation that maybe Jude wanted to be humble like Jesus, to follow Jesus example of not exploiting His position (Philippians 2:5 7) or lording it over others (1 Peter 5:3). SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1 5
Share: Now that we know Jude was Jesus half-brother, we can find out more about him by seeing what the Bible says about Jesus brothers. Ask for a volunteer to read John 7:1-9, then discuss: Write in the space on your journal page one or two words that describe the attitude of Jesus brothers toward Jesus in John 7. After a minute ask students to share their thoughts. Ask for a volunteer to read Acts 1:9-14, then discuss: Write in the space on your journal page one or two words that describe the apparent attitude of Jesus brothers toward Jesus in Acts 1. After a minute ask students to share their thoughts. Ask for a volunteer to read Jude 1-4, then discuss: What are you noticing about Jude s faith? How would you describe his personal journey? Jude went from being an unbelieving skeptic to a servant of Jesus who actually wrote a book of the Bible. What do you think was the turning point in his life? Let them know this is an opinion question based on what you have been looking at. It may have been Jesus resurrection. What does Jude s spiritual journey teach you about God? He can use anyone to do incredible things for Him. It doesn t matter what s in your past. If witnessing the resurrection seeing Jesus dead, then suddenly alive was the event that changed Jude s thinking, how do you think understanding His resurrection can impact your life? Jude called himself a servant of Jesus Christ. You might remember when we looked at Acts 1 we saw Jesus brothers devoting themselves to prayer. Do you think there could be a link between being a servant of Jesus and praying often? Think for a moment and compare your own faith journey with Jude s. Where are you in your relationship with Jesus? You ll notice that the verse references of John 7, Acts 1 and Jude are arranged as a timeline. Make an X on the timeline to represent where you are. Ask students to share where they personally are on the timeline. If they are not comfortable sharing out loud, they may simply be processing what this means for them. Let them know that it s okay if they are struggling with doubt. Point out that Jude s journey encourages us not to let our past mistakes, doubts, regrets or hurts limit how God can use us. Pray (privately or as a group) for any students who are skeptics, still living in the John 7 era. PUTTING INTO PRACTICE At the close of each session you ll be asking your students to jot a key thought, action or commitment in their journal page a takeaway for every session. This will help them keep track of what God is showing them and serve as a reminder of Jude s key themes. Share: Think about this next question before writing a short response (one sentence) as your Jude Takeaway. What s one specific, practical action you can take to be more like Jude and be used by God in a big way? 6 SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1
Optional Quick Review: You have covered a lot of ground in one session. Close your time with a lightning-fast review. Challenge your group to respond without looking at their journal pages or sheets. Who wrote Jude? Who was Jude? Why did he write this letter? Based on what Jude put in his letter, what kind of person do you think he was? If he were a leader in this ministry or church what would he be like? Some conclusions: 1. Jude was obviously a student of Scripture. He was able to refer to many Bible events to illustrate his warnings. He made application from Scripture and from other writings. 2. At one point he didn t believe the truth; now he was convinced of it. 3. He had a meaningful relationship with Jesus; his heart broke for anyone who was tempted to walk away from Jesus. SOUL SURVIVAL LEAD IT: College Age SESSION 1 7