LEADER’S GUIDE
– The Getting Started Series –
CONFIDENCE . RECONNECT . PLUG IN . GROWTH
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Student Notes
The BIG IDEA
The Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we place our faith in Jesus and gives us the power to live our lives for God.
The PROBLEM
We often miss out on the help that the Holy Spirit can give us because we don’t know we have access to his power, or because of sin in our lives.
Our RESPONSE
Learn who the Holy Spirit is and to choose to live by his power instead of our own limited power.
I WANT MY STUDENTS TO:
- KNOW: Who the Holy Spirit is and how he can change our lives.
- EXPERIENCE: How to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
- DO: Invite the Holy Spirit into the driver’s seat of their life.
The idea box is a place where you can find some creative ideas for leading this study. You might find videos, activities, or great illustrations that really bring the main point home. The ideas come from small group leaders like you, so if you have an idea that isn’t in there, click below to share it with the community!
GET AN IDEA I SHARE AN IDEA
If you’ve got a phone, pull it out.
- What apps do you use the most?
- What happens when your phone dies?
- Talk about your worst experience with having your phone die.
Our phones need power to work and we get frustrated when they don’t work the way they are supposed to. In the same way, we can get frustrated when we try to live by our own efforts.
We need the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life, but a lot of us don’t know much about him. We get our information about God from the Bible so today we’re going to look at a number of verses in the Bible to see what we can learn about the Holy Spirit.
WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Read 1 John 4:13-15.
God is one being with three persons. Which three?
- Father
- Angel
- Thor
- Jesus
- Zeus
- Holy Spirit (Leader: The three persons are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If they ask questions, answer them as best you can but focus the lesson on the Holy Spirit.)
The Holy Spirit is… (pick one)
- A ghost
- Like The Force from Star Wars
- God (Leader: Help your students know that the Holy Spirit is God and that he is a real person.)
Where is the Holy Spirit?
- In Heaven
- He lives in believers
- In Church
- Chillin’ at the beach (Leader: The “right” answer is “He lives in believers” but since God is everywhere, the others could work too. For this study, emphasize that he lives in us and gives us the power to live our lives for God.)
★ The Holy Spirit is God that lives in you. At the moment you received Christ, the Holy Spirit came into your life. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, he is already living in you!
WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT DO?
Read the verses below. What are some things he wants to do for you based on these verses?
You might want to break a larger group into smaller groups to look up these passages and then have each one share their findings with the group.
- Galatians 5:22-23 – Produces qualities like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
- Galatians 5:16 – Helps us live the way God wants us to.
- John 16:13-14 – Helps us know what is true and how to honor Jesus.
- Acts 1:8 – Gives us power to help others know Christ.
★ The Holy Spirit is the power source that makes our lives work.
HOW DO I PLUG INTO GOD’S POWER?
1. GET REAL WITH GOD
Before you can access the Holy Spirit’s power, get real with God about your sins. (It’s not like he doesn’t know). We call this confessing our sins.
Read 1 John 1:8-9.
- What does it tell us about what to do with our sin?
It tells us to recognize we sin, and to confess our sins to God. - How does it feel to know that God will forgive your sins if you confess them to him?
2. GIVE GOD CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE
Read Romans 12:1-2.
- What do those verses say about letting God have control of your life?
Jesus has given his whole life to us, and in response, we can give our whole lives to him. - What difference do you think that would make in your life in these areas: friends, family, school, athletics, relationships?
Allow the group to discuss. You might share an example from your own life of what happened when you gave up control to God. Some ways it might make a difference… less stress, honor God by choosing his way. We talked last lesson about how sin affects our fellowship with God, so maybe increased experience of God through giving up a sinful action or habit.
3. ASK GOD TO FILL YOU WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Read Ephesians 5:18.
- What does this verse say God wants for us?
Leader: God wants us to be filled with his Spirit. Since God tells us to be filled with his Spirit, we know it’s his will and that he will answer us if we ask him (1 John 5:14–15).
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?
If you want the Holy Spirit to be in control of your life, take some time right now to ask God to fill you with his Spirit. You could pray something like…
And some final great news: You can pray something like this any time you get off track with God to refocus your life on him. Any time. Any place.
Our review cards are an excellent way to review your past lessons with your students before each study. Not every lesson has one yet but if we have them, you can find them on the PRINT page. Check them out and use them each week to help your students grab hold of the truths in these studies.
What ideas do you have that could improve this study? Are there creative things you do to bring this topic home to your students? Please share with the community clicking the FEEDBACK button or leaving a comment below.
This study on the Spirit filled life is not only important for my small group but so good for me as well! I love this video from Power to Change which can be used as a creative touch.
Thanks Nancy. I just added it to the POWER study Creative Touches. Great video! Keep sharing what you find!
So far, I’m loving the Cru Studies! This lesson talks about what to do with your sin well, but doesn’t talk about who the Holy Spirit is very well. In using it, I had to talk about how He is a Person, not a Thing, (his personal nature – that he grieves, that he comforts). It would be nice if the study covered this better. I would have liked for it to give an example of a time that someone in the Bible was empowered by the Holy Spirit so the student can better understand how this impacts their life. Otherwise, great study!
Hello Dawn!
You brought out a great point! Reading this study I became super excited to share with my students this week but as for the topic of the Holy Spirit, it was minimal. Other than that It is a great study!
Great input, Dawn. We’ll see what we can do to address what you’re talking about when we work on edits in the spring. Thanks for taking the time to give some helpful feedback!