– The Getting Started Series –
CONFIDENCE . RECONNECT . PLUG IN . GROWTH
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
The Holy Spirit is… (pick one)
- A ghost
- Like The Force from Star Wars
- God
Where is the Holy Spirit?
- In Heaven
- He lives in believers
- In Church
- Chillin’ at the beach
★ 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?
★ 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?
- 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?
Leader: It tells us to recognize we sin, and to confess our sins to God. - What difference do you think that would make in your life in these areas: friends, family, school, athletics, relationships?
Leader: 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 about 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.
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.
