Jesus is more than a historical figure. He is more than a wise teacher. Jesus is a member of the Trinity, and this lesson focuses on helping students connect with all of who Jesus is.
Open in Prayer & Light The Candle
Open session in prayer. Please ask and encourage a student to do this. They will balk, but practice is important.
Light a Candle and place it in the middle of your group.
Note to the students that the candle is a reminder that the light of Jesus is in your midst.
Let’s Get to Know Each Other:
Go around the circle and have each person share their favorite movie and their favorite line from that movie. (Try to discourage cussing)
Who Is Jesus?
Take a few moments and have people share words they would use to describe Jesus.
What are the words the group would use?
Why would they use each particular word?
What does the word say about Jesus?
Diving into the Bible
Ask the group: What is the difference between knowing someone and having a relationship with someone (don’t just think dating relationship, think about family and friend relationships)
Read 1 John 1: 5 through 1 John 2: 6
- What does it mean to know about Jesus?
- What does it mean to have a relationship with Jesus?
This passage tells us that if we obey His commands and confess our sins, we can have a relationship with Jesus. A relationship with Jesus is much more than just knowing about Jesus
Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. Being fully divine means that Jesus was not only God’s Son, Jesus was God in human form. This is NOT an easy concept for us to grasp, but it is important for us to think about and to know when we think about being a follower of Jesus.
Read Luke 24: 36 – 48
What does this passage tell us about Jesus?
Read the following passages… (before reading each, tell them why they are reading the passage)
Jesus was fully human with flesh and bones: Matthew 4:2 and John 4:6
Jesus experienced human emotions: John 11:32 – 36
Jesus experienced day-to-day life as a human: Luke 2:46 – 52 & Mark 6:3
Why do you think it is so important for us to understand that Jesus was both fully human and fully God at the same time?
What the Bible Says about Jesus
(Note: You can create the below as a hand out with the passage in one column and then the second and third columns blank, allowing students to fill in the what the Bible is saying about Jesus. Or, you can go through the list of passages and discuss what each is saying about Jesus, with columns two and three being used as the leader notes for each passage)
Revelation 22:13 (Alpha and Omega) Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter in the Greek Alphabet. This reminds us that Jesus is eternal…He has always been with God, who also has no beginning or end
John 6:35 (Bread of Life) The name of the town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born, means in ancient Greek, house of Bread.” Jesus is the one who sustains in life. He is as important as food is to our lives!
John 10:11 (The Good Shepherd) Just like a shepherd takes care of his sheep, Jesus was sent from God to take care of all humankind. Jesus came to care of us and to lead the lost back to God.
John 1:41 and John 4:25 – 26 (Messiah) Messiah is the Hebrew word, translated into Greek as Christ…which means “Anointed One”. Jesus was chosen (Anointed) for a very specific purpose: to come to earth and repair the relationship between God and humans. He did this by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead.
Matthew 1:23 (Emmanuel/Immanuel) The word means “God with us”. Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus was born on earth as a real human being; He entered time and space just like us to become one like us.
John 1:29 (Lamb of God) In the Old Testament, Lambs (and other animals) were offered as a sacrifice to God to cover the sins of the people. Jesus was became the sacrifice for the sins of all people, past, present, and future, when He died on the cross.
Isaiah 9:6 (Prince of Peace) True peace is found when two parties come back together. Christ is our peace…by dying on the cross Jesus ended the conflict between humankind and God. Conflict that started with our sin. Jesus also bring us eternal peace by the love that is planted in our hearts when we give our lives to Christ.
John 8:12 (Light of the world) The world is a dark place, Jesus provides the Light and the path to God!
John 4:42 (Savior) Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, He came to deliver us from the power of sin and death so that we can find eternity in Heaven with God our Father.
Closing
Have each person share who Jesus is to them.
Close in prayer.
One Response
I enjoyed the lessen. I’ve taken knows to teach the youth at my church Who Jesus Is. I’m teaching this because I have a student who is having a problem praying because she’s not sure her prayers are being heard based on how she feels during her praying or when she finished. So I’m lead to introduce Jesus to my class.