Especially for Older Students: The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus

(10 minutes, easy set-up)
Students will study passages of Scripture where the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to live a sinless life and then raised Him from the dead.
Provide dry erase board, marker, three sheets of paper, and pens.

Learning Goal: Learners will examine how the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to live a sinless life and then raised Him from the dead.

Share that the lesson for today emphasizes the powerful role of the Holy Spirit in every believer’s life, including Jesus Christ. Explain that both the Old and New Testaments depict the Holy Spirit’s role in Jesus’s life. Divide learns into groups of three. Assign one of the following Scripture references to each group: Isaiah 11:1-2, Matthew 4:1, and John 19:30. Write on the dry erase board the following questions (answers are provided in italics):

At what point in Jesus’s life is the connection to the Holy Spirit mention in your passage? (Answers: before His birth, during His life/ministry, at the end of His life)
How is the Holy Spirit associated with Jesus Christ in your assigned passage of Scripture? (Answers: a promised characteristic in prophecy, a guide for direction to take in ministry, as leaving at the moment of death, which implies the Spirit was with Jesus throughout His life on earth until the very moment He died)
What does your passage reveal about the Holy Spirit’s work in believers’ lives today? (Possible answers: the Spirit provides wisdom, power and knowledge in the lives of believers He indwells; the Spirit guides believers throughout their lives; the Spirit remains with believers throughout their entire lives up to the point of death when they are united with God in heaven.)

Distribute a pen and sheet of paper to each group. Instruct students to read their assigned passages and to discuss how the questions on the board relate to the Scripture they read. Encourage students to record their responses on the sheet you provided. After three or four minutes, enlist a volunteer from each group to read the assigned passage to the class and to present his/her group’s answers to the questions listed. After responses, emphasize that in the same way the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus Christ’s here on earth, the Spirit also works in the lives of believers who surrender to His authority in their lives today.