LEADER PREPARATION
Lesson Summary:

Note: These lessons are designed to be 30 minutes long. If your club time is shorter than this, we encourage you to be prayerful about parts of this lesson to put more or less emphasis on. If limited on time, we urge you to prioritize Tool Time and summarize Dig In, as Tool Time is what prepares you for sharing the Gospel. As always, let the Holy Spirit guide your leadership.

The Gospel offers us hope for today and an eternal future with God forever. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as an advocate and a guide to help us remember the importance of his resurrection. This remembrance helps us to know what to say to our friends and fellow students who we may want to share the Gospel with.

Take a look at this video from BibleProject as you prepare:
Gospel – https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/euangelion-gospelf

This week, choose from one of the following options for DIG IN:

1. Have a Student Leader share the Gospel Message using something they’ve created, found, or by using the provided Gospel presentation sample below.
2. Have a Student Leader share their testimony. They can use these questions to help guide their thoughts.
   1. • “What does Jesus’ death and resurrections have to do with me?”
      • “How have I experienced God’s resurrection life through the Holy Spirit?”
      • “How do I experience God’s presence in my life?

Main Point
The Holy Spirit equips us to live out the resurrection life today.

Team Roles

Host: This Student Leader will lead the Start Up section of the lesson, helping create a fun environment, making everyone feel welcome and included.
Speaker: This student leader will guide the group in growing deeper in their faith by reading and reflecting on passages of scripture. They will then connect the content to the group’s daily lives by asking practical questions and leading the conversation.
Other Roles: Promo, Welcome, and Follow Up. 

Scripture References

• Acts 1:8
• Matthew 28:19
• John 14:26-27
• Acts 2:1-6

Materials Needed

• 25-50 Balloons
• Two Sheets of Paper
• Marker
• Prepared Gospel Presentation or Student Testimony
• FP Bibles
• Student Response Cards

(7 minutes)
Say: Welcome to First Priority. We know that you could literally be anywhere else right now, so we are so pumped that you chose to be here with us!

Icebreaker Game: Poppin’ Puzzle
Supplies Needed: 25-50 Balloons, Two Sheets of Paper, Marker 

Game Preparation: Fold paper twice creating four equal sections. Unfold and write the word GOSPEL as large as possible. Next, cut the paper along the fold lines creating your “puzzle pieces.” Crumple up the pieces and place them individually into four balloons. Repeat this process with the second sheet of paper, keeping the two “puzzles” separate. Inflate those balloons, along with the remaining balloons, and separate them into two equal piles.

Divide the group into two equal teams. Explain to the group that there are four puzzle pieces hidden in each pile of balloons, and each team must take turns popping the balloons in order to find the pieces and put the puzzle together. The first team to complete their puzzle wins.

(5 minutes)

• Option 1: Student Leader shares Gospel message (sample provided below).
• Option 2: Student Leader shares testimony.

Option 1: Gospel Presentation Sample

Ask: Share your reaction when you lost or misplaced a puzzle piece. What are some of the other examples where missing a piece or part keeps us from seeing the whole picture? (Take a few moments for students to share.)

Say: Today we will be sharing the story of how Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection brings the story of the Gospel to completion. Just like a puzzle with a missing piece or a story that leaves out an essential detail can be frustrating, the story of God’s pursuit of us is incomplete without all the elements. Like an engine without a part, many peoples’ concepts of God are missing a vital piece that provides all the power!

The complete story of God’s love and pursuit of you is known as the Gospel or the “Good News.” The story of the Gospel is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to serve as a bridge between God and his creation, you. In His life, His friendships, His miracles, His parables or stories, and His words, God revealed His character and the attributes of His Kingdom.

But Jesus’ time here was not the end. In fact, His time on earth was just the beginning. After He was resurrected, Jesus appeared to His followers; He promised them a gift, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to guide and lead us, just as Jesus guided and led His disciples.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live on mission with Him every day.

Read Scripture: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Say: I’m sure the second part of the Scripture wasn’t hard for the early Christians to believe. They had been following Jesus for three years, learning from Him all that He knew. They cared for, healed, drove out spirits from and taught people they had come across in their travels. So it probably wasn’t a surprise when He told them that they would do something even bigger such as share what they have learned all over the region. They may not have known how that would be accomplished, but based on their time spent with Him and what they saw Him do, they had confidence that it would happen.

But what was probably a bit odd for them to grasp was this concept of the Holy Spirit found in the first part of the Scripture. Jesus had told them in Matthew 28:19, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” But how could that be true if they had just watched him die on a cross? They didn’t know it then, but God was going to do something even more amazing in their lives through the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Read Scripture: But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:26-27)

Say: The sending of the Holy Spirit was a continuation of Jesus who had begun here on earth. As we follow the life and example Jesus gave, the Holy Spirit will guide us to live on mission for Him. As it says in the verse, the Holy Spirit will teach us and remind us of the things Jesus has said to us in the Bible. And it’s the presence of Jesus in our lives, through the Holy Spirit, that gives us peace and confidence in our lives even when our daily reality might be difficult.