Bible Study – Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
“I have seen the Lord!” exclaimed Mary Magdalene. At first she does not recognize who is standing beside her. When she realizes it is the risen Jesus she wants to grasp him. He holds her off and tells her to go and share what has happened: He has walked through death and has created a path for us to follow, now and on through our own death.
In these 50 days of Easter, celebrating what Jesus has done for us, we are invited to recognize Jesus standing beside us, as he did with Mary. What is he calling us to do? Perhaps we can train our eyes to look in the direction that this Jesus, standing beside us is looking. What might he be looking at? Do we dare follow where he is leading? Can we notice and honor the various ways Jesus “appears” to people?
If we love Jesus, we will keep the commandments. And what are they? Rules to catch us in our slip-ups? No, much more uncomplicated than that. How very interesting that all the commandments can be kept using one channel: love. As we step into that channel of love, we receive God’s love and so become capable of loving. And we notice that we are not alone
Opening Prayer: Thank you, God, for sending Jesus to show us the rules. Amen.
Please open your Bibles to John 14:15-21 and read or read the scriptures below.
John 14:15-21
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Questions: (Answers at the bottom of the page)
- The disciples were still trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing, and what the rules were. What does Jesus tell them? (Verse 15)
- What commandment is Jesus talking about? (Verse 13:34)
- They are still pretty worried about doing the right thing, so what does Jesus promise will help them? (Verse 16)
- What is an Advocate?
- By what other names do we know this Advocate?
- How would we put into our own words what Jesus is saying in verse 21?
We don’t see the wind, but we see what it is doing. It moves the branches on trees, papers on the street, flags, etc. Jesus promised us a helper and that helper is the Holy Spirit. We don’t see the Holy Spirit because He lives inside of those of us who make Jesus our Lord and Savior. We know He brings comfort and help to us.
We don't see God with our eyes, but we know that His Spirit lives in us, and we can feel that. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray, guides us, and comforts us. We know that God is present always. We also know that we can experience God when we continue to pray, read our Bibles, and participate in worship services.
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on url)
John 14:15-21 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDHRCovJvBI
Children’s Sermon Object Lesson John 14:15-31 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smKljjFIYFI
Gospel of John Summary: Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUfh_wOsauk
Activities:
Journal: Write in your journal about what you have learned about the Holy Spirit.
Create a game: Invent a game that would follow the commandment in John 13:34. It might be a board game or a game played on a playground. How would you construct a game where everyone wins? You may need props. When you have made a decisions about your game create a name and the rules of the game. Then ask your family or friends to play the game with you.
Comforter Bible Verse: Take a piece of cotton or felt material and cut it into a square. Glue ribbon or trim as desired to the edges of the square “comforter” and glue a piece of paper in the middle of the clothe with the words THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR COMFORTER, Bible verse or other words from today’s lesson. Then roll the “comforter” up and tie a ribbon around the cloth to hold it in place. Remember that Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit who is our comforter.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit - Maze
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit - Crossword Puzzle: https://sermons4kids.com/promise_of_the_holy_spirit_crossword.htm
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit – Jumble: https://sermons4kids.com/promise_of_the_holy_spirit_jumble.htm
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit – Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/promise_of_the_holy_spirit_wordsearch.htm
Mother Day Crafts – Click on the following URL and make the Mother Day Gift your mother would like.
https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/mothers-day-crafts-for-kids/
Prayer: Thank you, God, that you want each of us to know you love us. Also thank you for the comfort of Your Holy Spirit. Amen
Answers to the Questions:
- The disciples were still trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing, and what the rules were. What does Jesus tell them? (Verse 15) Love me and keep my commandments.
- What commandment is Jesus talking about? (Verse 13:34) Love one another
- They are still pretty worried about doing the right thing, so what does Jesus promise will help them? (Verse 16) Advocate/ Counselor
- What is an Advocate? (Someone who sticks with you and helps you. Lawyers are sometimes called advocates.)
- By what other names do we know this Advocate? (Spirit of Truth, Holy Spirit)
- How would we put into our own words what Jesus is saying in verse 21? (Here is a possible summary: If all of us would choose to love each other we would be doing what Jesus asked of us and we would find it easier to love even hard-to-love people and we could all get along. If we did that, we would really see God right in the middle of everything we do.)
