Being Changed by Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

Please note: This product is a digital file. You will need to download the file to your computer and print it from your printer.

Age Group

Youth

Brief Description

Intersection includes complete resources for teaching both younger and older youth, including learner’s materials, teaching guides, and handouts. The teaching guide is options-based, so teachers can customize sessions to match their favorite approach.

“Being Changed by Jesus’ Death and Resurrection”

While Christmas ushers in the celebration of God’s entering the world as a human, fully capable of understanding the foibles and temptations of humanity, Easter is something altogether different. In fact, for believers Easter is the most important event in the entire history of humankind–and not for any reason involving chocolate candy or colored eggs. In short, Christmas brings God to the people, but Easter brings the people to God.

Session One helps youth find comfort in knowing that Jesus faced many of the very same struggles they face, and through God’s power was able to overcome them. Although he could have chosen an alternate path, Christ knew that the cross was where his responsibility lay. Lift up Jesus as the prime example of facing responsibility regardless of the consequences.

Continuing on, Session Two guides teenagers to consider how they resemble the crowd that greeted Jesus during his triumphal entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem. Encourage your group to examine themselves honestly, with the hope that they can recognize God’s deep desire not only to forgive them, but also to help them move forward in life.

Session Three shifts from personal examination to ways we practice our faith. Through the study of John 20:1-10, lead your young people to see that when a person accepts the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection, the only authentic response is to put their beliefs into practice. Wouldn’t it seem impossible to remain passive when standing in the presence of the risen Savior?

A Session Four review of Acts 4:32-35 reveals that the Christian community in Jerusalem lived a dramatic lifestyle of sharing that could have been accomplished only through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, this Scripture text receives so little attention in circles of Christian education for youth that the passage often is overlooked. Use this session to help your learners understand authentic change.

Session Five explores Acts 4:1-12 and calls teenagers to move beyond a “me, me, me” attitude by embracing all people, just as God does. After all, no threat of persecution, ridicule, or harassment can dampen the fire of the Holy Spirit when Christians are living out a genuine faith.

Many things associated with the Christian celebration of Easter actually have very little to do with faith issues: the Easter Bunny, candy, baskets, new clothes, and so on. Youth are busy with homework, exams, extracurricular activities, and social interaction with peers, not to mention time with their families. There isn’t much room left for spiritual awareness or the practice of faith. Perhaps the best way to keep Easter fresh in their eyes is to have them re-engage stories that have become all too familiar. As God’s living, written Word, the Bible is a book to be experienced, all the while bringing readers into God’s presence through the Holy Spirit. The aim of each session is to help teenagers explore their role in the continuing story of God’s salvation, as they also discover their place in the story of Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection.

by Graham Cheek

User License
The purchaser of this file has permission to print twenty copies of this Learners Study Guide. Neither the file nor the printed contents may be sold copied or transferred to another person or church. The purchaser may make a backup copy of the file.

The purchaser of this file has permission to print one copy of this Teaching Guide. Neither the file nor the printed contents may be sold, copied or transferred to another person or church. The purchaser may make a backup copy of the file.