a witness carries truth wherever there is a...

3 missions

________________________________________________________________________

Teaching Option

Guide adults to read the following passages and determine how the

promised Holy Spirit empowers believers to share the gospel:

Luke 12:11-12; John 14:26; John 15:26-27; John 16:7-14. ________________________________________________________________________

A WITNESS CARRIES TRUTH WHEREVER THERE IS A NEED

Request participants read aloud, in unison, all of Acts 1:8. Note this

lesson’s memory verse sets the theme for the entire Book of Acts

and the theme of Christ’s church. Read from the Travelogue (p. 124):

The church has been given a mission: to carry the gospel to all

people and all places. And Jesus Himself provided a strategy

for doing so.

IN JERUSALEM: OUR OWN HOME

Request adults state from the Travelogue (p. 124) two reasons Jesus

told the disciples to start in Jerusalem. Request adults identify their

Jerusalem. Using their response, draw a circle on the displayed

world map.

________________________________________________________________________

Teaching Option

If you have internet access, project Google Earth onto a screen. Start

zoomed in on your location. Throughout this discussion of ever-

widening circles zoom out to eventually show the entire world.________________________________________________________________________

Ask: Why might it be easier to share Christ with people

far away rather than those we know well, live near, or work

with? Declare that’s why it’s absolutely essential we cooperate with

the Holy Spirit’s transformational work in our lives—so that the

personality and deeds of Jesus flow from us where we live, work,

and play.

4 missions

IN JUDEA: OUR REGION; IN SAMARIA: REACHING

THOSE WHO ARE NOT LIKE US

Invite someone to read the information about Judea (Travelogue,

pp. 124-125). Ask adults to identify their Judea. Draw a circle on the

world map based on responses. Jesus calls us to go beyond our Judea

where we have a good understanding of other people with

similar qualities, ideas, and interests (Travelogue, p. 125). His

Spirit empowers us to be witnesses in Samaria. Use the Travelogue

(p. 125) to describe Samaria. State: Samaria might be people who

live next door but are worlds apart from us in beliefs, cultures,

and value systems.

Describe how Brentwood Baptist is witnessing in Judea and

Samaria through the Middle Tennessee Initiative. Determine ways

individuals and LIFE Groups can support that initiative.

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH: A GLOBAL MISSION

Draw ever-widening circles around the USA, North America,

and so forth, until you’ve drawn a circle around the entire earth.

Ask: What resources did the first disciples have to reach the

ends of the earth? What do we have to reach the ends of the

earth? Emphasize a successful global mission utilizes advances in

technology and travel, but ultimate success depends on the power of

the Holy Spirit.

CONCLUSION

We can be confident, successful witnesses for Jesus when we

follow His strategy for His mission. The first strategic step is to be

empowered by the Holy Spirit. Review how believers receive the

Holy Spirit’s power. Emphasize the necessity of prayer

and obedience.

Discuss from the Travelogue (p. 127): What can you do to be

a witness in your own neighborhood and city? What are you

willing to do to witness to people of different racial, ethnic, or

cultural groups? How can you support the work of missions in

other parts of our nation and the world?

Close in prayer that God will empower adults with motivation

and courage to be on mission with Christ.

5 missions

FOLLOW THROUGH

• Contact participants, encouraging them to come for your final

session of Transforming Truths. Request they consider truths

that have most stood out to them from this study and be

prepared to share those in your next session.

1 http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/trialpractice/articles/121311-ethics-

preparation-witnesses-deposition-trial.html

2 HCSB Study Bible note for Acts 1:1, page 1859.

6 eternity

eternitysecure in His victory

Communicate the Bible gives believers hope for the future. We will receive

resurrection bodies and live eternally in joy and worship of God.

When Christ returns, believers will receive their resurrected bodies and sin

and death will be completely defeated.

Persevere in the Lord’s work, knowing our labor is not in vain due to Christ’s

victory over sin and death and our own future bodily resurrection.

Background

Passage:

1 C O R I N T H I A N S 1 5

scripture

Passage:

1 C O R I N T H I A N S 1 5 : 5 0 - 5 8

• When Christ returns, our mortal

bodies will receive immortal

resurrection bodies (vv. 50-53).

• The resurrection of Christ

foreshadows our future resurrection

and ultimate defeat over sin and

death (vv. 54-57).

• Knowing Christ’s victory and our

future hope, we should persevere in

the Lord’s work assured our labor is

not in vain (v. 58).

Memory

Verse:

R E V E L A T I O N 2 1 : 3

Then I heard a loud voice

from the throne: Look! God’s

dwelling is with humanity,

and He will live with them.

They will be His people, and

God Himself will be with

them and be their God.

7 eternity

PREPARING TO TEACH

This final lesson of Transforming Truths brings us full circle. Lesson

1 established from 1 Corinthians 15 that the bodily resurrection of

Jesus was the turning point of history and is the foundation for our

faith. Now this final lesson returns to 1 Corinthians 15 to explore

the victorious resurrection all believers will experience when Christ

returns. These two resurrections—one already accomplished and

one we can absolutely depend on occurring—bookend all the

scriptural truths we have examined. Our faith that Christ rose and

is coming again holds everything together and should influence all

our actions and attitudes. Because Christ’s and our resurrection is

our past, present, and future hope we can confidently journey on

toward spiritual transformation, allowing the personality and deeds

of Jesus to naturally flow out of us where we live, work, and play.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 in several translations and

paraphrases, rejoicing in the victory you have in Christ. Carefully

study Lesson 13 in the Venture In: Transforming Truths Travelogue,

completing all bolded activities and journaling thoughts and prayers

in the margin.

Prepare a teaching plan, determining comments and discussion

questions that will best resonate with the needs, personalities, and

learning styles in your LIFE Group. Some in your group may be

grieving the death of a loved one; prayerfully determine how to be

sensitive to that grief while emphasizing the victory believers have

over death.

Pray this final lesson in Transforming Truths will fill adults with

hope and motivate them to continue excelling in the Lord’s work

and as they journey toward Christlikeness.

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

Greet adults as they arrive. Encourage them to leaf through their

Travelogues to refresh their memories on all you have studied in the

past 12 lessons.

8 eternity

After opening with prayer, invite adults to share which truths

have really stood out to them in this study of Transforming Truths.

Analyze why those truths are transforming. Ask: How do the

truths we’ve discovered give you hope for the future?

Point out the Travelogue (pp. 129-130) describes several movies

and television programs that do not depict a hopeful future. Ask:

Why are people fascinated with the idea of a terrible,

post-apocalyptic future? (Travelogue, p. 130) When it comes

to the future what should fascinate followers of Jesus? This

lesson explores the fascinating truths that, when Christ returns,

believers will receive resurrected bodies, and sin and death will be

completely defeated.

Indicate adults may have sung, or at least heard in songs,

some of the verses from today’s focal passage. “The Messiah”

by Handel and “Christ Is Risen” by Matt Maher are just two of

numerous songs that directly quote from 1 Corinthians 15:50-58.

This passage has been called a victory symphony celebrating the

future transformation of our bodies and the future termination of

sin and death.1

________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Help

The article “Transformed: More than Meets the Eye (1 Corinthians

15:50-58)” at https://bible.org/seriespage/34-transformed-more-meets-

eye-1-corinthians-1550-58 provides a strong discussion on the focal

passage and helpful discussion questions.________________________________________________________________________

WE WILL ALL BE CHANGED

Ask: Why would most people celebrate the transformation

of their bodies? How do many try to achieve physical

transformation? How successful are they and why?

In Lesson 1 we explored from 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 that

Jesus’ bodily resurrection changed the course of human history

and is the foundation of our faith. Now, in Paul’s conclusion to

this resurrection chapter, he celebrated that Christ’s resurrection

9 eternity

is the basis for our bodily transformation that will be completely

successful and last for all eternity. Invite a volunteer to read

1 Corinthians 15:50-53.

________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Help

The paragraph headings in the HCSB Study Bible provide a helpful

outline and summary of 1 Corinthians 15: Resurrection Essential to

the Gospel (15:1-11); Resurrection Essential to the Faith (15:12-19);

Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Ours (15:20-28); Resurrection

Supported by Christian Experience (15:29-34); The Nature of the

Resurrection Body (15:35-49); Victorious Resurrection (15:50-58). ________________________________________________________________________

Explain Paul used the term mystery to refer to a truth

previously unknown but now revealed. The truth of resurrection

wasn’t the mystery since it’s referenced in the Old Testament. The

mystery now revealed is the who, how, when, what, and why of that

transformation.

Invite adults to identify who will all be changed. Not all

Christians will experience a physical death; some will be living

when Jesus returns. Whether a believer has been dead hundreds of

years or lives until Jesus steps out on a cloud, we will all celebrate a

glorious bodily transformation.

Request adults blink their eyes. Ask how that blink describes

how we will be changed. Acknowledge sometimes the going seems

really slow on this journey of spiritual transformation. We wonder

if we’ll ever change. We can celebrate that when Jesus returns our

transformation will be instantaneous, complete, and irreversible.

Ask when Paul said this immediate change will occur. Several

New Testament passages speak of what will occur when God

sends His angels and the last trumpet … will sound. Invite

volunteers to read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and Matthew 24:30-31.

Briefly describe the most common theological schools of thought

regarding Christ’s second coming from the Travelogue (pp.131-132).

Ask: What’s the common denominator to all these schools of

thought? (Jesus is coming back.)

0 0 eternity

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Teacher Tip

Relationships, churches, and denominations have been torn apart

because of disagreements about the end times. The debate has

not been resolved in 2,000 years and will not be resolved in one

LIFE Group session. Be careful to present the information without

allowing a debate to occur. Emphasize the truth Jesus will return for

His people and until then He desires we live in unity.________________________________________________________________________

Paul declared when Jesus returns we will all be changed. We’d

like to know what our transformed bodies will be like. Other

Scriptures give us some clues. Invite volunteers to read

Philippians 3:20-21 and 1 John 3:2. Ask what insight we gain into our

resurrected bodies. From Paul’s earlier discussion of seeds and plants

in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-44, we can understand that, just as there

is continuity between a seed and a plant, we will not lose our identity

but be physically transformed. The bodies we’re in now are just the

kernel of what we will be. What’s ahead is so much better.

Lead adults to explore from 1 Corinthians 15:50,53 why it is

necessary that believers experience a divinely wrought physical

transformation. Our frail flesh and blood—our finite, corrupted

bodies—are simply unfit to survive in an infinite, holy God’s

presence. Just as astronauts need suits to survive outer space, we

will need bodies perfectly suited to live in the eternal, incorruptible

kingdom of God.

WHEN DEATH IS NO MORE

Paul celebrated the future transformation of our bodies and moved

on to celebrate a future when death is no more. Invite a volunteer to

read 1 Corinthians 15:54-57.

Explore the significance of our mortal bodies being clothed

with immortality (Travelogue, p. 134). Evaluate the implications

of receiving a body that is not subject to death. (No fear, dread,

aging, or pain.) When we fear death our focus can be self-centered;

when we have no fear of death we can be Christ-centered.

0 1 eternity

Paul taunted death in this victory song, referencing Isaiah 25:8 and

Hosea 13:14. Ask: What images come to mind when you read,

Death has been swallowed up in victory?

Explore what Paul meant by the sting of death is sin. Sin

causes separation from God. Eternal spiritual death is not peaceful

sleep but existence without God. The thought of eternity without

any trace of God, His goodness, and love is chilling.

Explore why death has lost its sting for followers of Jesus.

When some insects sting people they leave their stinger in that

person’s flesh then die. Death can’t do any real damage to us because

it stung itself to death at the cross. Jesus took the sting for us. What

Satan thought was his greatest victory against God was actually his

ultimate defeat.

When Paul said the power of sin is the law he was not

saying the law is bad. Our sinful natures rebel against being told

what to do, even when it’s good for us. The law reveals God’s perfect

standards but gives us no power to achieve that righteousness. The

magnificent news is that Jesus became righteousness for us. Death

has no terror for believers because we know our sins are forgiven

and we can face God confidently and joyfully knowing He accepts

us because of His Son. No wonder Paul broke out in a victory

chorus!

Urge adults to read 1 Corinthians 15:57 out loud in unison

several times. Ask: How might our lives be different if we

repeated and fully believed that verse every day?

LIVING IN HIS VICTORY

Paul declared Jesus has won a great victory for us. Then he urged us

to let Jesus win great victories through us. Invite a volunteer to read

1 Corinthians 15:58.

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________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Tip

As usual, Paul moved from lofty theological principles to practical

implications. Emphasize that you’ve been studying theological

principles for the past 13 weeks not just to gain information, but

to obediently apply those principles and move further along in

transformation. What we believe should influence what we do. ________________________________________________________________________

Discuss: How do we apply the marvelous truths that we

will receive glorious resurrection bodies and experience

absolute victory over sin and death? Describe a believer

who is steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s

work. How does Christ’s resurrection and our future

bodily transformation empower us to work steadily and

courageously?

Invite adults to describe the ultimate frustrating day. (Always

working and accomplishing absolutely nothing.) Determine

why believers do not need to be frustrated in serving the Lord.

Whatever we do for Jesus, no matter how small and useless it seems,

accomplishes something of eternal value.

CONCLUSION

Read aloud this lesson’s memory verse, Revelation 21:3. Ask: That’s

our certain hope and the future we can celebrate. But what do

we do until then?

Read from the Travelogue (p. 136): We serve knowing that sin

no longer has dominion, that death no longer is the end. We

serve knowing that the day is coming when Christ will split

the heavens and return in victory, inaugurating His rule, and

we will be a part of that amazing existence in transformed

resurrection bodies, awaiting the creation of a new heaven, a

new earth, and an eternity with God.

Declare failure, sin, and death will not have the last word. God

will. Read the last of God’s written word to us in Revelation 22:20-21.

Invite volunteers to voice prayers of worship and thanksgiving.

0 3 eternity

FOLLOW THROUGH

• Send an email or letter to every person who has participated

in this Transforming Truths study with your LIFE Group.

Thank them for their diligence. Encourage them to continue

memorizing and studying God’s Word personally and with a

small group.

• Enlist one or two group participants to plan a group

fellowship time.

1 “Transformed: More than Meets the Eye (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)” at https://bible.

org/seriespage/34-transformed-more-meets-eye-1-corinthians-1550-58

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