BIBLE STUDY CURRICULUMFALL 2011

Lesson 9 - Who is Jesus: His teaching about himselfThe “I Am” sayings of Jesus

Bread: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

◦Intro: Hunger▪What do you think most people want out of life? What do you want?What do you want people to say about you when you die? Do we live our lives so that will come true? Why not? Being hungry—being poor is a terrible thing and we all work hard to avoid that. But Mother Teresa once said, “Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

◦Read John 6:26-51▪What does Jesus mean in v. 27? What is food that spoils? What is food that lasts to eternal life? ▪What work does God require from us? Being good people? Doing many good things? What God asks from us is faith: v. 29 - “to believe in the one he has sent.” It's not a matter of being good enough for him but of believing in Jesus. ▪What does Jesus mean in v. 35?Christians still experience hunger & thirst. What kind of hunger & thirst do you think Jesus means? ▪What does Jesus mean in v. 40? What is eternal life? What is necessary to have eternal life?▪We cannot know God without believing in Jesus: v. 45b. If you hear anyone talk about God but not Jesus, does that person know God, according this section?Who has seen God? - v. 46.How many times is are certain terms mentioned in this section?◦How many times is “bread” mentioned? (11x)◦How many times is eternal life mentioned? (5x) ◦How many times is belief or faith mentioned? (4x)What is the relationship between vs. 27, 40, 47, & 51? (all talk about eternal life.) How are they connected?What is the relationship between vs. 29, 35, 40, & 47? (all talk about belief/faith.) How are they connected?▪What do you think is Jesus main point that he is trying to make?

◦Summary: What do you think about Jesus' claim that he can satisfy all of our hunger and thirst in life? Is it hard to believe?

Light: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

◦Intro: Darkness & Light▪What do we think of when we think of “dark?”(rest, sleep, calm, crickets, stars & moon....)(fear, not being able to see things, getting lost—not finding our way, crime, unsafe, hiding things....)▪What do we think of when we think of “light?”(bright, hot, glaring, sunburn, thirsty....)(being able to see, safety, sun, daylight, birds, plants growing....) ▪What are some of the things that we use light for?(reading, doing things when it's dark outside, growing plants, looking for things in dark places, showing us which way to go....)

◦Read John 8:12▪What does Jesus mean by “walk in darkness?” How do you “walk in darkness?”▪What does Jesus mean that he is “the light of the world?” He is the yang and the dark is the ying? :) ◦The Bible does not teach that darkness & light need each other.▪In physical life, that is true: day & night, etc.▪In spiritual life, the Bible teaches that darkness represents ignorance, hiding from God, doing sin. ▪What does Jesus mean that whoever follows him “will have the light of life?” What could that possibly be?

◦Summary: ▪We will read more in a few weeks about Jesus being the light of the world (John 1). ▪Do we ever feel like our understanding of spiritual life is dark? Or that there is a dark side to our heart? Jesus sees that and knows that. He promises that He can bring light into our lives and make the darkness leave. It only takes ______ (see lesson above on “I Am the Bread” - belief/faith!)