The Holy Spirit Mystery

This lesson is intended to help students understand the concept of a three-in-one Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They will likely already be aware of the Father (God) and The Son (Jesus Christ). However, the Holy Spirit is a much more abstract and difficult concept to grasp. What is the Holy Spirit? God is three in one. But what does that mean? Think of an egg. It is one egg but it has three parts, the shell, the yoke and the white. Think of the wind, this is something that we cannot see but we can feel it, we can see it move tree branches and we know it is there. The wind comes and goes out of our control. The Holy spirit helps us to make good decisions and is there for us when we need strength or comfort. We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but it comes and we can feel the effect when it is with us.

Bible Story: “The Holy Spirit?  An Egg-citing Mystery”

Scripture: Multiple scriptures explaining the Holy Spirit; focus on Isaiah 9:6

Introduction: As you ask the students the following questions, be the first to raise your hand to encourage their own participation. How many of us have ever done something wrong?  How many of us felt sorry about it?  How many of us have ever been brave when we could have been afraid?  How many of us need help making the right decisions?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may have had a little help from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit, you say?  What is that?  What does He do?

Ask the students if they have ever heard of the Holy Spirit and what they have heard if they have. Some may express confusion about the Holy Spirit being like an egg or maybe he is like water. A spirit could also be confused with a ghost. Is this a Holy Ghost? Well not in the sense of sheets and OOOOoooOoOoOo Boo!

Tell the students we are going to learn more about the Holy Spirit today as well as what it means to be three-in-one.

Learning Activity #1:  Three-in-One

Okay.  We know Who God is.  He created us.  We know Who Jesus is.  He saved us.  And we know there is this thing, the Holy Spirit. We will get back to what that is later.

How can we explain the idea that God is three-in-one? What would it look like to be three-in-one?
Are there actually three gods that we worship? (no)
Does our God have three heads? (no)

Let’s look at something we are all familiar with to try to understand the three-in-one. An egg!
An egg right has three parts.  There is the shell, the yolk (the yellow part), and the white stuff (the egg whites).  It has three parts, but it is still one egg.
Right? This is not a whole egg if we take away part of the shell right? But the shell is still a separate piece of the egg. And sometimes you can order just an egg white omelette. But still, one egg is made up of three parts.

Think of another example. Water!

How many parts of water are there? Or can you think of when water appears in different forms? We have ice, like ice cubes or snow, and we have water, like we drink, and we have steam, like when we take a shower or a bath and the mirror fogs up. This is all water, but it appears differently and it can do different things. Ice makes us cold and steam makes us hot!

Learning Activity #2: What is the Holy Spirit

Now, let’s think about what the Holy Spirit is. Does anyone have any ideas?
One way to think of the Holy Spirit is as though it is something that lives in us. It fills us up when we need support from God. It is that feeling of happiness we have when we sing during worship to God. It is that comfort we feel when we pray to God and we know He is listening. It is the bravery we feel when we are scared.

Does anyone have a time when they feel like the Holy Spirit filled them? Maybe you were scared but then you felt brave enough to keep going?

What do you think the Holy Spirit looks like? Nothing? Can we see it?

One way to think of the Holy Spirit is that it is like the wind. It can come and go, but you can feel it when it is around. You see the branches move when it is windy but you cannot actually see the wind. This is how the Holy Spirit is too. You cannot see it, but you can feel it when it is in you and you can see the affects it has on others. Just watch next time in worship and you will see how happy people feel. They may even raise up their hands as they sing!

Still, even though we know all this about the Holy Spirit and God, He is still a mystery to us. He is more powerful and more loving and more mighty that we can ever imagine. We just don’t have the knowledge to really ever truly know God until we meet Him in Heaven. But we do know that He is good and He cares for us and He watches out for us. He has a plan and He will be there for us when we need Him. We can trust God to always be there for us.

Learning Activity #3:  “Crack the Code”

Supplies needed:  Bibles (one for each team), pencils, fill in the blank statements

Divide your students up into small groups of varying age levels and abilities.  There should be three to a group.  Designate the following roles or have the students select:  the reader (reads the passage), the writer (fills in the blanks), and the presenter (tells their team’s findings.)

Clearly explain student roles and the importance of working together as detectives, solving a puzzle. Distribute materials.

1.      Who is the Holy Spirit?  (Isaiah 9:6)

The Son (Jesus) is called Wonderful _____________, ___________ God, ______________   ______________, and __________ of Peace.  The Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity of God.

2.      How do you get the Holy Spirit?  (Acts 2:38)

___________ of your sins.  This means to turn from sin, to change direction from wrong to right, and to follow Jesus.

3.      Where does He live?  (John 14:16-17)

The Father will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of ___________.  The world will not accept Him, but you know Him because He lives with _______ and will be in you.

4.      What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?  (Acts 1:8)

You will receive ________ when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the _________ of the earth. (He gives us courage to tell about Jesus!)

5.      What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?  (John 14:26)

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will ___________ us all things and will remind us of everything He has said to us.

6.      What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?  (John 14:27)

He gives us ________.  We do not have to be troubled or afraid.

7.      What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?  (John 16:8)

He  _________ the world of guilt.  That means that He makes us sorry for our sin.

8.  What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?  (Galatians 5:22-23)

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, ________, patience, ________, goodness, faithfulness, ____________ and self control.  (We become people who have these characteristics in our lives.)

Give students time to work in their teams.  Help as necessary.  Regroup to go over each team’s findings.  Have the presenters read each question and answer.  Clarify as needed.  Then congratulate your students on their hard work.

Craft:

Have the students color their eggs then explain to a partner how the egg represents the concept of Three-in-one.

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Summary for Parents

Scripture: Various Scriptures throughout the Bible discussing the Holy Spirit.

Lesson: What is the Holy Spirit? God is three in one. But what does that mean? Think of an egg. It is one egg but it has three parts, the shell, the yoke and the white. Think of the wind, this is something that we cannot see but we can feel it, we can see it move tree branches and we know it is there. The wind comes and goes out of our control. The Holy spirit helps us to make good decisions and is there for us when we need strength or comfort. We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but it comes and we can feel the effect when it is with us.

Memory Verse:

The son will be called Wonderful Adviser and Mighty God. He will also be called Father Who Lives Forever and Prince Who Brings Peace. Isaiah 9:6