Icebreaker: How do you and your family talk about death? (Ignore it, joke about it, plan for it, talk casually about it?)
1- What do you think is the difference between physical and spiritual death?
READ John 8:48-51
2- In what way did Jesus seek glory for God the Father while on earth?
3- How are you seeking glory for God instead of glory for yourself?
4- What do you think Jesus meant when He said in verse 51, “if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death”? In other words, how can we avoid death while also being destined to die?
READ John 8:52-56
Jesus claims in this passage, and throughout the Gospels are ridiculous. He was either crazy or the Christ. That's why the Jews ask, “who do you think you are?” We will all have to answer a similar question when we die.
5- Have you ever thought about how crazy Jesus’ claims were if He wasn’t truly God in human form? How can this truth from these verses help you talk with non-Christians about Jesus?
6- Jesus says that He both knows God the Father and keeps His word. After death we will face God to answer for if we knew Him and if we kept His word. If you had to give a final answer to those questions now, is there one you’re more worried about?
7- Are you 100% certain about your eternal destination? If you died today, are you absolutely sure what would happen to you? Why or why not?
READ John 8:57-59
8- How can Jesus’ statement about Himself in verse 58 give you certainty about your eternity?
- Leader note: Jesus basically says I am God. So, if Jesus is God, then everything that He says and does must be true and perfect. Therefore, His death and resurrection were perfect. If needed, read John 11:25-26 for what Jesus’ own words say about how eternal security is found in Him.
9- So, our eternal security is found in who Jesus is and what He has done, not in who we are or what we have done. How does this truth encourage you?
Next Steps:
10- Who is one person that you care about, that if they died today, you aren’t sure where they would spend eternity? How can you use this conversation about death and our eternal destination to fuel a fire to share Jesus with that person(s)?
11- Everyone is talking about the coronavirus. Coincidentally, we were scheduled to talk about death this week. How can you try to use different conversations about the coronavirus to be a witness for Jesus these next few weeks?
Additional Study:
For more information on the topic of what happens when we stand before God, here are two great articles about the different ‘judgements’ and their biblical basis.
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