Evangelism (Be a Big Mouth)
Lesson 3: A Blind Date
Lesson Workbook - Click here for NIV Click here for KJV
Helping the Blind See (Activity) Click here
LESSON OBJECTIVES
Goals
1. To develop in students a new passion for evangelism.
2. To motivate students to be a help, not a hindrance, to the spiritually blind.
3. To give students eyes to see the lost.
Topics
Boldness, Evangelism, Light, Truth, Witnessing
OPENING PRAYER (5 to 10 minutes)
GROUP BUILDING (10 minutes)
Helping the Blind See (Activity) Click here
GETTING STARTED (10 minutes)
Today we’re going to try something a little different, a little weird. Since today’s scripture is about a blind man who meets Jesus, I really want you to understand what it is like to be blind. To do this, I have a few tasks that I would like you to do, only you are to do them with your eyes completely closed. No peeking. Before we get started, get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil handy.
Here are the simple tasks to do in order, but not until I say go:
1. Somewhere on your workbook, or a piece of notebook paper, draw a dog, any dog, but with eyes closed
2. Untie or unhook your left shoe, take it off, then put it back on and tie or hook it again.
3. Stand up, move three steps from your chair, then go back and sit down again
4. Take your pen or pencil and put a circle around the dog.
Is everyone ready? Close your eyes, Go!
Discussion Questions:
• What was hard about that experience?
• What do you think it would be like to be totally blind? How would you get through life?
• Do any of you know anyone who is blind? What is their life like?
DIGGING IN (30 minutes)
Teaching Notes on Luke 18: 35-43 In this lesson, only the passage from Luke is use to be able to focus on application rather than textual variants or discrepancies. |
Today we’re going to break down a passage of scripture that talks about a blind man who meets Jesus. The truth is, we all know blind people. They might be able to see physically, but spiritually they don’t see the truth. The question is, are you helping them see the light, or pushing them further from the truth? Let’s take a look at the story.
Read Luke 18: 35-43
Discussion Questions
1. Can someone retell the story for us in your own words?
2. Obviously a blind man receives sight, but what else is going on here?
Read again Luke 18: 35-38.
Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think being a beggar would have been like in those days? What would be most difficult for a beggar?
| The Beggar Man was… • A social outcast • Presumed unclean because of his affliction • Completely blind, unable to see anything • Poor, forced to beg because this was his only means of getting money • Very desperate, he sets himself up for embarrassment by calling out loud to Jesus |
The blind man was blind, but he wasn’t deaf. As Jesus and his followers moved past, the blind man inquired as to what all the commotion was all about. All he needed to know what that Jesus was passing by.
2. How did the blind man respond to the news? (cried out for mercy and help)
3. How did the blind man know who Jesus was? (rumor, etc.)
Read again Luke 18: 39
Discussin Questions
1. What did the people say to the blind man? (they told him to stay quiet)
2. Why do you think the people tired to keep him quiet?
3. If you had been the blind man, what would you have done in response to their rebuke?
4. What was his response? (He shouted even louder)
We may never know the real motives behind the crowd telling the beggar to be quiet, but the fact is, if they had it their way, the man would have never known sight.
Read again Luke 18: 40-43
Disussion Questions
1. What did Jesus say? (He asked him what he wanted)
2. Do you think Jesus knew what he wanted? Why, then, did he ask the man? (to test his faith, to give him a hearing among the people)
3. How do you think the blind man felt when Jesus asked, “what can I do for you?”
Jesus gives the man back his sight, based on his faith, and the man rejoices. The crowd goes nuts, too, praising God for what He had done. That result is no surprise, and when it comes to us being a big mouth, it’s not what Jesus does that is in question…it’s what we’re willing to do.
MAKING IT REAL (10 minutes)
The past couple of weeks, we’ve talked about methods of bringing people closer to Jesus, and that is the goal of evangelism. But are you aware that sometimes you can keep people from Christ with your words? That’s certainly true here. When it comes to being a big mouth, saying something is not always the issue…sometimes WHAT WE SAY is much more crucial.
We have to be willing to ask ourselves, are we like the crowd in our story telling the beggar to be quiet?
Ask yourselves these questions:
• Do you, either accidentally or on purpose, with pure motives or bad, keep people from Christ?
• Are there people who you feel don’t deserve the gospel?
• Are there people who you think are a waste of your time?
• Are there people that you view as “too far gone”?
(Unfortunately, the answer to those questions for most people is yes. We view some people as too bad to hear the gospel, some people as too different from us for us to reach, some people seem like just a waste of our time.)
You can keep people from Jesus with words, looks, and behavior. If you do that, their salvation is on you. You pass by people every day who don’t know Christ but crave his presence in their lives. Their souls are crying out “Heal me, Jesus!” and we tell them to be quiet, Jesus is too busy for them. We are guilty, guys, plain and simple, and it’s got to stop.
Jesus said to the blind beggar, "What can I do for you?"
• What can Jesus do for people?
• Are there any limits to how he can do it?
• Is there anyone he can’t do it for?
• Do you really believe that?
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION (5 to 10 minutes)
This Weeks Verses
"Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Luke 18: 39)