One to One: 15 minute Bible Studies by William E. York Jr.
Question & study sheets for the evangelistic Bible study booklet
ONE TO ONE: 15 minute Bible studies
to share with a friend
by William E. York, Jr.
published by Inter-Varsity Press, the copyright page of which says,
"(c)1972 by the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of the United
States of America All rights reserved Except for pages 45-64, no part
of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press. ...ISBN 0-87784-438-0"
This ASCII file consists of the outline of the studies plus the text
of those pages. The text of the booklet, ONE TO ONE, contains
additional insights and guidelines for leading another individual or
small group through the series of studies in as little as 15 minutes
per session. Use of a modern English version is strongly recommended.
OUTLINE OF TOPICS
GOD study A: what is God like?
SIN study B: what is sin?
study C: what are the results of sin?
CHRIST
study D: who is Jesus Christ?
study E: what did Jesus Christ do?
RESPONSE
study F: how can I receive Jesus Christ?
(45) QUESTION SHEET study A
what is God like?
1/ What do we learn about God from Psalm 97:1-9? Read the passage
silently, stating aloud what you learn about God.
2/ What do we learn about God from Psalm 139:1-6 and 7-12? Read
verses 1-12 silently, then tell the main thing you learned from each
section.
3/ From 1 John 4:7-10, what does God think of us?
4/ How did God show his love for us?
5/ From John 3:16-18 and 36, what is the result of rejecting God's
love?
6/ From verses 18 and 36, how do we receive, and how do we reject
God's love?
(46) QUESTION SHEET study B
what is sin?
Review/ What did we learn from the first study about God?
1/ From Genesis 1:27, what is man's basic relationship to God?
2/ From Genesis 1:26-31, what did God think of man in the beginning?
3/ From Genesis 6:5-7, what did God think of man?
4/ Why did he want to blot man out?
5/ From Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7, what had happened to change man,
and therefore change God's thoughts about him?
6/ Was it just the act of eating the fruit that God did not like, or
was there something more basic?
7/ Who else was involved in this episode?
8/ What did the serpent say about God's command and warning?
9/ Which of the two did Adam and Eve believe?
10/ Why did Adam and Eve disobey God?
(47) QUESTION SHEET
study C
what are the results of sin?
Review/ What did we learn from the last study about sin?
1/ From Jesus' words in Mark 7:20-23, how does rebelling against God
cause a person to act? Read these verses aloud.
2/ Do you recognize some of these things in yourself? Notice that
they include not only acts, but thoughts and attitudes.
3/ What do these things do to a person?
4/ What does "defile" mean?
5/ From Psalm 5:4-6, what does God think about sin?
6/ According to Isaiah 59:1-2, what does sin do to our relationship
with God?
7/ According to Romans 6:23, what is the result of sin?
8/ From Romans 5:8, what did God do because he loves us?
9/ From Isaiah 55:6-7, what are the conditions we must meet for God
to pardon our sin?
(48) QUESTION SHEET
study D
who is Jesus Christ?
Review/ What did we learn from the last study about the results of
sin?
1/ From John 20:30-31, why did John write about Jesus?
DIRECT claims made by Jesus Christ 2/ Pick out the claims Jesus made
for himself in John 14:1-11. Read the passage silently, stating the
claims aloud as you find them.
3/ Pick out Jesus' claims in John 6:35-40.
An INDIRECT claim made by Jesus Christ 4/ Read John 5:10-18 to
answer the question: Why did the Jews try to kill Jesus?
Our RESPONSE to Jesus' claims 5/ From John 5:19-24, what response
does Jesus expect from us?
6/ What will be the result of a proper response?
(49) QUESTION SHEET
study E
what did Jesus Christ do?
Review/ What did we learn from the last study about who Jesus Christ
is?
1/ From Mark 2:1-12, what was Jesus doing when the paralytic was
brought to him?
2/ What did he do for the paralytic that could be seen by the crowd?
3/ What power did Jesus claim for himself in this incident?
4/ What is the main implication of his claim plus his act of healing?
5/ From Mark 2:15-17, what did Jesus say he came for?
6/ From Mark 10:33-34, what do we learn about Jesus and his death?
7/ From Mark 10:45, what did he say was the purpose of his death?
(50) 8/ What is a ransom?
9/ In the light of previous study we have done, from what would his
death be a ransom?
10/ From Matthew 28:1-7, did Jesus fulfill his prediction that he
would rise from the dead?
11/ According to Romans 6:20-23, what can God do for us because
Jesus Christ died?
12/ From 1 John 5:11-12, what relationship must we have with Jesus
Christ if we are to benefit from what he did?
(51) QUESTION SHEET
study F
how can I receive Jesus Christ?
Review/ What did we learn from the last study about what Jesus
Christ did? What relationship must we have with him to get the benefit
of what he did?
1/ From John 1:12, what two things must we do to become children of
God?
2/ From John 3:16, what is the result of believing in Jesus Christ?
3/ From John 13:13, if we receive Jesus into our lives, who are we
receiving?
4/ Since he is Teacher and Lord, what can we expect him to do when
he comes into our lives?
5/ From Romans 10:9-10, what is involved in receiving Jesus Christ?
Revelation 3:20 1 John 5:11-12 2 Timothy 3:16-17
(53) SUMMARY SHEET
study A
what is God like?
What do you think of when you think of God? An old man with a long
white beard, sitting on a cloud? A stern judge, passing stiff sentences
on those who break his laws? A strict policeman, looking for people
having a good time and stopping them? A nebulous, non-physical being,
"way out there somewhere"? An impersonal "ground of all being"?
The purpose of this first study is to learn what the God presented
by the Bible is like. He has not hidden himself from us, but rather is,
and always has been, eager to be known by the people he has created. He
"desires all men to .. come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4).
For hundreds of years, millions of people from all parts of the
world have been learning the truth and coming to know God through the
Bible. Many literary tools were used by the Bible writers to
communicate their message. Poetry is an effective medium for
description, and Psalms 97 and 139 are poems describing God. Here we
find him to be not a weak old man, but a powerful God who reigns over
all the earth. His rule is characterized by righteousness and justice.
Rather than being "way out there somewhere, " this righteous, just and
powerful God is inescapably present everywhere, and knows every move we
make and every thought we think!
(54) Since God knows all about us, it is helpful to know what he
thinks of us. God's supreme revelation of himself was by Jesus Christ,
his Son. "In these last days he has spoken to us by a Son" who
"reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature"
(Heb. 1:2-3). John the apostle, a close friend of Jesus Christ, wrote
of God's thoughts toward us. An impersonal God could not love, but John
wrote that God loved us enough to send his Son to be the means of
atonement for our sin. Love is an essential attribute of God--"God is
love" (1 John 4:7-10).
Love must be accepted voluntarily. It is possible to reject love and
thereby exclude oneself from its benefits. If we reject God's love, the
alternative is his wrath and condemnation. God's supreme act of love
was to give his Son to die for our sins. If we reject his Son, we
reject his love. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who
does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests
upon him" (John 3:36).
We are condemned by God and under his wrath because of sin. The next
study will be on the question "What is sin?"
(55) SUMMARY SHEET
study B
what is sin?
"God created man in his own image" is the Bible's terse description
of the beginning of the human race (Gen. 1:27). Basically, man is in a
creature-Creator relationship with God. Man is God's crowning creation.
God thought enough of him to give him dominion over all other life on
the earth. When God first evaluated what he had created, his judgment
was that it was all good, including man (Gen. 1:26-31).
Several generations later, God thought differently about man. In the
sixth chapter of Genesis we find that "the Lord saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." God wanted to blot
out man. What made the difference? If we can find out what happened to
cause man to change from good to evil in God's sight, we will discover
the essence of sin.
What happened is recorded in Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7. God placed
one restriction on the man he had created--he was not to eat the fruit
from one particular tree. This negative command gave man an alternative
to the will of God. Man could then exercise his freedom by choosing to
obey or to disobey God, his Creator. God warned that the result of
eating of the forbidden fruit would be death.
A third party, in the form of a serpent, elsewhere in the Bible
identified as Satan, the arch-deceiver, spoke to man and contradicted
God's command and warning. Man was faced with a decision. He could
continue to live in a proper creature-Creator relationship of obedience
to God, believing God's warning, or he could believe the serpent and
set himself free from God's control by disobeying him and eating the
fruit. Man chose to believe the serpent rather than God. He took the
step of disobedience, acting for the first time independently of God.
This is the essence of what the Bible calls "sin". SIN cannot be
defined by a list of acts, although it results in acts which the Bible
calls SINS. SIN is the disease, SINS are the symptoms. Sin is a state
of rebellion against God-- acting independently of God. Sin is making
decisions without consulting God. To run one's own life is to live in
sin. Isaiah the prophet put it this way: "All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6).
It is not enough merely to acknowledge that God exists and to try to
live up to certain morel standards. In order to escape the results of
sin, one's life must be completely reoriented. God must be willfully
reinstated as one's personal sovereign.
In the next study, we will examine some of the results of sin.
(57) SUMMARY SHEET
study C
what are the results of sin?
Living independently of God and setting ourselves up as our own
boss, the essence of what the Bible callse "sin", manifests itself in
many ways and has certain results that God himself has warned us about.
The manifestations of sin are what the Bible calls "sins."
Our rebellion against God is evident in our conduct. We fail to live
up to God's moral standards. Some people are more openly immoral than
others, but when Jesus Christ analyzed the heart of man he said,
"...From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts,
fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil
things come from within" (Mark 7:21-23). Notice that he includes as
"evil things" not only actions, but also thoughts and attitudes. Who is
free from all of these evidences of rebellion, these symptoms of sin?
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23).
Our evil conduct resulting from sin has an effect on us. It defiles
us; that is, it pollutes us, makes us dirty, dishonors us. It does so
in the sight of a righteous, all- knowing God.
Evil cannot remain in the presence of a righteous God. He hates
evil. It destroys a proper relationship with God. It separates us from
him (Isa. 59:1-2). The result of persisting in sin is destruction under
the wrath of God (Ps. 5:4-6).
God's first warning to man was that disobedience would result in
death. The apostle Paul repeated that warning when he wrote, "The wages
of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). The person who lives his life
independently of God, acting as his own boss, is living in a state of
spiritual death which manifests itself in the evil things mentioned
above. He faces a final death and separation from God in the future.
God is just and will not overlook our sin, but he is also loving and
wants us to escape death and have real life. "God shows his love for us
in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
There is no need to remain in a state of spiritual death, separated
from God. "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he
is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isa. 55:6-7).
An understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what he did will help us
to understand how and why God can justly pardon us. The next study
takes up those subjects.
(59) SUMMARY SHEET
study D
who is Jesus Christ?
The reason God can justly pardon our sin involves Jesus Christ--who
he is and what he did. Jesus Christ made his identity known in two
ways: by direct spoken claims and by indirect claims through things he
did. The apostle John wrote a book to let people know who Jesus Christ
is. Toward the end of it he wrote: "Now Jesus did many other signs...
which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that believing you may
have life in his name" (John 20:30-31).
In John 14:1-11 and 6:35-40, we find some of the direct claims Jesus
made for himself. In the fourteenth chapter, he claimed a right to our
belief (faith, trust) equal to the belief we have in God. He claimed to
be "the way, and the truth, and the life," the only one by whom we can
come to God. He called God his Father, while claiming that if a person
knew him he knew God; and he said, "He who has seen me has seen the
Father." He claimed God's authority behind his words and his works.
In John 6, he said he could satisfy the spiritual hunger and thirst
of those who believe in him. He claimed that he came from heaven and
that what he did while on earth was according to the will of God. He
said that it was the will of God that belief in him (Jesus) should
determine who would have eternal life. All of these statements are
clear claims to equality with God.
In John 5, we find an incident in which Jesus Christ healed a man on
the Sabbath, an act which was unlawful according to the religious
leaders of his day. By "working" on the Sabbath and by calling God his
Father, Jesus again claimed equality with God. The Jews recognized his
claim immediately and sought to kill him for such blasphemy.
Reading further in chapter 5, we find Jesus claiming that, even as
God gives life, he can give life. He also says that God has given him
the authority to judge all men. In response to his claims, Jesus
expects us to honor him even as we honor God. He goes on to make the
further claim that if we don't honor him, we don't honor God!
In John 5:24, we find that Jesus expects us to respond to his word
by believing God. (Even this is another claim to equality with God.)
Hearing Jesus' word and believing God will result in the believer's
passing from death to life.
Jesus made other claims which John recorded, all of which agree with
the ones we have studied. The clear conclusion is that Jesus claimed
equality with God. In other words, he claimed to be God. If we know
Jesus Christ, we know God; and if we know God, we know Jesus Christ.
In the next study, we will consider what Jesus Christ did.
(61) SUMMARY SHEET
study E
what did Jesus Christ do?
From the record in the Gospels, we find that the three years of
Jesus' public life were busy ones. His time was spent preaching,
teaching and healing. He preached and taught because he had a message
to communicate to men. His healing is evidence of his love for people
and concern for their welfare.
The two actions recorded in Mark 2:1-17 reveal Jesus' primary
mission in life--what he came to do. When a man obviously in need of
physical healing was brought to him, Jesus' first words were, "My son,
your sins are forgiven." When those who heard protested that only God
can forgive sins, Jesus performed an obvious miracle of healing to
prove that ALL his words had authority, including his shocking
statement, "Your sins are forgiven." In the context of his audience's
belief (which Jesus did not agree with) that only God could forgive
sin, and that miraculous physical healing was equally difficult, this
is one of Jesus' clearest claims to be God.
The incident also reveals that Jesus gave the forgiving of our sins
top priority in his dealing with people. He elaborated on his mission
to sinners while he was eating at Levi's house. When questioned as to
why he ate with tax collectors and sinners, he answered: "Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17).
From Mark 10:33-34, we learn more about what Jesus came to do. Jesus
revealed to his disciples his advance knowledge that when he arrived in
Jerusalem he would be put to death. Knowing that, he continued
resolutely toward Jerusalem. He did not seek to avoid the death he knew
awaited him, because as he told his disciples (verse 45), his purpose
for coming was to give his life. HE CAME TO DIE, and his death was to
be a "ransom for many."
In the previous studies, we have learned that God is a righteous,
just and loving God. He created us to live in harmony with his will.
Disobeying God and acting independently of his will results in many
evil things, "sins", in our lives. Because God is just, he does not
overlook our sins, but exacts the penalty of death. But because God
loves us, he does not want us to die. Because of his love, he came to
earth himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who made it clearly known
that he was God, and gave his own life to pay the penalty for our sin.
He ransomed us from death. Both his justice and his love were satisfied.
Jesus Christ not only died, but came back to life as he had
predicted. The fact of his resurrection confirms his claims for
himself, and it means that he is alive today. If his death as a ransom
from sin is to apply to us so that God can freely give us life, we must
HAVE Jesus Christ. "He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son
of God has not life" (1 John 5:12). In the final study we will discover
how a person can RECEIVE Jesus Christ.
(63) SUMMARY SHEET
study F
how can I receive Jesus Christ?
God freely offers us life in Jesus Christ. If we are to have it, we
must have Jesus Christ. How can we receive him? It involves an
understanding of WHOM we are receiving (study D) and HOW to go about it.
When we have the life God offers, we become "children of God." In
John 1:12, we find that "to all who received him [Christ], who believed
in his name, he gave power to become children of God." One aspect of
receiving Jesus Christ, then, is BELIEVING in his name. We must believe
that he was who he claimed to be and that he died to ransom us from
sin, just as he claimed. Believing in Jesus Christ results in our
receiving eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not preish but have
eternal life" (John 3:16).
Jesus Christ declared Himself to be "Teacher and Lord" (John 13:13).
When we receive him into our lives, we receive him as Teacher and Lord.
As Teacher, he will begin to teach us, so that our understanding of
truth--of God, of ourselves, of the world--will increase. As Lord, he
will begin to direct our lives, and we will be expected to obey him.
Can you imagine a more exciting, challenging way to live than to have
the Son of God, who loved us enough to die for us, teaching and
directing us?
When we receive Jesus Christ, we receive the "Savior." Before his
birth, God sent word by an angel that Jesus would "save his people from
their sins" (Matt. 1:21). (We learned in Study E that this was his
mission.) Receiving Jesus Christ is therefore sometimes referred to as
"being saved." In Romans 10:9, we see what we must do to be saved, or,
to receive Jesus Christ.
First, "you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord." It is not
enough to cimply acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord. You must confess
him as YOUR Lord. You must acknowledge that you are turning the reins
of your life over to him.
Also, you must "believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead." The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead verifies his
claims as to his identity and purpose. He was "designated Son of God in
power... by his resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4).
Do you believe that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead? Have you
made him your own Lord, inviting him into your life to take control and
to save you from your sins? If not, you can do so right now. You can
pray something like this: "Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I
have left you out of my life. Thank you for dying for my sin. Come into
my life and be my Savior and my Lord."
Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him,
and he with me" (Rev. 3:20).
end of handout texts for ONE TO ONE, 15-minute Bible studies to
share with a friend, by William E. York, Jr. InterVarsity Press,
Downers Grove, Illinois 60515
Entered into electronic media by Clyde C. Price, Jr., Bible teacher
-- CIS# 76616,3452 P.O.Box 667, Red Oak, GA 30272-0667 USA
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