Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

I did this lesson recently with my youth group.  It was pretty successful.. Here's what I did:

The Ingredients for Spiritual Growth

What are the ingredients for growing in our spiritual walk with Christ?  The goal is that students would be challenged to implement one or more of these ingredients. Spiritual growth is the process of growing closer to God. God’s Word gives us the ingredients to help in that process.

Bible Verses

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Acts 2:42-47; Philippians 1:6; Colossians 3:17; Hebrews 10:24-25

What’s in your food.. Game

On each table I have a list of ingredients of several popular food items. The youth will  guess what each item is.

  ·     Milk Chocolate (Milk Chocolate contains Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, and Soya Lecithin and PGPR (as Emulsifiers), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, and TBHQ and Citric Acid (to Preserve Freshness)  (REECES)

·       Carbonated Water; Imperial Pure Cane Sugar; Caramel Color; Phosphoric Acid; 23 Artificial and Natural Flavors; Sodium Benzoate (Preservative); Caffeine.  (Dr. Pepper)

·         Chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Spam's gelatinous glaze, or aspic, forms from the cooling of meat stock. (Spam)

• UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, SALT, EMULSIFIERS (MONOGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN), DEXTROSE, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (FLAVOR ENHANCER), ONION POWDER, BAKING SODA, DEHYDRATED COOKED CHICKEN, HYDROLYZED CORN AND YEAST PROTEIN, SPICE EXTRACTIVES, DISODIUM INOSINATE AND DISODIUM GUANYLATE (FLAVOR ENHANCERS). CONTAINS: WHEAT, SOY.

·         Talk about how each ingredient is essential for the item to be fabulous.

·         If you were to leave out one of the ingredients, the item would not be the same. 

·         It is just the same with our walk with Christ—there are ingredients for growing in our relationship with Christ that are essential. Without any one of these ingredients, we would be missing out on the full experience of growth.

Discuss the following questions:

1. What are some ingredients that will help you grow in your relationship with God?

2. Which ingredients are the most important?

3. Which could you really do without?

4. What would your relationship be like without ___________________________[list any ingredient] being a part of it?

Conclude by stating that today you will be looking at some essential ingredients in the process of growing in your relationship with God. In the following section, you’ll be looking at the ingredients for spiritual growth found in Acts 2:42-47. This is not an exhaustive list of growth ingredients, but it is a great passage on this issue. Feel free to add any ingredients not talked about in this lesson. Because of the amount of time you’ll have, you will not be able to spend a great deal of time on any one ingredient. So be sure to define each ingredient, explain its importance, state how the ingredient applies to the students’ lives, and then talk about its impact on your own relationship with God.

Read Acts 2:42-47.

I. God’s Word (v. 42)

A. Spend personal time in God’s Word.

B. Listen to God’s Word being taught.

II. Fellowship (v. 42)

A. Develop relationships in small groups for accountability.

B. Build relationships for the purpose of growth.

III. Prayer (v. 42)

A. Practice adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (or asking)—ACTS.

B. Listen for God’s answers.

IV. Community (v. 44)

A. Care for each other.

B. Share your life and your material possessions.

C. Encourage others.

V. Serving (v. 45)

A. Serve people within the group and your church.

B. Serve those outside the church.

VI. Worship (vv. 46-47)

A.      Give God His rightful place in your life.

VII. Evangelize (v. 47)

A. Share your faith with others.

B. Love the lost.

Actions.

The following discussion starters will help students personalize the ingredients for spiritual growth. The key will be in giving real-life examples of each ingredient and challenging students to apply one or two of the ingredients to their lives. Give students examples from your life. By opening up your life to them, they will feel more comfortable in talking about their own lives. Offer insight into where they are now in their spiritual growth processes and how they can get to where they want to be. In addition, offer accountability to the group members in helping them live out one or more of the ingredients.

·         What is the difference between salvation and spiritual growth?

·         How does Philippians 1:6 relate to spiritual growth?

·         If someone is feeling spiritually dry and far away from God, what advice would you give him or her?

·         What has helped you grow the most in your relationship with God?

·         Who has been the greatest influence in your own spiritual growth?

·         What has that person done to encourage you to grow?

·         Read Hebrews 10:24-25. How can we help each other in growing closer to Christ?

·         Which one or two of the ingredients is the toughest for you? Why?

·         If you could work on one spiritual ingredient in your life, which one would it be?

·         What they will do during this coming week to work on this area.

November 23, 2008

Jesus Christ, The Mediator of the Covenant

1.     1.    Hebrews 12:24 calls Jesus the mediator (or arranger) of a new what?

2.    2.     In Matthew 26:27-28, what did Jesus say the cup is?

Jesus is called the Mediator of the Covenant.  That means he is the go-between, the middle-man through whom God makes His Covenant with us.  If we want to enter into God’s Covenant, we have to do it through Jesus.  His death and resurrection are central elements in the Covenant, because through them we can be certain that our sins are forgiven when we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord.  We can also be certain that the Holy Spirit is with us, to give us wisdom, power and guidance in following God’s will for our lives.

3.     3.    According to Genesis 15:18, what did God make with Abram?

The Bible describes this covenant.  It developed in two parts over the centuries.  The first part began thousands of years before Christ was born and is described in the part of the Bible that is called the Old Testament (testament means covenant).  The second part began with the life of Christ and is still in effect today.  It is described in the New Testament.  Both phases of God’s Covenant have a lot in common, but there are some differences.

4.     4.    In the second half of Isaiah 55:3, what does God say He will make with us?

The Covenant also involves being part of the Church, because the church is the Community of the Covenant.  God does not make His covenant with each of us independenlty in isolation from others.  He makes it with us together, and it has a lot to say about the way we behave toward one another.

5.     5.     Have you ever had a covenant with someone? What is the most important covenant you have made besides the one you’ve made with God?

6.     6.     Why do you think God wants to make a covenant with us, instead of just leaving us in uncertainty to wonder and guess what his purposes are?

7.     7.     Give some examples of covenants (contracts or agreements) that people, or groups of people, make with each other in the everyday world around us?

8.     8.     What are some of the things that we can be confident of, when we are in a covenant-relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

Life is full of uncertainty, no one knows what will happen.  With God, life is different.  He makes an agreement with people, and He keeps it.  He tells us what He wants us to do, and what will happen when we obey or disobey Him.  The Biblical word for such an agreement is covenant. 

The meaning of covenant is: a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement; a written agreement or promise usually sealed between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action.

The important thing about this is that it replaces uncertainty with certainty- not in all things, but in the most important things in our lives.

Next week Bible Verse: Romans 14:12 So then each of us will given an account of himself to God.

**What does this Bible verse mean to you? Be prepared to talk about it.

November 9, 2008

Jesus, the Teacher

1.   Who is your favorite teacher?  Why?

Jesus is the world’s greatest teacher.  He has millions of students all over the world today.  Becoming a Christian means becoming one of Christ’s students.  It means accepting Him as your teacher, and studying and learning what He has to teach.

Throughout the New Testament, we read that Jesus’ disciples often called Him “Rabbi”; that is the Hebrew word for “teacher”.  Disciple comes from a Greek word that means “student or “learner”.

2.    John 3:12, what does Nicodemus say that Jesus is?

Jesus’ teaching, like all teaching, has a WHAT and a HOW.  What does Jesus teach us? I believe he teaches us these 5 things:

1.     Knowledge (facts, information) about God, ourselves and the world.

2.    Wisdom, which is how to use the knowledge to fulfill God’s purposes.

3.    Skills and abilities, such as how to pray.

4.    Good attitudes, such as confidence, courage, humility, and love.

5.    Good habits, such as regular prayer and Bible Study. 

How does He teach us these things?

1.     By words ; spoken and in the Bible.

2.    By example. Jesus set the example for us. He showed us the way we should live.

3.    By activities and experiences.  Just as we learn to swim by trying it, so we learn spiritual skills such as prayer, love, patience, trust and so on.  We try them, learn from our mistakes, and get better as we continue, with Jesus’ guidance and help through the Holy Spirit.

      3.    In Matthew 11:29, Jesus says we should take or accept His yoke, and do what?

**A yoke is a wooden beam which is used between a pair of oxen to allow them to pull a load (oxen almost always work in pairs).

4.    In John 7:16, Jesus says that His teaching is not HIS.  Whose does He say it is?

We as Christians have to cooperate with our Teacher.  This means studing what we are told to study, and doing what we are told to do.  We must try to learn.  If we do not make the effort, we will not learn.

As Christians we need to study the Bible, because it contains what Jesus wants to teach us.  That includes everything in the Bible- both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

5.    In Luke 6:40, Jesus says that when we are fully taught, Who will we be like?

6.    In John 13:15, what does Jesus say He has given us?

7.    In what ways do the teachings of Jesus disagree with the ideas and ways of the world in which we live?

8.    Jesus often taught by using parables.  What is a parable?  Why is it an effective way to teach?

9.    Name some of Jesus parables. (there are 7 in Matthew 13.)

10. Have you made a decision to have Jesus Christ be your teacher, and work hard at learning what He wants to teach you—RIGHT NOW, and for the rest of your life?

Bible Verse for November 22. …and I will make with you an Everlasting Covenant..” Isaiah 55:3