3/8 Ignite "March Madness-Belonging"

Devotion- Jared Graves


Summary:
At this time of the year, when it comes to NCAA basketball, there are many teams who are trying to prove that they belong in the NCAA tournament. While all conference winners get into the 65-team tournament, 30+ spots are still out there to be filled by "at large teams". These are teams who did not win their conference, but still deserve to belong in the tourney based on their win-loss record and who they beat throughout the season.


A few years ago there was a team called George Mason. They did not win their conference tournament and they got in as an at-large team. Now, they were from a small conference so there were plenty of people, notably CBS Commentator Billy Packer, who stated that there were more deserving teams that got left out of the tourney. They basically said George Mason did not belong.


As a 13 seed, George Mason made it to the final four. They were one of the last four teams playing for a national championship. They proved that they belonged.


We are constantly longing to belong to something. We don't want to be left out, and we do not want to be socially inadequate. Sometimes we change things about ourselves in order to fit in. Sometimes we decide to take on new hobbies or interests in order to find a group of people to belong to. Belonging is important. However, we need to find out what type of belonging is healthy, and what is not.


1 Peter 2:9-12


Christians were now at a crossroads. They had to leave everything they knew and adjust to a new way of thinking and living. Some of these people were confused as to where they fit in with their new morals and way of life.


Bad belonging (two extremes):

• Compromising our beliefs or friendships. This is never a healthy belonging. This always causes you to discard what is right and the good relationships that you have in order to seek acceptance from someone else.
• Secluding ourselves, or becoming social hermit. We are not called to live in isolation. Peter did not tell the Christians to isolate themselves, rather to be a key part in the world. They just needed to safeguard their hearts and actions to make sure that they were not doing anything contradicting their beliefs. Belonging to comfort-zone groups who look, think, and act like us is not healthy.

Good Belonging:

• Wide variety of people from different races, colors, and backgrounds
• A community that you can give and receive freely

2/28 Junior & Senior High Sunday School "Ethos-Knowing Your Mission"

Senior High-Jared Graves, Junior High- Sandra Baker

Activity

Review Ethos: Knowing the facts, knowing your story, knowing your audience

This week we are talking about knowing your mission. All of what we have talked about is of no importance unless you have a purpose for your activity.  You have to set goals, you have to have a reason for why do you what you do.

Lesson

Everyone turn to 1 Peter chapter four. We are going to read the first eleven verses today.

Read 1 Peter 4:1

Does this mean that we are all guaranteed suffering?

Could this verse go towards answering the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Read 1 Peter 4:2-5

When you become a Christian, life changes. Your friends that you used to have now reject you because you wont’ do the same things that they do. Peter urges people not to let others drag you down to their level?

How does Peter know that this danger is out there? (He was pulled down by Jewish-Christians to discriminate against those Gentiles who were becoming Christians. Paul had to have a “come to Jesus” meeting with Peter to show the error in Peter’s way.)

Read 1 Peter 4:6

How does this apply to the following situations?

· Homosexuality?

· Abortion?

· Assisted suicide?

· Gossip?

· Lying?

· Drinking?

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11

This is Peter’s charge to his readers, and to us today. This is our mission.

Let’s dissect the mission to see if we are doing a good job doing it.

Read through the mission and measure on a level between 1-10 on a personal and youth program level.

Application

Do you wake up each morning and make a list of things that you need to do that day? What if we woke up each day with a reminder of what God has called us to do? How would that change our ways of thinking and how we live our lives?

10/4 Ignite "Masquerade-Chameleon"

Devotion- Jared Graves

Intro

• Students made a mask as if they were getting ready for a Masquerade

Devotion

• We like to fit in. We find a select number of individuals and call them friends. We adjust our lives, our thoughts, our likes and dislikes based on their views and preferences.  Sometimes this isn’t a bad thing, but often, it is.
• We change our morals, our stances on right and wrong, and other things because we want to fit in and be cool.
• We run from mask to mask in order to fit in with a group of friends and clicks.
• 1 Peter 2:1-12. We are called out, a people not meant to be wishy-washy in our encounters with others. We are to be the example for others to follow, not to follow blindly.

Application

• We can wear different clothes, we can hang out with different people, but who we are should not change. We should be the same person at all times, not letting others influence us.

M&M Discussion

Discuss the masks that we put on in order to fit in, to be cool, or to act like someone else.

Once everyone has gone, discuss with the M&M how to overcome some of their struggles. Perhaps match people up with others who struggle with the same thing for support.