8/8 Junior High Sunday School: Relaunch: Moving Towards and Encountering God

Devotion by: Jared Graves and Josh Knabel

Introduction (JARED)

Last year, we had Launch Day. On that day, we decided to change our identity from a youth group to a movement. We also launched a new mission statement. We said that we would strive to move towards God, with each other, and into the world.

We also launched individual ministries.  The junior high is Impact Ministries. We carry over the same mission statement, except we look to encounter God, each other, and the world.

Every year, at the start of the school year, we are going to take time to remind us of our mission statement and to remember what we are all about. Today, we are taking a look at the first step of our mission statement, moving towards and encountering God

Moving Towards God (JOSH)

·      Acts 2:42

o   The four ways we move towards God:

1.     Devoting to the apostle’s teachings

·      How does knowing the Bible move us towards God?

·      Challenge: To download sermons, read commentaries, etc. to try and further your biblical knowledge.

2.     Devoting ourselves to fellowship

·      How does fellowshipping with one another move us towards God?

·      Challenge: To get an accountability partner.

3.     Devoting to the breaking of bread

·      Does this mean that we have to have communion every week?

·      This is literal, but it also reminds us that we are to remember Christ in all that we do.

·      How does the breaking of bread, and all that entails move us towards God?

4.     Devoting ourselves to prayer.

·      This is probably the hardest part of moving towards God.

·      How can we improve our prayer lives?

·      How does prayer move us towards God?

·      Challenge: Pray through each day

o   Analyze your day to see what God showed you, where did you sin?, what blessings were given?

Encountering God (JARED)

·      Background

o   Ahab has become king of Israel and instead of following God, he and his family are worshipping Baal.

o   Elijah has sent Obadiah to Ahab and now we are ready for a UFC fight between God and Baal.

·      1 Kings 18:16-39

o   Verses 18-20

§  Ahab and his wife Jezebel were so entrenched in worshiping Baal and Asherah, that the prophets of these gods were eating dinner with them every night.

o   Verse 21

§  Basically Elijah is saying, quit having ADD, pick one or the other

o   Verses 22-25

o   Verses 26-29

§  These people were so entrenched in their beliefs that they were slashing themselves and hurting themselves to try and get their god to show up.

o   Verses 30-39

§  Notice Elijah’s prayer. He did not pray for him to not look like a fool. He prayed that God would be brought glory, and that He would be real in these people’s lives.

·      Do you think it is possible that God will show up in our lives when we ask Him to?

·      How can we encounter God?

o   Through prayer

o   Reading His’ word

4/25 Sunday School "God is....Life"

Lessons by Jared Graves

Introduction

Review. This is the final week of our series on 1 John. We have learned two attributes of God so far. The first week we learned that God is… (Light) and last week we talked about God being… (Love). Today, we are going to talk about God being life.

Activity: Have a large dry-erase board to mark on for this lesson. On one side of the board have written “Good world”. With a line dividing the two sides, write “Bad world” on the other side of the board. Students are going to list the difference in the two and which aspects of everyday life fit in which category.

One of the predominant misconceptions of our faith is that we are to be completely and utterly secluded from the world. It is especially bad when people have kids and remember all the stuff they had to deal with in high school and life and so they are ULTRA protective to try and keep them away from the things of this world. In our English translations of the Bible we find that we are supposed to stay away from the world and out of the world. However, we find that in the original language, there is a difference in “worlds”. There is the world of the flesh, which is all the things that are sinful and detrimental to our Christian walk, and then there is the world of people and creation that God loves and created. That is why the phrase be in the world, but of the world makes sense. We are supposed live in this world, be with all different types of people, but we need to avoid sin and the things that would compromise our faith.

Before we begin today, let’s discuss and list the differences in the “good world” that we are to be apart of, and the “bad world that we should avoid”.

Bible Study/Exegesis (What it meant then)- 1 John 5

Everyone turn to 1 John 5

Read 1 John 5:1-5

·      In Christ we are victorious. What is the end for all those in the world? Death. 10 out of every 10 people die. It is the ultimate statistic. However, if we have Christ, we are victorious over this world and we can hope in a life that is given by the Life-Giver.

·      What does it mean that we have victory over our faith?

Read 1 John 5:6-12

·      Do you see what John has done here? There is pattern that he followed the entire letter: This is who God is, this is how God does this, and this is what you should do about it. Now look at what He did with the pattern: This is who God is (Life), this is how God does it (overcoming the world), but now John shows that this is what God did about it. God sent His Son to live in worldly terms.

·      What is the big deal about the difference in water and blood? Water came from Heaven as an inanimate object. It doesn’t breathe, etc. Jesus wasn’t a vapor, or something that was not real, He was real, He bled, He was like us.

Read 1 John 5:13-21

·      What is this sin that leads to death? Which sins do not lead to death? Should we more concerned with discerning which sin is which or just try not to sin at all?

·      Why is verse 21 there? How does it relate to God being life? Idols are temporary and lead to death. God is living and offers us life.

Application/Hermeneutics (What it means now):

Which of the three attributes of God that we have studied this month appeals most to people?

What is one thing you learned today?

4/12 Sunday School "God Is...Light"

Introduction

Let’s begin by noting that there is no way that someone could do a series called “God is…” and have all the names and attributes of God listed. It is impossible. So what we are going to look at over the next three weeks are not a complete summary of God, rather it is a look at three attributes of God that the writer of 1 John wants to highlight. We are going to look at the three L’s: Light, Love, and Life.

Bible Study/Exegesis (What it meant then)- 1 John 1:1-2:27

Everyone turn to 1 John 1. While we are turning there here is a little background. While some say this book was written by John the beloved the disciple, others say it was John the Elder, and others someone else, we know fairly certain that this was written by the same person as the person who wrote John the Gospel. The word structure and some of the same themes are present in these letters as in the Gospel.

Also, the reason for the writing of this letter is to address the problem of declining commitment to the cause of Christ. This is after the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem and the Christians, as well as Jews, were dispersed throughout the land. Along with declining commitment, there was the problem of false teachers who were coming and leading the people astray. So we need to see this letter as an apologetic letter, standing up for the Christian faith and correct teaching.

Read 1 John 1:1-4

·      Starts very similarly as the Gospel (Read the first few verses of John)

·      Think about our series on evangelism, what is John trying to do here in the introduction? He is trying to show his credibility and showing that he knows this Jesus that he is writing about.

Read 1 John 1:5

·      This is one of the eternal truths that no one will dispute. Light and dark cannot coexist. What this statement says is basically this, as a human, you have a public life, but some of us have lives that we live in secret that are in stark contrast to who we are in front of others. God is not like that. He does not put on a mask, and He does not change. He is the same God all the time and in every situation.

Read 1 John 1:6-2:17

·      It is almost like John talks about God and has everyone nodding their heads, and then very abruptly he turns it into, “But you aren’t acting like that is the God you are following”.

·      These verses highlight a hypocritical life. It is not just the life lived by what we like to label as “Sunday Christians” but all Christians. In a very simplistic way it is like saying don’t work at McDonalds but eat on your breaks at Burger King.

·      Remember, the epistle was written to combat the decline in commitment. What do these verses say about our commitment to God?

·      What was the other reason for writing this letter? To combat false teachings. There was a teaching (how quickly people twisted Christianity to be easy to do) that there actually was no one thing called “sin”.

Application/Hermeneutics (What it means now):

Is there a thought in people’s lives that God has a secret life?

What do you derive from 1 John 1:6-10, when he discussed the Christian walk?

What is one thing you learned today?

3/14 Senior & Junior High BFC "Hosea 2 & 3"

Senior High-Jared Graves, Junior High- Sandra Baker

Introduction

Let’s review last week. The main guy in the story is? (Hosea) And God tells him to do what? (marry an adulterous woman, Gomer) What theme is brought up by God towards the end of the chapter? (You are so far away from being the person that I created you to be I don’t even know you. One day, I will. I’m going to make sure of it).

God is going on a soap box rant here for a little while. We know that it is God speaking, yet let’s try to read it in two different perspectives. Let’s read it as God’s words to Israel, but also as God speaking to Hosea and saying everything that he is feeling.

Lesson

Have everyone open up to Hosea 2:2.

Hosea 2:2-8 (Israel’s Sin)

God looks at the people that He created, He delivered, and that He loves and sees what they are doing to Him. We talked about adultery from a human perspective last week. How would it feel if our wife/husband cheated on us. But let’s see exactly what God is going through. God created every fiber of these people’s being. He created them with love and care. He made it possible for them to be born, he delivered their ancestors, He has done everything possible for them, yet they turn from Him.

Hosea 2:9-13 (Israel’s Sin)

God is going to get revenge for everything that the Israelites have done to Him. Does that sound like your God?

If we look at this carelessly, we would see God as a very vengeful God, but see what is happening here. God is saying all these things that you have perverted and turned into something for other Gods will be turned back to me. God is basically saying before you come home, I have to get everything else. Remember the commandment “No other gods before me”?

Hosea 2:14-23 (God moving to redeem)

Look at what God is going to do. 1) He is going to take Israel away to the desert. He is going to seclude her and take her away from all distractions. 2) When all distractions are taken away God is going to give back all the things He took, except now they are holy. 3) God will bring peace. With no competing gods, there is no need for battle.

Heaven is going to be awesome. This is what it is going to look like. This is God’s ideal existence; one with His creation.

Read Hosea 3 (Hosea application to God’s story)

It’s almost like God says, “If I can do this, Hosea, you can too.” Hosea learns that God knows what it feels like to be cheated on.

Basically now, you have Hosea marrying Gomer, paying a slave's ransom for her, and then saying let's do this relationship the right way. Does that sound familiar? God made us, married us in the old covenant, then as we sinned and went away from Him, He paid a price, His Son for us. Then, when we come back, we are told this is a new way of  life, and this is what the relationship is supposed to look like. God shows that He loves us so much that He is going to make the first move. This was John 3:16 hundreds of years before John 3:16 was written.

Application

If there is infidelity in a relationship the blame is usually on the unfaithful spouse. However, is the other spouse at fault if they do not try to reconcile differences?

There is an entire world out there that does not realize that God has made the first step in reconciling them and restoring a perfect relationship. That is where we come in.

11/15 Wake Up! BFC "Anonymous"

Introduction

• Name the greatest scene you have ever seen from a movie.
•  What is the greatest line in a movie that you have seen

Lesson

• Review- Where are we? What has just happened
• Read Esther 4:1-3. Look at the genuine reaction of grief and pain in Mordecai’s face. Imagine a Jew knowing about the Holocaust before it happened. This is what Mordecai is facing.
• Read Esther 4:4-11. Esther wonders what she can do about it. She knows that if she goes to the king and says something without an appointment, and if he does not extend his scepter, that person dies. She hasn’t seen him in 30 days. It doesn’t look like he would reach out to her does it?
• Read Esther 4:12-14. Think of the best actor you know of. Picture Sean Connery from “The Rock” or another older actor reciting these lines.
• Read Esther 4:15-17. She knew that she could not do it on her own. She knew that she had to have God on her side, and the prayers of his people. When you enter hard times, or something that you are scared of, do you take the chance to get other people to pray for you?
• Read Esther 5:1-2. Whew.
• Read Esther 5:3-8. Why hasn’t she already asked the king to save her people?
• Read Esther 5:9-14. Haman is on a power trip. Things don’t look good for Mordecai
• Read Esther 6:1-9. Oh Haman, you arrogant punk…
• Read Esther 6:10-14. Why didn’t Mordecai go back home? He knew that it was still going to be a bad day for the Jews. Haman is solely motivated by revenge at this point.

Application

• Do you think that God has put you in a certain situation, economic status, workplace, or school for a certain purpose? Have you asked?
• How did God show up today?

11/1 Ignite "Mirrors- Our Body"

Devotion- Jared Graves

Genesis 1:26

• “Our image”. What makes us different than all the animals in the world? God took careful time to create everything else, why are we to be held in any higher of a standard? We are made in the image of God. God would choose this body, this form to be the one that He would take when redeeming mankind.
• Your Body. God created you exactly the way that He wanted you to be. We are also the temple of God. It is to be treated with utmost reverence and care.

Application

• You are not too fat. You are not to skinny. You are not to slow. You may not get things as quickly as other people, but that doesn’t mean you are a failure. You are created exactly the way that God wanted you to be. When He looks at you He says, “Very good.”
• This means you don’t have to wear revealing clothing, you don’t have to take steroids, you don’t have to wear your hair a certain way. You don’t have to get tattoos, piercings, eat more, lose weight, or anything else because you ARE GOD’S image. You are beautiful. You are very, good.

M&M Discussion

November 1, 2009

What does beauty look like?

Do you think that God made any mistakes when He created you?

God created you perfectly. The psalmist writes that even when we were in our mother’s womb, God loved us and cared for us. He knows the number of hairs on your head. How does this make you feel?

Do you think that it is important how we treat these bodies that God gives to us?

·      Read Romans 12:1

How we treat our bodies is kind of like how we spend our money. God gives it to us, so we should be good stewards of what He has given to us.

Talk with them about their attitudes towards their bodies. Have an open discussion about it.

11/1 Wake Up! BFC "Anonymous"

Introduction

• What does the word anonymous mean?
• Should a book be put in the Bible if God’s name is never used?

Lesson

• Background of Esther: Written approx 470 BC, One of only two books in the Bible named for a woman. The original language no proper name or pronoun for God appears in it. Why would this be put in the Bible? Our series, “Anonymous” is going to show us that even when God is not mentioned, even when he is not named, He still shows up, and He is still to be praised
• Read Esther 1:1-8, This was their way of preparing for battle. They get battle strategies, and also, if they are going to lose, at least they had fun getting ready for it.
• Read Esther 1:9-12, Big time insult. Xerxes wants to show off his lady and she says no. You do not say no to the king!
• Read Esther 1:13-2:4, Answer to their problem: A beauty pageant!
• Read Esther 2:5-7, What does this tell us about Esther?
• Read Esther 2:8-11, Why doesn’t Esther say where she is from?
• Read Esther 2:12-18, Esther’s beauty and charm wins over Xerxes. She is now queen. Why is this significant?

Application

• How did God show up in this story today?

11/1 Snooze Button BFC "God's Beauty Queen"

Introduction

• In today’s society, it’s not real appropriate to look up to supermodels and beauty queens as role models. However, we are going to look at someone in the Bible who basically won a beauty contest, and then proceeded to save lives and have the upmost character.

Lesson

Background:

• Written approx 470 BC
• One of only two books in the Bible named for a woman.
• The original language no proper name or pronoun for God appears in it.

Read Esther 1:1-8

• This was their way of preparing for battle. They get battle strategies, and also, if they are going to lose, at least they had fun getting ready for it.

Read Esther 1:9-12

• Big time insult. Xerxes wants to show off his lady and she says no. You do not say no to the king!

Read Esther 1:13-2:4

• Answer to their problem: A beauty pageant!

Read Esther 2:5-7

• What does this tell us about Esther?

Read Esther 2:8-11

• Why doesn’t Esther say where she is from?

Read Esther 2:12-18

• Esther’s beauty and charm wins over Xerxes. She is now queen. Why is this significant?

Application

• What attributes was Esther given to help accomplish God’s will?
• What things have God given you to use to accomplish His will today?

10/18 Ignite "Masquerade-Con Artist"

Devotion-Jared Graves

Intro

• "Catch Me IF You Can"- Frank Abangale Story

Devotion

• We’ve mistakenly assumed that we can put on many different faces in front of God. Call it the Facebook curse. We believe that God has to ask our permission to see who we are and what we are doing.
• Psalm 139:11-12, We cannot hide from God. He know us, and He wants a relationship with us. We do not need to hide behind a mask with God, because there is no use.

M&M Discussions

If you could switch places with one person in the world and live their life, who would it be and why?

Have you ever knowingly not prayed about something, or asked for forgiveness for something because you felt like you could keep it from God?

Read together 2 Samuel 12:1-14

·      Do we think that this is the first time that David realized that he had sinned?

David tried to hide all of this from God, he didn’t want God to see what he had done. Are there things in this life you need to give over to God?

Have any of you seen Bruce Almighty? At the end, Bruce is with God and God asks him to say a prayer. Bruce prays for the end of hunger and world peace. God says that it was a good prayer, if he were going for Ms. America.  God knows when our prayers are hollow, and he wants to hear our true and heartfelt prayers, even if it shows a completely broken person.

Spend some time in prayer, always know that God knows you, who you are, and what you have done.

9/21 Ignite-All Greek to Me: Euaggelion (Good News)

Devotion- Jared Graves

It’s important to note that the word for Gospel “euaggelion” isn’t used much in anything in the ancient text, except for the New Testament. Why?

Uses of the word “euaggelion” (per William Barclay)

• Summation of the entire Christian message. The word occurs 72 times in the NT and of these 72, 54 are in Paul’s letters.
• The “euaggelion”’ of God. It showed men a God whose heart was love & it was the Good News sent by God
• The “Euaggelion” of Jesus. Jesus brought it to men & Jesus ‘embodied’ it to men
• ‘My’ "euaggelion". It comes from God, through and in Jesus, but man must speak it to other people.
• The euaggelion is for all men.Jews believed that they were the favored nation of God, but we see that all peoples are favored by God and are meant to hear this message.

Closing

• I think last week and this week go hand in hand. We love people, and that is why we are meant to spread the greatest news ever, the “euaggelion” to the world. It is out of our love for people, and our love for God that we do this.

M&M Discussion

So we know what the premise of “euaggelion” is. We have heard the word “Gospel” or “Good news” our entire lives. But what truly does it mean?

Everyone get one of the slips of paper and a writing utensil. Write down what you think the “Gospel is”.

After they have written down their answers: As we go through these descriptions of what “euaggelion” is, see if your definition and your view of the Gospel matches up.

The euaggelion is, ‘the good news of truth"

• Read Galatians 2:5

The euaggelion is, ‘the good news of hope’

• Read Colossians 2:23
• John Buchan defined an atheist as “a man with no invisible means of support.’ When a man realizes what the good news means, he is filled with hope for himself and for the world.

The euaggelion is ‘the good news of peace’

• Read Ephesians 6:15

The euaggelion is ‘the good news of God’s promise’

• Read Ephesians 3:6
• William Barclay- “Jesus brought the good news which told not of the God of the threat, but the God of the promise”

The Euaggelion is, ‘the good news of immortality'

• Read 2 Timothy 1:10
• The good news is that death is not the end, but the beginning of life!

The euaggelion is, ‘good news of the risen Christ'

• Read 2 Timothy 2:8
• Barclay: “Our faith is not a faith in a figure in a book who lived and ddied, but in one who rose from death and who is alive forever more”

The euaggelion is ‘good news of salvation’

• Read Ephesians 1:13

Discuss their previous definitions and anything that they would change, or that they never thought of.

Together, come up with a definition of “Gospel”

9/13 Road Blocks- Intellect, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16

Intro:

• What are some intellectual arguments against the existence of God?
• What are some intellectual arguments against Jesus as Savior?
• I want you to sit here and think about God. Do you think you could possibly think your way out of faith?

Lesson

• Read 1 Corinthians 1:18. Paul is contrasting worldly wisdom with the message of the cross.
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:19. God has a great sense of humor here. Let’s think about all the scholars and people on television who say there is no God. These brainy people believe that they are so smart and they believe that there is no way a God could exist. God is saying if you try to find laws of motion, or physics or anything else that proves that I am here, you won’t find it. I made those laws, and am above those laws!
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:20-24. Why is the cross a stumbling block to Jews? It causes them to say their whole faith was fulfilled by the death of a carpenter. Why is the cross foolishness to Gentiles? Their attitude goes along the lines of: live like you want, earn the most you can, get rich and popular. That sounds a whole lot different than the life of Jesus, and the life that He calls His followers to live.
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:25-31. What aspects of the Christian life does not make sense to people?
• Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Paul knew his audience when he came to Corinth to preach the Gospel. Do you know your audience when you are evangelizing?
• Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. Does this make sense why people cannot understand or fathom God? I don’t know what Oprah is thinking right now because I’m not a mind reader and my spirit/thoughts are not her thoughts. This is why people do not understand God. They rely on their intellect and try to see things, but they cannot understand God because God’s thoughts, His Spirit is not in them.

Road Blocks:

• What questions do you have about God? What answers do you need to know? What is in your mind that prevents you from truly trusting in God or accepting Him as real and true? Today, write your questions down, and earnestly seek God’s spirit, the one that lives in you, and have the Spirit fill your mind with knowledge. Will it make sense to your mind? Probably not, but it is the answer.

8/30 Ignite- Good Hygiene: Getting Cleaned Up

For Ignite, we had a rocking worship service and heard a message on the history of man's relationship with God. We noted that once sin entered the world we were Messy. However, God acted upon this, He desired a relationship with His creation, and sent His own, spotless Son, to take on all the mess that we were covered in. The only way for this to happen, however, is through accepting Christ as a personal Savior and Son of God, and being obedient in baptism, the cleansing of our sins.

8/30 Bankrupt- The Story of Job, Job 38-42

Introduction:

• Where did we leave off in the story?
• If you were God, would you have come to explain yourself to Job? When would you have done it?
• For whatever reason, now is the time for God to show up and to give all the answers that they were looking for

Lesson

Job 38-39

• God doesn’t sit Job down in a nice comfy chair and ask him to go through all of his problems. Instead God starts by stating exactly who He is, and exactly what He does.
• Do you think God wants to go on one of these explanations when we start to whine and complain?
• God continues His’ statements in chapter 40-41.

Job 42:1-6

• Throughout the book of Job, his friends tried to get Job to repent from his sin. Job finally repents here, but it is not the kind called for by his friends. He did not ask for forgiveness for committing secret sins, but for questioning God’s sovereignty and justice.

Job 42:7-9

• God turns his attention to the friends. He says that they are not speaking the truth and telling Job what God was actually doing. In our society, do you think there are people like Job’s friends who either intentionally, or unintentionally say things on the behalf of God that are completely false?
• How can this be a warning to us?

Job 42:10-17

• God replenishes what he took from Job. Why?
• Does this mean anytime something bad happens we will receive everything back?

Application

• What are your thoughts on the ending of the book of Job?
• What lessons have you learned throughout this study of Job?

8/23 Bankrupt- The Story of Job, Job 33-37

Job 32.1-5

• This guy has been sitting there waiting to pounce. He thought that those who were older would be wiser, but he sees that this is not quite the case.

Now he turns his attention to Job

• 33.1-11 He acknowledges that he is not better than Job, that they are one in the same
• 33.12-18 He points out that God is there and will be with Job. Basically he is noting that Job is not suffering because of sin, but he is sinning because of his suffering.
• 33.19-33 Elihu tries his best to give an answer for what is going on. While it is wiser than anything the friends said, it still isn’t the fullest answer. This is why I hate Oprah, Dr. Phil, and shows like that. Man’s advice can help, but it can NEVER answer all the questions that we have!!! Only God can. Can you imagine how great the church would be if we sought God’s answers to our problems and questions as much as we watch Oprah, read bestselling books and talk to pastors?

In chapter 34 Elihu notes that the friends did have small nuggets of truth in their speeches to Job, but they were buried under the layers of false assumptions and conclusions.

• We might have a wealth of bible knowledge and life experiences, but we must make sure our conclusions are consistent with all of God’s Word, not just part of it.

Job 35.1-37.24

• Elihu concluded his speech with the tremendous truth that faith in God is far more important than Job’s desire for an explanation for his suffering. Do you believe this?

Application

• What are your thoughts on what we went through today?
• Do you agree with Elihu’s advice? Is there anything wrong with what he said?