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?

2/21 Sunday School "Ethos-Knowing Your Audience"

Senior High- Lindsay Graves, Junior High-Jared Graves

Introduction

Form teams of 3-4 people. They are to draw a “product” and an “audience” from a hat. They have 5 minutes to collaborate on how they are going to pitch the product to their given audience. They must then give a minute infomercial on that product for that audience.

How hard was it for your team to reach out to the given audience?

If you have a satellite television, or you travel much, you get the opportunity to see how advertisers reach out to people, selling the same product, but in very different ways. People know that based on different areas of the country, economic statuses, and backgrounds they have to appeal to different types of people. Last week we talked about the need to be credible when we are evangelizing. This week we are going to talk about the importance of knowing our audience.

Lesson

Everyone turn to Acts 3. We will be reading verses 11-26. Let’s give some background before we start. What we are reading today is after Pentecost, and is following Peter healing someone

Read Acts 3:11-12

What does the term, “Men of Israel” mean? (They are Jews)

Read Acts 3:13-15

He acknowledges that they worship the same god (The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)

Read Acts 3:16-17

Peter isn’t being too kind to the people right now. He puts the blame on them for Jesus’ death, and then said it happened due to their ignorance. How is he getting away with this?

Read Acts 3:18

Why did he bring up the prophets? (They are Jews and looked for the prophets to tell them what to look for in the Messiah)

Read Acts 3:19-23

He asks them to repent, but then throws in the Moses reference to make sure that they see the connection.

Read Acts 3:24-26

How do you think this would have been received?

Application

By looking at Peter’s speech, how do we know that he knew his audience well?

What did Peter say that would speak to the Jews listening?

What are the different audiences that we face while trying to spread our message?

How can we say the same message in different ways?

2/14 Junior & Senior High Sunday School, "Ethos-Know Your Story"

Introduction

Play the game “2 truths and a lie”

Tie In: We have to know our past and use that past if we are to be considered qualified to endorse a product.

The US Government is in the process of passing a law that states if a celebrity endorses a product, that they must actually have used, or currently use that product. They don’t want someone who has never used the product to get up there and say they have just so they can collect money from the company.

Peter gave some pretty bold statements on the day of Pentecost. Anyone could look at him and be skeptical. However, if they tried to see if Peter subscribed to the product he was selling, they found quickly that he truly believed every word that he said.

Lesson

Have everyone to Mark 1.

If you were a fisherman in the time of Jesus what did that mean? (You were not the best of the best. In fact, you were close to being the worst. You were not smart, you did not make it through school, and you were probably just carrying on the legacy of the parents before you)

Read Mark 1:16-20. What type of faith would it take for you to drop everything that you were doing in order to


Other points in Peter’s life that gave him credibility:

Walking on water

He’s had his doubts (denial of Christ)

His reinstatement: John 21:15-18

11/9 Ignite "Mirrors-Our Abilities"

Devotion-Jared Graves

Intro:

• Who would be the best person to: Save someone from a burning building? Lift a heavy object? Play video games? Take care of small children? Run and get things for you while working? Sing the national anthem?
• We recognize our abilities, but do we recognize where they come from? Do we truly understand what we have been given? Are we finding our true potential and using them to the best of our abilities? Are we allowing the world to dictate what we can and cannot do, or are we doing things with the ability that God has given to us?

Devotion

• Genesis 1:26
• History is full of people who reached their full potential because of faith, or determination
• Moses: Had a speech impediment, but allowed God to use him to set the Israelites free
• David: David was given a specific set of skills that would enable him to strike down Goliath
• Peter: A fisherman, was uneducated. Yet he is regarded as the founding father of the Church.
• Paul: Though he was brilliant we see from various accounts, and a hint or two in the Bible that he wasn’t good looking, and actually appeared to be a rather frail person

Application

• God gave you unique abilities and characteristics. There is evidence of God in each and every one of you. Some of you have a great sense of humor, some can run fast, others can babysit, others show compassion to people all the time. God’s fingerprints and His character is often found when we explore ourselves.
• Do not allow anyone to tell you that you are not good enough. Do not settle for anything less than your best. Press on, keep fighting, because you are going to win a crown whether this world gives it to you or not.

M&M Discussion

November 8, 2009

Who knows who Michael Jordan is? Did you know that his sophomore year in high school, he was cut from the basketball team? The coach didn’t believe that he was good enough to make the team.  That was a turning point in his life. From that point forward he decided to prove the coach wrong and not only made the team the next year, he not only hit a game winning shot in a college championship game, and not only won six NBA championships. He became one of, if not the greatest basketball players of all time.

Do you think that you can take failures and have those help you succeed?

Have you ever been told that you weren’t good enough to do something? Have you ever failed at something and said that you would never do it again?

Do you think that there are millions of people who are denying their true abilities and gifts because they were told that they were not good enough?

Read together 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Is it possible that God did not give you an ability to do something because He would rather have you serve and excel in another capacity?

Did you catch the fact that everyone has a certain gift in the Church? We all have been given abilities?

Why did God give you certain abilities? If no one answers this way, note that God gave us gifts to point towards Him, and to be a tool for evangelism.