Opening Questions:
which would you prefer Pepsi or Coke
which would you prefer the redskins or do you hate the redskins
which would you prefer hot coffee or a frappucino
which would you prefer watching football or watching something other than football
which would you prefer watching the OC or watching the Office
Thanks for participating in this little exercise. What was the point?
I did this to help illustrate that we make choices everyday. You choose either Pepsi or Coke. You choose either hot coffee or cold coffee. My question is, what is the right choice to make – what is the wise choice. Furthermore, how do you know how to make the right choice?
Today, we are going to look at making wise choices and how to make them. Some decisions you make are small in the grand scheme of life, and some are big. It would be great to find out how and what the wise decision is. So, let’s find out.
Scripture
Read Ephesians 5:15-17
1. We need to make the _____ out of every opportunity.
2. How are the “days” described?
3. We need to act how and try to understand what?
This passage says that we need to be wise in how we live, make the most out of every opportunity and act thoughtfully as we try to understand what God wants us to do. But why?
Let’s break this down quickly:
· If you had to choose between living wisely and living foolishly, which would you choose? Living wisely puts you in situations to succeed in life, not fail.
· Doing good in every opportunity. That makes sense – do you really want to do poorly or bad? Of course not. I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say, “I can’t wait to get drunk and drive later tonight”. Two poor decisions that no one wants to make.
· Lastly, act thoughtfully as we try to understand what God wants us to do. Why should we do that? Because God is the one with the ultimate plan for our life. He knows where we’ve been and where we are going. Because of that, He will be able to help guide us through the simple and the hard decisions.
But, how do we turn those decisions over to God? What should we do?
Read 1 Kings 3:5-14
1. When given the opportunity to ask for whatever he wanted, what did Solomon choose?
2. Why did he choose godly wisdom?
3. How did God respond?
How did Solomon turn decisions over to God so he could make the right decision? By asking God for godly wisdom.
He knew that he was in charge of a great kingdom and had a lot of responsibility. He knew that he couldn’t make these decisions by himself…he needed help. So, he turned to God.
In the same way, you are in charge of a great kingdom – Your kingdom. You also have a lot of responsibility. The decisions you make today will dramatically alter your life for either the good or the bad. So, why make these decisions by yourself? It is always good to have a 2nd opinion. Who better to ask than God?
Application
So, as I wrap up, know that everywhere you go, everything you do, you will have to make a decision. It may be a small decision like what food will you eat. Or, it may be a huge decision like where will you go to college or who shall you date.
The only way you will be able to make the right decision is if you turn it over to God. Big decisions, small decisions, it doesn’t matter turn it over to God.
You may think a simple invitation to a party isn’t something to pray about. But who knows, a party invitation turns into a drinking invitation turns into a driving invitation, turns into an accident, jail time or even a death. Same thing with dating. You don’t need to ask for God’s wisdom for dating someone do you? It’s just a simple date, right? Wrong, a simple date turns into a simple make out session, turns into a simple pregnancy.
You may be laughing at my progressions here, but if you don’t think that’s possible or a reality, think again. It happens all the time. Everyone always says, I never thought it would happen to me.
We need to be asking God for wisdom in all situations so it doesn’t have to happen to you.
So, personalizing this a bit – what decisions will you hand over to God for wisdom? What is a decision you will have to make either now or in the near future? Start asking God now and see how His wisdom helps you make the right decision.
Remember, there is no decision too small or too big to give over to God.
Pray
Monday, October 30, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Living out your faith through service
Opening Question:
What do you think a plunger, phone, dish towel and paint brush have in common?
These are all symbols of ways you can put others first. A plunger to clean toilets, a phone to listen to someone else, a dish towel to clean and a paint brush to fix something. By doing these things, you will be helping others by doing them yourself rather than have people do them for you.
Last time we looked at sacrificing our entitlement and give to others and help them. Today we are going to look at what else you can do for others. But, before we do that, I want to look at yet another reason as to why we should help and serve others.
Scripture
Read James 2:14-18
1. Is just believing in God good enough?
2. What else do we need?
3. Why do you think it says that we need to have actions to go along with our faith?
Say, for example, you believed we shouldn’t kill animals. However, you show up after Christmas break with a brand new fur coat while eating a steak. Do you think people would respect your beliefs? Of course not because you obviously didn’t believe in the no animal killing stance enough to prevent yourself from getting a fur coat or eating the steak. Your beliefs and actions don’t line up.
We are challenged, here, to take action. It isn’t enough just to believe, we have to do something about our belief. In fact, it is being implied here that true faith has to have action to go with it.
So, what kind of action do we need to do?
Read Acts 6:1-4
1. What was the crisis?
2. How did they choose to handle it?
3. What was the criteria for these waiters?
4. What does this communicate about the importance of these waiters?
What kind of action do we need to do? Anything in which we are serving and helping others.
They had to meet certain qualifications which means not any “bum” off the street could do it. You had to fit a certain criteria because it was AN IMPORTANT JOB.
It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are serving someone else. In fact, some people aren’t gifted to do every kind of service. I can’t help with plumbing or car repairs. But, I can help cleaning toilets, doing the dishes or painting.
Every job is important.
Application
So, we have 2 truths today:
· Faith without actions is useless
· There is no service job unimportant
Now, what are you going to do with these truths? What can we do? (Let students answer)
Your thoughts were all great.
I want to encourage you, that no matter where you are in your relationship with God, you can start looking for ways to serve and live out your faith that way.
You can:
· Serve your parents by doing the dishes, being nice to your siblings, helping them with things around the house
· Serve your brothers/sisters by being nice to them, helping them with their homework or chores
· Serve your friends by going out of your way to do something nice for them, by listening to them
There are plenty of things for you to do. You just have to seek them out and do it. Remember, your faith without some action is useless and there is no unimportant job.
The question now remains, what will you do? How will you serve and what will you do to help others this week? Remember what we talked about last week. Christ made a ton of sacrifices for us. We should do likewise.
Take a minute and write down 1 thing you will do for your family or your friends this week. Then, go out and do it.
Pray
What do you think a plunger, phone, dish towel and paint brush have in common?
These are all symbols of ways you can put others first. A plunger to clean toilets, a phone to listen to someone else, a dish towel to clean and a paint brush to fix something. By doing these things, you will be helping others by doing them yourself rather than have people do them for you.
Last time we looked at sacrificing our entitlement and give to others and help them. Today we are going to look at what else you can do for others. But, before we do that, I want to look at yet another reason as to why we should help and serve others.
Scripture
Read James 2:14-18
1. Is just believing in God good enough?
2. What else do we need?
3. Why do you think it says that we need to have actions to go along with our faith?
Say, for example, you believed we shouldn’t kill animals. However, you show up after Christmas break with a brand new fur coat while eating a steak. Do you think people would respect your beliefs? Of course not because you obviously didn’t believe in the no animal killing stance enough to prevent yourself from getting a fur coat or eating the steak. Your beliefs and actions don’t line up.
We are challenged, here, to take action. It isn’t enough just to believe, we have to do something about our belief. In fact, it is being implied here that true faith has to have action to go with it.
So, what kind of action do we need to do?
Read Acts 6:1-4
1. What was the crisis?
2. How did they choose to handle it?
3. What was the criteria for these waiters?
4. What does this communicate about the importance of these waiters?
What kind of action do we need to do? Anything in which we are serving and helping others.
They had to meet certain qualifications which means not any “bum” off the street could do it. You had to fit a certain criteria because it was AN IMPORTANT JOB.
It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are serving someone else. In fact, some people aren’t gifted to do every kind of service. I can’t help with plumbing or car repairs. But, I can help cleaning toilets, doing the dishes or painting.
Every job is important.
Application
So, we have 2 truths today:
· Faith without actions is useless
· There is no service job unimportant
Now, what are you going to do with these truths? What can we do? (Let students answer)
Your thoughts were all great.
I want to encourage you, that no matter where you are in your relationship with God, you can start looking for ways to serve and live out your faith that way.
You can:
· Serve your parents by doing the dishes, being nice to your siblings, helping them with things around the house
· Serve your brothers/sisters by being nice to them, helping them with their homework or chores
· Serve your friends by going out of your way to do something nice for them, by listening to them
There are plenty of things for you to do. You just have to seek them out and do it. Remember, your faith without some action is useless and there is no unimportant job.
The question now remains, what will you do? How will you serve and what will you do to help others this week? Remember what we talked about last week. Christ made a ton of sacrifices for us. We should do likewise.
Take a minute and write down 1 thing you will do for your family or your friends this week. Then, go out and do it.
Pray
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Christ's attitude in Service
I want to open up with a clip from a movie I love – Happy Gilmore. I know it is funny and mindless, but please pay attention to what Happy is saying.
Get and Watch Happy Gilmore Clip – Ch. 1. 3:12 – 5:03
- What was Happy put on this earth to do?
- Why did he think he would get picked this year?
- What happened?
Happy had a sense of entitlement. He felt, that because of his power, he would be a shoe in for the team. After all, he was put on this earth to play hockey.
However, he didn’t make it. Therefore, he tried to take his frustration out on the coaches and players, but to no avail.
I believe we all feel that we have a sense of entitlement. We are all entitled to something or another – we’re entitled to get a car when we turn 16, we are entitled to get the best clothes, we are entitled to do whatever we want, whenever we want, with whoever we want.
Christ was entitled to a whole lot as well. However, He chose to use that entitlement for something else. Let’s see what he did with his entitlement and how we can emulate that as well.
Scripture
Read Philippians 2:5-8
1. What was Christ’s entitlement?
2. The Bible said that our attitude should be that of Christ. What is that attitude?
3. Why would he do this?
Christ did this because he chose to put us 1st. He chose to put our needs before his. He was entitled to be praised and honored, but he chose to be the son of a carpenter rather than a king. He was entitled to be praised and honored, but he chose to die a brutal death
If there was any sense of entitlement, Christ had it! He deserved so much better. But he chose to put us first.
His desire for us to be in a relationship with God again outweighed his sense of entitlement. He chose us over himself. He was more concerned about our well being than about him having to die on the cross.
Do you understand the sacrifice Christ made for you? He was entitled to be King, but because he put us first, he chose to be the son of a carpenter, who lived amongst the poor and the unaccepted, who died one of the most brutal deaths of all time. He did this all for us.
Application
So, how should Christ’s attitude affect how we treat others?
Christ put us first. We need to put others first.
Think about it. Are you putting other people’s needs before your needs? Are you sacrificing your desires the same way Christ did? Now, just as a disclaimer, I’m not asking you to go sacrifice your life for someone else. But,
* Are you sacrificing your time to listen to someone in need?
* Are you sacrificing your hard earned money for someone so he/she can eat a meal?
* Are you sacrificing your popularity so that someone else might feel accepted and cared for?
*Are you sacrificing your own needs for others?
There are so many things you can do to put others first this week. In fact, do it right now. Remember, Christ sacrificed his own life for us. He was entitled to so much more. What is 1 thing you can do this week to put others before yourself?
Pray
Get and Watch Happy Gilmore Clip – Ch. 1. 3:12 – 5:03
- What was Happy put on this earth to do?
- Why did he think he would get picked this year?
- What happened?
Happy had a sense of entitlement. He felt, that because of his power, he would be a shoe in for the team. After all, he was put on this earth to play hockey.
However, he didn’t make it. Therefore, he tried to take his frustration out on the coaches and players, but to no avail.
I believe we all feel that we have a sense of entitlement. We are all entitled to something or another – we’re entitled to get a car when we turn 16, we are entitled to get the best clothes, we are entitled to do whatever we want, whenever we want, with whoever we want.
Christ was entitled to a whole lot as well. However, He chose to use that entitlement for something else. Let’s see what he did with his entitlement and how we can emulate that as well.
Scripture
Read Philippians 2:5-8
1. What was Christ’s entitlement?
2. The Bible said that our attitude should be that of Christ. What is that attitude?
3. Why would he do this?
Christ did this because he chose to put us 1st. He chose to put our needs before his. He was entitled to be praised and honored, but he chose to be the son of a carpenter rather than a king. He was entitled to be praised and honored, but he chose to die a brutal death
If there was any sense of entitlement, Christ had it! He deserved so much better. But he chose to put us first.
His desire for us to be in a relationship with God again outweighed his sense of entitlement. He chose us over himself. He was more concerned about our well being than about him having to die on the cross.
Do you understand the sacrifice Christ made for you? He was entitled to be King, but because he put us first, he chose to be the son of a carpenter, who lived amongst the poor and the unaccepted, who died one of the most brutal deaths of all time. He did this all for us.
Application
So, how should Christ’s attitude affect how we treat others?
Christ put us first. We need to put others first.
Think about it. Are you putting other people’s needs before your needs? Are you sacrificing your desires the same way Christ did? Now, just as a disclaimer, I’m not asking you to go sacrifice your life for someone else. But,
* Are you sacrificing your time to listen to someone in need?
* Are you sacrificing your hard earned money for someone so he/she can eat a meal?
* Are you sacrificing your popularity so that someone else might feel accepted and cared for?
*Are you sacrificing your own needs for others?
There are so many things you can do to put others first this week. In fact, do it right now. Remember, Christ sacrificed his own life for us. He was entitled to so much more. What is 1 thing you can do this week to put others before yourself?
Pray
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Being Chosen
Opening Question:
Do you choose your friends or do your friends choose you? Why?
I would side with the comment, “your friends choose you”. Naturally, you choose certain people you want to be friends with. However, if they don’t accept you or want to be friends with you, you won’t be friends with them. Therefore, your friends choose you.
Well today, we are going to talk about how 1 person choose and accepted us. We are going to look at what He did and how that model should be the model we use in the way we look at others and choose our friends.
So, let’s get right into it.
Scripture
Read Romans 5:8
- What did this say?
- How does God communicate his love and acceptance of us?
- How does this action relate to friendships?
God communicated his love and acceptance of us by having Christ come down from heaven and die for us – even though we were unworthy of it.
God didn’t say, “Oh, they don’t wear the right kind of clothes, I won’t save them” or “Oh, they don’t have lots of money, I won’t save them” or even “Oh, they aren’t the popular people, I won’t save them”.
No, God sent Christ to die for us despite all our inefficiencies. I hate to tell you all, but none of us are perfect. Just because we look a certain way or hang with certain people, that doesn’t make us any different from the people who don’t.
We all have crud in our lives that we aren’t proud of. But that didn’t effect God’s desire to be in a relationship with us. He loves every one of us the same.
Not only did Christ accept and love us for who were, He goes even further.
Read John 3:16-17
- What does this communicate about God and his desire to be with us?
Christ came into the world because of God’s love and desire for a relationship with us. God chose us to spend eternity with Him!!!! That, despite our sin and crud in our life, he still wanted to be with us!?! Talk about the ultimate display of acceptance! If having his one and only son come down here to sacrifice his life for us wasn’t enough, he invited us to spend eternity with him too!
Despite what you may think or what you may have heard, God doesn’t care what you look like or what you have done in your past. He just wants a relationship with you. He cares about you so much and wants to spend eternity with you. He didn’t have to. In fact, he probably shouldn’t have, but he chose too. He took an interest in us.
Application
So, because Christ chose us, despite our crud, how should we respond?
Everyone wants to be accepted. Everyone wants to be chosen. It is a need we all have to be liked and cared for.
Think for a minute, are you accepting of others? What determines who you accept and reject? Clothes, popularity, sense of humor, sports teams?
This week, pick at least 1 person in your life – at school, at home, in your youth group – and accept them this week the way God accepted us. Reach out to someone you haven’t to before - take an interest in them, ask them questions about their life and their interests, call them to see how they are doing.
If you are struggling with who you should pick, ask God to tell you and make it clear. He will.
I bet, if you legitimately took an interest in other people this week, you can have a tremendous impact on others. I hate to bring this up, but I wonder if those Columbine kids would have done that horrible thing, if more people would have taken an interest in them and accepted them for who they were, not who they weren’t.
You can make a difference in people and build some pretty good friendships by simply accepting others for who they are, who God made them to be.
This week, let’s take an interest in others, choose and accept them as God would. Remember, Christ accepted us despite all our junk, we can do the same for others. The love of Christ compels us to.
Pray
Do you choose your friends or do your friends choose you? Why?
I would side with the comment, “your friends choose you”. Naturally, you choose certain people you want to be friends with. However, if they don’t accept you or want to be friends with you, you won’t be friends with them. Therefore, your friends choose you.
Well today, we are going to talk about how 1 person choose and accepted us. We are going to look at what He did and how that model should be the model we use in the way we look at others and choose our friends.
So, let’s get right into it.
Scripture
Read Romans 5:8
- What did this say?
- How does God communicate his love and acceptance of us?
- How does this action relate to friendships?
God communicated his love and acceptance of us by having Christ come down from heaven and die for us – even though we were unworthy of it.
God didn’t say, “Oh, they don’t wear the right kind of clothes, I won’t save them” or “Oh, they don’t have lots of money, I won’t save them” or even “Oh, they aren’t the popular people, I won’t save them”.
No, God sent Christ to die for us despite all our inefficiencies. I hate to tell you all, but none of us are perfect. Just because we look a certain way or hang with certain people, that doesn’t make us any different from the people who don’t.
We all have crud in our lives that we aren’t proud of. But that didn’t effect God’s desire to be in a relationship with us. He loves every one of us the same.
Not only did Christ accept and love us for who were, He goes even further.
Read John 3:16-17
- What does this communicate about God and his desire to be with us?
Christ came into the world because of God’s love and desire for a relationship with us. God chose us to spend eternity with Him!!!! That, despite our sin and crud in our life, he still wanted to be with us!?! Talk about the ultimate display of acceptance! If having his one and only son come down here to sacrifice his life for us wasn’t enough, he invited us to spend eternity with him too!
Despite what you may think or what you may have heard, God doesn’t care what you look like or what you have done in your past. He just wants a relationship with you. He cares about you so much and wants to spend eternity with you. He didn’t have to. In fact, he probably shouldn’t have, but he chose too. He took an interest in us.
Application
So, because Christ chose us, despite our crud, how should we respond?
Everyone wants to be accepted. Everyone wants to be chosen. It is a need we all have to be liked and cared for.
Think for a minute, are you accepting of others? What determines who you accept and reject? Clothes, popularity, sense of humor, sports teams?
This week, pick at least 1 person in your life – at school, at home, in your youth group – and accept them this week the way God accepted us. Reach out to someone you haven’t to before - take an interest in them, ask them questions about their life and their interests, call them to see how they are doing.
If you are struggling with who you should pick, ask God to tell you and make it clear. He will.
I bet, if you legitimately took an interest in other people this week, you can have a tremendous impact on others. I hate to bring this up, but I wonder if those Columbine kids would have done that horrible thing, if more people would have taken an interest in them and accepted them for who they were, not who they weren’t.
You can make a difference in people and build some pretty good friendships by simply accepting others for who they are, who God made them to be.
This week, let’s take an interest in others, choose and accept them as God would. Remember, Christ accepted us despite all our junk, we can do the same for others. The love of Christ compels us to.
Pray
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