My Epic Journey

Here is the teaching outline for our final week in the series, Attached.

Bottom Line: Attaching ourselves to Christ requires “unattaching” ourselves from everything else, a choice that requires risk on our behalf.

INTRO:

It feels like God isn’t always there.

Sometimes it feels like He lets us down because He doesn’t do what we expect or want Him to do.

Becoming the beloved is going to take risk.

TRUTH:

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council (John 3:1 NIV).

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2 NIV).

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man
be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
(John 3:3-4 NIV).

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8 NIV).

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?”
(John 3:9-10 NIV).

TENSION:

To truly follow Christ, there is a level of risk.

This feels risky to some of us, but this is true relationship. This is what is required of being the beloved.

APPLICATION:

The problem is that we don’t want to unattach ourselves from everything else.

To attach yourself to Jesus means that you must begin what might be a painful process of unattaching yourself from other things.

CONCLUSION:

Take the risk.

It’s worth whatever you have to unattach yourself from.

We had a great day yesterday in EPIC.  The game we played was called Spittoon:

Divide your students into a few groups. Have one representative from each group come forward. Take a roll of sticky tape (duct or masking) and roll it around the student’s torso sticky side out—they are now the targets. Caution: Be careful not to tape too tightly or you may constrict normal breathing patterns. It is also a good idea to leave the student’s arms out just in case the student falls over. Then give each remaining student a normal drinking straw and a few Q-Tips. The idea is to see which team can get the most Q-Tips attached to their own target. If you want it to be more exciting have the targets run around, maybe on a figure eight you make on the ground! We also suggest goggles or sunglasses for the targets to wear for eye protection.

This was A LOT of fun and created a fun environment with both MS and HS students.

Here is the teaching outline for Week 2 in our series, ATTACHED:

INTRO:

We are all attached to something.

We attach ourselves to things that will create an identity for us.

TENSION:

The most crucial question is, “Who am I?”

In our attempts to answer this big question, we all try to attach ourselves to something that will help define us.

TRUTH:

To know who you are, you have to go to the One who knows you.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

(1 John 3:1 NIV).

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 NIV).

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39 NIV).

APPLICATION:

Our identity is in God because He created us.

In God’s eyes we are worthy of being loved all the time because He sees us as redeemed in Christ.

CONCLUSION:

You are loved by God unconditionally.

Psalm 139:1-18 MSG

You are God’s beloved, the One He sees and is pleased with.

NOTE:  A great book to pick up for you and your student is, Who I Am In Christ by Neil Anderson.  It is a quick devotional read that will help the reader discover their TRUE identity!