WINTER SUNDAY SCHOOL SENIOR HIGH

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1 WINTER SUNDAY SCHOOL SENIOR HIGH LEADER GUIDE Get your FREE, customizable DIGITAL COPY of this leader guide. It s as EASY as Visit group.com/digital to set up a free olie accout for your church. 2 Eter the Activatio Code below to add this leader guide to your accout. 3 Dowload PDF or Word files to your computer ad edit, prit, or them to your leaders. ONE-TIME ACTIVATION CODE:

2 group.com/suday-school FaithWeaver NOW Bible Curriculum,, Witer Copyright 2000 ad 2015 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced i ay maer whatsoever without prior writte permissio from the publisher, except where oted i the text ad i the case of brief quotatios embodied i critical articles ad reviews. For iformatio, visit group.com/permissios.! OK TO COPY Whe you see the OK TO COPY ico, this meas permissio to photocopy the page from FaithWeaver NOW Bible Curriculum for, Witer, is grated for local church use. Copyright Group Publishig, Ic. group.com Credits Cotributig Authors: Collee J. Alde, Tim Baker, Rick Beo, Heather A. Eades, Kate S. Holbur, Trish Klie, Iger Koppehaver, Joy-Elizabeth Lawrece, Katherie Martiez, Siv M. Ricketts, Tim Weber, Roxae Wiema, Paul Meiers Yigst Editors: Erica L. Feucht, Scott Firestoe IV, Jeifer Hooks, Stephaie Marti, Jessica Sausto, Owe Shattuck, Ali Thompso, Christie Yout Joes Copy Editors: Lydsay Gerwig, Becky Helzer, Adrea Zimmerma Chief Creative Officer: Joai Schultz Cover Desig ad Art Directio: Jeff Specer Iterior Desig Team: Jared Bigham, Jeff Bruacci, Kate Elvi, Suzi Jese, Rady Kady, Jeff Specer, Rebecca Swai Cover Photographer: Rodey Stewart All Scripture quotatios, uless otherwise idicated, are take from the Holy Bible, New Iteratioal Versio, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Ic. Used by permissio of Zoderva. All rights reserved worldwide. ISBN Prited i the Uited States of America.

3 3 Cotets Itroductio...4 The Studies Study 1: Prophets Foretell Jesus Comig Jeremiah 33: Study 2: Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1: Study 3: Joh Prepares People for Jesus Comig Luke 3: * Study 4: The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2: Study 5: Jesus Grows Up Luke 2: Study 6: The Word Became Flesh Joh 1: Study 7: Sata Tempts Jesus Luke 4: Study 8: Jesus Performs His First Miracle Joh 2: Study 9: Jesus Teaches i a Syagogue Luke 4: Study 10: Jesus Is Rejected i His Hometow Luke 4: Study 11: Moses ad Elijah Appear With Jesus Luke 9: Study 12: Jesus Teaches About Rewards Luke 6: Study 13: Jesus Teaches About Lovig Eemies Luke 6: *We recommed rearragig the studies so that Study 4 aligs with the week of Christmas. Table of Cotets

4 4 The future of Suday school + family miistry is NOW. No doubt about it, the world is chagig. Families used to go to church every week. Kids used to have loger attetio spas. Teachers used to have more time to prepare. Ad did t our budgets used to be bigger? Eve the Suday school Bible curriculum you used just a couple of years ago is already out of date. But there s oe thig that s ever chaged: the eed to grow families closer to Jesus. That s why we created FaithWeaver NOW, ad it s differet from aythig you ve ever see before! It combies Suday school with family miistry. Sure, you ve see Suday school aimed at families. But FaithWeaver NOW actually hits the target by havig everyoe i the family learig about the same Scripture each week. It s simpler ad easier. Sometimes chage is a woderful thig. Goe are the days whe you eeded to sped hours preparig your lessos ad hutig for supplies. FaithWeaver NOW will have you ad your team ready to go i a sap. It s made for NOW. Life is complicated ad full of distractios. FaithWeaver NOW keeps faith o track through eve the most frezied lifestyles. What makes FaithWeaver NOW the perfect curriculum for TODAY s church? Families lear the same Bible passage i age-appropriate ways. Kids do t just hear the Word. They experiece it. Simple ad easy lessos fit eve the busiest lives. Kids see God i their everyday world. The Scope & Sequece goes through the Bible every three years. You ca customize it however you like, with both prit ad digital versios. Create a vibrat family miistry that s ew that s wow that s NOW. FaithWeaver NOW gives you a fresh strategy for beig more successful tha ever i brigig families closer to Jesus. Thom ad Joai Schultz Chairma ad Chief Creative Officer Group Publishig, Ic. Itroductio

5 Study 1 5 Prophets Foretell Jesus Comig Jeremiah 33:14-16 Some seior highers have few poits of referece for keepig promises. They rely o their parets, teachers, ad coaches to show them what it meas to stick to a commitmet. Ad while most role models do a excellet job of keepig their word, some make breakig promises a habit. Most seior highers log for a God who is faithful a God who keeps promises. Use this study to teach them that their God is the God who loves them ad is faithful. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio 2 Bible Exploratio People Predictios (about 15 mi.) Try to guess other people s aswers to tough questios. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a scee from 2012, ad discuss true vs. false prophecies. A Gift From God (about 20 mi.) Make presets based o Jeremiah s prophecy ad fulfillmet, wrap them, ad exchage them to see how the prophecy compared to what happeed. paper, pes video player, movie 2012 Bibles, idex cards, wrappig paper, markers, scissors, tape Cue 2012 to 00:30:27, whe Jackso (Joh Cusack) eters a dimly lit room. Bible Poit Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Key Verse All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgi will be with child ad will give birth to a so, ad they will call him Immauel which meas, God with us (Matthew 1:22-23). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will pray ad share with others how Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 1

6 6 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Promise Gallery (about 25 mi.) Reflect o ad draw what God s promises i Jeremiah 33:14-16 mea to them, ad the draw respose promises to God. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bibles, paper, colored pecils, tape Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 1

7 7 Prophets Foretell Jesus Comig Jeremiah 33:14-16 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Jeremiah Preaches Hope i Times of Trouble This passage was writte early 600 years before Jesus was bor. The orther kigdom of Israel had falle to the Assyrias, who had i tur falle to the Babyloias. Jeremiah also saw the fall of the souther kigdom of Judah to the Babyloias, cocludig with the destructio of Jerusalem i 587 B.C. Despite all that was goig o aroud him, Jeremiah s message i this passage is oe of hope. Repeatig early word for word the message he had give i Jeremiah 23:5-6, Jeremiah utters here his most importat message about the comig Messiah. This Kig would be a descedat of David but would rule with more wisdom, justice, ad righteousess tha ay other kig had ever doe. This comig Messiah would ot oly rescue his people from their oppressors but also reuite the kigdoms of Israel ad Judah, which had bee divided sice the death of Solomo more tha 300 years earlier. The Jesus Coectio Your relatioship with Jesus is a amazig gift. Ad God plaed log ago to give you that gift. Thak him for this life-givig blessig! Log ago, God chose to prepare the hearts of his people with the ews that a Savior would come. As you prepare for Christmas, take some time to allow God s message of hope ad salvatio to sik i for you. Choose to believe God s promises ad allow the woder of Jesus icaratio to overwhelm you. Pray about your heart s desire to live this Christmas seaso immersed i the meaig of God s promises. You ca write your prayer here. Jesus Fulfills Prophecy, but Not as Expected After readig this passage, it s easy to uderstad why people of Jesus day expected a Messiah who would lead them i throwig off Roma rule ad restorig the uified kigdom of Israel. From our stadpoit i history, we kow that Jesus came first as the sufferig servat (see Isaiah 53), drawig people to himself through his perfect life ad his message of repetace. Oe day, however, Jesus will retur to complete his fulfillmet of Old Testamet prophecies ad rule as kig over all heave ad earth. As we look forward to our celebratio of Jesus birth, we ca also look forward to the day Jesus will retur to take those who believe i him to live with him i heave. That s God s message of hope for Christias i today s broke world! Study 1

8 8 Faith Coectio People Predictios paper pes People Predictios Welcome studets to the group. Have studets form pairs with people they do t kow very well ad decide which parter will be A ad which will be B. Have all the A s sit o oe side of the room, across the room from their parters. Give each perso six pieces of paper ad a pe. Say: We re goig to play a game to see how well you ca guess your parter s aswer. I ll ask some questios. You ll write dow your ow aswer or try to guess your parter s, depedig o the istructios. Write it big so we ca see it. The we ll see how the two compare. Ask the followig questios, stoppig after each to have parters hold up their aswers ad see if they match. What is parter A s favorite kid of fruit? What did parter B eat for dier last ight? Who is parter A s favorite teacher? What color is the floor i parter B s bedroom? What is parter A goig to do this afteroo? What career does parter B aspire to? Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What clues, if ay, did you use to help guide your guesses about your parter? How useful were they? Why is or is t it possible to guess the right aswers about somethig without prior kowledge? Tell about a time you were able to correctly guess somethig that would happe. Say: We could t eve guess correctly about thigs that have already happeed! But i the Bible, there were people called prophets who could correctly talk about thigs that would t happe for a very log time. The prophets were t just makig guesses they were actig as God s microphoe, sharig promises directly from him. Today we ll explore oe of those prophecies ad see how Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Study 1

9 9 Media Coectio (Optio) Tip I geeral, federal copyright laws do ot allow you to use videos or DVDs (eve oes you ow) for ay purpose other tha home viewig. Your church ca obtai a licese from Christia Video Licesig Iteratioal for a small fee. Just visit cvli.com or call for more iformatio. May movie clips are available at youtube.com. This clip is also available at wigclips.com uder the title Apocalypse. Istead of doig the People Predictios activity, show studets a clip from the movie 2012 that helps them thik about predictios ad prophecies. Begi the clip at 00:30:27, whe Jackso (Joh Cusack) eters a dimly lit room. I this clip, Jackso watches a video made by a ma who believes that the Maya caledar predicted the world would ed i Ed the clip at 00:32:44, whe the aimated video eds. Media Coectio video player movie 2012 Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue 2012 to 00:30:27, whe Jackso (Joh Cusack) eters a dimly lit room. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What do you thik about theories like this about the ed of the world? How might you view this prophecy differetly if 2012 was t already i the past? What would have to happe for you to believe a prophecy about the ed of the world? Say: Clearly, the world did t ed i It s easy to look back ad see if a prophecy came true after the time has passed! I the Bible, there were people called prophets who could predict the future accurately. These prophets were t just makig guesses they were actig as God s microphoe, sharig promises directly from him. Today we ll explore oe of those prophecies ad see how Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Study 1

10 10 2 Bible Exploratio A Gift From God Bibles idex cards wrappig paper markers scissors tape A Gift From God Distribute Bibles. Have studets form two groups. Group 1 will look at the prophecies i today s passage, Jeremiah 33: Group 2 will look at some prophecy fulfillmets i the New Testamet, i Luke 1:55; Matthew 1:17; Joh 5:26-27, 30; Luke 2:11; Joh 12:12-13; ad the Key Verse, Matthew 1: Give each group several idex cards, markers, wrappig paper, scissors, ad tape. Say: People sometimes thik about Jesus as a gift. As we gear up for Christmas, let s put o this midset. As you read your verses, thik about what kid of gift they offer. Write each gift o a idex card, ad wrap up each card to look like a preset. Tell Group 1 to try to come up with at least five gifts: oe from verse 14 ad two each from verses 15 ad 16. Group 2 should try to come up with oe gift per verse. Group members will eed to discuss ad agree what each gift is. After about 10 miutes, have groups exchage their gifts. Have groups ope the gifts oe at a time ad read them aloud for everyoe. Talk With Studets Have groups discuss these questios. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How did the gifts from the prophecy group relate to the gifts from the fulfillmet group? What differece did you otice? I what ways might Jesus have bee like or ulike what people expected? Which set of gifts did you like better? Why? lookig at both sets of gifts, how ca you see that Jesus fulfilled God s promise? Say: Jeremiah made several promises about who Jesus would be. Ad throughout the Old Testamet, there were may other prophecies about Jesus. Jesus fulfilled God s promise i each of these prophecies, but ot always i the way people expected. Ad Jesus is God s promise to us, too. Let s explore our Bible passage some more i light of what it meas i our lives. Study 1

11 11 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Promise Gallery Give each studet two pieces of paper, ad set out colored pecils to share. Say: Read back through our passage, Jeremiah 33: Choose a promise that is meaigful to you persoally. Draw about that promise ad what it meas to you. Iclude your ame o the picture. Allow about seve miutes. Promise Gallery Bibles paper colored pecils tape Say: Now thik about a respose to that promise a promise you wat to make to God as a gift i retur. Draw about your promise to God. Iclude your ame o the picture. Allow about seve miutes. As studets work, hag up their pictures from the first set. As they fiish their secod drawigs, hag those up as well. Allow about seve more miutes for studets to move aroud the room observig other people s artwork ad askig the artists questios if they wat to better uderstad the drawigs. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What promise stood out to you from our Bible passage? Why? What promise did you wat to make back to God? How does that promise show appreciatio for his promises to you? Say: Jesus fulfilled God s promise from Jeremiah 33. But that does t mea it s over. The Bible is full of promises of how Jesus cotiues to work i our lives. Let s appreciate ad recogize how Jesus cotiues to fulfill God s promises i our lives, ad let s give back to him. Study 1

12 12 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Let s discuss how we ll appreciate the gift of Jesus this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: search olie for a list of prophecies about Jesus. Cosider how Jesus has already fulfilled those prophecies ad what that tells you about God. Pray about the way those promises have impacted your life. search olie for a list of predictios people have made about whe the world would ed. May of these predicted times have come ad goe already. Go over the list with a fried, ad talk about what it meas to you that God s prophecies did happe. Take home your artwork about promises. Commit to followig through o your respose promise to God. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Jeremiah lived way before Jesus was bor. The two ever got to meet. But Jeremiah kew all about what God promised to do. Ad Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Let s recogize Jesus promise as we follow through with our Daily Challeges. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about the promise of Jesus. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Study 1

13 13 Close i prayer. Lead studets i siletly prayig through the passage. Pray: God, you declared that you would fulfill your promises. Thak you for the promises you ve made to us. Pause for studets to pray siletly. You promised to sed a Savior from David s lie, ad you did. Pause for studets to thak God for sedig Jesus. You promised that you would save your people. Thak you for savig us. Pause for studets to thak God for salvatio. I Jesus ame, ame. Study 1

14 14 Prophets Foretell Jesus Comig Jeremiah 33:14-16 Bible Poit Jesus fulfilled God s promise. Key Verse All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgi will be with child ad will give birth to a so, ad they will call him Immauel which meas, God with us (Matthew 1:22-23). Quotables Daily Challege takig it HOME Let God s promises shie o your problems. Corrie Te Boom Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. search olie for a list of prophecies about Jesus. Cosider how Jesus has already fulfilled those prophecies ad what that tells you about God. Pray about the way those promises have impacted your life. search olie for a list of predictios people have made about whe the world would ed. May of these predicted times have come ad goe already. Go over the list with a fried, ad talk about what it meas to you that God s prophecies did happe. Take home your artwork about promises. Commit to followig through o your respose promise to God. Faith Joural What differece does it make to you that Jesus fulfilled God s promise? Talk With Your Family Read Deuteroomy 31:6, ad discuss the followig questios with your family: What does this promise of God mea to you right ow? Whe have you experieced this promise i actio? Whe has it bee hard for you to believe i God s promise? I what way did Jesus help make this promise possible for us? Have family members stick a piece of tape o a article of clothig for the day. (It ca be i a pocket or iside a pat leg if you wat it to be hidde.) At the ed of the day, reflect o how well the tape stayed with you ad discuss how that is like or ulike God s promise of his presece i your life.! ok to copy Study 1

15 Study 2 15 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 Seior highers may have difficulty admittig or eve recogizig their eed for ayoe, eve Jesus. Some may act as though othig ca hurt them. Others may simply withdraw ito themselves because they re afraid to show how they re really feelig. Help your studets uderstad their eed for Jesus by teachig that Jesus came for everyoe, regardless of whether or ot they recogize or admit their eed for him. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio Problem Solved (about 20 mi.) Ivet ad market products that solve problems. Bibles, paper, pes, markers Bible Poit The world eeds Jesus. Key Verse For God did ot sed his So ito the world to codem the world, but to save the world through him (Joh 3:17). 2 Bible Exploratio Zechariah s Sog (about 15 mi.) Draw cave art represetig parts of Zechariah s sog. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Bibles, brow paper bags, scissors, markers, tape Cut the bottoms off the paper bags, ad the cut dow oe seam to ope each bag ito a flat piece of paper. Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will recogize ad express their eed for Jesus. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 2

16 16 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep Ufelt Need (about 10 mi.) Determie the differece betwee felt ad ufelt eeds. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Liste to a worshipful sog that will help them cosider their ow eed for Jesus. music player, sog Lord I Need You by Matt Maher Dowload Lord I Need You by Matt Maher, ad cue your music player so you re ready to play it. You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus (about 15 mi.) Fill i a daily graph to see a eed for Jesus. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus hadout (at the ed of this study), pes 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 2

17 17 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders God Promises a Child to Zechariah ad Elizabeth i Their Old Age The priest Zechariah doubted a agel s message to him that his agig wife, Elizabeth, would have a so who would prepare the way for the Lord. Because of his ubelief, Zechariah was struck with a iability to speak util the baby was bor. Joh the Baptist Is Bor Whe Joh was bor, Zechariah was suddely able to speak agai. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah delivered the prophecy cotaied i Luke 1: This proclamatio is kow as the Beedictus, which is Lati for praise be, the first words of the prophecy. much, the Jews loged for peace. Our world is o differet. Caught up i the hectic schedules of livig, most people year for the peace Jesus ca offer. Ad thaks to our merciful God, that peace is available to all who believe i Jesus. The Jesus Coectio We ca ask God to help us see the ways that he wats us to live i the full reality of our eed for him. Whe we ackowledge that we eed Jesus, we ca take actio o our eed for him i our ow lives. Thik about ways you re i eed right ow. Ask for Jesus help, ad trust him to meet your eeds. You ca write your prayer here. Luke 1:76 idicates that Joh would be a prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus. He would be the Elijah figure metioed i Malachi 4:5-6 who was to appear before the comig of the Lord. Joh was to give people the kowledge of salvatio. They had drifted so far away from God that they had lost eve that kowledge. Joh was to prepare them for Jesus by remidig them of what that salvatio was all about the remissio of sis. How would the forgiveess of sis be possible? Through the mercy of God. The words of Luke 1:78-79 are remiiscet of Isaiah 60:1: Arise, shie, for your light has come, ad the glory of the Lord rises upo you. The comig of Jesus would brig light to a dark world through the mercy of our lovig God. Zechariah Also Promises Peace The fial promise of peace metioed at the ed of verse 79 might have brought a sigh of relief to the average Jew. Havig suffered ad struggled so Study 2

18 18 Faith Coectio Problem Solved Bibles paper pes markers Problem Solved Welcome studets to the group. Have studets form groups of four, ad give each group Bibles, a piece of paper, a pe, ad some markers. Say: Whe etrepreeurs come up with successful busiess ideas, usually it s because their idea solves a problem. For example, people s iphoe cords are t log eough for them to use the phoe while it s chargig, so someoe iveted a loger cord. Today your group is goig to ivet a product that solves a problem. You ll idetify the problem, draw a sketch of your proposed solutio, ad create a billboard advertisemet for it o your paper. Allow about 10 miutes. After 10 miutes, have groups take turs briefly explaiig what problems their ivetios solve ad showig their billboards. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How well do you thik your product solves the problem you idetified? How widespread do you thik the problem you idetified is? Based o those aswers, how successful do you thik a product like this would be? Have everyoe ope their Bibles to the Key Verse, Joh 3:17, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: For God did ot sed his So ito the world to codem the world, but to save the world through him. What do you thik of the problem Jesus was tryig to solve, accordig to our Key Verse? Say: It s ot just ivetios that ca solve problems. Jesus came because there was a big problem: the world eeds Jesus. Ufortuately, ot everyoe recogizes this problem i their lives! Today we ll explore our eed for Jesus ad idetify why he s the solutio for our problems. Study 2

19 19 2 Bible Exploratio Zechariah s Sog Have your studets remai i their groups of four. Give each group a Bible, a flatteed paper bag, ad markers. Say: We re goig to read some thigs from Luke 1:68-79 that Zechariah said about who Jesus would be. Verses are about Jesus, ad verses are about Joh the Baptist, who is Zechariah s so ad Jesus cousi. Eve though Zechariah did t live i a cave, we re goig to depict these verses i the form of cave drawigs. Read oe verse at a time, ad come up with a way to add a drawig to your cave wall. Make sure everyoe is ivolved i creatig your mural of cave drawigs. Allow time to read the passages ad draw cavema-style drawigs. Whe groups have fiished, create a mural by postig the pictures ext to each other o a wall i your room. Zechariah s Sog Bibles brow paper bags scissors markers tape Zechariah s Sog Easy Prep Cut the bottoms off the paper bags, ad the cut dow oe seam to ope each bag ito a flat piece of paper. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. If you were a archaeologist studyig these cave drawigs, what coclusios would you reach about Jesus? I what ways did you evisio the thigs Zechariah said about Jesus meetig the eeds of the world? eve though Jesus came a log time ago, why does the world still eed him? Say: Zechariah kew that the world eeds Jesus. People eeded him back the, ad we still eed him today. Let s explore the kids of eeds Jesus ca meet i people s lives. Study 2

20 20 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Ufelt Need Say: We re goig to look at whether Jesus addresses felt eeds or ufelt eeds. Felt eeds are really obvious eeds. You re starvig to death, you eed food. Ufelt eeds are t as tagible. People might ot eve always realize they have a ufelt eed. For example, we all eed a Savior, but ot everyoe realizes it. Have studets all stad o oe side of the room. Ask someoe to shout out a felt eed Jesus addressed. The have everyoe walk to the other side of the room, ad ask someoe to shout out a ufelt eed. Cotiue back ad forth i this maer util studets ru out of ideas, ad see which side studets ed o. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Based o our walk back ad forth, do you thik Jesus addresses more felt eeds or ufelt eeds? Explai. Which type of eeds Jesus meets are more importat? Why do people eed Jesus, eve if they do t realize it? Say: Whether we realize it or ot, the world eeds Jesus. Jesus was bor, he died, ad he was resurrected so that we ca have eteral life with him. That met a major ufelt eed Zechariah kew we all have. Let s explore how our eed for Jesus shows up i our lives. Media Coectio music player sog Lord I Need You by Matt Maher Media Coectio Easy Prep Dowload Lord I Need You by Matt Maher, ad cue your music player so you re ready to play it. Media Coectio (Optio) Istead of doig the Ufelt Need activity, have studets liste to the sog Lord I Need You by Matt Maher. Studets who kow the words ca sig alog, but otherwise they ca sit quietly ad focus o the lyrics. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Study 2

21 21 What evidece did this sog preset of our eed for Jesus? I what ways did this sog resoate with you? Why do all people have the eed for Jesus expressed i this sog eve if they do t realize it? Say: Whether we realize it or ot, the world eeds Jesus. Si rus deep i all of us, ad we eed Jesus grace. Jesus was bor, he died, ad he was resurrected so that we ca have eteral life with him. This sog says we eed Jesus every hour. Zechariah said we eed Jesus all our days. Let s explore how our eed for Jesus shows up i our lives. You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus Say: the world eeds Jesus, but each oe of us eeds Jesus as well. Ad ot just whe we first recogize our eed for Jesus, but every momet of every day. Distribute You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus hadouts (at the ed of this study) to all studets, or have them ope to page 20 i their Hadbooks. Make sure everyoe has a pe. Say: Take a couple of miutes to siletly cosider this graph ad fill i at least oe square for each day. For example, you might eed Jesus Moday morig to help you have a good attitude about a ew week at school or Wedesday afteroo to help you share about Jesus with your teammates who do t kow him. Try to remember that you eed Jesus, ad you ca be used by Jesus to tell others about him. You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Allow studets five miutes to work quietly. The ask them to form small groups ad share with each other at least oe of the times they eed Jesus. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Whe does the world eed Jesus? I other words, is a perso s eed for Jesus a oe-time thig? Explai. durig a typical week, how ofte would you say you thik about your eed for Jesus? Explai. How do you thik your life might chage if you recogized your eed for Jesus more frequetly? What ca you do this week to rely o Jesus ad recogize your eed for him? Say: The world eeds Jesus as our Savior because oe of us ca save ourselves. But we also eed Jesus o a daily basis. We ca t go through life, with all Study 2

22 22 its temptatios ad challeges, o our ow. Whe we try, we quickly realize there s a lot that s out of our cotrol. Zechariah recogized that we eed Jesus ot oly for salvatio but also to rescue us ad help us serve him. Let s tur to Jesus with all our eeds this week. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see why the world eeds Jesus. Let s discuss how we ca focus o our eed for Jesus this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: list all the eeds that God meets for you i oe day icludig all the little thigs. Post that list somewhere you ll see it daily, ad as you read it, thak God for meetig your eeds. Ask a trusted fried or two to help you hear yourself this week. Call, text, or a fried with all your eeds, ad talk about whether they are truly eeds or just thigs that you wat. Buy some Jesus-focused Christmas cards, ad write otes to frieds who eed Jesus. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: The world eeds Jesus. Ad we eed Jesus. Let s focus o how Jesus meets our eeds as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Study 2

23 23 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about our eed for Jesus. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets form trios ad share about ways they eed Jesus. The have them pray together for Jesus to meet those eeds. Study 2

24 24 You Need Jesus, I Need Jesus Moday Tuesday Wedesday Thursday Friday Saturday Suday Morig Afteroo Eveig! ok to copy Study 2

25 25 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 Bible Poit The world eeds Jesus. Key Verse For God did ot sed his So ito the world to codem the world, but to save the world through him (Joh 3:17). Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. list all the eeds that God meets for you i oe day icludig all the little thigs. Post that list somewhere you ll see it daily, ad as you read it, thak God for meetig your eeds. Ask a trusted fried or two to help you hear yourself this week. Call, text, or a fried with all your eeds, ad talk about whether they are truly eeds or just thigs that you wat. Buy some Jesus-focused Christmas cards, ad write otes to frieds who eed Jesus. Faith Joural Why do you eed Jesus today? I what area of your life do you struggle with surrederig to Jesus? takig it HOME Quotables The story [has] bee read so may Christmases that the seeds of woder it holds have falle o ears that hear oly the oe miracle: His birth. But the larger truth is that He, i fact, came to birth miracles i all of us as a way of life. Jack Hayford, The Mary Miracle Talk With Your Family As a family, look at some olie ews ad discuss what evidece you see that the world eeds Jesus. The read Joh 3:17 with your family, ad discuss the followig questios: Why did Jesus come to earth? How does that help with the eeds we saw i the ews? How does Jesus missio o earth meet your eeds?! ok to copy Study 2

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27 Study 3 27 Joh Prepares People for Jesus Comig Luke 3:7-18 Because it s so easy for seior highers to feel guilty, they may make a faith commitmet without truly examiig the reasos for their guilt or their eed for repetace. Help your studets uderstad their si without pilig o the weight of guilt. You ca do this throughout this study by explaiig the effects of si. Help them uderstad that God does t focus o their si, but rather, he urges them toward forgiveess ad grace. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio 2 Bible Exploratio Preparatio A-Z (about 15 mi.) Come up with alphabetical ways to prepare. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Practice preparig by usig a Mad Libs app. 20-Secod Speeches (about 15 mi.) Give speeches about repetace based o the biblical accout of Joh the Baptist. Repetace Fruit (about 20 mi.) Create fruit trees that reflect repetace. smartphoe(s) or tablet(s) with Iteret access Bibles, paper, pes, markers Bibles, cardboard pieces, paitbrushes, brow pait, tacky glue, colorful poy beads or buttos, pes or fie-tipped markers, costructio paper (optioal), scissors (optioal) Bible Poit Repetig prepares us for Jesus. Key Verse If we cofess our sis, he is faithful ad just ad will forgive us our sis ad purify us from all urighteousess (1 Joh 1:9). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will seek God s forgiveess. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 3

28 28 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Goodbye, Si (about 10 mi.) Repet of sis they ve committed. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bible, balloos, permaet markers Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 3

29 29 Joh Prepares People for Jesus Comig Luke 3:7-18 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Joh Calls for Sicere Repetace From his ame, most people uderstad that Joh baptized people. Crowds came to him to be baptized as a symbol of beig cleased of their former way of life ad as a commitmet to worship the true God of Israel. However, Luke 3:7-18 makes it clear that Joh did t willigly baptize ad bless everyoe who came to him. Joh s strog admoitio i Luke 3:7 was directed at those whose requests to be baptized stemmed from a desire to satisfy outward appearaces rather tha a sicere itetio to chage their ufaithful ways. Joh was demadig chaged lives as a visible sig that people had tured to God. the greatess of the Oe who was yet to begi his miistry, Oe for whom he felt uworthy of performig the most humble task utyig his sadals. The Jesus Coectio As your relatioship with Jesus grows, so will your desire to produce fruit to please him. Read Joh 3: What do you thik of the way Joh respoded to people who believed he might be the Christ? How difficult is it for you to humbly poit people to Jesus? Pray that you ca humbly share the love of Jesus with others. You ca write your prayer here. Joh Wars of the Comig Judgmet Joh poited out that those who believed they had a advatage because they were descedats of Abraham were mistake. Who their acestors were was uimportat. What couted was repetace. Joh wated people to truly repet ad tur to God because he saw the judgmet comig. God was about to get rid of the ufruitful trees. Joh kew that judgmet was about to come to the Jews, ad it did 40 years later whe Jerusalem was destroyed. It should be made clear that Joh s statemets i Luke 3:10-14 are ot requiremets for salvatio. They re examples of what Joh was suggestig lives that are chaged as a result of choosig to live for God. Crowds of people throged to hear Joh ad be baptized. May accepted his cuttig message; some eve suggested that he himself might be the Messiah (Luke 3:15). I the face of such acclamatio, Joh could easily have allowed himself to become a prideful leader. However, his statemet i Luke 3:16 reveals his true character. He was fully aware of Study 3

30 30 Faith Coectio Preparatio A-Z Welcome studets to the group. Have studets form groups of four or five. Say: Today s topic is preparig our hearts for Jesus. As we cosider what it meas to prepare our hearts, let s start by just thikig about preparatio i geeral. For example, before you came to church today, what were some thigs you did to prepare? Take about three aswers. Say: I your groups, you re goig to go aroud ad ame tasks people do to prepare for somethig or items that help people prepare. But you ll have to go alphabetically. So someoe will ame somethig that starts with A, ad the the ext perso i the circle will ame somethig for B, ad so o. If you get stuck, you ca pass but the ext perso will have to come up with somethig for that letter. See if you ca make it to Z! Allow about 10 miutes. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What did you do to try to prepare for your tur i this game? Did it help? What were some of the most importat preparatio tasks or items you came up with? How do those thigs remid you of what it takes to prepare your heart for Jesus? Say: If you really thik of every sigle thig we all did to prepare for church today, it s a lot! It probably bega last ight whe you set your alarm. We do a lot to prepare for thigs like tests or our future, but sometimes we eglect preparig our hearts. Today we ll look at what Joh the Baptist said about how repetig prepares us for Jesus. Media Coectio smartphoe(s) or tablet(s) with Iteret access Media Coectio (Optio) Istead of doig the Preparatio A-Z activity, have studets form as may groups as there are smartphoes or tablets. If everyoe has oe, make sure your groups have at least two studets i them. Have everyoe dowload a free Mad Libs-type of app, ad have them fill i the parts of speech ad the read their fiished stories. Study 3

31 31 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How did your words prepare you for a completed story? Based o your ed result, would you say you prepared well? How did this app remid you of what it takes to prepare your heart for Jesus? Say: If you d eglected to fill i every word, you would t have bee prepared to read your story. We do a lot to prepare for thigs like tests or our future, but sometimes we eglect preparig our hearts. Today we ll look at what Joh the Baptist said about how repetig prepares us for Jesus. 2 Bible Exploratio 20-Secod Speeches Have studets form groups of three, ad give a Bible to each trio. Set out paper, pes, ad markers for studets who wat them. The have trios read Luke 3:7-18 together. 20-Secod Speeches Bibles paper pes markers Say: Your trio will have 20 secods to deliver Joh s message for a moder-day audiece. You ca make a speech, do a mime, hold up sigs, sig a sog, show it i pictures, or aythig else you thik will covey the message i just 20 secods. Ask groups to refer to the passage as they prepare short speeches based o Joh s words. Allow about five miutes for preparatio, ad the have trios preset their 20-secod speeches. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Which presetatio got your attetio more tha ay of the others? Why? How did Joh the Baptist get people s attetio whe he spoke? How would you summarize Joh the Baptist s message? How did his message help people prepare for Jesus? Say: Joh lived i a time i which people were lookig for the Messiah, ad whe they heard he was comig, they wated to be ready. He told people that repetig prepares us for Jesus. Study 3

32 32 Repetace Fruit Repetace Fruit Bibles cardboard pieces paitbrushes brow pait tacky glue colorful poy beads or buttos pes or fie-tipped markers costructio paper (optioal) scissors (optioal) Have studets keep their Bibles ope to Luke 3:7-18. Give each studet a piece of cardboard ad a paitbrush. Set out the remaiig supplies to share. Say: Joh the Baptist talked about bearig good fruit. We re goig to create artwork that demostrates what good ad bad fruit look like. Have studets follow these steps: 1. Pait a bare tree o the cardboard. 2. Add beads or buttos (fruit) usig tacky glue. They ll wat some fruit growig o the tree ad some falle o the groud. Leave space to write aroud the beads or buttos. Studets may also add texture to the truk of their tree by addig stripes of tacky glue. Whe it dries, it will be clear. Optioally, have studets cut leaves out of costructio paper, crumple them a little for texture, ad the glue those to the tree or groud. 3. Have studets write a actio that shows good fruit aroud each piece of fruit o their tree. Have them write actios that show bad fruit aroud the rotte fruit o the groud. They ca get ideas from Joh 3:7-18 ad add their ow ideas as well. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What were some good fruits you thought of or saw i the passage? bad? What would eed to chage i your life for you to repet of the bad fruits? What does it mea to you to produce fruits i keepig with repetace? Why is it good to focus o the good fruits whe you re repetig? Study 3

33 33 Say: Joh the Baptist gave a few great examples of what good fruit i keepig with repetace looks like. It looks like givig, ot extortig. It looks like geerosity ad cotetmet, ot greed. We kow that repetig prepares us for Jesus, ad ultimately he s the oe who yields good fruit i our lives. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Goodbye, Si Have a willig studet read aloud the Key Verse, 1 Joh 1:9: If we cofess our sis, he is faithful ad just ad will forgive us our sis ad purify us from all urighteousess. Ask studets to each fid a place i the room where they ca have some privacy but ca still hear you talkig. Say: We ve talked a lot today about repetace ad forgiveess. It s importat to kow that whe the Bible speaks of repetace, it s speakig to us. We must repet i order to be forgive. Goodbye, Si Bible balloos permaet markers! balloo warig To avoid chokig hazards, be sure to pick up pieces of ay broke balloos promptly. Balloos may cotai latex. Give each studet a permaet marker ad a balloo. Ask studets to blow up their balloos ad tie them off. The have studets sit quietly ad thik about the si i their lives. After a few miutes, ask studets to draw o their balloos a picture or a symbol of somethig they would like to repet of. Say: repetig prepares us for Jesus. Whe we repet, our sis are forgive goe. The oe thig that God chooses to forget is our si. Have studets all stomp o their balloos to pop them at the same time, remidig kids that just like the balloos are stomped out, so are their sis. Be sure to have everyoe pick up balloo pieces ad throw them away. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What would it take to stomp out si i your life? What ca make repetace hard? What s oe actio you ca take this week to lead you toward repetace? Say: Repetace ca be a challege. It s a lot easier to pop a balloo tha it is to truly stomp out si i our lives. But Jesus does t expect us to be perfect. Whe Joh the Baptist taught that repetig prepares us for Jesus, he meat that we eed to have ope hearts ready for Jesus to make a chage. Let s work o that this week. Study 3

34 34 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see how repetig prepares us for Jesus. Let s discuss how we ca repet of our sis this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: sped five miutes at the ed of every day evaluatig your actios ad askig God to forgive you of your sis. Ask a close Christia fried or family member to be hoest with you about areas of si you might ot realize you have. Repet of those sis. Whe you fid yourself i temptatio, physically spi i a circle to represet turig aroud ad makig the right choice. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Before Jesus bega his miistry, Joh the Baptist helped people get ready by preachig that repetig prepares us for Jesus. Let s show repetace as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about repetace. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Allow a few miutes of silet reflectio as studets cofess their sis to Jesus. Study 3

35 35 Joh Prepares People for Jesus Comig Luke 3:7-18 Bible Poit Repetig prepares us for Jesus. Key Verse If we cofess our sis, he is faithful ad just ad will forgive us our sis ad purify us from all urighteousess (1 Joh 1:9). Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. sped five miutes at the ed of every day evaluatig your actios ad askig God to forgive you of your sis. Ask a close Christia fried or family member to be hoest with you about areas of si you might ot realize you have. Repet of those sis. Whe you fid yourself i temptatio, physically spi i a circle to represet turig aroud ad makig the right choice. Faith Joural Imagie Joh the Baptist is tellig you to repet. What are you covicted to repet of? takig it HOME Quotables Still, there seems to be somethig powerful about the ame of Jesus. If you ca pick oly oe thig to say about Christiaity, speak of Jesus. Jesus is the core of our faith. J. Mack Stiles, Speakig of Jesus Talk With Your Family Read 1 Joh 1:8-10 with your family, ad discuss the followig questios: What are some excuses you ve used to try to dey si? What ca make it difficult to ask Jesus for forgiveess? After family members have shared, sped time askig God to forgive sis that have bee difficult to cofess i the past. The come up with a pla to support each other as you repet of those sis.! ok to copy Study 3

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37 Study 4 37 The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2:1-20 Adolescets are targeted by advertisers ad esared i webs of commercialism, especially at Christmastime. It s hard for them to stay focused o the true reaso for the seaso. At times, all the ew gadgets ad gizmos available ca seem like more of a reaso to celebrate tha a evet they ve heard may times. Use this study to challege studets to place their focus o the ultimate giver of gifts God ad to celebrate Jesus birth. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio Take the Good, Take the Bad (about 20 mi.) Decide whether to keep 2 gifts, ad explore the meaig of givig ad receivig gifts at Christmas. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a scee from Elf that shows exuberat ethusiasm for Christmas. slips of paper, pes, balloos video player, movie Elf Cue Elf to 00:27:44, whe the Gimbels toy departmet maager says, Okay people, tomorrow morig, 10 a.m.! Bible Poit Celebrate Jesus birth. Key Verse For to us a child is bor, to us a so is give, ad the govermet will be o his shoulders. Ad he will be called Woderful Couselor, Mighty God, Everlastig Father, Price of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will celebrate Jesus birth. 2 Bible Exploratio Christmas Is All Aroud Us (about 20 mi.) Decorate the room for Christmas with ispiratio from the Bible passage. Bibles, paper, scissors, markers, craft supplies, tape Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 4

38 38 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Let s Celebrate Our Savior (about 20 mi.) Come up with ideas to make every Christmas traditio a celebratio of Jesus. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. idex cards, pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 4

39 39 The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2:1-20 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Mary ad Joseph s Egagemet Is Disrupted Mary ad Joseph s betrothal was quite differet from egagemets today. I fact, i Jewish culture at that time, a betrothed couple had already take public vows ad was legally boud as i a marriage, except that the couple was ot to live together or have itercourse util the appoited time. Furthermore, it is made clear i Luke 1:27 ad 34 that Mary was ideed a virgi. Mary s iitial respose to the agel (Luke 1:34) does t idicate ay hesitatio i watig the agel s message to be true. To be the mother of the Messiah was the dream of every Jewish woma. However, Mary had ot yet lived with Joseph, ad she kew the humiliatio she would experiece if it became kow that she was pregat. She also questioed the physical possibility of such a pregacy. The Jesus Coectio Mary was a willig servat of God. Her life provides a great example of the attitude we ca brig to our relatioship with Jesus. Read aloud Luke 1: Reflect o how scary ad excitig it was for Mary to declare her service to the Lord by givig birth to the Savior. How have you reacted to God whe he has give you a scary assigmet to serve him? Pray to God, askig him to give you the stregth to serve him o matter what he has called you to do. You ca write your prayer here. Mary Respods to God i Faith Whe Mary was told how the child would be coceived ad was remided that God ca do aythig, she respoded i humble obediece. She was God s servat, ad she wated God s pla to be fulfilled i her life. We do t kow if Mary wet aloe to visit Elizabeth, but it seems she left i a hurry, though the trip must have take five days. Elizabeth s proclamatio that Mary would bear the child of God was a fial cofirmatio to Mary of all that she had likely bee thikig durig those five days of travel. With that realizatio, Mary burst ito the poem we kow as the Magificat as she gave glory to God for sedig Jesus to earth through her. Study 4

40 40 Faith Coectio Take the Good, Take the Bad slips of paper pes balloos! balloo warig To avoid chokig hazards, be sure to pick up pieces of ay broke balloos promptly. Balloos may cotai latex. Take the Good, Take the Bad Welcome studets to the group. Give everyoe two small slips of paper, a pe, ad a balloo. Say: O oe slip of paper, write a Christmas gift you would absolutely love to get. O the other slip of paper, write somethig you d hate to get for Christmas. These ca be actual thigs people ca buy or more abstract thigs like good health. Allow time. Have studets roll up their slips of paper tightly so they ll fit iside a balloo. Gather the slips all together, mix them all up (mixig the good with the bad), ad redistribute them so each studet gets two. Have studets each put their two slips ito their balloo without readig them. Set all the balloos i the middle of the floor. Have studets come up, oe at a time, to pop a balloo ad read the two slips iside. At this poit studets will have to decide if they wat to keep both or keep either but they ca t choose to keep just oe. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What helped you make your decisio about whether to keep or toss both gifts? What makes a gift desirable? God set Jesus as a gift for us. What are the pros ad cos that people might weigh to cosider whether to accept that gift? Say: If you got two good gifts or two bad gifts, it was pretty obvious what to do. But some of you had a tough choice to make. Focusig o Jesus at Christmas is t always the easy choice. It may mea settig aside our greed ad our focus o presets. But Jesus really is the greatest gift ever! He s worth the sacrifice! Let s dig ito how we ca celebrate Jesus birth. Study 4

41 41 Media Coectio (Optio) Tip May movie clips are available at youtube.com. Istead of doig the Take the Good, Take the Bad activity, show studets a clip from the movie Elf that helps them thik about celebratig Christmas. Start the clip at 00:27:44, whe the Gimbels toy departmet maager says, Okay people, tomorrow morig, 10 a.m.! I this clip, Buddy the Elf lears that Sata is comig tomorrow ad ca t cotai his excitemet. To prepare for Sata s arrival, Buddy decorates the whole toy departmet. Ed the clip at 00:31:01, whe Buddy rips wrappig paper ad smiles. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What evidece did you otice that suggests Buddy really likes Christmas? How does his attitude toward Sata compare to most Christias attitudes toward Jesus at Christmas? Buddy prepared for Sata by decoratig the store really icely. What kids of thigs do people do to prepare for celebratig Jesus? Media Coectio video player movie Elf Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Elf to 00:27:44, whe the Gimbels toy departmet maager says, Okay people, tomorrow morig, 10 a.m.! Say: You ve probably ever bee quite as excited about Christmas as Buddy the Elf. But Buddy s ethusiasm focused o Sata. We kow that the real reaso behid Christmas is to celebrate Jesus birth. Let s see if we ca be as ethused about Jesus as Buddy is about Sata. I our ext activity, we ll use ispiratio from the evets surroudig Jesus birth to decorate our room maybe eve as ice as Buddy s decoratig. 2 Bible Exploratio Christmas Is All Aroud Us Distribute Bibles. Have studets form groups of four. Say: As you read our Bible passage, foud i Luke 1:26-45 ad Luke 2:1-20, thik of ways you ca decorate our room as a celebratio of Jesus birth. Be creative, ad use ay of the craft supplies provided to really deck out our room with elaborate displays. You ll also read our Key Verse, Isaiah 9:6, ad use that for ispiratio. Allow about 15 miutes for groups to read the passages ad create ad hag decoratios. Help as eeded. Christmas Is All Aroud Us Bibles paper scissors markers craft supplies tape Study 4

42 42 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How do our decoratios reflect the true meaig of Christmas? I what ways do regular Christmas decoratios poit you to Jesus or distract from him? What ca you lear from the way the agels, shepherds, ad Mary celebrated Jesus birth? Say: There s more tha oe way to celebrate Jesus birth. The agels did it loudly ad ostetatiously, makig a big display i the sky. Mary did it quietly, treasurig the momets. The shepherds did it with gusto, rushig to see Jesus ad rushig to tell other people. The thig that all of these methods have i commo is that the focus was o Jesus. Let s cosider how our culture s Christmas traditios ca truly help us focus o Jesus. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Let s Celebrate Our Savior idex cards pes Let s Celebrate Our Savior Have studets remai i their groups of four. Give each group several idex cards ad a pe. Say: As a group, thik of as may Christmas traditios as you ca that may ot focus o Jesus, or at least ot as strogly as they could. They may be thigs your family does, thigs your frieds do, thigs you ve see o TV, or other traditios you ve heard of. Write each oe o a idex card. Allow about five miutes. The have groups trade idex cards with aother group. Say: O each of the idex cards you received, read the traditio ad thik of a way to reivet that traditio so that it s all about Jesus. Write your idea o the back of the card. Allow about seve miutes. The allow a few miutes for groups to share some of their best ideas with everyoe. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Which traditios o your cards do you persoally celebrate? Why do you like those traditios? What do you thik of the ideas to trasform those traditios to be all about Jesus? What will you do this week to make sure your Christmas celebratio focuses o Jesus birth? Study 4

43 43 Say: The very first Christmas was all about Jesus. There were o greetig cards, o Christmas trees, o lights, ad o Sata. Just a baby i a bar, some lowly shepherds, ad some excited agels. As cultural elemets were added over time, some ideas were meat to poit people to Jesus ad others were t. Eve some of the traditios that were origially about Jesus have lost their meaig. As we celebrate Jesus birth, let s keep our focus o him. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see how we ca celebrate Jesus birth. Let s discuss how we ll appreciate the gift of Jesus this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: Tie a Christmas ribbo o your keychai ad pray, thakig God for Jesus each time you see it. sed oe Christmas card each day this week to someoe who ecourages you to follow Jesus. use oe of the ideas from the Let s Celebrate Our Savior activity to make sure your Christmas traditios focus o celebratig Jesus. Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Whe Jesus was bor, Mary treasured the celebratio from the shepherds ad agels. Ad God treasures it whe we celebrate Jesus birth. Let s celebrate Jesus this week as we follow through with our Daily Challeges. Study 4

44 44 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about Jesus birth. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i a celebratio prayer. Have studets clap ad cheer like they would for a wiig sports team or great performace, but have them do it as a celebratio of Jesus. Study 4

45 45 The So of God Is Bor! Luke 1:26-45; 2:1-20 Bible Poit Celebrate Jesus birth. Key Verse For to us a child is bor, to us a so is give, ad the govermet will be o his shoulders. Ad he will be called Woderful Couselor, Mighty God, Everlastig Father, Price of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Tie a Christmas ribbo o your keychai ad pray, thakig God for Jesus each time you see it. sed oe Christmas card each day this week to someoe who ecourages you to follow Jesus. use oe of the ideas from the Let s Celebrate Our Savior activity to make sure your Christmas traditios focus o celebratig Jesus. Faith Joural I what meaigful way will you celebrate Jesus birth? Talk With Your Family takig it HOME Quotables The virgi Mary heard the agel out, podered the repercussios, ad replied, I am the Lord s servat. May it be to me as you have said. She was the first perso to accept Jesus o his ow terms, regardless of the persoal cost. Philip Yacey, The Jesus I Never Kew Read Mary s words i Luke 1: Ask each family member to share his or her aswers to these questios: What stads out to you about Mary s reactio to the agel? I what ways does this passage help you kow how to welcome ad accept Jesus this Christmas? Take time as a family to evaluate your Christmas traditios. Which have real meaig for you? Which may cause more stress ad work tha they re worth? Which help you have a attitude like Mary s?! ok to copy Study 4

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47 Study 5 47 Jesus Grows Up Luke 2:39-52 Seior highers work hard at establishig their idetities. They ca get frustrated whe they feel that others do t take the time to really get to kow who they are ad what they are all about. Take time to get to kow your studets by listeig to them ad askig about their weeks. Let them kow that you see the ways Jesus has made them special. Ad use this study to show that Jesus had his ow uique ad special persoality. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio 2 Bible Exploratio House Rules (about 15 mi.) List rules, ad vote o which they thik are fair. Jesus Parets Worried, Too (about 20 mi.) Examie the family crisis i the Bible passage, ad recall similar experieces. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 15 mi.) Show a movie clip i which parets lose their so, ad compare it with the Bible passage. whiteboard or poster board ad tape, marker Bibles Bibles, video player, movie Home Aloe Cue Home Aloe to 00:25:06, whe the mother wakes up o the plae. Bible Poit Jesus is special. Key Verse I ad the Father are oe (Joh 10:30). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will ivestigate ad explai how Jesus is uique. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 5

48 48 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Oe of a Kid (about 15 mi.) Show the uique characteristics of Jesus ad the ways he s like us. Three i Oe (about 10 mi.) Examie a apple ad the Key Verse to better uderstad the Triity. sticky otes, pes, paiter s tape small apples (at least 1 for every 3 to 4 studets), apkis, plastic kives Use the paiter s tape to make a large Ve diagram o the wall. A Ve diagram shows 2 circles side by side that overlap i the middle. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 5

49 49 Jesus Grows Up Luke 2:39-52 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Joseph, Mary, ad Jesus Travel to Jerusalem for Passover Almost all we kow of Jesus childhood betwee ifacy ad age 12 is the summary i Luke 2:40. It appears that eve i light of his siless perfectio, he developed as a ormal child would. All Jewish males were supposed to worship at the Temple i Jerusalem durig Passover, but ot all did. Jewish wome were ot required to go at all. Accordig to Luke 2:41, Mary ad Joseph wet every year, demostratig their faithfuless ad commitmet to God. Their faithfuless idicates the type of home Jesus grew up i. This visit to Jerusalem was sigificat because Jesus was 12 years old. He had likely bee to the Temple to worship before, but ow he was to prepare to take his place i the religious commuity, which would happe whe he tured 13. was already viewed as a teacher. Luke 2:47 states that the teachers i the Temple were impressed by what he uderstood ad by the aswers he gave. This implies that they were askig him questios as well as aswerig his. The Jesus Coectio Jesus statemet to Mary ad Joseph that he had to be i his Father s house is a example to us that our relatioship with Jesus has to be our mai priority i our lives. This week focuses o the fact that Jesus is special. Though he developed like a ordiary child, his experiece i the Temple proves he was t ordiary. Pray about what makes Jesus special to you. You ca write your prayer here. Missig Child Moder readers of this accout may cosider Mary ad Joseph irresposible because they left Jerusalem without kowig that Jesus was with them. However, to uderstad this evet, we must uderstad the culture. Mary ad Joseph were likely travelig i a carava with lots of other family members. It would have bee easy to assume that Jesus was with cousis or other relatives for the day. Some scholars also suggest that adult me ad wome traveled separately i that culture ad both parets could have assumed Jesus was with the other. A Youg Teacher It is sigificat that Jesus was foud sittig amog the teachers. I that culture, a rabbi sat whe he taught. The fact that Jesus was sittig might idicate that he Study 5

50 50 Faith Coectio House Rules whiteboard or poster board ad tape marker House Rules Welcome studets to the group. If usig a poster board, hag it up. Ask studets to call out rules they or their frieds have i their homes. Write the aswers o the board. After you have a good list, have studets vote by a show of hads whether they thik each rule is fair or ufair. Mark each rule with the results. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. for the rules you felt are ufair, why do you feel that way? What helps you uderstad why a rule exists ad is fair? Which of these rules do you thik would ve bee good for Jesus parets to set for him? Say: Today we re goig to look at a time Jesus was still uder his parets supervisio. At oly age 12, he was youger tha you are. You might thik that sice Jesus was perfect, he would t eed rules. We ll see that Jesus is special but he still had to obey his parets. 2 Bible Exploratio Jesus Parets Worried, Too Bibles Jesus Parets Worried, Too Have studets form groups of four. Distribute Bibles, ad have everyoe ope to Luke 2: Have groups read Luke 2:39-40 ad the aswer this questio: What childhood memories do you associate with growig bigger ad wiser? Study 5

51 51 Have groups read Luke 2:41-42 ad the aswer this questio: What family traditios does your family do every year? Have groups read Luke 2:43-44 ad the aswer this questio: Tell about a time you got lost or separated from your parets whe you were a child. Have groups read Luke 2:45-47 ad the aswer these questios: If your parets could t fid you today, where would be the best place for them to look for you, ad why? What does the place Jesus parets foud him tell you about his iterests? Have groups read Luke 2:48-50 ad the aswer these questios: Tell about a time your parets lectured you. Tell about a time you felt like your parets just did t uderstad you. Have groups read Luke 2:51-52 ad the aswer this questio: What evets have helped you be more obediet to your parets? Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. As you discussed your ow experieces, what stuck out to you about the ways Jesus childhood experiece was like yours? I what ways did Jesus experiece show that he was special? How does this passage help you relate to Jesus as both like you ad more special tha ay regular huma? Say: Jesus grew ad developed the way we all do. He eve had times with his parets whe it seemed as if they just did t uderstad each other. I m sure you ca all relate to that! Ad yet, Jesus was special. His hagout place for three straight days was chattig with adults at church. Ad he impressed them! Jesus is special today, too. Let s explore this more. Study 5

52 52 Media Coectio (Optio) Media Coectio Bibles video player movie Home Aloe Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Home Aloe to 00:25:06, whe the mother wakes up o the plae. Istead of doig the Jesus Parets Worried, Too activity, show studets a clip from Home Aloe that parallels the passage i Luke 2: First, have studets read Luke 2: The show the clip begiig at 00:25:06, whe the mother wakes up o the plae. I this clip, Kevi s mother realizes they forgot him for their family vacatio, ad Kevi ejoys his time with o rules. Ed the clip at 00:27:19, whe Ucle Frak says, I forgot my readig glasses. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What did you otice about Kevi s parets reactios versus Mary ad Joseph s whe they realized they d forgotte their so? Have studets read Luke 2: Compare how Kevi spet his time beig lost with how Jesus spet his time. How does this compariso show that Jesus is special? Tell about a time you got lost or separated from your parets whe you were youger. Was that experiece more like Jesus or Kevi s? Explai. spoiler alert: This movie begis with Kevi wishig he did t have his family, ad it eds with him appreciatig them. How does his attitude after havig bee left home aloe compare with Jesus attitude at the ed of our Bible passage? Say: Jesus grew ad developed the way we all do. He eve had times with his parets whe it seemed as if they just did t uderstad each other. I m sure you ca all relate to that! Ad yet, Jesus was special. Most of us would probably sped time left behid the way Kevi did breakig the rules ad havig fu. But Jesus hagout place for three straight days was chattig with adults at church. Ad he impressed them! Jesus is special today, too. Let s explore this more. Study 5

53 53 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Oe of a Kid Have studets form or remai i their groups of four. Give everyoe a pe ad several sticky otes. Say: As a group, thik of thigs that make each of you special. Write each oe o a sticky ote. Allow time. Say: Now thik of thigs that make Jesus special. Write each oe o a sticky ote. Allow time. Say: Now we re goig to sort out our sticky otes i a Ve diagram. I the left circle, put the sticky otes that make you special. I the right circle, put the sticky otes that make Jesus special. If you have ay sticky otes for yourself that would also apply to Jesus, put them i the overlappig area. Otherwise, try to come up with some thigs you have i commo with Jesus, ad put those i the overlappig area. Allow time. Oe of a Kid sticky otes pes paiter s tape Oe of a Kid Easy Prep Use the paiter s tape to make a large Ve diagram o the wall. A Ve diagram shows 2 circles side by side that overlap i the middle. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. lookig at our diagram, do you thik you have more i commo with Jesus or more that is differet from him? What makes the thigs i the Jesus circle stad out as extra special? How ca you use the thigs that are special about you to help people see Jesus more clearly? Say: Jesus is special. From a youg age, he was wowig the Temple leaders. Noe of us are as special or as perfect as Jesus, but God has give us special persoalities ad talets, too. We ca use those special gifts to help people see that Jesus is special. Three i Oe Have studets get ito ew groups of three or four, ad give each group a apple, apkis, ad a sturdy plastic kife. Have groups read aloud together the Key Verse, Joh 10:30: I ad the Father are oe. Say: There are three persos i the Triity God the Father, God the So, ad God the Holy Spirit. Jesus was fully God ad fully ma. He is a part of the Triity. Three i Oe Bibles small apples (at least 1 for every 3 to 4 studets) apkis plastic kives! allergy alert Study 5

54 54 Suggest that there are iterestig similarities betwee the Triity ad a apple, ad the allow several miutes for studets to cut ope their apples ad talk i their groups about the similarities. After makig their observatios, studets ca eat the apples. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What similarities are there betwee the apple ad the Triity? How does explorig the Triity help you uderstad just how special Jesus is? How ca you hoor Jesus as oe with God the Father? Say: Jesus did a lot of thigs to show he s special. He did miracles, he spoke i ways that wowed people, ad he came back to life! But the reaso Jesus is special is because he is oe with God. Sometimes it s temptig to have less reverece for Jesus because of his humaity. But Jesus is also fully God. Let s hoor him as special. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see why Jesus is special. Let s discuss how we ca appreciate Jesus this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: each ight this week, pray for at least five miutes ad thak God for oe of the uique characteristics of Jesus. Talk to someoe who is ot a Christia, ad try to explai to him or her why Jesus is so special. do a Iteret search o world religios. Read about two other religios, ad joural for 10 miutes about the ways that Christiaity is uique. Study 5

55 55 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: From early o i his life, it was clear that Jesus is special. Let s appreciate Jesus for who he is as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about Jesus. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have a popcor-style prayer i which willig studets pray aloud wheever they feel led, thakig Jesus for beig special. Study 5

56 56 Jesus Grows Up Luke 2:39-52 Bible Poit Jesus is special. Key Verse I ad the Father are oe (Joh 10:30). takig it HOME Quotables I evy the first-cetury wome ad me who kew Jesus i the flesh. What would it be like to liste firsthad to his teachig, to ask him my questios, to experiece his miracles, to hag with him as a fried? Bobby Gross, quoted i Faith o the Edge Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. each ight this week, pray for at least five miutes ad thak God for oe of the uique characteristics of Jesus. Talk to someoe who is ot a Christia, ad try to explai to him or her why Jesus is so special. do a Iteret search o world religios. Read about two other religios, ad joural for 10 miutes about the ways that Christiaity is uique. Faith Joural How does Jesus uiqueess make your faith uique whe compared to the beliefs of other religios? Talk With Your Family Read Mark 2:1-12, a passage about Jesus healig a ma who was paralyzed. Discuss these questios as a family: Why does Jesus have the power to forgive sis ad to heal people? What does this passage show about how Jesus is ulike ayoe else? Look up iformatio about Buddha (fouder of Buddhism) ad Mohammed (fouder of Islam), ad compare them with Jesus, who claimed to be ad is God.! ok to copy Study 5

57 Study 6 57 The Word Became Flesh Joh 1:1-18 They do it with their grades, their parets, their teachers, ad defiitely their frieds. Seior highers are always tryig to prove themselves ad measure up. For may of your studets, especially those just explorig Christiaity or questioig their faith for the first time, beig a Christia ca seem like oe more thig to add to the list of uattaiable goals. As you use this study to teach studets about beig a child of God, help your studets focus o the fact that God loves them as they are ad welcomes them as his childre. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio What Child Is This? (about 15 mi.) Act out ad describe imagied childre of celebrities, ad talk about God s childre. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a clip from the movie Big Daddy, ad discuss what it meas to be a good father. idex cards, pes video player, movie Big Daddy Cue Big Daddy to 01:17:23, whe Soy s dad says, First of all, how did this sweet little boy Julia ed up uder your supervisio? Bible Poit We ca be God s childre. Key Verse Yet to all who received him, to those who believed i his ame, he gave the right to become childre of God (Joh 1:12). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will explore what it meas to be a child of God. 2 Bible Exploratio Misuderstood Light (about 15 mi.) Experiece the light Christ brought ito the world as they read ad reflect o this week s Bible passage. Bibles, flashlight Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 6

58 58 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Baby Books (about 20 mi.) Create baby books that demostrate their growth as childre of God. Good Gift/Bad Gift (about 10 mi.) Discover that the best thigs do t always come i the most attractive packages. Bibles, paper, costructio paper, markers, stapler brow luch bags ad decorative gift bags (at least 1 bag per studet), rocks, cady Fill the bags by puttig rocks or juky items i the decorative bags ad cady i the plai luch bags. Fold the tops over to coceal the cotets. Have extra cady available, hidde away. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 6

59 59 The Word Became Flesh Joh 1:1-18 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Livig Word To avoid cofusio, it s importat to ote that the writer of Joh s Gospel was the Apostle Joh, oe of Jesus disciples who apparetly was closer to Jesus tha may of the other disciples (Joh 19:26-27). He is ot to be mistake for Joh the Baptist, who is metioed i this passage. The term repeated i this passage carried special sigificace i both Greek ad Hebrew cultures. Greek philosophers used the Greek word logos (which meas word ) to refer to the mid of god, whatever god they were referrig to. To the Jews, word carried with it the actios of God i their world, God s persoal ivolvemet. Thus, whe Joh referred to Jesus as the Word, he was clearly idetifyig him as God i actio i our world! who receives Jesus ad believes i him ca become a child of God! Absolutely ayoe ca receive the ew life Jesus offers! The Jesus Coectio A glorious beefit of puttig our belief i Christ is that we ca be childre of God. This relatioship brigs us all the advatages grated to a child of the Kig the Kig of the uiverse. Dwell o Joh 1:12. What are the implicatios i your life of beig a child of God? Live your life as if you are the child of the Kig of the uiverse. Say a prayer of thaksgivig to your heavely Father for adoptig you ito his royal family. You ca write your prayer here. Jesus Existed at Creatio Notice that i Joh 1:3, Joh emphasizes Jesus deity by poitig out that he was active i the very creatio of the world. Jesus did t come ito beig whe he was bor i the Bethlehem stable; he existed as God with the Father from the very begiig. A Sacrifice for All Joh 1:10-11 reveals the sadess Jesus must have felt whe he came to earth. The very people he had created who had bee told of his comig by Old Testamet prophets as well as by Joh the Baptist, to whom he had come to reveal God, for whom he had come to sacrifice his life did ot recogize or ackowledge him. The good ews is that Jesus loved them (ad us) ayway! He did t withdraw his offer of salvatio. I fact, he made it broader tha the Jews could have believed. Joh 1:12 declares the joyous truth: Ayoe Study 6

60 60 Faith Coectio What Child Is This? idex cards pes What Child Is This? Welcome studets to the group. Say: For this activity, we re goig to come up with the wacky ways kids would tur out if certai celebrities were their parets. Give each studet two idex cards ad a pe. Have each perso write a ame of a adult female celebrity o oe card ad a adult male celebrity o the other. Collect them all ad shuffle them, keepig the female ad male piles separate. Have your studets each draw oe guy ame ad oe girl ame. They ca the either verbally describe the celebrity child or act out the descriptio. If you have a large group, ask for about 8 to 10 people to come up oe at a time ad do this. Explai that the studet must act out what he or she thiks the baby of these two celebrities would be like. For example, if the ames give were Jim Carrey ad Marge Simpso (cartoo), the studet could be very aimated, make wild facial expressios, have really big blue hair ad a scratchy voice, all while quotig movie lies. The rest of the studets will guess which two celebrities are the parets. If o oe ca guess withi a miute or two, have the actig studet reveal the aswers. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What was it like tryig to act out or describe the perso? What are some situatios you ve bee i where you ve felt the pressure to act a part? What was that like? Who do you thik God s childre are, ad what do you thik they re like? do you thik God has certai stadards he requires to accept people as his childre? Explai. Be careful to liste closely to your studets as they aswer the last questio. Most likely, may of them will associate beig loved by God with performace. Ecourage them to share their feeligs, ad guide them to discover that God s love is ucoditioal. Say: All childre have certai qualities iherited from their parets. Maybe it s the way they look, the way they talk, or the way they act. Whe we become childre of God, we too will demostrate some of his qualities. Today we re goig to discover that we ca be God s childre ad what that meas. Study 6

61 61 Media Coectio (Optio) Tip May movie clips are available at youtube.com. This clip is also available at wigclips.com uder the title A Good Father. Istead of doig the What Child Is This? activity, show studets a clip from the movie Big Daddy that will help studets thik about what it meas for someoe to be a good father. Begi the clip at 01:17:23, whe Soy s dad says, First of all, how did this sweet little boy Julia ed up uder your supervisio? I this clip, Soy s dad does t thik Soy will be a good adoptive paret, but Soy delivers a compellig speech to sway him. Ed the clip at 01:20:51, whe Soy s dad says, Your Hoor, my so deserves this kid. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Media Coectio video player movie Big Daddy Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Big Daddy to 01:17:23, whe Soy s dad says, First of all, how did this sweet little boy Julia ed up uder your supervisio? What thigs did Soy say that made you thik he d be a good dad? Are you coviced eough from his speech that you d award him custody? What characteristics do you thik make a good father? How well do you thik those descriptios describe God? Say: Ulike Soy, there s o questio that God is a good Father. Sometimes people who have scars from their ow earthly fathers ca have a harder time recogizig God s ucoditioal love ad acceptace as our Father. Today we re goig to discover that we ca be God s childre ad what that meas. Study 6

62 62 2 Bible Exploratio Misuderstood Light Bibles flashlight Misuderstood Light Have the studets sit o the floor i a circle. Tur off all the lights ad cover ay widows so that you re all sittig i darkess. If ecessary, take your group to a place without widows. Stad where you have the most light to read the Bible passage aloud, or read it from a electroic device so you do t eed additioal light. Say: We re goig to have a reflective readig for today s passage. I ll read a few verses ad the give you somethig to pray or thik about, allowig silet time for you to do so. Read aloud Joh 1:1-5. Say: Visualize othigess, ad all of Creatio comig out of that. Imagie God the Father ad Jesus (the Word) cotrollig what is created. Allow a miute. Read aloud Joh 1:6-8. Say: The Joh referred to here is Joh the Baptist, ot the Joh who wrote these verses. Pray that you ca be a witess to Jesus so that through you, others might believe. Pray specifically for people you kow who do t believe i Jesus. Allow a miute. Read aloud Joh 1:9. Tur o the flashlight ad shie it i the ceter of the room. Read aloud Joh 1:10-11, ad say: Pray that Jesus will be illumiated i your life ad that you ll recogize him. Allow a miute. Read aloud Joh 1: Say: If you have t already asked to become a child of God, pray about that right ow. If you have, cosider what that meas to you ad talk to God about it. Allow a miute. Read aloud Joh 1:14. Say: Imagie Jesus right here i the room with us, where the flashlight is shiig. What would his glory look like? Picture it, ad praise Jesus for his glory i your life. Allow a miute. Read aloud Joh 1: Say: Thik about grace ad truth. What do those words mea to you? Why are you thakful for them above the law from Moses? Thak God for that. Allow a miute. Read aloud Joh 1:18. Say: Thik about how God ad Jesus have become kow to you. Allow a miute. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Study 6

63 63 What was it like to sit i complete darkess ad reflect? What was differet oce the light was tured o? I verses 3 through 5, why do you thik the darkess has ot uderstood the light? What does this mea? What thoughts or discoveries did you have as you reflected o this passage? Say: Jesus came to earth to light people s paths so that we could get to the Father. He was ad is the light brightly shiig, like a eo sig or arrow flashig, to poit us to our Father i heave. Not everyoe got it. Not everyoe uderstood that Jesus came because he loves people. People who did t get it were sort of left i the dark, ad because they did t uderstad Jesus, they igored him or got aoyed at him or rebelled agaist him. But those who uderstood that Jesus came because he loved them ad to forgive them from their sis they received him ad believed i him. As the verse says, we ca be God s childre whe we believe i Jesus. Tur all the lights back o. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Baby Books Set out markers, ad give each studet a few pieces of paper ad oe piece of costructio paper. Have them fold the papers i half ito a booklet, usig the costructio paper as the cover. The have studets share the stapler to bid their books. Have a willig studet read aloud the Key Verse, Joh 1:12: Yet to all who received him, to those who believed i his ame, he gave the right to become childre of God. Baby Books Bibles paper costructio paper markers stapler Say: Today we re celebratig that God gave us the right to be his childre. Whe huma parets have childre, they ofte commemorate growth ad milestoes with baby books. You re goig to make a baby book about your faith jourey. If you re ew to faith, you might create categories but leave space to fill them i later. Regular baby books iclude iformatio like a baby s footprit, hospital bracelet, clip of hair from baby s first haircut, feedig schedules, ages of achievig milestoes like crawlig ad walkig, ad of course, pictures! Cosider what kid of parallel categories you could illustrate or write about i your faith baby book. Be as artistic as you d like! Allow about 15 miutes. Study 6

64 64 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What parallels are there betwee beig a small child ad beig a child of God? What are some importat faith milestoes? Why are they importat? What are some of your best memories of growig as a child of God? Say: Parets love baby books because they ca look back ad remember the early days of their child s life eve whe they re i high school. It s importat to look back at our faith jourey, too. We ca see what God has doe i our lives ad how he s helped us grow. Ad just as a baby book begis with birth, our spiritual baby books begi whe we recogize ad accept that we ca be God s childre. Good Gift/Bad Gift brow luch bags ad decorative gift bags (at least 1 bag per studet) rocks cady! allergy alert Good Gift/Bad Gift Easy Prep Fill the bags by puttig rocks or other juky items i the decorative bags ad cady i the plai luch bags. Have extra cady available, hidde away. Good Gift/Bad Gift Say: To wrap up, I ve got a gift for each of you. All you have to do is choose. Radomly assig each studet a umber. I that order, have studets decide which gift they wat, take the gift, ad hold o to it util everyoe has picked. Oce everyoe has chose a gift, have studets ope them ad show the rest of the studets their gifts i order to compare choices. Say: Now that you kow what your gift is, you have a choice to make. Are you goig to accept it? Do you wat to keep this gift or try for somethig else? Allow studets to decide what they wat to do. If a studet decides to trade for aother gift, take their rock or juky item ad trade it for cady. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What helped you decide which gift to take? What ca be allurig about choosig physical gifts rather tha the gift of Jesus? Why do t those gifts satisfy? What ca you do to accept ad appreciate the gift of Jesus? Say: Jesus did t come to earth i a picture-perfect package the way may of the Jews thought he would. They were waitig for a facy-schmacy kig. But Jesus looked like a ordiary guy. However, he came as the perfect gift: God i the flesh. What does that gift mea for us? The gift of life. The gift of light. The gift of returig to the Oe who created us, claimig the ame child of God. Ad we, too, ca have that title because we ca be God s childre. We just eed to accept God s gift. Study 6

65 65 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that we ca be God s childre. Let s discuss how we ca live as childre of God this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: make a list of evidece that someoe is a child of God. The cosider what that meas for you. Ask your mom, dad, gradparet, or other family member about your family s spiritual heritage. Who i your past were believers? How did others i your family who are Christias become childre of God? Make a spiritual family tree that icludes people who helped your family lear about Jesus. Wheever you tur a light o, ask Jesus to illumiate God i your life. Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Joh (the disciple) wrote about Joh the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. Ad what did Jesus do? He made a way that we ca be God s childre. Let s live like God s childre as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about beig childre of God. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets form groups of four ad take turs prayig i their groups, prayig to God as Father. Study 6

66 66 The Word Became Flesh Joh 1:1-18 Bible Poit We ca be God s childre. Key Verse Yet to all who received him, to those who believed i his ame, he gave the right to become childre of God (Joh 1:12). takig it HOME Quotables The eteral God of the uiverse has called us ito fellowship friedship, compaioship, close cotact with His So. Jesus ever iteded to coect oly with your head; He lives to coect with the etire you. Joseph M. Stowell, Simply Jesus Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. make a list of evidece that someoe is a child of God. The cosider what that meas for you. Ask your mom, dad, gradparet, or other family member about your family s spiritual heritage. Who i your past were believers? How did others i your family who are Christias become childre of God? Make a spiritual family tree that icludes people who helped your family lear about Jesus. Wheever you tur a light o, ask Jesus to illumiate God i your life. Faith Joural What are some ways that beig a lovig ad obediet child to your earthly parets is practice for beig a lovig ad obediet child of God? What are some ways they are differet? Talk With Your Family With your family, read Philippias 2:8-11. Discuss the followig questios: What was the choice Jesus made? What choice do we have today because of the choice he made log ago? Why do some people choose ot to accept God s ivitatio? What helped you to accept God s ivitatio? If you have t yet, what do you thik would help? Braistorm to come up with a family that does ot kow Jesus. Pray for that family to become Christias, ad ivite them to church for a service or other evet.! ok to copy Study 6

67 Study 7 67 Sata Tempts Jesus Luke 4:1-13 Adolescets live i a culture that isists o coectig materialism ad persoal ego with happiess ad success. They face worldly temptatios o a daily basis. Use this study to help them realize that faithful obediece to God s commads will result i rewards that are more awesome tha aythig the world could offer. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep Bible Poit Jesus helps us resist temptatio. 1 Faith Coectio Temptatio Tug of War (about 15 mi.) Choose sides based o which food is more temptig, ad experiece the tug of temptatio. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a clip from Despicable Me 2 to see how temptatio ca etrap us. rope or jumprope, various sacks ad cady video player, movie Despicable Me 2 Cue Despicable Me 2 to 00:39:41, whe kids are playig i a eighborhood. Key Verse Because he himself suffered whe he was tempted, he is able to help those who are beig tempted (Hebrews 2:18). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will overcome temptatio. 2 Bible Exploratio Dealig With the Devil (about 15 mi.) Look at Jesus resposes, ad cosider what temptatios they ca fight with those verses. Bibles, paper, white crayos, washable markers Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 7

68 68 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Last Bag Stadig (about 15 mi.) Throw a ball at bags, ad see how strog the last bag stadig is. The Devil Made Me Do It? (about 15 mi.) Write dow persoal temptatios, ad discuss strategies for withstadig them. Bibles, paper grocery bags, small rubber ball pes, idex cards, wastebasket Place the grocery bags stadig up at oe ed of the room with eough space behid for them to be kocked over. Place a Bible i 1 bag. Fold all the tops dow so studets ca t see iside. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 7

69 69 Sata Tempts Jesus Luke 4:1-13 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Jesus Goes Ito the Wilderess Jesus temptatio by Sata followed closely o the heels of his baptism ad God s cofirmatio of Jesus relatioship with him (Luke 3:21-22). Why did God allow Jesus to be tempted i this way? At least oe aswer is foud i Hebrews 4: If Jesus had ot bee tempted as we are, he would ot be able to sympathize with our vulerability to temptatio. Because he was tempted, he ca idetify with us. Sata Tempts Jesus i the Wilderess Some ask if it was possible for Jesus to give i to Sata s temptatios. There s ot a easy aswer to this questio. Some say his divie ature ruled out the possibility of his siig. Others say that his humaity made him vulerable to si ad that if the temptatio to si was t real, the he would t have bee able to atoe for our sis i his death. For further study, read Hebrews 2: Although Luke 4:1-13 is referred to as the temptatio of Jesus, it s importat to remember the words of Luke 4:13. These evets did t mark the ed of Sata s attempts to draw Jesus away from God. Throughout Jesus miistry, Sata tried to capitalize o Jesus humaity. However, Jesus always withstood the test, ad he died for us after livig a siless life. The Jesus Coectio As your relatioship with Jesus grows through spedig time i God s Word, your resistace to Sata s temptatios will become stroger. What temptatios are you battlig right ow? Use a Bible app or a Bible website to fid a verse that helps you fight that temptatio. Persoalize it as a prayer, ad memorize it. You ca write your prayer here. Whe Sata offered Jesus all the kigdoms of the world, the stregth of the temptatio was i the shortcut it offered. Sata offered Jesus authority over the world uder Sata, who was uder God, without havig to go through the humiliatio ad sufferig that Jesus kew was comig. The oly coditio was that Jesus had to worship Sata. But all this was a deceptio. Jesus would t have become kig; he would have become a servat of Sata. Ad Jesus saw through Sata s pla. Jesus Overcomes Sata s Temptatios Jesus aswered each of Sata s temptatios with Scripture. What does that tell us about how we ca be prepared to face temptatio? Study 7

70 70 Faith Coectio Temptatio Tug of War rope or jumprope various sacks ad cady! allergy alert Temptatio Tug of War Welcome studets to the group. Say: Today we re goig to talk about temptatio. To begi, we ll have a series of games of Tug of War based o which food items you fid most temptig. Radomly hold up two differet sack or cady items. Tell studets who prefer oe to go to the left side of the room ad the other to go to the right. The have them play a game of Tug of War, formig teams based o the side they wet to. Some games may ed very quickly if oe team is outumbered. Cotiue util you ve doe several comparisos. You may repeat items, but pair them with differet sacks. After about 10 miutes, let studets each choose their favorite sack ad eat it. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What s similar about a food cravig ad a temptatio? How was beig tugged i this game like or ulike temptatio? What helps you fight the tug of temptatio? Media Coectio video player movie Despicable Me 2 Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Despicable Me 2 to 00:39:41, whe kids are playig i a eighborhood. Say: Fightig temptatio o your ow would be like playig this game of Tug of War if you were the oly oe o your side. There s o chace! But there s good ews: We have a really strog team member. Jesus helps us resist temptatio. Ad we kow he s strog because he resisted the tug of temptatio himself. Let s look at how he did it. Media Coectio (Optio) Tip May movie clips are available at youtube.com. This clip is also available at wigclips.com uder the title Ice Cream Trick. Istead of doig the Temptatio Tug of War activity, show studets a clip from the movie Despicable Me 2 that will help studets thik about how temptatio etraps us. Begi the clip at 00:39:41, whe kids are playig i a eighborhood. I this clip, the Study 7

71 71 miios all ru to a ice cream truck, oly to discover it s ot a real ice cream truck but a trap that takes them away. Ed the clip at 00:40:45, whe the ice cream truck drives off. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How did the miios experiece mirror temptatio i our lives? I what ways does temptatio look appealig? What helps you fight the trap of temptatio? Say: The miios were easily draw to a ice cream truck. It was so temptig! Ad because of that, it was the perfect way to trap them. Temptatio traps us, too. But Jesus helps us resist temptatio. Ad we kow he ca because he resisted the trap of temptatio himself. Let s look at how he did it. 2 Bible Exploratio Dealig With the Devil Distribute Bibles, paper, white crayos, ad washable markers. Ask someoe to read aloud Luke 4:1-4. Say: Reread Luke 4:4 siletly. Write it o your white paper with your white crayo. Pause. Now thik of a temptatio i your life that this verse applies to. Thik about that temptatio as you color over the crayo writig o your paper. Allow time. Dealig With the Devil Bibles paper white crayos washable markers Ask someoe to read aloud Luke 4:5-8. Say: Reread Luke 4:8 siletly. Write it o your white paper with your white crayo. Pause. Now thik of a temptatio i your life that this verse applies to. Thik about that temptatio as you color over the crayo writig o your paper. Allow time. Ask someoe to read aloud Luke 4:9-13. Say: Reread Luke 4:10-11 siletly. Write it o your white paper with your white crayo. Pause. Now thik of a temptatio i your life that these verses apply to. Thik about that temptatio as you color over the crayo writig o your paper. Allow time. Say: Now look at your paper. Amidst all the temptatios, Scripture held up. Choose the oe verse you thik you could best use to fight temptatio. Try to memorize that verse ow by picturig your temptatio ad sayig that verse over ad over agai. Allow a few miutes. Study 7

72 72 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How do you usually deal with temptatio? What do you thik of Jesus method of fightig temptatio? How does this passage highlight how Jesus ca help us fight temptatio? Say: Memorizig Scripture may seem challegig. Maybe you do t feel like you have a very good memory. Or sometimes it might just seem like a item o a checklist. Maybe as a child, you memorized verses for a cady reward ad the quickly forgot them. Jesus experiece with temptatio shows us the importace of Scripture memory. We ca use Scripture to help us fight temptatio. But eve if a specific verse does t come to mid whe you eed it, you ca trust that Jesus helps us resist temptatio. Call o his ame whe you re tempted! 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Last Bag Stadig Bibles paper grocery bags small rubber ball Last Bag Stadig Easy Prep Place the grocery bags stadig up at oe ed of the room with eough space behid for them to be kocked over. Place a Bible i 1 bag. Fold all the tops dow so studets ca t see iside. Last Bag Stadig Say: We re goig to play a game i which the paper bags represet us ad the ball represets temptatio tryig to kock us over. Have studets lie up ad take turs throwig the ball to kock over the paper bags. Cotiue util all the bags are kocked over ad the oe with the Bible i it has bee hit several times (but ot falle). Say: This bag seems stroger tha the rest. Let s see why. Ope the bag ad reveal the Bible iside. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Which bag faced the most temptatio? How does that apply to your life? How does the Bible help us stad strog i the face of temptatio? Have someoe read aloud the Key Verse, Hebrews 2:18: Because he himself suffered whe he was tempted, he is able to help those who are beig tempted. I what ways would you say Jesus kows the fullest force of temptatio? How does that help you? Study 7

73 73 Say: After a hurricae, the trees that are stadig are the oes that have faced the most wid. The others fell before they felt the full force of the hurricae. You ad I have falle to temptatio just like those falle paper bags. But Jesus got hit hard by temptatio ad stood strog. Ad we ca have that power, too. Jesus helps us resist temptatio. The Devil Made Me Do It? Give each studet a idex card ad a pe, ad have them write the greatest temptatios they ve ever faced or could imagie facig. Let studets kow others will read what they wrote but ot kow who wrote it. The Devil Made Me Do It? pes idex cards wastebasket Whe everyoe has writte a temptatio, collect the idex cards. Mix them up, ad the redistribute them. Whe everyoe has oe, ask studets to each read a temptatio ad the share briefly how they might deal with such a temptatio i their ow lives. Oce the first studet has shared, ope it up for others to share ideas for how to resist that temptatio. I this way, studets will each get to hear several ideas for how to fight their temptatios, without ayoe havig to kow which temptatio they struggle with. Say: It s hard to resist these temptatios. I fact, these might be temptatios you geerally give i to, or they could be temptatios you ve caved i to i the recet past. Noetheless, Jesus helps us resist temptatio, ad whe we lear to resist these temptatios, they are o loger issues i our lives. Place a wastebasket i the ceter of the room. Have studets each crumple the idex card they eded up with, toss it ito the wastebasket, ad sit back dow. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What ew ideas did you have for facig temptatio? Why is it importat ot to implemet these ideas by trustig i your ow stregth? What s it like to throw temptatios away? How ca you compare this with dealig with temptatios i your life? Say: Temptatio is challegig. Oftetimes, cavig i to doig somethig we kow is wrog is so eticig. For Jesus, it would ve give him food whe he was extremely hugry, istat power without ay sufferig, ad a easy way to prove God had set him. But Jesus made the hard choice ad fought temptatio. We ca, too, with the help of each other ad by rememberig that Jesus helps us resist temptatio. Study 7

74 74 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see how Jesus helps us resist temptatio. Let s discuss how we ll rely o Jesus whe we face temptatio this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: make a list of at least three temptatios you struggle with, ad pray about them for three miutes each day. memorize oe of Jesus resposes whe he was tempted, ad recite it whe you re tempted. Give up oe food product this week, somethig that s a real sacrifice for you. Whe you miss it, remember that if Jesus could resist food after 40 days of fastig, he ca help you resist temptatio, too. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Jesus helps us resist temptatio because he kows what it s like to be tempted ad stad strog. Let s rely o his help with temptatio as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about temptatio. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets pray siletly for Jesus help with their temptatios. Study 7

75 75 Sata Tempts Jesus Luke 4:1-13 Bible Poit Jesus helps us resist temptatio. Key Verse Because he himself suffered whe he was tempted, he is able to help those who are beig tempted (Hebrews 2:18). Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. make a list of at least three temptatios you struggle with, ad pray about them for three miutes each day. memorize oe of Jesus resposes whe he was tempted, ad recite it whe you re tempted. Give up oe food product this week, somethig that s a real sacrifice for you. Whe you miss it, remember that if Jesus could resist food after 40 days of fastig, he ca help you resist temptatio, too. Faith Joural I what area of your life do you most eed Jesus help to resist temptatio? takig it HOME Quotables Have you cosidered that maybe you re lookig at everythig through worldcolored glasses istead of Christ-colored oes? Tom Neve, Do Fish Kow They re Wet? Talk With Your Family Read 1 Corithias 10:13 with your family, ad discuss the followig questios: What does it mea to you that there are o temptatios uique to you? does it always feel true that God provides a way out? Explai. If God provides a way out, why do t we take it every time? Write dow a list of temptatios that are commo to ma. Try to thik of the top 10. No oe has to admit to which they face. Use a olie search tool or Bible app to fid verses that could combat each of those temptatios.! ok to copy Study 7

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77 Study 8 77 Jesus Performs His First Miracle Joh 2:1-11 Seior highers ofte have a lively iterest i the superatural but ot always the right kid of superatural. It s good to give studets a steady exposure to the Bible accouts of miracles. I order to help studets uderstad God s Word, we must help them see that miracles are ot simply tricks of a very smart perso but the istrumet that Jesus used to cofirm he was from God. Despite the pressures of our o-room-for-miracles culture, studets must uderstad that Christias worship the God who wrote the laws of ature ad has the ability to bed them. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio 2 Bible Exploratio Miracles vs. Illusio (about 10 mi.) Witess a magic trick, ad discuss the differece betwee miracles ad magic. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a movie clip that depicts some very urealistic evets, ad talk about miracles. Magic or Miracle (about 20 mi.) Debate Jesus miracle from 2 perspectives. Everyday Miracles (about 20 mi.) Examie Scripture passages about miracles, ad cosider what those miracles show us about Jesus power i our lives. 9 pieces of paper, pecil video player, movie Bruce Almighty Bibles, paper, pes Bibles, Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Everyday Miracles hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Read the activity ahead of time, ad fid a co-leader or studet you ca let i o the secret. Cue Bruce Almighty to 00:33:30, whe Bruce walks ito the dier, seemigly rather frustrated. Bible Poit Jesus ca do miracles. Key Verse But these are writte that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the So of God, ad that by believig you may have life i his ame (Joh 20:31). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will pray for miracles ad recogize Jesus power to perform miracles. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 8

78 78 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios It ll Take a Miracle (about 10 mi.) Write miracle prayer requests, ad pray for each other. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. idex cards, pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 8

79 79 Jesus Performs His First Miracle Joh 2:1-11 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Jesus Turs Water Ito Wie The Jesus Coectio Early i Jesus miistry, Jesus ad his disciples were ivited to a weddig. While they were at the party that followed the weddig, the wie bega to ru out. Such a error would have bee cosidered a sigificat social bluder at that time. Eve a poor groom was expected to provide plety of wie for his weddig party. This settig provided the occasio for Jesus first miracle. Jesus Reveals His Glory for the First Time Jesus participatio i the weddig ad celebratio i Caa shows his desire to be ivolved i all aspects of our lives icludig times of joy ad fu. Reread Joh 2:8-10. How was the trasformatio of water ito wie like the trasformatio the Lord makes i us whe we have a relatioship with him? As you grow i your relatioship with God, he will make you, ad trasform you, more ito his likeess. Ask God to help trasform you to be more like him. You ca write your prayer here. Mary may have bee helpig to serve at the weddig; thus, her appeal to Jesus was for herself as well as for the host of the party. Though some suggest that she was askig Jesus to go out ad get more wie, it is more likely that she expected Jesus to do somethig miraculous. Whe Jesus addressed his mother as dear woma, he was ot rebukig her, as it may seem; rather his words demostrated respect. The rest of that setece, though the exact traslatio is debated, appears to mea, Your cocer ad mie are ot the same. Whe he said, My time has ot yet come, Jesus was likely idicatig that the proper time had ot yet come for his first miracle, though it was comig. The poit was that he would ot be hurried, ot eve by his mother. The time for Jesus to be revealed as the Messiah ad the to be crucified had ot yet arrived. Whe the master of the baquet tasted the wie, he was astoished. The quality of the wie simply reiforced the woder of the miracle. Ad Jesus disciples put their faith i him (Joh 2:11). Study 8

80 80 Faith Coectio Miracles vs. Illusio 9 pieces of paper pecil Miracles vs. Illusio Easy Prep Read the activity ahead of time, ad fid a coleader or studet you ca let i o the secret. Miracles vs. Illusio Welcome studets to the group. Lay out ie pieces of paper i a 3x3 grid. Say: With this miracle pecil, I m goig to be able to miraculously let [ame of the perso who kows the secret] kow which paper we ve selected. Have your voluteer leave the room. Ask the rest of the studets to select ay oe of the ie papers o the groud. The call the voluteer back i. You ll poit to papers i a series ad ask, Is it this oe? The voluteer will respod with a yes or o. The secret is, you ll use each paper you poit to as a kid of a map. For example, if the correct paper is the oe o the top left, you ll poit to the top left portio of each paper as you ask about it. That way, your voluteer kows from the get-go which paper is correct ad ca respod with a yes wheever you poit to it. Play several rouds, ecouragig studets to try to figure out the secret behid your magic. If someoe thiks they have it, sed him or her out of the room ad let that perso try to fill the role of the voluteer. After most of the kids seem to have figured it out, ed the game. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Was this a miracle or a illusio? Explai. What is the differece betwee a miracle ad a illusio? do you thik miracles are still happeig today? Explai. Media Coectio video player movie Bruce Almighty Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Bruce Almighty to 00:33:30, whe Bruce walks ito the dier, seemigly rather frustrated. Say: Obviously, this was a simple magic trick. Whe we watch professioal magic shows, they astoud us with their illusios because there is a hidde door, somethig up a sleeve, or somethig else that causes deceptio. I the Bible passage we ll be explorig today, we ll see a legitimate accout of a authetic miracle. Ad we ll cosider that Jesus ca do miracles today, too. Media Coectio (Optio) Istead of doig the Miracles vs. Illusio activity, have studets watch a clip from Bruce Almighty that will get them thikig about magic versus miracles. Begi the clip at 00:33:30 whe Bruce walks ito the dier, seemigly rather frustrated. I this clip, Bruce Study 8

81 81 practices his powers by partig soup i a dier. Ed the clip at 00:35:54 whe God (Morga Freema) says, Take a closer walk with me. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What happeed i this scee that was seemigly urealistic? How would you defie a miracle? do you thik miracles are still happeig today? Explai. Say: Jesus did a lot of miracles while he was here o earth ad they were more icredible tha partig soup. Some of them souded urealistic to those who heard about or saw them. But people were amazed whe they saw the lame walk, the blid see, ad the sick become well. I the Bible passage we ll be explorig today, we ll see a legitimate accout of oe of his authetic miracles. Ad we ll cosider that Jesus ca do miracles today, too. 2 Bible Exploratio Magic or Miracle Have studets form two groups. Assig oe group Magic ad the other group Miracle. Give each group several Bibles, a piece of paper, ad a pe. Magic or Miracle Bibles paper pes Say: You re goig to read today s passage from two perspectives: people who thik Jesus actios were a elaborate magic trick, ad people who thik his actios were a geuie miracle. As you read Joh 2:1-11, the Magic group will come up with a list of argumets suggestig Jesus actios were othig more tha a magic trick. Miracle group, you ll try to aticipate their thoughts ad come up with a way to defed that Jesus really did perform a miracle. Allow about eight miutes. Allow time, ad the have the Magic group begi a debate by listig their poits. After each poit, allow a respose from the Miracle group. Study 8

82 82 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. So what do you thik...magic or miracle? Explai. What would you say to someoe who truly believed Jesus ever did ay miracles? What differece does it make to your faith to see this as a miracle rather tha a magic trick? Say: Oe cosequece of this miracle was that the hosts of the weddig were saved from embarrassmet. However, savig them from embarrassmet was t the most importat outcome of this miracle. Jesus ca do miracles because he s God. That s why it s importat we recogize his miracles for what they are ot simple sleight of had tricks. Now let s lear more about the impact of Jesus miracles o our lives. Everyday Miracles Bibles Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Everyday Miracles hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Everyday Miracles Have studets ope to the Key Verse, Joh 20:31, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: But these are writte that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the So of God, ad that by believig you may have life i his ame. Have studets form six groups. Say: Jesus did may miracles to help us believe i him. We re goig to explore the water-to-wie miracle ad other miracles of Jesus to cosider what they reveal about who Jesus is ad what he ca do i our lives. Have studets ope to page 58 of their Hadbooks, or give each studet a copy of the Everyday Miracles hadout. Assig each group oe of the miracles from that page, ad have them discuss the questios based o what they read. After about 10 miutes, have each group share what Jesus showed power over ad why that s sigificat for us today. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What did hearig from each group reveal to you about the vastess of Jesus power? Which of the thigs Jesus has power over is the most sigificat to you? Why? I what ways have you recogized Jesus power over these thigs? Study 8

83 83 Say: Jesus did a lot of miracles that seem more sigificat ad life-chagig tha turig water ito wie. He healed people who d ever walked. He brought people back to life! Ad yet his very first miracle, turig water ito wie, did t vastly chage the course of ayoe s life. But it did show us Jesus cares about the little thigs. He cares whe we re embarrassed. Ad Jesus ca do miracles for us. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life It ll Take a Miracle Distribute idex cards ad pes. Say: Let s cosider what miracles we eed i our lives. Write a miracle prayer request o your idex card. Others will read what you write but ot kow who wrote it. You might eed a miracle to brig up your math grade so you ca graduate. You might have a fried or family member battlig cacer. Whatever miracle you d like us to pray for, write it o your card. Allow time. It ll Take a Miracle idex cards pes Collect all the cards, shuffle them, ad redistribute them. Allow time for studets to pray siletly for the miracles o the cards they received. Collect the cards agai after a couple of miutes, ad have studets gather i a circle. Set all the idex cards i the middle of the circle, ad have willig studets take turs choosig a card ad prayig for it util all the cards have bee prayed for aloud. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. do you really believe Jesus ca do the miracles we wrote dow? Explai. do you believe Jesus will do all the miracles we prayed for? Explai. What ca you do this week to look for Jesus miracles i big ad small ways? Say: Jesus ca do miracles. He has the power to do every sigle thig we prayed about. However, he s ot a vedig machie. We ca cotiue to pray for his miracles but recogize his authority to kow what the best decisio is ad to carry that out. Mary approached Jesus demadig a miracle, ad he did it. But we ca t demad Jesus do what we ask. All we ca do is ask, trust i his power, ad keep our eyes peeled for both big ad small miracles. Study 8

84 84 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that Jesus ca do miracles. Let s discuss how we ca look for his miracles this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: fid a place where you ca be free of distractio ad focused o God s presece. Sped time prayig about how you ca rely more o God s power i your persoal life. Collect a list of miracle prayer requests other people have. Pray for those miracles this week. Take ote of the little miracles i your life each day the surise, your family ad frieds, life itself, ad so o. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Whe Jesus was at that weddig, he cared about the people there. Ad Jesus cares about us, too. Jesus ca do miracles i our lives. Let s look for his miracles as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about miracles. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Pray: Dear Jesus, thak you for hearig our requests for the power of your miracles i our lives. Thak you that you truly ca do miracles ad bed the laws of ature because you created those laws! I Jesus ame, ame. Study 8

85 85 Everyday Miracles Jesus did may differet kids of miracles. Read the oe your group is assiged to, ad the aswer the questios below based o what you read: Jesus heals a lame ma: Joh 5:1-9 lazarus comes back to life: Joh 11:38-44 feedig of the 5,000: Matthew 14:13-21 Calmig the storm: Luke 8:22-25 Water to wie: Joh 2:1-11 miraculous catch of fish: Luke 5:1-7 What did Jesus show his power over i this miracle? What did it mea for the people there that Jesus had power over that? What does it mea for us today that Jesus has power over that? How does this miracle help you believe i Jesus?! ok to copy Study 8

86 86 Jesus Performs His First Miracle Joh 2:1-11 Bible Poit Jesus ca do miracles. Key Verse But these are writte that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the So of God, ad that by believig you may have life i his ame (Joh 20:31). takig it HOME Quotables Most people ted to thik that we live i a closed uiverse i which every evet (past, preset ad future) must have a atural explaatio. This rules out totally the itervetio of the superatural. No matter what happes or how strog the evidece, the miraculous must be rejected. Josh McDowell, A Ready Defese Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. fid a place where you ca be free of distractio ad focused o God s presece. Sped time prayig about how you ca rely more o God s power i your persoal life. Collect a list of miracle prayer requests other people have. Pray for those miracles this week. Take ote of the little miracles i your life each day the surise, your family ad frieds, life itself, ad so o. Faith Joural How do Jesus miracles affect your life? Talk With Your Family Tur water ito hot chocolate, tea, or lemoade, ad drik it as a family. Read Joh 20:30-31 together, ad discuss the followig questios: How do the accouts of Jesus miracles help you believe he could do miracles while he lived o earth? explai whether you thik Jesus still works miracles i the same way. What are the beefits of believig i Jesus miracles?! ok to copy Study 8

87 Study 9 87 Jesus Teaches i a Syagogue Luke 4:14-21 At this jucture i their uderstadig of Scripture, seior highers may thik of salvatio as savig oly those i great si, such as prostitutes, thieves, ad murderers. This study ca help them see that the pai of separatio from God is ot restricted to great siers. Therefore, the salvatio that reuites great siers with God ad relieves their pai is the same salvatio Jesus offers to everyoe. Use this lesso to help studets uderstad that Jesus came to seek ad save everyoe from the sufferig, loeliess, ad self-hatred that sprig from separatio from God. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio 2 Bible Exploratio To Feel the Hurt (about 10 mi.) Explore how it feels to suffer. To Touch the Hurt (about 20 mi.) Write stories about people who d be impacted by Jesus words. Bibles, paper, pes Bible Poit Jesus came for all people. Key Verse For the So of Ma came to seek ad to save what was lost (Luke 19:10). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will cosider the differet eeds Jesus meets. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 9

88 88 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep Seek & Save (about 15 mi.) Go o a treasure hut, ad lear the Key Verse. Bibles, roll of peies Hide 50 peies aroud your youth room or a limited area of your church. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Love the Ulovable (about 15 mi.) Create persoas of fictioal hard-to-love people, draw them, ad cosider ways to show Jesus love to those people. paper, markers Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Liste to a sog, ad cosider what Jesus has saved them from. music player, sog Amazig Grace (My Chais are Goe) by Chris Tomli Dowload Amazig Grace (My Chais are Goe) by Chris Tomli, ad cue your music player so you re ready to play it. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 9

89 89 Jesus Teaches i a Syagogue Luke 4:14-21 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Jesus Returs to His Hometow The Jesus Coectio News about Jesus had begu to spread. The verb tese i Luke 4:15 idicates that Jesus taught i the syagogues regularly. So this occurrece i Nazareth was ot uusual because it took place; it was uusual because of what Jesus said whe he taught there. Oe might woder why Jesus was allowed to teach i the syagogue. Ay Jewish male was allowed to speak if he otified the leader of the syagogue i advace. The fact that the scroll of Isaiah was give to Jesus to read may be cosidered a coicidece, but it was more likely arraged by God. Studyig God s Word will give our relatioship with Jesus ew meaig as we discover afresh how Jesus is the very fulfillmet of the Scriptures. Reread Luke 4: Jesus was readig from Isaiah, ad he declared himself the fulfillmet of these verses. How has he fulfilled these thigs i your life? How do you eed him to? Pray about your eeds, ad thak him for the way he has fulfilled your eeds. You ca write your prayer here. Jesus Is Rejected as Messiah i His Hometow It was customary for the Scripture reader to stad whe readig from the scrolls, out of respect for God s Word. The reader the sat dow ad, if he so desired, commeted o what he d read. Jesus choice of the passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 about the Messiah was t uusual. It was Jesus commetary that shocked his listeers. He clearly aouced that he was the promised Messiah (Luke 4:21), a idea that was ot well received by those with whom he had grow up. To them he was just the so of a carpeter, ot the glorious Messiah kig they were hopig for. No matter what miracles he had doe or how isightfully he taught, they just could ot believe that this hometow boy was the Messiah. The qualities ad actios i Isaiah 61:1-2 that Jesus ascribed to himself are the very same qualities that attract most people to Jesus. These verses tell us who Jesus came to help the poor, the captive, the disabled, ad the oppressed. He came to help all of us who are imprisoed by si ad to set us free through faith i him. Study 9

90 90 Faith Coectio To Feel the Hurt Welcome studets to the group. Say: Thik about the word loely. What s the ext word that comes to mid? Pause, ad the have studets share their aswers. Now thik of some oe- or two-word descriptios of how it feels to be loely. Give studets a few momets to share their thoughts. Repeat for the followig words, havig studets thik of the first word that comes to mid ad a descriptio of how it feels: brokehearted captive blid oppressed After studets have goe through all the words, say: Choose a word from the oes we just discussed: loely, brokehearted, captive, blid, or oppressed. Choose oe you idetify with, ad thik about what it s like to be i a situatio i which that word describes you. For example, if your word is captive, thik about the feeligs you might experiece if you were locked away i a priso where o oe kew you, spoke to you, or cared if you lived or died. Close your eyes ad sit siletly for 30 secods as you thik about your word. Allow 30 secods for reflectio. Say: Okay, ow cotiue with your eyes closed ad thik of very short phrases oe-word descriptios, if possible to describe this experiece. You ll be expressig these aloud, oe word at a time. Here s how it will work: I ll start with the word brokehearted. Oe at a time, people who chose that word will say thigs such as I am brokehearted. I feel Fill i the blak with the word or phrase you thought of. Allow time for studets who wat to share to do so. Study 9

91 91 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What are your overall feeligs about the words you just reflected o? What was it like to put yourself i the shoes of a sufferig perso for a few momets? Explai. Whe have you felt these emotios? Explai. Say: Sometimes it s easy to feel like God s forgotte people because of how hard life ca be. But that s far from the truth. God forgets o oe. It s easy to thik about God ad be happy whe our lives are goig well, but it s importat to remember that he s with us, o matter what our circumstaces are. I fact, today s passage describes how Jesus came for all people especially those who are sufferig. 2 Bible Exploratio To Touch the Hurt Distribute Bibles, paper, ad pes. Have studets ope to Luke 4: Say: As you read today s passage, imagie someoe hearig those words of Jesus for the first time. It could be someoe from his time period or from today. Thik of someoe who would be goig through some tough times ad would be really ecouraged by Jesus words. Write a short story about that perso, icludig how Jesus words would impact him or her. You ca choose to do this o your ow, i pairs, or i a group. To Touch the Hurt Bibles paper pes Allow time for studets to read the passage ad come up with their stories. After about 12 miutes, have studets joi together so that they have two stories per ew group, ad have them take turs readig them aloud. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What isight did it give you ito Jesus words to thik about someoe who really eeded to hear them? do you thik someoe like that eeds Jesus more tha you do? Explai. How do Jesus words ecourage you? Say: Whe Jesus read these words, he was aoucig his missio: Jesus came for all people. No oe is too broke, too small, or too isigificat for Jesus salvatio. He came for you. He came for everyoe. Study 9

92 92 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Seek & Save Bibles roll of peies Seek & Save Easy Prep Hide 50 peies aroud your youth room or a limited area of your church. Seek & Save Have studets ope to the Key Verse, Luke 19:10, ad follow alog as you read it aloud: For the So of Ma came to seek ad to save what was lost (Luke 19:10). Say: Let s cosider what it meas to seek ad save what s lost. Hidde aroud our room are 50 peies. Let s see if together you ca fid them all. Allow time for studets to try to fid all the peies. Ideally they ll keep at it util they fid them all, but if they choose to give up or your time rus out, you ca use that as a discussio topic later o. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. explai whether you reached a poit where you wated to give up. What kept you goig? did a pey seem sigificat eough for your efforts? Explai. What does this show you about the value Jesus places o us? What sigificace does that have to the way you live your life? Say: Sometimes we feel as isigificat as a pey. But Jesus did t feel ayoe was isigificat. He came for the blid, the poor, the oppressed. Jesus came for all people. You matter to God! Sometimes we live as if we do t matter, but recogizig our value to God ca help us live differetly. Love the Ulovable paper markers Love the Ulovable Have studets form groups of four. Give each group a piece of paper ad a marker. Say: As a group, thik of all the characteristics of someoe that make that perso hard to love. The come up with a made-up perso who has all of those characteristics. Draw that perso i actio, doig all the thigs that aoy you. Allow about eight miutes for studets to draw. The have groups itroduce their ulovable people to the group. Study 9

93 93 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What did your itroductio show about the way you feel about your perso? How do you thik Jesus might view a perso like the oe you made up? What ca you do to treat people like Jesus would eve people like your made-up perso? Be specific. Say: Jesus came for all people. He came for the real people who are a lot like the oes we made up. He came for the upopular outcasts of society. Ad we ca show others how much Jesus loves them. Media Coectio (Optio) Istead of doig the Love the Ulovable activity, have studets liste to the sog Amazig Grace (My Chais Are Goe) by Chris Tomli. Before the sog, say: As you liste to this sog, pay attetio to the lyrics ad the differet types of struggles ad issues described, particularly i the first verse ad the chorus. Liste for the oes you idetify with ad the oes that make you thik of other people. Play Amazig Grace (My Chais Are Goe). Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What words did you idetify with for yourself? for others? What kids of thoughts do you have about people who are described by this sog? Thik of the people who are t set free like this sog describes. What ca you do to show them Jesus love? Media Coectio music player sog Amazig Grace (My Chais Are Goe) by Chris Tomli Media Coectio Easy Prep Dowload Amazig Grace (My Chais Are Goe) by Chris Tomli, ad cue your music player so you re ready to play it. Say: Jesus came for all people. He came for the people who feel wretched. He came for the lost. He came for the people who are blid physically ad spiritually. He came for the upopular outcasts of society. We all eed his amazig grace. Ufortuately, ot everyoe has experieced the freedom of beig set free like this sog describes. Jesus offers it to all of them, ad we ca show people Jesus love ad salvatio. Study 9

94 94 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that Jesus came for all people. Let s discuss how we ca share Jesus compassio this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: look for the hidde ways people aroud you might be poor, imprisoed, blid, or oppressed, ad reach out to them with Jesus love ad compassio. If you feel spiritually poor, imprisoed, blid, or oppressed, ivite a few close Christia frieds or relatives to pray with you this week. do you kow someoe who is poor, imprisoed, blid, or oppressed? Write this perso a ote of ecouragemet. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Jesus read a Scripture that clearly spelled out his message: Jesus came for all people. Let s share his love ad compassio as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about Jesus missio. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets form groups of four ad pray for Christias i coutries where they ca be imprisoed or persecuted for their faith. Study 9

95 95 Jesus Teaches i a Syagogue Luke 4:14-21 Bible Poit Jesus came for all people. Key Verse For the So of Ma came to seek ad to save what was lost (Luke 19:10). Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. look for the hidde ways people aroud you might be poor, imprisoed, blid, or oppressed, ad reach out to them with Jesus love ad compassio. If you feel spiritually poor, imprisoed, blid, or oppressed, ivite a few close Christia frieds or relatives to pray with you this week. do you kow someoe who is poor, imprisoed, blid, or oppressed? Write this perso a ote of ecouragemet. Faith Joural takig it HOME Quotables Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearig to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teemig shore. Emma Lazarus I what ways do you feel poor? imprisoed? blid? oppressed? How ca Jesus help? Talk With Your Family Read the above quote with your family. Note that it is part of the iscriptio o the Statue of Liberty o Ellis Islad. It s talkig about the immigrats who etered America. Now, imagie God sayig these words. Does it work? Why or why ot? What else would God say? Ivite each family member to share about a time he or she has sesed God s acceptace.! ok to copy Study 9

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97 Study Jesus Is Rejected i His Hometow Luke 4:22-30 Seior highers typically struggle to discover who they are ad whether they really matter. They experiece tremedous isecurity that plays itself out i a variety of ways, such as frequetly chagig frieds, music, ad clothig styles ad pretedig ot to eed ayoe or aythig. They ca relate to Jesus rejectio. They ve bee there, despite all their efforts to fit i. Use this study to help studets see that believig i Jesus meas acceptace through him. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio Rejectio (about 10 mi.) Play a game that demostrates rejectio. Bible Poit Believe i Jesus. Key Verse Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth (Deuteroomy 6:5). 2 Bible Exploratio Hometow Advatage? (about 15 mi.) Read the Bible passage, ad keep score of who wis. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 15 mi.) Watch a video o YouTube to explore the Bible passage. Bibles, paper, pes Bibles, smartphoe(s) or tablet(s) with Iteret access Fid a YouTube video of Susa Boyle s auditio with Britai s Got Talet. Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will cosider what they believe about Jesus ad how that impacts the way they live. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 10

98 98 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios I Believe Creeds (about 20 mi.) Write creeds about what they believe about Jesus ad what it meas for them. All My Heart (about 20 mi.) Lear the Key Verse, ad make Valetie s Day cards for Jesus. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. paper, pes Bibles, card stock, markers Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 10

99 99 Jesus Is Rejected i His Hometow Luke 4:22-30 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Ubelief i Nazareth I this passage, Jesus cotiued the commetary o the passage he had read from Isaiah 61:1-2. Though idetifyig himself as the Messiah probably upset his listeers, his further teachig made them furious. Jesus had sesed ad probably heard that the people doubted that he was the Messiah. Before they would believe, they demaded that he perform miracles as he had i Caperaum. Jesus Reprimads His Hometow for Ubelief his air of authority, but he simply passed through the crowd ad walked away (Luke 4:30). The Jesus Coectio I some versios of this Bible passage, the writers record that Jesus power was actually limited by the ubelief i his hometow. It just goes to show you how importat your belief i Jesus is! Cosider why you believe what you do about Jesus. What do you struggle to believe? Brig your struggles i a hoest prayer to God. Ask him to help you believe eve whe you re tempted ot to. You ca write your prayer here. I his reprimad for their ubelief, Jesus referred to icidets ivolvig two of the most highly revered Jewish prophets: Elijah ad Elisha. He poited out that God set Elijah to perform a miracle for a o- Jewish widow i Zarephath, a wicked city where idol worship was practiced. Jesus also metioed that Elisha healed the leprosy of a Syria amed Naama but he ever healed ay of the lepers i Israel. I doig this, Jesus was comparig the people of his hometow to the faithless Jews durig the time of Elijah ad Elisha. This compariso agered the people, but eve more offesive to their culture was the suggestio that o- Jews could ejoy the blessigs of God. Jesus Walks Away From His Hometow I their ager, the people from the syagogue arose ad drove Jesus out of tow. They o doubt assumed Jesus was guilty of blasphemy of falsely claimig to be the Messiah. Though it was the Sabbath, whe a executio would have bee ulawful, it appears they iteded to kill Jesus by throwig him off a cliff. We do t kow if Jesus escaped miraculously or through Study 10

100 100 Faith Coectio Rejectio Welcome studets to the group. Ask studets to gather i groups of four. Say: We re goig to start by playig a game. Choose a group leader who will receive the istructios your group eeds i order to complete the game. There s oly oe rule: Oce the game begis, there will be o talkig util your group has accomplished a certai task that oly your leader will kow about. Whe groups have chose leaders, ask the leaders to joi you i a separate room where others wo t be able to hear you. Tell leaders that each group will form a circle, ad the leaders have to gai etrace iside their groups circles before the leaders ca show their groups what to do. To wi the game, the group must spi the leader aroud three times ad the sit dow. After explaiig this to the group leaders, ask them to remai outside while you talk with the groups. Istruct members of each group to lik arms ad form a tight circle. Tell them they are ot to let their leader ito their circle for ay reaso. They may allow aother group s leader to eter the circle, but they may ot i ay way ivite him or her to do so. Ask leaders to come back ito the room. Remid studets that o oe may talk, ad the begi the game. Allow about two miutes of play. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. leaders, what was it like to be rejected by your ow group? You had the iformatio to help your group wi. What did you thik about your group s iability to complete the task? The secod questio i the activity assumes that o team will wi this game. If aother team accepts a leader ad wis, supplemet the followig discussio by askig everyoe how they feel about competig agaist their ow leader ad how the rejected leaders feel about their group competig without them. Groups, what was it like to reject your leaders? Study 10

101 101 Say: I your group, sesitively share a time you either felt rejected or you rejected someoe else. As you share, focus o the reasos for rejectio ad the feeligs you experieced as a result of rejectio. Give studets a few miutes to talk. do you thik you ve ever rejected Jesus? If so, how? Say: Rejectio hurts. Just as your groups rejected some of you, people who had kow Jesus his whole life rejected him. They could t believe he was aythig more tha a carpeter s so. They let their precoceived otios of him limit what they believed he could do. Let s see how we ca believe i Jesus. 2 Bible Exploratio Hometow Advatage? Have studets remai i their groups of four. Distribute Bibles, paper, ad pes. Say: As we read today s passage, you re goig to thik of it as a sports game. You ca pick whatever sport you wat, but it has to be somethig with poits. As your group reads Luke 4:22-30 together, keep score Jesus vs. Nazareth. You ca decide how you wat to award poits, but you ll have to explai how you arrived at the fial score. Tally your score o your paper. Hometow Advatage? Bibles paper pes Allow about five miutes for groups to read the passage ad determie their scorig system. The take a poll to fid out whether more people eded up with Jesus or Nazareth as a wier. Have groups explai their scorig system ad how they arrived at their results. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. I sports, what are some reasos the home team is usually thought to have a advatage? Why was beig o his home court a disadvatage for Jesus? What did you thik about pittig Jesus agaist his ow hometow i our sports game? Say: Jesus ad Nazareth should ve bee o the same team. Istead, the people of Nazareth allowed their disbelief to pit them agaist Jesus. Whether or ot Nazareth eded up with the higher score i your tally, they lost out. They missed out o seeig the full power of Jesus. Whe we believe i Jesus, we all wi. Study 10

102 102 Media Coectio (Optio) Media Coectio Bibles smartphoe(s) or tablet(s) with Iteret access Media Coectio Easy Prep Fid a YouTube video of Susa Boyle s auditio with Britai s Got Talet. Istead of doig the Hometow Advatage? activity, show studets a YouTube clip where Susa Boyle auditios for Britai s Got Talet. Susa Boyle is a plailookig older woma who does t seem like much util she starts sigig ad wows everyoe. Depedig o your group size ad techology set-up, you may wish to have studets form smaller groups ad fid the video per your istructios so that everyoe ca see it well. After they watch the video, have studets form groups of four ad read the Bible passage, Luke 4:22-30, lookig for similarities ad differeces betwee the way Jesus was treated ad the way Susa Boyle was treated. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What are some similarities you oticed betwee the way Jesus was treated ad the way Susa Boyle was treated? differeces? I what ways did both people display uexpected talet? I what ways have your ow thoughts about Jesus bee challeged as you ve leared more about him? Say: Much like Susa Boyle, Jesus seemed pretty plai ad ordiary. The people of Nazareth were pretty shocked to hear him preach so eloquetly. I fact, they could t get past it ad believe i Jesus. Oce people heard her sigig talets, Susa Boyle was accepted. The questio is, how will we respod to the evidece of who Jesus is? Will we believe i Jesus or reject him? 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life I Believe Creeds paper pes I Believe Creeds Distribute a piece of paper ad a pe to each studet. Say: Let s take some time to thik about what we believe about Jesus. What are some of the essetial, foudatioal elemets of your faith? Come up with at least five thigs, ad write them o your paper with this form: I believe... Leave space after each statemet. Allow time. Study 10

103 103 Say: Now go through your statemets ad add to them with this format,...so I... Thik about what it meas for the way you live that you believe each thig you wrote. What actio does that brig forth i you? Allow time. Allow time for willig studets to read some of their complete statemets. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What does it mea to believe i somethig? What s wrog with belief that does t lead to actio? How has this ispired you to live out your belief i Jesus? Say: The people of Nazareth believed a Messiah was comig. But whe he came, they did t act based o their belief. They rejected him ad eve plotted to kill him. Whe we believe i Jesus ad truly accept him, it shows up i the way we live. All My Heart Distribute card stock, ad set out markers to share. Have studets ope their Bibles to Deuteroomy 6:5, the Key Verse, ad ask a willig studet to read it aloud: Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth. All My Heart Bibles card stock markers Say: Valetie s Day is comig up! It s the time of year whe we thik about lovig someoe with all our hearts. That s just the kid of love God asks for! Whe we believe i Jesus, it has to be coupled with love. The book of James says that eve the demos believe i Jesus...but they sure do t love him! Let s show our love for Jesus by makig Valetie s Day cards for him that reflect our Key Verse. Allow time for studets to decorate their cards. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How do belief ad love go had i had? What does love i actio look like? How ca that help you kow how to show your belief i Jesus? Say: The people of Nazareth had grow up with Jesus i their commuity. They had probably loved him whe he was a little boy. But that love sure faded fast whe they could t believe who he claimed to be. Whe we love Jesus, we believe i Jesus, too. Study 10

104 104 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve examied why we believe i Jesus. Let s discuss how we ca live out our belief i Jesus this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: Choose a actio item from your I Believe creed each day ad do it! sped a hour this week with Jesus doig somethig you ejoy that helps you coect with God takig a walk ad prayig, jouralig, goig for a ru, readig, ad so o. pay attetio to your attitude this week ad how it demostrates a acceptace of or rejectio of Jesus. Commit to livig out your belief i him. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: The people i Nazareth could t believe that Jesus was who he said he was. Let s ot let our doubts stop us. Let s believe i Jesus as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about believig i Jesus. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets sit quietly ad pray about their I Believe creeds. Study 10

105 105 Jesus Is Rejected i His Hometow Luke 4:22-30 Bible Poit Believe i Jesus. Key Verse Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth (Deuteroomy 6:5). Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Choose a actio item from your I Believe creed each day ad do it! sped a hour this week with Jesus doig somethig you ejoy that helps you coect with God takig a walk ad prayig, jouralig, goig for a ru, readig, ad so o. pay attetio to your attitude this week ad how it demostrates a acceptace of or rejectio of Jesus. Commit to livig out your belief i him. Faith Joural I what ways have your beliefs about Jesus chaged over the years? Talk With Your Family takig it HOME Quotables Receive the bread, the Word, the life, the peace, the joy that Jesus is offerig you. See that Jesus is with you, ad that God is workig i every circumstace of your life to meet your eed. Merli R. Carothers, Power i Praise As a family, sit i a circle ad take turs sharig somethig you each believe about Jesus. After each perso shares somethig, have the others discuss whether they also believe it ad why or why ot. Read 1 Corithias 15:3-8 together, ad discuss these questios: What makes it easy or hard for you to believe these thigs about Jesus? Why is it importat to believe these thigs about Jesus? How would your life be differet if you did t believe these thigs?! ok to copy Study 10

106

107 Study Moses ad Elijah Appear With Jesus Luke 9:28-36 Teeagers are cofroted daily with opportuities to believe i oe (or several!) of may differet gods. They ca latch o to Krisha, Buddha, Mohammed, eve Sata whatever the culture offers them. Eve more iterestig are the cults opiios about Jesus. Most of them are quite icorrect, while others are almost right. Use this study to help studets explore the differet messages they ve heard about Jesus ad to idetify who he really is. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio 2 Bible Exploratio Difficult Puzzles (about 15 mi.) Try to solve various braiteasers. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 10 mi.) Watch a movie clip, ad discuss the differet ways people try to figure out what s real. Coffee Shop Slides (about 20 mi.) Create a huma slide show to re-create Jesus trasfiguratio. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Difficult Puzzles hadout (at the ed of this study), pes video player, movie Ocea s Eleve Bibles Cue Ocea s Eleve to 01:39:06, whe a ma is stadig aloe i the vault lookig at a small piece of paper. Bible Poit Jesus is God s So. Key Verse The Word became flesh ad made his dwellig amog us. We have see his glory, the glory of the Oe ad Oly, who came from the Father, full of grace ad truth (Joh 1:14). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will uderstad who Jesus is ad why that s so importat to kow. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 11

108 108 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Mixed Messages (about 20 mi.) Discuss the differig messages they hear about Jesus. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Mixed Messages hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 11

109 109 Moses ad Elijah Appear With Jesus Luke 9:28-36 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders The Trasfiguratio The evet described i this passage is ofte called the Trasfiguratio. This term comes from the Lati, meaig to chage ito aother form. Peter, James, ad Joh saw Jesus trasformed physically ito a differet state of existece, probably assumig qualities like those of the body after resurrectio. Some try to explai away the chage i Jesus by sayig that the su was shiig o him ad through his clothig while he stood at a higher elevatio tha his disciples. However, such explaatios do ot do justice to the text. Ideed, Luke describes a shockig chage that took place i Jesus before their eyes: His face ad clothes were as brilliat as a flash of lightig! Jesus earthly body shoe with the light ad majesty of his heavely beig. Jesus Talks With Moses ad Elijah We might woder why the disciples kept silet about this wodrous evet. The aswer is foud i Matthew s accout (Matthew 17:1-9). Jesus told them to keep quiet. Ad after this amazig experiece, they were likely iclied to obey whatever Jesus said! The Jesus Coectio At the Trasfiguratio, Jesus disciples witessed evidece of a better life awaitig them. Their faithfuless to Christ i the face of hardship would be well worth the struggle. There is othig more importat or rewardig tha a relatioship with Jesus. These sleepy disciples almost missed the glory of Christ because they were exhausted (just as i the garde of Gethsemae). What i your life is stealig your eergy, distractig you from your faith? Pray that God will help you push past the busyess so you ca see his glory i your life. You ca write your prayer here. Why were Moses ad Elijah the oes to appear with Jesus? Commetators suggest various explaatios, but a likely oe is that Moses represeted the law ad Elijah represeted the prophets. I this way, God demostrated to the bewildered disciples that the comig death of Jesus fit perfectly with the major elemets of the Old Testamet. Hush-Hush It s ot surprisig that the disciples were afraid as the cloud came upo the moutai. After all, this whole experiece had bee profoudly superatural. Ad they may well have remembered that God desceded to the top of Mout Siai i a cloud ad that oly Moses was allowed to go to the top of the moutai to experiece God s presece. Study 11

110 110 Faith Coectio Difficult Puzzles Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Difficult Puzzles hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Difficult Puzzles Welcome studets to the group. After studets have arrived, have them ope to page 78 i their Hadbooks, or distribute the Difficult Puzzles hadouts. Have studets work o their ow or i groups (their choice) to try to solve all the puzzles. Whe they ve fiished, have studets gather i the ceter of the meetig room. Read each puzzle, ad have studets share their aswers. The read the aswers to the puzzles. Aswers: Puzzle Oe: The mother is 40; the daughter is 10. Puzzle Two: There are six F s. Puzzle Three: Ask the ma to poit to whichever village he lives i. He will always poit to Village B. Puzzle Four: If you light both eds of oe rope, it will bur i exactly 1/2 hour. Thus, bur oe rope from both eds ad the other rope from oly oe ed. Oce the rope that is burig from both eds burs out, you kow that the other rope oly has 1/2 hour left to bur. Light the secod ed of this rope. This remaiig piece will bur i 15 miutes. The total burig time will be 45 miutes. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Were these puzzles easy or difficult? Explai. What other puzzles do people try to figure out the aswers to i life? How do you go about provig a aswer is true? do you thik it s importat to kow the truth about who Jesus is? Why or why ot? How does oe discover the truth about who Jesus is? Say: Tryig to uderstad how we kow who Jesus is ca seem like we re tryig to solve a braiteaser. Today we re goig to explore how we ca kow for sure that Jesus is God s So ad what that meas for the way we view him. Study 11

111 111 Media Coectio (Optio) Tip May movie clips are available at youtube.com. Make sure you preview this clip to esure that you do t begi it too early, as a iappropriate scee precedes this clip. Istead of doig the Difficult Puzzles activity, show studets a clip from the movie Ocea s Eleve that helps them thik about how people determie what s real. Begi the clip at 01:39:06, whe a ma is stadig aloe i the vault lookig at a small piece of paper. I this clip, a casio is robbed ad it s revealed that part of the trick was a fake video of a robbery. Ed the clip at 01:41:20, whe the ma leaves the vault ad walks dow the hall. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Media Coectio video player movie Ocea s Eleve Media Coectio Easy Prep Cue Ocea s Eleve to 01:39:06, whe a ma is stadig aloe i the vault lookig at a small piece of paper. Whe did Beedict kow he d bee tricked? Why is it sometimes difficult to see what s real? What are ways that people try to figure out what s real i life? do you thik it s importat to kow the truth about who Jesus is? Why or why ot? How does oe discover the truth about who Jesus is? Say: Tryig to uderstad how we kow who Jesus is ca be hard. We get a lot of mixed messages, ad it s ot always easy to kow what s real. Today we re goig to explore how we ca kow for sure that Jesus is God s So ad what that meas for the way we view him. 2 Bible Exploratio Coffee Shop Slides Have studets form groups of four, ad give each group Bibles. Coffee Shop Slides Bibles Say: To begi our discussio, let s examie a passage of Scripture to see what it tells us about Jesus idetity. Ask groups to read Luke 9: Study 11

112 112 Say: Imagie that you re a disciple ad were preset at this evet. The ower of Jerusalem Coffee & More, a local coffee shop, has asked you to share your memories of this evet i the form of a huma slide show. Assig each group oe of the followig passages: Luke 9:28-29; Luke 9:30-31; Luke 9:32-33; ad Luke 9: Ask members of each group to work together to create a sapshot with their bodies that represets what is described i their assiged passage. Have groups create quick arratios of their sapshots. For example, i describig Luke 9:28-29, studets might say, We were all o the moutai prayig whe Jesus clothes became bright ad his face looked differet. Whe they re ready, have groups preset their slides oe at a time, i sequece. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What did you lear about Jesus from these slides? Compare your reactio to readig about this evet with the disciples reactio havig bee there. Have a willig studet read Luke 9:35 to the group. What does this verse reveal about who Jesus is? How ca we kow for sure that Jesus is God s So? Say: This evet is truly amazig. Imagie beig o the moutai with Jesus whe all of this happeed. Whatever his compaios believed about Jesus must have drastically chaged because of this evet. God made Jesus idetity very clear: Jesus is God s So. Study 11

113 113 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Mixed Messages Say: Other religios ad society at large have widely varyig views about who Jesus is or is t. Let s talk about some of these competig messages. Have studets ope to page 80 of their Hadbooks, or give each studet a Mixed Messages hadout ad a pe. Mixed Messages Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Mixed Messages hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Have studets form two equal groups. Oe group should form a close circle, facig out. The have members of the other group form a larger circle, facig i, aroud the first group. (Studets will be stadig i two cocetric circles facig each other.) Tell studets to iterview the perso across from them usig oe of the categories o the Mixed Messages hadout. Have studets leave the Joh 1:14 s Messages About Jesus sectio blak for ow. Every 30 secods, let studets kow to switch which parter is doig the iterviewig. Every miute, have the ier circle rotate clockwise so studets each have a ew parter. Cotiue for about 12 miutes. Studets may ed up with repeat parters toward the ed, ad that s okay. They ca choose a differet category to iterview about. After 12 miutes, have studets retur to their groups of four ad look up Joh 1:14, the Key Verse. Have groups read the verse together: The Word became flesh ad made his dwellig amog us. We have see his glory, the glory of the Oe ad Oly, who came from the Father, full of grace ad truth. Say: As a group, figure out what message this verse seds about who Jesus is, ad write that i the appropriate sectio. The discuss your aswers for each category, ad come up with a overall statemet per category about what that message reveals about Jesus (whether or ot you believe it). Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What messages did you come up with for who Jesus is? How difficult is it to filter these messages to fid the truth about Jesus? What ca we do whe we ecouter messages about Jesus that are t true? What ca you do to cotiue to get to kow the true messages about Jesus? What differece does it make i your life to kow the truth about who Jesus is? Study 11

114 114 Say: The world has a lot to say about Jesus. Some say he ever eve lived. Others say he lived but was just a powerful teacher, ad he ever came back to life. If those thigs were true, our faith would be worthless. It would be ufouded. But if we realize that Jesus is God s So, we ll uderstad he was t just a ordiary teacher ad he did have the power to come back to life. We ll see that he lived a perfect life so that he could take our place o the cross. Ad we ll hoor him for who he is. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that Jesus is God s So. Let s discuss how we ll see Jesus for who he really is this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: pay attetio to the messages you hear this week about Christiaity ad who Jesus is. Weigh them agaist the Bible, ad sped time cosiderig what each oe reveals about the source s beliefs about Jesus. sped 10 extra miutes each morig i prayerful worship to God, ad the thak him for showig his glory through Jesus. Be o the lookout for God Sightigs each day this week. Wheever you or other family members recogize God s work i your lives, share it at a special time i the eveig. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Jesus revealed who he was to the disciples. Ad he reveals himself to us, too. Let s recogize that Jesus is God s So as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Study 11

115 115 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about who Jesus is. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets form groups of four ad thak Jesus for the ways he s revealed himself to them persoally. Study 11

116 116 Difficult Puzzles Puzzle Oe: A mother is four times as old as her daughter. I 20 years she will be twice as old as her daughter. How old are the mother ad the daughter ow? Puzzle Two: How may F s are there i this setece? You ca read the setece oly oce: Fiished files are the result of years of scietific study combied with the experiece of years. Puzzle Three: You are lost i a forest. The forest is betwee two villages. I Village A live oly liars; the residets always lie. I Village B, people always tell the truth. You wat to go to Village B. You see a ma from oe of the villages. You ca ask him oly oe questio. What questio will you ask him to tell you for sure where Village B is? Puzzle Four: There are two legths of rope. Each oe ca bur i exactly oe hour. They are ot ecessarily of the same legth or width as each other. They are also ot of uiform width (they may be wider i the middle tha o the eds); thus, burig half of the rope may ot ecessarily take 1/2 hour. By burig the ropes, how ca you measure exactly 45 miutes?! ok to copy Study 11

117 117 Mixed Messages Hey! Iterview as may people as you ca about these topics. Paretal Messages About Jesus Messages About Jesus From Frieds Messages About Jesus From People Who Do t Kow Him Media Messages About Jesus Church s Messages About Jesus Joh 1:14 s Messages About Jesus! ok to copy Study 11

118 118 Moses ad Elijah Appear With Jesus Luke 9:28-36 Bible Poit Jesus is God s So. Key Verse The Word became flesh ad made his dwellig amog us. We have see his glory, the glory of the Oe ad Oly, who came from the Father, full of grace ad truth (Joh 1:14). takig it HOME Quotables It all happeed i a momet, a most remarkable momet God became a ma. While the creatures of earth walked uaware, Diviity arrived. Heave opeed herself ad placed her most precious oe i a huma womb God had come ear Max Lucado, The Ispiratioal Study Bible Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. pay attetio to the messages you hear this week about Christiaity ad who Jesus is. Weigh them agaist the Bible, ad sped time cosiderig what each oe reveals about the source s beliefs about Jesus. sped 10 extra miutes each morig i prayerful worship to God, ad the thak him for showig his glory through Jesus. Be o the lookout for God Sightigs each day this week. Wheever you or other family members recogize God s work i your lives, share it at a special time i the eveig. Faith Joural How has Jesus had a impact o your life? Talk With Your Family As a family, read Joh 1:14. Have family members each draw a time God s glory was revealed to them. The have each perso draw a picture of the way he or she visualizes Jesus trasfiguratio. Place all the pictures together, ad discuss how you see God s glory i each oe. Discuss what that reveals about the differet ways we ca see God through Jesus workig i our lives.! ok to copy Study 11

119 Study Jesus Teaches About Rewards Luke 6:17-26 Seior highers have grow up i a world that teaches us to look out for ourselves, to accumulate as much stuff as possible. They ve leared that istat fame is possible if they ca oly figure out what YouTube video to create. They re used to istat gratificatio. Need a aswer? Ask your phoe. Need dier? Pop it i the microwave. Jesus message i this passage will tur all that o its head. Noe of the stuff matters. Nothig that istatly gratifies fulfills. Our log-term reward is worth sufferig for ow. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio I Feel Blessed (about 15 mi.) Fiish the seteces I feel blessed... ad I feel hurt... paper, pes Bible Poit Jesus blesses people who have faith. Key Verse Set your mids o thigs above, ot o earthly thigs (Colossias 3:2). 2 Bible Exploratio I Wi! I Wi! (about 20 mi.) Compete i a game show to wi prizes. Upside Dow (about 10 mi.) Flip their seteces from the I Feel Blessed activity upside dow. Bibles, paper, pes, copy of a bill (you ca fid samples olie), empty food wrapper, oio, ame tag labeled Loser, $1 bill, cady bar, comic strip, gold star sticker Bibles, lists from the I Feel Blessed activity, pes, scissors, tape Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will focus their time o God. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 12

120 120 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life The Big Picture (about 15 mi.) Draw their curret pais, ad icorporate them ito bigger drawigs. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 15 mi.) Liste to a sog, ad discuss how it reflects the Key Verse. Bibles, idex cards, paper, markers, tape Bibles, music player, sog Blessigs by Laura Story Dowload Blessigs by Laura Story, ad cue your music player so you re ready to play it. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes revised lists from the Upside Dow activity Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 12

121 121 Jesus Teaches About Rewards Luke 6:17-26 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Jesus Preaches the Sermo o the Plai Jesus cotiued to teach ad heal people wherever he wet. Luke 6:17-26 records a sermo that closely parallels the Beatitudes i Jesus Sermo o the Mout recorded by Matthew. Some coted that Luke s Sermo o the Plai recorded here was the same sermo ad that the terrai was described differetly because Luke was describig the large plai where the people sat ad Matthew was describig the place slightly above the people where Jesus stood o the moutai. Others hold that these were two separate sermos ad that Jesus may have spoke similar cotet umerous times i his miistry. The Jesus Coectio Times of sacrifice may be expected of us whe we follow Jesus, but the blessig of God will be much greater tha our sacrifice. How do you defie a blessig? Does it fit with what Jesus says is blessed? Be thakful for the good times, but also be thakful for the difficult times, which are the real blessigs because of the ultimate reward whe we live by faith. Pray ad thak God for the faith-buildig blessigs i your life right ow eve though they may ot seem like blessigs. Pray for the stregth to stick it out ad have faith. You ca write your prayer here. Jesus Assures Blessigs Amidst Challeges Jews listeig to Jesus teachig i this passage would have quickly coected this teachig method with that of the prophets. The prophets had proouced blessig o appropriate behavior ad woe o disobediece. Blessed, ofte traslated happy, meas to have a ier quality of life that demostrates joy ad blessig. Woe idicates deep pai or disappoitmet ad coveys a feelig of desperatio. I these Beatitudes Jesus offers hope to those who suffer: a kigdom for the poor, satisfactio for the hugry, laughter for the weepig, rewards for those sufferig for Jesus. For those who put him first ad seek his kigdom, all these thigs will be added. The woes Jesus eumerates are opposites of the blessigs he lists, but this does t mea that it is iheretly wrog to have eough moey, to be wellfed, to laugh, or to be well-thought-of. Istead, Jesus is poitig out that those livig the good life may fid it easy to igore God ad to deped o themselves rather tha o him. Study 12

122 122 Faith Coectio I Feel Blessed paper pes I Feel Blessed Welcome studets to the group. Distribute a piece of paper ad a pe to each perso. Have studets fold their papers i half the log way to make two colums. At the top of oe colum, have studets write I feel blessed because... The have studets fill i the colum with edigs to that setece. Have studets rotate their papers so the secod colum will be upside dow compared to the first. Have studets write I feel hurt because... The have studets fill i the colum with edigs to that setece. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How would you describe a blessig? What are some commo themes i your blessigs colum? hurt colum? True or false: Blessigs are always ejoyable. Say: It s pretty commo for us to say we feel blessed whe thigs go our way. Our family moves to a bigger house, so we feel blessed. Your mom or dad gets a promotio at work with a big raise, so you feel blessed. Your team wis a game, so you feel blessed. But is that what blessig really meas? Today we ll explore how Jesus defies blessigs ad cosider that Jesus blesses people who have faith. Have studets keep their lists for later. Study 12

123 123 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION I Wi! I Wi! Distribute paper ad pes. Say: It s time for a game show! I m goig to ask a series of questios. You ll try to aswer each oe to the best of your ability, writig your aswer o your paper. Our questios will be i four categories, ad prizes will be awarded for each category. Ask the followig questios, allowig time for studets to write their aswers. Do t metio the aswers i paretheses; you ll use those later whe studets grade themselves. Category: Fiaces Withi $1, tell me the miimum wage i (Aswer: $3.80; 5 poits) I 2012, there was a historically high lottery jackpot. Withi $100 millio, what was it? (Aswer: $656 millio; 8 poits) Joe made $100,000 last year. This year, he got a 2% raise. How much moey does he make? (Aswer: $102,000; 3 poits) I 2014, how much moey was spet o pet Hallowee costumes? (Aswer: $350 millio; accept aswers betwee $300 ad $400 millio; 7 poits) I Wi! I Wi! Bibles paper pes copy of a bill (you ca fid samples olie) empty food wrapper oio ame tag labeled Loser $1 bill cady bar comic strip gold star sticker Category: Food What s my favorite food? (Aswer: your favorite food!; 9 poits) What food is the most popular to order at a baseball game? (Aswer: hot dogs; 4 poits) What s the most popular flavor of ice cream? (Aswer: vailla; 2 poits) Withi five years, whe was sliced bread iveted? (Aswer: 1928; 6 poits) Category: Riddles What do you call a frog who lies? (Aswer: A am-fib-ia; 3 poits) What did the caibal say whe he threw up? (Aswer: You ca t keep a good ma dow. ; 10 poits) What do you get whe you jump ito the Red Sea? (Aswer: wet; 1 poit) How may moths have 28 days? (Aswer: all of them; 5 poits) Category: People Who iveted the cotto gi? (Aswer: Eli Whitey; 8 poits) Who was the first perso to step o the moo? (Aswer: Neil Armstrog; 4 poits) What was the ame of the perso kow as the Crocodile Huter? (Aswer: Steve Irwi; 7 poits) Who played the origial Mary Poppis? (Aswer: Julie Adrews; 2 poits) After you ve read the questios for each category ad studets have writte their aswers, review the aswers ad have studets award themselves poits as idicated. The Study 12

124 124 determie the perso with the most poits ad the least poits i each category. I the evet of ties, use the followig tie-breakers. Tie breakers by category: Fiaces: Tell studets you re thikig of a umber betwee 1 ad 100. Have the studets try to guess it, ad declare the perso with the highest umber a wier. Food: Tell studets to pick their favorite cady. Choose a wier based o whose cady you like better. Riddles: Have cotestats each tell a joke, ad have the rest of the studets vote o the best joke. People: Say: The first perso to ame someoe famous wis! Determie who s first. Oce you ve determied the wier ad loser of each category, have a award ceremoy with the followig prizes: Fiaces wier: a copy of a bill Fiaces loser: $1 Food wier: a empty food wrapper Food loser: a cady bar Riddles wier: a oio (to make them cry) Riddles loser: a comic strip People wier: a ame tag that says Loser People loser: a gold star Have studets ope their Bibles to Luke 6: Say: You might ve felt like our awards ceremoy was a bit backward. But let s explore today s Bible passage ad see how it lies up with Jesus teachig. Have four willig studets take turs each readig a couple of verses from Luke 6: Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What thoughts did you have as you saw the prizes give to the wiers ad losers? What parallels did you see betwee our prizes ad what Jesus said i our passage? Have you ever looked at poverty, huger, tears, ad upopularity as blessigs? Why or why ot? I what ways could these thigs ultimately be a good prize? Say: Whe everythig goes perfectly, we do t really get the chace to grow i our faith. The reaso these thigs that seem bad are blessigs is that they lead to ultimate rewards that satisfy. If we let our hardships grow our faith, we ll see the ultimate blessig because Jesus blesses people who have faith. Study 12

125 125 Upside Dow Have studets keep their Bibles ope to Luke 6: Say: Let s take aother look at our lists from the begiig of our lesso. Sice Jesus flipped aroud our ormal expectatios of blessigs ad pai, let s flip our lists. Distribute scissors ad tape. Have studets cut out their I feel blessed because... ad I feel hurt because... headers ad tape them i each other s place. Have studets form groups of four ad compare their lists to the Bible passage, otig where their ew blessigs lie up with Jesus blessigs. Upside Dow Bibles lists form the I Feel Blessed activity pes scissors tape Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. I what ways did Jesus reverse our culture s expectatios of blessigs? What do you thik of your ew lists? What would it take to view the thigs you origially said hurt you as blessigs? Say: Jesus blesses people who have faith. Poverty itself is t a blessig, but it ultimately leads to a far greater ad more lastig blessig tha wealth. Whe we flip our perspective, we ca see the ultimate value of the thigs o our ew blessigs list. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life The Big Picture Distribute idex cards ad markers. Say: Thik of a curret problem or difficulty that takes a lot of your focus. Draw somethig to represet that o your idex card. Allow time. Have studets ope their Bibles to the Key Verse, Colossias 3:2, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Set your mids o thigs above, ot o earthly thigs. The Big Picture Bibles idex cards paper markers tape Say: Let s see how this problem could be part of a bigger picture. Distribute paper ad tape. Have each studet tape his or her idex card o top of the paper ad the add to the picture to make it fill the whole page with somethig more hopeful. Study 12

126 126 Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. I what ways is focusig o earthly thigs like or ulike limitig your drawig to the idex card? How is focusig o thigs above helpful i us seeig God s bigger picture? What ca you do to maitai a heavely perspective? Say: Colossias 3:2 is a great remider of how to put Jesus words from our passage ito actio. If we focus o the tears, the huger, or the lack of popularity, we re focusig o earthly thigs ad we wo t feel very blessed. But if we have a heavely focus ad remember that Jesus blesses people who have faith, we ca see how our problems ca build our faith ad brig ultimate blessigs. Media Coectio Bibles music player sog Blessigs by Laura Story Media Coectio Easy Prep Dowload Blessigs by Laura Story, ad cue your music player so you re ready to play it. Media Coectio (Optio) Istead of doig The Big Picture activity, have studets liste to the sog Blessigs by Laura Story. First, have studets ope their Bibles to the Key Verse, Colossias 3:2, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Set your mids o thigs above, ot o earthly thigs. Say: Let s liste to a sog that helps us have a heavely perspective o blessigs. As you liste, cosider what blessigs you ve experieced. Play Blessigs by Laura Story. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How does this sog redefie blessigs? I what ways have you experieced the kids of blessigs this sog talks about? What ca you do to maitai a heavely perspective about what real blessigs are? Say: Colossias 3:2 is a great remider of how to put Jesus words i our passage ito actio. If we focus o the tears, the huger, or the lack of popularity, we re focusig o earthly thigs ad we wo t feel very blessed. But if we have a heavely focus ad remember that Jesus blesses people who have faith, we ca see how our problems ca build our faith ad brig ultimate blessigs. Study 12

127 127 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that Jesus blesses people who have faith. Let s discuss how we ca have faith this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: Write about what is importat to God i your day. Three ights this week, list five thigs that you saw goig o at school that Jesus would call blessigs or woes. fid a fried who is havig a hard time. Liste to him or her, sit with him or her, ad pray with him or her. Be poor! Sacrificially give moey to church or to a miistry that does God s work. Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Jesus blesses people who have faith. But that does t mea we ll have a cushy life. I fact, Jesus ideas of blessigs are the ultimate rewards we get from edurig hard times with faith. Let s have faith i him as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about blessigs ad faith. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Weavig Faith at Home revised lists from the Upside Dow activity Close i prayer. Have studets take turs thakig God for the items o their revised I feel blessed lists. Study 12

128 128 Jesus Teaches About Rewards Luke 6:17-26 Bible Poit Jesus blesses people who have faith. Key Verse Set your mids o thigs above, ot o earthly thigs (Colossias 3:2). takig it HOME Quotables Our real blessigs ofte appear to us i the shape of pais, losses ad disappoitmets; but let us have patiece ad we soo shall see them i their proper figures. Joseph Addiso Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Write about what is importat to God i your day. Three ights this week, list five thigs that you saw goig o at school that Jesus would call blessigs or woes. fid a fried who is havig a hard time. Liste to him or her, sit with him or her, ad pray with him or her. Be poor! Sacrificially give moey to church or to a miistry that does God s work. Faith Joural Based o everythig you leared today, how would you defie a blessig? Are you blessed? Explai. Talk With Your Family Read James 1:2-4 together. Make a list of all the hard times your family has suffered. Talk about how, lookig back, you ca see the good that came out of them. For those that are still challegig, discuss how you ca chage your perspective to view them as blessigs.! ok to copy Study 12

129 Study Jesus Teaches About Lovig Eemies Luke 6:27-38 It does t take much to become a eemy at this age. Sometimes studets become eemies because they do t look like the rest of the crowd. Other times, they re eemies because they participate i activities others do t thik are cool. Seior highers ofte have a costatly chagig list of people they cosider to be their eemies. As you lead this study, help your studets focus o lovig oe aother ad makig that love part of the way they live. STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 1 Faith Coectio What s Yours Is Mie (about 15 mi.) Play a game i which they take paper wads from each other. Media Coectio (Optio) (about 15 mi.) Play a game i which they explore how they treat eemies. paper, maskig tape smartphoe(s) or tablet(s) with Iteret access Make a maskigtape lie o the floor across the ceter of the room. Bible Poit Jesus says to treat others as we wat to be treated. Key Verse Do to others as you would have them do to you (Luke 6:31). Weavig Faith Ito Life Studets will treat others as they wat to be treated. 2 Bible Exploratio Battle Plas (about 20 mi.) Come up with battle plas based o Jesus advice. Bibles, paper, pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each studet has oe! Study 13

130 130 STUDY What STUDENTS Do easy prep 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Advice Colum (about 20 mi.) Write to advice columists, ad aswer based o the Key Verse ad passage. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bibles, paper, pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study), pes Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Study 13

131 131 Jesus Teaches About Lovig Eemies Luke 6:27-38 BIBLe BACKGROUND for Leaders Jesus Teaches About Real Love The Jesus Coectio Luke 6:27-38 is a cotiuatio of Jesus Sermo o the Plai. I this passage Jesus teaches what it really meas to love. The Jews kew what eemies were, ad whe Jesus talked about people who cursed them, mistreated them, struck them, ad stole from them, the Jews likely thought of the Romas. It would have bee tough for Jews to accept the idea that they should love their oppressors. But Jesus was t sayig that they should have warm feeligs toward their eemies. Istead, Jesus was tellig them to love their eemies as a coscious act of will, to act i ways that would please their eemies, to behave toward them as a merciful God would. As we thik of lovig our eemies, it s importat to be thakful that Jesus drew us ito a relatioship with himself. He did this despite our hurtful choice to si agaist him. Reread Luke 6:31. I what areas of your life do you fid it difficult to put this verse ito practice? Ask for Jesus help. Pray about how you d like to be treated, ad ask Jesus to help you treat others that way. You ca write your prayer here. Jesus commad rus exactly couter to the huma impulse. Eve so, this is the law of love that God wats to see i the hearts of those who follow Jesus. Jesus Teaches About Difficult Love Jesus also poits out the emptiess of lovig oly those who love us. That s easy! Our love should t be based o the expectatio of beig loved i retur; istead we ca look forward to a heavely reward because we have treated people as God wats us to treat them (Luke 6:35). I his summary of this teachig (Luke 6:35-36), Jesus stresses the importace of the priciple he has explaied. Our very positio as childre of God is at stake. If we are sos of the Most High, we will live ad love i the way Jesus describes. Whe people watch us, they ll be able to see our merciful God i our attitudes ad actios. Study 13

132 132 Faith Coectio What s Yours Is Mie paper maskig tape What s Yours Is Mie Easy Prep Make a maskig-tape lie o the floor across the ceter of the room. What s Yours Is Mie Welcome studets to the group. Have studets form two eve teams, ad assig each team a half of the room. Give each studet two pieces of paper to crumple ad place somewhere o their side of the lie. Say: Your team is at war with the other team. You re eemies. Your goal is to take paper wads from the other side. If you get tagged o the other side, you have to drop ay paper wads you have ad head back to your side, ad wait at least 10 secods before attemptig to ifiltrate eemy territory agai. You are allowed to throw a paper wad oto your side as log as you have t bee tagged. Allow about 10 miutes for play, ad see which team eds up with more paper wads. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. What was your attitude toward the other team i this game? Did it occur to you at all to help someoe from the other team? Explai. Without amig ames, tell about people who you view as eemies. How was the way you acted i this game like or ulike the way you treat them? Say: Whe we re i a war whether it s a game or a truly emotioal battle agaist someoe it does t usually occur to us to be ice to our eemies. But Jesus talks about givig more to our eemies whe they steal from us. What does that really mea? Let s explore how Jesus says to treat others as we wat to be treated. Media Coectio smartphoe(s) or tablet(s) with Iteret access Media Coectio (Optio) Istead of doig the What s Yours Is Mie activity, have studets form as may groups as there are smartphoes or tablets, ad dowload a free versio of the game Agry Birds. Allow about 10 miutes for studets to play. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Study 13

133 133 What was your attitude toward the pigs i this game? What do you thik about the way the birds treat the pigs? Without amig ames, tell about people who you view as eemies. How was the way you played this game like or ulike the way you treat them? Say: Whe we re i a war whether it s a game or a truly emotioal battle agaist someoe it does t usually occur to us to be ice to our eemies. But Jesus talks about givig more to our eemies whe they steal from us. What does that really mea? Let s explore how Jesus says to treat others as we wat to be treated. 2 Bible Exploratio Battle Plas Have studets form five groups, ad give each group Bibles, paper, ad pes. Have studets ope to Luke 6: Assig each group oe of the follow categories: Battle Plas Bibles paper pes coutries at war frieds i a big fight a victim of bullyig rival sports teams a employee who sabotages a co-worker Say: You ve each bee assiged some kid of battle. You re goig to draw up a battle pla. But to come up with your battle pla, you ll use Luke 6:27-38 as ispiratio. Decide how you ll fight your battle based o Jesus words. Discuss what you thik the outcome of the battle would be usig your pla. Allow time. After about 10 miutes, have groups take turs describig their battle plas. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. How effective is Jesus battle pla at wiig? Explai. What s more importat wiig or showig love to others? Explai. explai whether you thik tur the other cheek meas allowig others to abuse us. Study 13

134 134 Say: Sometimes this passage is used to excuse bullyig or abuse. That s ot what Jesus meat. If you re a victim of bullyig or abuse, it s importat to seek help by talkig to me or callig a hotlie. Ad we ca apply Jesus advice i those situatios by prayig for the people who mistreat us. Aside from that, everyoe will face times people are just mea. Not abusive, but just ot fu to be aroud. Ad whe we face those times, Jesus says to treat others as we WANT to be treated. 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Advice Colum Bibles paper pes Advice Colum Have studets leave their Bibles ope to Luke 6:27-38 ad remai i their five groups. Distribute clea pieces of paper. Say: I your group come up with a sceario preferably a real oe i which you re ot sure how you d show love to a eemy. Jesus examples icluded someoe takig your coat or askig for thigs from you. Come up with your ow sceario, ad write it as a letter to a advice columist. Allow time. Say: Let s see how Jesus says to hadle these issues. Have a willig studet read the Key Verse, Luke 6:31: Do to others as you would have them do to you. The have groups each exchage papers so they ed up with aother group s letter. Allow time for the groups to write aswers as the advice columists. Ecourage the advice columists to cosider how they d wat to be treated i the situatio ad use that to write their aswers. After about 10 miutes, have them give the letters back to the origial groups. Allow a few miutes for groups to read the aswers ad discuss what they thik of the advice. Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. They ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. I what way were you challeged by the advice for your letter? How did it help you to thik objectively about someoe else s coflict? What ca help you thik objectively about how to treat others with Jesus love ad kidess? Say: Our istict is t always to follow Jesus advice. Our culture teaches us to look out for ourselves first ad foremost. But we ca use that logic to help us kow how to treat others! Thik about what it would be like to look out for yourself. The you ll kow how to treat others, because Jesus says to treat others as we WANT to be treated. Study 13

135 135 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges Have studets get out their hadbooks, or distribute Takig It Home hadouts to all studets. Say: Today we ve see that Jesus says to treat others as we wat to be treated. Let s discuss how we ll treat others this week. Direct studets to fid this week s Daily Challeges i their Hadbooks or o their Takig It Home hadouts. They may choose oe or more of these three optios: pray every ight before you go to sleep for someoe you cosider a eemy. Watch for how God chages your attitude toward that perso. Is there someoe at school you do t like? Treat the perso to a soft drik or coffee, ad try to get to kow him or her. A lot of times, people who act mea do it because they ve had a hard life. pick someoe you persoally kow whom you have a hard time gettig alog with. Write a list of 10 thigs that you ca see as iterestig or positive traits of that perso. Daily Challeges Hadbooks or 1 copy per studet of the Takig It Home hadout (at the ed of this study) pes Talk With Studets Lead studets i this discussio. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Jesus says to treat others as we WANT to be treated. Let s do that as we follow through with our Daily Challeges this week. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage studets to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about how to treat others. Studets ca also do the Talk With Your Family activity i their hadbooks or o their Takig It Home pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families! Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Have studets siletly cofess ways they ve treated others ukidly ad ask for God s help treatig others the way they wat to be treated. Study 13

136 136 Jesus Teaches About Lovig Eemies Luke 6:27-38 Bible Poit Jesus says to treat others as we wat to be treated. Key Verse Do to others as you would have them do to you (Luke 6:31). takig it HOME Quotables The best way to destroy your eemy is to make him your fried. Abraham Licol Daily Challege Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. pray every ight before you go to sleep for someoe you cosider a eemy. Watch for how God chages your attitude toward that perso. Is there someoe at school you do t like? Treat the perso to a soft drik or coffee, ad try to get to kow him or her. A lot of times, people who act mea do it because they ve had a hard life. pick someoe you persoally kow whom you have a hard time gettig alog with. Write a list of 10 thigs that you ca see as iterestig or positive traits of that perso. Faith Joural How ca you love your eemies the way Jesus does? Talk With Your Family Read 1 Corithias 13:4-8 with your family, ad the discuss the followig questios together: How well does this describe the love you have for your family ad close frieds? How well does it describe the way you love other people? What s the most difficult thig about lovig others? Ask your parets to talk about eemies from their youth ad to describe how they hadled the situatios. The pray together, askig God for help i lovig difficult people.! ok to copy Study 13

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