THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE XP3 USER AGREEMENT XP3HS.COM. Chief Executive Officer Reggie Joiner. Creative Director Ben Crawshaw. Branding Josh Lamm

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1 In this three-week series we begin with the question, what would make you happy? A car? A house? A spring break trip? A pile of money? Through the words of Jesus we discover that lasting happiness has less to do with a what and more to do with a Who. XP3HS.COM THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE XP3 Chief Executive Officer Reggie Joiner Chief Operating Officer Reggie Goodin Creative Director Ben Crawshaw Content Director Crystal Chiang Contributing Writer Andy Stanley Branding Josh Lamm XP3 HS Team Sarah Anderson CJ Palmer Steve Underwood Orange Specialists Jeremy Zach Ben Nunes Matt Ivy Technical & Web Support Hadley Brandt Video Nathan Cheuvront Graphics Taylor Cox Motion USER AGREEMENT The rethink Group, Inc. gladly grants permission to churches, schools and other licensees to tailor XP3 TM materials to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences. However, if you wish to edit the content substantively, including teaching scripts, small group dialog and any other content in which biblical principles and concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we ve expressed in our Statement of Faith ( These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work including podcasts or video of this content is a direct violation of U.S. copyright laws The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. XP3 and the XP3 logo are trademarks of The rethink Group, Inc.

2 FROM THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION TEACHING OUTLINE WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY WEEK 2 THE WRONG NATION BOTTOM LINE PEACE WITH GOD PAVES THE WAY TO PEACE EVERYWHERE ELSE. SCRIPTURE COLOSSIANS 1:13 1 JOHN 1:6 1 JOHN 4:20a INTRODUCTION Today, we re going to talk about the one thing every happy person has. It s what all happy people have peace. OUTLINE TENSION Happy people are almost always at peace in two different ways: Peace with others and peace with themselves. Think of it this way: Peace with God paves the way to peace everywhere else. GOAL OF SMALL GROUP TO HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THAT GOD WANTS PEACE FOR THEM; AND TO HELP THEM SEE THAT THROUGH OBEDIENCE, THEY EXPERIENCE MORE TRUE PEACE WITH GOD. And whether you feel this way or not, Jesus taught that there is a conflict between you and God. The reason you have conflict with God is because of sin. Because of what Jesus did, you can leave your life on the sin side & be reborn on the other side. TRUTH Peace with God begins with placing faith in Christ. You have a heavenly Father whose love is too strong to say yes to something that will hurt you. You can t simultaneously have peace while you ignore what He says, and you cannot have peace with God if you re out of sync with those around you. APPLICATION If you ve never placed your faith in Christ to make that initial peace with God, I want to give you an opportunity to do that. Peace comes from obedience. It comes from trusting that He has your best interests in mind. LANDING Peace with God paves the way to peace everywhere else.

3 FROM THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION TEACHING SCRIPT WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY WEEK 2 THE WRONG NATION BOTTOM LINE PEACE WITH GOD PAVES THE WAY TO PEACE EVERYWHERE ELSE. In this series, we re asking the question: what makes you happy? And as we ve said, there is NO THING that can make you happy. Happy is more about a who than a what. That means if you re happy, it s because the relationships in your life are doing well. And if you re unhappy, chances are it s a who problem. Happiness has far more to do with the WHOs is in our life than it does with the THINGS. That s why there really there is NO THING that can make you happy. Today, we re going to talk about the one thing every happy person has. And it s something you might not expect. Most of us think we need certain circumstances to make us happy. But then you meet happy people who don t have any of that INTRODUCTION (1 MINUTE) going for them. It s crazy. And even though you don t say it out loud (because that would be rude), you look at them and think, How can they be so happy? Because if I lived there was in their family had to do what they do after school I would not be happy. But we all know people in those situations who are happy, and it s fascinating. When you meet someone like that, they all have something in common. It s what all happy people have peace. TENSION (5 MINUTES) We don t talk about peace a lot, and how it makes us happy. But it makes sense. Peace is simply knowing things are good between you and someone else. Quite simply, if you have peace, you are happy. If you don t have peace, it doesn t matter what else is going well in your life, you just aren t happy. Happy people are almost always at peace in two different ways. 1. Peace with others. Happy people aren t angry, bitter, or dreaming up revenge. And it s not necessarily because life has gone great for them. Maybe you ve met someone who has faced terrible or difficult circumstances they ve been mistreated, made fun of, and hurt. And yet, they have found a way to be happy with themselves, and even at peace with others! It s incredible! 2. Peace with themselves. Sometimes you meet people who are just fine with themselves. It s awesome. Even though

4 TEACHING SCRIPT 4 they don t look as good as you. they don t have the opportunities you have. they re not cool or popular. they don t belong to any of the cool teams, clubs, or groups. And that s baffling, isn t it? Because you know people who have all those things, and they re not happy at all. Maybe you are that person. And if we re honest, being at peace with others and ourselves sounds great. Even if we don t use the word peace, the idea of actually liking ourselves and being cool with those around us that actually would make us happy. But how does someone even accomplish that? You can t wave a magic wand and make all your problems with yourself or others disappear. One of the things we believe, and that the New Testament teaches over and over, is that peace with God paves the way to peace with ourselves and others. In other words, being at peace with God can give us the one thing that makes people happy. Think of it this way: Peace with God paves the way to peace everywhere else. To make peace with someone means there had to be conflict at some point. And whether you feel this way or not, Jesus taught that there is a conflict between you and God. And the conflict happens on two levels: Sin, in general. And your sin, specifically. There s everybody s sin. And then there s your sin. The reason you have conflict with God, even if you don t realize it, is because of sin. On a big level, and also on a very specific, personal level. The Bible teaches that wherever there is sin, there s death. That may sound harsh, but haven t you seen this to be true? Some of you have killed a friendship because of sin. Some of you have killed some part of your future. Some of you are killing your bodies. Some of you are killing your relationship with your parents. For some of you, it s why you can t get along with yourself. Your sin is killing your self-esteem, your self-worth, and your relationship with you. And that s because wherever sin shows up in your life, something dies. And one of the first things to go is our sense of peace. That s how sin makes us unhappy and keeps us unhappy. And that s why the secret to being at peace with ourselves and those around us ultimately begins by making peace with God. But there s a big problem. When you re born into a country or a culture, you pick up the habits and customs and language of that place. If you re born in France, you speak French and eat French things and behave with French customs. If you re born in America, you speak English and pick up certain habits or customs that Americans do. The same is true of us when it comes to sin. We were all born in such a way that we sin. It just comes natural to us. We do everything that sinners do. It s like we were born in the nation of sin. Think about it this way. (Communicator note: place a sign on either side of you. One should say sin and the other should say God. ) You and I are born over here (point to the SIN sign), in the nation of sin, metaphorically speaking. And we ve picked up all of the language and habits that someone from here would have. And on the other side is God. He s over there in the kingdom of goodness and righteousness. He s everything that sin is not. And we re separated from Him. There s a gap. There s a distance. And no matter how hard we try to behave, no matter how much we pretend we belong on God s side (point to GOD), it doesn t change the fact that we were born on the other side. That s why Jesus came to Earth. God didn t want there to be distance between you and Him. So He sent Jesus to bridge the gap between you and Him. Because of what Jesus did, you can leave your life on the sin side (point to SIN) and be reborn on the other side (point to GOD). TRUTH (3 MINUTES) The Apostle Paul said it this way, For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Colossians 1:13 NIV). Dominion just means nation or kingdom. Paul is painting this picture of God in one nation, and you in another. And through Jesus, He wants to rescue you from the nation of sin and its darkness, and place you into His kingdom.

5 TEACHING SCRIPT 5 Paul is saying that the first step to peace with God has nothing to do with your behavior. The first step to peace with God is being rescued and placed into a new kingdom. Peace with God begins with placing faith in Christ. But that was just part of the conflict. Remember, we said that we have a conflict at two levels. There s sin in general: we re born in the wrong nation, and your sin: even after you re a Christian, your ongoing sinful behaviors. Think about growing up in your family. As a little kid, there was probably a time you weren t at peace with your parents. Here s what happened: your dad, stepmom, grandma, or someone in charge would say no to you. And it would make you mad. Even if the thing you wanted to do would have hurt you even if your parents were trying to keep you from getting hit by a car you were still mad. And it destroyed the peace for a little while. But their love was simply too strong to go along with something that could hurt you. Just like that, you have a heavenly Father whose love is too strong to say yes to something that will hurt you. Because of that, sometimes He says no. And sometimes, you do it anyway. That creates tension. You feel it. But you need to know, there s tension because God loves you too much to say yes to something that s going to hurt you. He s a good Father. So even though He wants peace with you, and even though He sent His son to pay an incredibly painful price so that you could have peace with Him, He still won t say yes to something that damages you. He simply loves you too much. And He realizes that you get mad at Him, turn your back, cross your arms, and wreck the peace. You may do what you want anyway. But He s still a good Father, and He will not turn His back on you. He won t box you out or throw you out. In fact, the moment you turn back His direction, He ll be waiting for you. Because He s a really great dad. John was a disciple who really knew Jesus. He traveled with Him, camped out with Him, and was a close friend. John wrote this about breaking peace with God, and it summarizes what it means for a Christian to be out of sync with their Heavenly Father. John says, If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth (1 John 1:6 NIV). We don t use the word fellowship much anymore, but it really means peace. It means that we re in sync with someone. So basically John is saying, If you pretend you and God are good, but you know you re disobeying Him, you re a liar. You lie to yourself and the people around you. God wants you to have peace with Him! But you can t simultaneously have peace while you ignore what He says. I ve been there I would show up at church, sing the songs, but I knew in my heart that God wanted me to do something that I wasn t going to do. Maybe you can relate. In those moments, we know there s tension between God and us. We aren t at peace. That s what John is referring to. He s saying, Don t kid yourself. You re not in fellowship with God. There s not peace with God, and the problem isn t God. He simply loves you too much to just go along with something that will hurt you. And then John takes it a step farther. In the same letter, John says, Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar (1 John 4:20a NIV). You cannot have peace with God if you re out of sync with those around you. You cannot have peace with the God who has forgiven you if you refuse to forgive. You cannot be at peace with God if you refuse to work for peace in your relationship. You can t hate your brother and sister, and then say you and God are fine. There s no peace there. APPLICATION (2 MINUTES) So here s the question. Actually, it s two questions: 1. Have you ever made peace with God? 2. And, if you re already a Christian, are you at peace with God now? If you ve never placed your faith in Christ to make that initial peace with God, if you ve never crossed that bridge from here (point to SIN) to here (point to GOD), I want to give you an opportunity to do that. You can ask God to do that right now. Be honest about your sin and invite His forgiveness through Jesus.

6 TEACHING SCRIPT 6 Then, I want you to tell your small group leader tonight. You don t have to say anything super-fancy or spiritual. Just say, Hey, remember that thing the speaker said? I think I want to do that. Your leader will be happy for you! They ll guide you through it, or connect you with someone who will guide you through it. Some of you have already done that. Maybe you ve prayed that prayer a few times to make sure it stuck to make sure you re really in. Because even though you remember making that decision, you still don t feel like things are okay. Your Heavenly Father is saying, That s not the problem. You re in. You re on My side, I m on yours. But you don t feel peace because your disobedience is creating havoc with your future and your happiness. Peace comes from obedience. It comes from trusting that He has your best interests in mind. It s waking up everyday and saying, God, whatever the question is, my answer to You is YES. LANDING (1 MINUTE) Peace with God paves the way to peace everywhere else. God loves you. He wants there to be peace between Him and you, whether that s for the first time, or the first time in a while. As you leave today, I want you to ask yourself this question: What could possibly make you or me say no to this? What on Earth would be so great that it caused you to miss out on what God is offering you through Jesus? Peace with God paves the way to peace everywhere else. With others and ourselves. It makes our lives better. And I promise, when you re at peace with God, yourself, and everyone else, you ll be a happier person. TRANSITION INTO SMALL GROUPS