1. LEADER PREPARATION

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1 TIME OUT! PAUSING OUR LIVES TO GROW WITH JESUS Week 2: The Benefits of Scripture Memorization This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW The human brain is a remarkable instrument. God created us with our own supercomputer wired right inside of us a tool for thinking, analyzing, creating, enjoying, choosing, pondering, and remembering. God wants us to use our brains including its memorizing function. Every day, teenagers demonstrate their ability to remember names, phone numbers, website addresses, lyrics from songs, strategies for video games, athletes statistics, and so many other bits and pieces of information. This lesson will encourage students to redirect some of that energy and skill by taking time out from their busy schedules to memorize Scripture. We won t spend much time on the how to part; we ll primarily focus on the benefits of memorizing verses from the Bible. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: Scripture memorization is a discipline that helps us develop a deeper friendship with God, understand our purpose in life, and make better, wise choices. 2. WHY: The Bible is a defense against Satan s temptations and weapon in the fight against destructive choices and patterns in life. 3. HOW: Students will discuss three key benefits of memorizing Scripture, and they ll discuss ways to grow in this personal habit. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE Matthew 4:1-11 SECONDARY SCRIPTURES Psalm 119:11 and Ephesians 6:10-20 TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your lesson.

2 Read Matthew 4:1-11. Scripture memorization played a key role in this passage, which tells of the time Jesus fasted for 40 days and then faced intense temptation from Satan. Jesus didn t have to rationalize or debate or consider the temptations tossed his way; he knew God the Father intimately and he knew Scripture intimately. Committing Scripture to memory can help us fight off Satan and his attacks. Satan s temptations touched on several areas, but Jesus was prepared in each one. When Satan tempted Jesus to do a miracle just because he could, Jesus responded with Scripture. When Satan tempted Jesus to display his authority by making angels catch him, Jesus countered with Scripture that revealed that Satan s temptation was rooted in a twisting of another verse. And when Satan tempted Jesus with earthly fame and fortune, Jesus replied with yet more Scripture and then told Satan to get lost. Jesus knowledge of Scripture provided a foundation for his confidence, security, and identity. Many teenagers view the Bible as something outdated or irrelevant and therefore, it isn t worth memorizing. That s why this lesson emphasizes the benefits of memorizing verses from the Bible. Your students also may see the Bible s words as difficult to memorize. That s why this curriculum encourages you to use a readable, student-friendly Bible translation in your small groups, such as the New Living Translation. Don t allow the complexity of some translations to hinder your teenagers from discovering the life-changing joy of reading and memorizing Scripture. THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry. Ready to test your memory? Join us at small group tonight! Why does God say it s good to memorize verses from the Bible? Let s talk about it tonight at small group.

3 Parent We ve provided you with an below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the to fit your ministry needs. Dear parents, Our small groups wrapped up their two-week series called Time Out! This week, we talked about some of the benefits of taking time to memorize verses from the Bible: we can build a deeper friendship with God, we can understand our purpose in life, and we can make better, wise choices. Using Matthew 4:1-11, we saw how Jesus had memorized Scripture and how he used it when Satan delivered a series of temptations. Jesus didn t have to rationalize or debate or consider the temptations tossed his way; he knew God the Father intimately and he knew Scripture intimately. Committing Scripture to memory can help us fight off Satan and his attacks. Jesus knowledge of Scripture provided a foundation for his confidence, security, and identity. I d encourage you to spend some time talking with your teenager about this week s lesson. Here are some questions you might want to ask: What do you think is the connection between knowing ABOUT a person and having a DEEP friendship with that person? How are those things related? What was Jesus purpose when he came down to earth as God in human form? What is YOUR purpose in life? How can memorizing Scripture help you make wiser, better choices? Consider memorizing some verses from the Bible as a family this week. Everyone will benefit from it! Have a great week!

4 TIME OUT! PAUSING OUR LIVES TO GROW WITH JESUS Week 2: The Benefits of Scripture Memorization GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] 2. LEsson guide Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then lead the activity below: Hold a memory contest with your students. Bring some candy for the person who wins. Here are some ideas of ways you could do this. Give each person in the group a complicated sentence or phrase they must memorize but they can only look at it for 15 seconds. If they get it exactly right, they move to the next round. If they don t, they are out. You ll need to compile a sizeable list of sentences. Here s an example: My small group leader is the coolest person I have ever met even when I think about the fact that I ve met people from Australia, Mexico, Hungary, and Missouri. Challenge students to recite as many phone numbers as they can in 30 seconds the phone numbers must be verifiable. Instead of phone numbers, you could ask students to recite the names of sports teams, the names of streets in your community, or the names of current TV shows. Put together a list of slogans from local or national stores. Either have students match the store to the phrase or have them finish the phrase. Example: I m LOVIN it! (McDonald s) If you have a group of students who are already committed to memorizing Scripture, have each person recite a verse. Continue around the circle. When a teenager can t quote a verse, he or she is out. Continue until you have just one person left. You also could play this variation using books of the Bible or characters from the Bible. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good are you at remembering and memorizing stuff? As a group, you managed to recall lots of information in that game! How did you learn all of that? Did it happen accidentally or intentionally? Why do we have an easier time remembering facts or details about things that are important to us, compared to things that don t matter to us?

5 SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Sometimes we claim that we aren t very good at memorizing stuff, but we all can do it to some degree. Remember: God gave us brains with huge amounts of storage capacities! Taking timeouts in our lives to read and memorize verses from the Bible is a great habit to develop. It will benefit you in all kinds of ways, and it s a smart use of your time. If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you d like to share it with other youth workers, please us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com. Teaching Points The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) You can build a deeper friendship with God, (2) You can understand your purpose in life, and (3) You can make wiser, better choices. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience. Read Mark 1:35-39 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let s look at three significant and meaningful ways Scripture memorization can help you. 1. You can build a deeper friendship with God Tell us about your closest friend. Do you know just a little bit about this person, or do you know lots and lots of information and facts and details about this person? How did you get to know this person so well? What do you think is the connection between knowing ABOUT a person and having a DEEP friendship with that person? How are those things related? Jesus didn t have a copy of the Bible in his back pocket, so how did he know all those verses of Scripture?

6 Based on the verses we read, what evidence do you see that Jesus had a deep friendship with God the Father? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: As you read and memorize verses from the Bible, you ll discover just how much God loves you, and this can fuel your friendship with God. It takes knowledge, intentional effort, and shared experiences to build a friendship with another person the same is true of your friendship with God. Taking a timeout to memorize verses from the Bible helps your life become more entwined with who God is. 2. You can understand your purpose in life What IS your purpose in life? If you know, how and where did you find the answer? And if you don t know, how and where might you search for the answer? Why does it matter if we know our purpose in life? What was Jesus purpose when he came down to earth as God in human form? What answers can you find in these verses from Matthew 4? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When Satan tempted Jesus to display his authority by making angels catch him, Jesus countered with Scripture that revealed that Satan s temptation was rooted in a twisting of another verse. And when Satan tempted Jesus with earthly fame and fortune, Jesus replied with yet more Scripture and then told Satan to get lost. Jesus knowledge of Scripture provided a foundation for his confidence, security, and identity. The more you take timeouts to read and memorize verses from the Bible, the more you ll discover that God has a plan for your life to worship him, to serve others, and to make a difference in this world. 3. You can make wiser, better choices Activity [optional] Play Push Em Over. Have each student find a partner of similar height and size. Have the pairs stand a foot apart and face each other. Students need to hold their hands up and try to knock the other person off balance by only slapping and pushing each other s hands. Participants can t touch anything but hands. Students are allowed to try to move their hands so the other person falls off balance. The loser is

7 the person who moves a foot first in a best-of-three round. Match us winners and play tournament style until an ultimate winner is declared. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Maybe you ve heard this statement from a coach or a sports commentator on TV: The best defense is a good offense. That idea can also help you avoid paths filled with pain, heartache, and regret. What are some areas where you or your friends need wisdom for living well? Imagine being 50 years old. If you ve lived wisely, what do you think your life would look like? What would it look like if you haven t lived wisely? How can memorizing Scripture help you make wiser, better choices? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Memorizing verses from the Bible can make it easier to live out the truths of the Bible. If you know what it means to live a life that honors God and makes a difference in other people s lives, you re more likely to apply and obey. ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] Jesus used Scripture to fight off Satan in Matthew 4. How frequently do you think Satan attacks you in your everyday life? Read 1 Peter 5:8. How is this verse relevant to your life as a teenager especially in light of the verses we read earlier about the time Jesus was tempted by Satan? Read Ephesians 6: In your own words, what is the big idea of this passage? Verse 17 tells us to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Besides hitting a friend on the head, what are some legit ways the Bible can be used as a weapon? Many weapons can be used both offensively and defensively. How might you use the Bible as a defensive weapon? Read Psalm 119:11. How can taking timeouts to memorize Scripture help you not sin against God? What does that phrase mean?

8 APPLICATION Ask your students to find a partner for these questions. You probably wouldn t quote Scripture to a bully at school or to a classmate who s tempting you to cheat on a test. So, how do you think you could use Scripture memory in your everyday life? Memorizing verses from the Bible begins by reading verses from the Bible. How can we develop a more consistent habit of reading and memorizing? How can we help each other? Bring your students back together. As a group, discuss ideas and strategies that help you learn, remember, and memorize things not just verses from the Bible. Then discuss how those common, ordinary strategies could be modified into ideas for taking timeouts to memorize Scripture. Here are some ideas that could help get your group going: You might use flashcards to learn words for a vocabulary test or facts for a history exam. You hit the repeat button on your ipod and listen to a song over and over and over. You create a rhyme or an original tune to remember facts or details. You come up with a creative way to recall a person s name something memorable about the person s appearance or personality. You spend time with friends or classmates quizzing each other before a test. You work out at the gym with teammates or practice with other people in the drama club or dance team or band. SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time.

9 FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11).