Devotions for Youth Basketball 2017-2018 The Roman Road This year's devotion series is based on the Roman Road to Salvation. While we've always presented the plan of salvation towards the end of the devotions each year, we thought it would be nice to delve deeper into the "ABC"s. We've also included handouts this year as "take-home" for players. They can be reminded of your devotions and be able to share with family what they are learning. Sometimes all it takes is a seed In order to understand why we need saving we need to understand why there is sin. For this reason, our Roman Road is going to start at the beginning the very beginning. With creation. All verses are given in the ESV for ease of understanding with the younger kids.
Week One: In the Beginning s Genesis 1:1 -- In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. 1 Corinthians 10:26 -- Scripture says, The Earth belongs to the Lord. And so does everything in it. Later on, we ll talk about the Roman Road and why we call it that. But before we learn about the Road to Salvation we need to understand who we are, who God is, and why we are in need of Salvation. The very first verse of the very first book of the Bible, which is God s word to us, says that God created the Heavens and the Earth. This means he created it ALL EVERYTHING. Before time began, before the world began, God existed. He created the world, the Heavens, the stars, and people. If a God that is powerful enough to create the universe made you unique and special, different from every other person He created then obviously He created you for a purpose. And that purpose is for Him. It s really simple. He created us for His glory. To praise and give worship to Him. In the creation of mankind, He gave us the ability to choose to fulfill our purpose. Unfortunately, we don t always make that choice. Sometimes we choose to go our own way and do our own thing. We get separated from God and His purpose. That s sin. Fortunately, though, God has a plan to bring us back to Him. That is the plan we will learn about in the coming weeks. Week One Wrap-up Discussion Questions Have you ever created (made) something of your own? Has something ever happened where you lost or got separated from your creation? Now, how do you think God feels when we get separated from Him?
Week Two: For Life! But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31 Last week, we talked about how God created us for His purpose, but gave us the choice to follow that purpose. We talked about how not following that purpose, or choosing sin, separates us from God. We also learned, though, that God planned a way for us to come back to Him. That way was God s Son, Jesus. God sent his Son, Jesus, to Earth. Jesus lived a perfect life because He was God! The Bible tells us that God exists in three forms: God the Father (the creator of the universe); God the Son (Jesus was sent to Earth to be God s plan for our separation from Him due to sin); and God the Holy Spirit (God s presence in our hearts and lives here on earth). Jesus performed many miracles during His time here on earth. He healed the sick, made a blind man see, raised the dead, and many other miraculous things. The verse here in John explains why Jesus performed these miracles for people to see. He wanted people that may not believe He was God s Son to see how God was allowing Him to work these miracles. And in seeing the things He could do, believe that He was God s Son and believe His teachings. If we believe that Jesus is God s Son and that everything He said was true we can understand more of God s plan to save us, or reunite us from being separated from Him by sin. Week Two Wrap-Up Discussion Questions Talk about a time when you had to depend on someone else to do something for you. Why do we often need to see proof of something to believe it?
Week Three: Only Sick People Need a Doctor And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners. - Mark 2:17 Last week, we learned how God sent His son Jesus to us as part of His plan to reunite us from being separated from Him. Jesus was often made fun of and looked down upon by the religious leaders. They didn t believe God had sent Him, for one thing. Also, because Jesus often hung out with those people who weren t popular, they thought surely He wasn t the one God had sent to us. If God was the king, shouldn t His son be the most powerful and the most important person on Earth? Shouldn t He only be surrounded with important people? Jesus, however, chose to surround Himself with the poor, the lonely, the suffering, the sick, and the lost. When the religious leaders questioned Jesus about it, He answered them with a comparison to a doctor. Only sick people need a doctor, right? You don t really have to have the help of a doctor unless something is wrong with you. The same thing is true of Jesus. Unless there were something wrong with us (sin), we wouldn t need Him. So, what s wrong with us? Again we get separated from God by sin. If we re separated from God, then our hearts are broken. Think of Jesus as our heart doctor. He came to mend our broken hearts and bring us back to God. Week Three Wrap-Up Discussion Questions Have you ever had to go to the doctor for a broken bone or because you were sick? What did the doctor do to help make you better? What do you think are some things we need Jesus to heal?
Week Four: We re All the Same For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23 [ADMIT] Now that we ve learned who God is and why He sent His Son to Earth, let s talk about this Roman Road and how it relates to any of this. During the time Jesus lived, Rome ruled most of the known world. Their empire was the largest and most powerful. They built many things and made many advances in technology. One of their major contributions to our world today is roads. Romans built roads all over their empire. And, it s in the book of Romans that we have a roadmap laid out for us to become believers in Christ. For this reason, we call this plan of salvation the Roman Road. The first stop on the Roman Road is admitting that we as people are not very good. We re kind of bad, actually. The Bible tells us that we are ALL sinners. We have all sinned in our lives. We sin every day. No one is perfect. No ONE! So, really, we re all the same. We ve all made choices that separate us from God. Every time we sin, or do bad things, we are pulling away from God. That would be a really depressing thought if it weren t for the fact that we already know God made way for us to come back to Him. We learned about that plan Jesus a couple of weeks ago. Next week, we ll start to learn how we can follow God s plan to bring us back from the separation of sin. Week Four Wrap-Up Discussion Questions When you do something wrong or get in trouble, how does it make you feel? When someone does something bad to you, does it make you want to be around them more? Would God want us closer or farther away?
Week Five: A Free Gift For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 We talked about how sin is what separates us from God. Unfortunately, sin can often take the form of things that look like fun or seem not to be so bad at the time. But, sin is never without consequences. The Bible tells us that it is very costly, in fact. The price is death. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sin. AND, we die to the life God has for us when we choose sin. When you go shopping, the things you buy always cost something, but you don t have to pay with your life. What if you went shopping and someone else offered to buy your things? That s what God did for us. He paid the ultimate price for us and gave us the best gift ever for FREE!! We don t have to do anything but accept the gift. The gift is being forgiven of our sins, becoming a child of God, AND we get to spend eternity in Heaven all because of what He did for us. There is no better gift than that. Week Five Wrap-Up Discussion Questions Do you like to get free stuff? Have you ever won a big prize? If God has given us the best gift ever, then why would someone not take it?
Week Six: The Ultimate Sacrifice But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 [BELIEVE] We talked last week about the free gift God has given us of salvation. The best part of it all is that He did it all just because He loved us. We did nothing to earn it. We can never do anything worthy enough of earning it. Even though we didn t deserve it, Jesus died for us. Not only did he give us the greatest gift of all, He gave it to us while we separated from Him in sin. We know that our parents love us and make sacrifices for us all the time. Even when we disobey them, they still love us and take care of us. They are our parents that s their job. But can you imagine how hard it is to make sacrifices for people you don t even know? That s what Jesus did for us. He died for us. He died for the people that hated him and made fun of him. He died for us even though he KNEW we would sin. That kind of love can only be from God. No one else will ever love you as much and give as much for you. All he asks of us is to believe in Him, tell others about Him, and try to live according to His ways. Week Six Wrap-Up Discussion Questions What is something you do but don't like doing? Why do you do it? Would you be a friend and help someone who was being mean or trying to hurt you? If God is willing to die for you, why wouldn t you be willing to at least help someone you didn t like?
Week Seven: Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 [CONFESS] We ve learned that we ALL sin. We ve all done bad things. Sometimes we ve told a lie or taken something that didn t belong to us. Whenever we do something like that and our parents find out it is always better to tell them rather than try to hide it. Usually, the punishment is much less severe when we admit what we ve done and accept responsibility for it. That s exactly what we have to do for God. We have to confess that while we are a sinner, Jesus being the Son of God, has given us salvation. He died on the cross and was raised from the dead three days later. Only the Son of God could have done something that amazing. Only Jesus could have done that. So, Jesus is the only one who can save us from sin from separation from God. Week Seven Wrap-Up Discussion Questions Do you believe your favorite sports team is the best? How do you tell people? Do you always think that team is the best? Why? Why are we so quick to tell others how great our team is, but we hesitate to tell people how great God is?
Week Eight: Because He Loved Us For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life John 3:16 We ve already learned that God loves us more than we can imagine. He sacrificed His Son for us. John 3:16 tells us that we just have to believe in God to have eternal life. Does that mean we will live here forever? No. It means we will be in Heaven with God. Even when our body here on Earth dies, our soul will live in Heaven with God forever. God is giving us access to His home and a life with him for all eternity. All He asks us to do is believe in Him and accept Him as our God. Why wouldn t we accept such a gift as that? We ve already learned that we are ALL sinners. We ve learned that sin separation from God causes eternal punishment. We ve also learned that the free gift of God is eternal life. Now we know why God has given us this great gift. It s because He loved us. Week Eight Wrap-Up Discussion Questions What is your favorite thing you have? How would you feel if you lost it? What if you were asked to give it away for someone else? Did God hesitate to give up His son for us?
Week Nine: Only One Way Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me -- John 14:6 God has given us the ultimate gift of salvation and He s made it very easy to receive it. The thing is, though, that Jesus is the ONLY way to God. We can t be good enough to get to God. We can t earn His gift. It s free and easy. We just have to: ADMIT that Jesus is the Son of God BELIEVE that He sent His only Son to Earth to be born of a virgin, live a perfect life, and die on the cross for our sins. And then, three days later, Jesus rose from the grave. CONFESS that Jesus is Lord and He has saved you from sin. It s really as simple as A, B, C. gift. He loved us so much that He gave us His Son to save us. All we have to do is follow the ABC s to receive His Week Nine Wrap-Up Discussion Questions Who has used a toll road or toll bridge before? What happens if you don t pay first? What do we have to do in order to get God s gift? Have you done that? Would you want to if you haven t?