PREPARE WEEK
WHAT IS OUR GOAL?
LEADER PREPARATION
Lesson Summary:
Note: These lessons are designed to be 30 minutes long. If your club time is shorter than this, we encourage you to be prayerful about parts of this lesson to put more or less emphasis on. If limited on time, we urge you to prioritize Tool Time and summarize Dig in, as Tool Time is what prepares you for sharing the Gospel. As always, let the Holy Spirit guide your leadership.
This week’s lesson will offer us a deeper understanding of how sin hinders our ability to be God’s image-bearers and pulls us away from His perfect purpose. Yet, despite our sinful nature, God never abandons us in our brokenness. Instead, He offers us freedom and new life through the sacrifice of Jesus.
We can walk in this new life by repenting and following The Great Commandment: love God and love others.
Main Point
Although we have been affected by the powers of sin and darkness, God is pursuing us and calling us back into his life and light.
Team Roles
Host: This Student Leader will lead the Start Up section of the lesson, helping create a fun environment, making everyone feel welcome and included.
Speaker: This student leader will guide the group in growing deeper in their faith by reading and reflecting on passages of scripture. They will then connect the content to the group’s daily lives by asking practical questions and leading the conversation.
Other Roles: Promo, Welcome, and Follow Up.
Scripture References
Materials Needed
- Oven mitts, a stack of playing cards, a table or flat surface
- Invite Cards
- Testimony Guide (#22)
(7 minutes)
Welcome everyone and be sure to get the names of any new friends.
Icebreaker Game: Bound-Up Building
Supplies Needed: oven mitts, a stack of playing cards, a table or flat surface
Ask for two volunteers. Place a pair of oven mitts on the older of the two volunteers and instruct them to each build their own house of cards. After 30 seconds have passed, remove the oven mitts from the older student and place them on the younger one. Give both students another 30 seconds to build their house of cards. Conclude the game by asking each student how the oven mitts affected their building abilities and encouraging the group to applaud their efforts.
DIG IN
(5 minutes)
Say: Let’s take a second to process what just happened. Our younger student started the game off much more successfully than they finished it, while our older student gained their stride as soon as their oven mitts were removed. Each student’s ability to accomplish their goal was dependent on their access to freedom. Today, we are going to continue talking about sin and how it holds us back from the purpose God has for us: to love Him and to love others.
Ask: Have you ever felt like something was holding you back from living out your full potential? (Take a few moments for students to share.)
Say: From the moment sin entered the world, we all have been bound by its powers. Like Adam and Eve, our rebellion against God and His Word holds us captive and sentences us to spiritual death. Instead of being vulnerably honest with one another, we sever relationships by choosing to be deceptive. Rather than living generously with our time and talents, we embrace self-promotion and use every resource we have to increase our social status.
To be human is to be in constant war with sin. Listen to how Jesus describes the human condition:
Read Scripture:
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10)
Say: Sin steals – it robs us of our joy and fulfillment by distorting the way we see God and twisting our sense of identity. Sin kills and sickens our souls while leading us to a spiritual and physical death.
Sin destroys and pollutes the world, breaking down the beauty of God’s workmanship with corruption and confusion. But Jesus came to offer freedom, light, and life.
TOOL TIME
(18 Minutes)
Say: So the big question is SO WHAT? How does my sin affect me personally? (Let students think about this for just a moment.)
Say: Sin affects our lives like a virus affects our bodies. We may not notice it at first, but slowly it spreads into every aspect of our existence. It mangles our perspectives, causing us to see God’s creation, including other human beings, as nothing but a means to a selfish end. Our compassion fades until it’s replaced with contempt and self-preservation.
So, are we doomed to become the villains of our story? Absolutely not! However, we are not destined to be the heroes either. It is Jesus, and Jesus alone, not any amount of self-discipline or attempts at righteousness, that can rescue us from the power sin holds over us.
Read Scripture:
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
Say: Jesus gave His life so we could regain ours.
He took on all the darkness, all the sin in the world, when He died on the cross so that we could live in the freedom we were created for. And once we’ve accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God continuously develops us into a new creation through a life of repentance.
But what does that mean?
First, we confess our sins to God. This may sound intimidating (I mean, who likes admitting when they’ve messed up?), but that intimidation disappears once we realize just how gracious and loving God is. He wants us to be honest about our pasts so we can move forward into the future He has written for us.
Then, after we confess our sins, comes repentance. Simply put, repentance is choosing not to do what we used to do. The Gospel brings us back home, but we will never grow as disciples of Jesus if we continue giving in to the sinful temptations that led us away in the first place. As our faith matures, so should our decision making.
Ask: Finally, what comes after repentance? What do we do with this new life that has been won for us? (Let students think about this for just a moment.)
The free gift of salvation that Jesus won for us is the greatest discovery we can make as humans, but it isn’t just for us! This is why the biblical authors called the Gospel the “Good News”. We are called by God to lead everyone we can to the freedom we’ve found in Him.
Before we end our time today, let’s take a moment and talk about a tool that can help us lead our friends and peers to this freedom. The Faith Story Sheet is a tool that guides us in writing out our stories by talking about how God has changed our lives and given us freedom. It breaks down
who we were before Christ and who we became after Christ. It’s so important for us to understand and acknowledge how God has worked in our lives so that we are prepared to share this with others!
Leader Tip: If the ideas that people share are negative or inappropriate, please redirect students to be positive and kind in their interactions with others. Being kind will engage people more than being negative or mean.
Take time to use this sheet as a tool to practice sharing the ways God has given you freedom through Christ. (Be sure to allow time for students to work on their stories and have them practice/share with friends or the group.)
Think about a friend who is struggling or a friend you think should be here next week. As we pass out the invite cards and close in prayer, what is something from our lesson today that you would want that friend to know? (Let students think about this for just a moment.)
Before we close our time in prayer, let us remember our main point for today: Although we have been affected by the powers of sin and darkness, God is pursuing us and calling us back into his life and light. Remember to share with a friend or family member something you learned today and invite them to come next week.
Closing: Pass out invite cards. End your time together with prayer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Say: Remember that next week is INVITE Week, and while we want our friends to be able to come any week, next week we will be sharing the Gospel in a clear way and will give everyone an opportunity to make a decision to follow Jesus!
