EQUIP WEEK
EQUIPPING STUDENTS WITH THE GOSPEL TOOL
WELCOME
Foundation Scripture
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.” -1 Chronicles 29:11
SAY: “Welcome to First Priority. We are glad you are here! Today starts Month 2 of our EPIC cycle. Last month, we learned about the Bible.This month, we are focusing on God. How is God described? Why is it important to know God? Can we trust Him? Hopefully, we can work through those big questions together as we read what the Bible has to say. Let’s start things off with prayer.”
OPENING PRAYER
DIG IN
SAY: “We like to introduce this BIG topic with a quick video.”
BIBLE PROJECT VIDEO – Who is the God of the Bible?
Be sure to have the video ready before club to watch. You may also want to test run sound/visual! If you cannot access the video in club, have someone ready to summarize (well) the content because the rest of the content builds on this foundation.
SAY: “In the religions of today’s world, there are many so- called ‘gods’ and just as many opinions about what God is like but the Bible claims to be the revelation of the one true God.”
Ask the group (this is not a time to get the “right” answer but to open a discussion):
1. How can you know God?
2. Who is God?
3. Is there more than one god?
SAY: “Don’t worry, these are massive, complex questions and even the most intelligent Bible scholars in the world struggle to answer these types of questions clearly. Even when we ask hard questions, we are getting closer to God and we know that He hears us.
Let’s open our Bibles to get a little help from Hebrews 1:1-3,
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our Father through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.
What does this verse reveal about God? It tells us that we can know God through the Bible, which as we learned last month was the revelation of God, and through His Son, Jesus Christ.”
SAY: “Now let’s talk about the attributes of God and how we can overcome anything that prevents us from knowing and believing God.
Well, let’s start with… what is an attribute? An attribute is: a quality or characteristic that is true about someone. We study God’s attributes to learn more about who He is. Sometimes, fear or insecurity can stop us from learning more about God but the more we learn about Him, the more confident we become.
Let’s look through some attributes in the Bible together and then we will talk about what this means and what we have learned.”
(A few attributes and their correlating verses are on the next page. You may want to have the students look up each verse and read them or you can have them on index cards ready to read.)
(After reading attributes)
SAY: “Wow…those were just a few incredible attributes to learn about God. How many people learned something new about God today? We hope that what you are learning here in First Priority is going to help you overcome any fears you may have that are keeping you from trusting God or sharing Him with the world.”
Be sure to equip students with what they need to be able to read through the attributes. There is a QR code to an online Bible (use EPIC slides), or you can print each out and have a handful of students read them.
Holiness (Exodus 15:11, 1 Peter 1:16)
Righteousness (Psalm 11:7, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
Sovereignty (Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:28)
Omniscience (Psalm 147:5, 1 John 3:20)
Omnipotence (Matthew 19:26, Luke 1:37)
Omnipresence (Proverbs 15:3, Colossians 1:17)
Immutability (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17)
Have Bibles ready for them to use or have the verses written out for them to read. Here is a link to an online Bible for them to read.
TOOL TIME
SAY: “So, let’s end today’s club with one last discussion –
- How does knowing God help us share the Good News with others?” (It gives us confidence. We can’t share what we don’t know.)
- What attribute of God really stuck out to you and why?
- What is one thing about God you wish you knew more about?
- If you only had 45 seconds to share who God is to a friend, what would you say? Is this easy or hard?
USING THE FOUR:
SAY: “How can we apply what we now know about God to the FOUR that we have talked about? (Specifically think about the first icon of the Four, the heart. What do we know about God’s heart that we can share with others?)
Knowing God and knowing who he is, is important when we share the Gospel with others. Studying the Bible, talking with others, going to church, and most importantly, praying, are all things we can do to learn more about God and who he is.
This semester, we will be walking through several concepts that will all lead back to who God is, and this month especially we will be directly studying and learning about him. If you ever have any questions, be sure to ask one of the student leaders or club coach.We would love to talk to you!”
(Close small groups or discussion).
SAY: “We wish we could talk about God the rest of the day. We hope today’s message began to put some pieces together for everyone.
A club leader will be walking around and passing out prayer cards to each of you. We encourage you to fill out this card with a name or names of people you commit to pray for this week.
Next week, we will be talking about more specific attributes of God.
Here are our announcements for today:
CLOSING PRAYER
Have a Student Leader ready to pass out prayer cards.
If you are having an Operation Christmas Child packing party, don’t forget to start preparing and announcing.
