lesson loop 10.23.14

Middle School - "Called to Belong to Christ"
This was the conclusion of our series on humanity called "Who am I?". Up to this point we have answered this question with...
Who am I? I am made in the image of God, born sinful, and guilty before God.
Tuesday we finished with - "called to belong to Christ". While the 1st 3 describe every human's identity, this final one can be a new identity for all who will follow Jesus!

We began the lesson time with the students sharing their "nickname" or a "nickname" they wish they had. Then we talked about some of the titles or "nicknames" that the apostle Paul had. Paul called himself -

Acts 9:15 - “chosen instrument”

Galatians 1:10 - “servant of Christ”

Ephesians 3:1, 7 - “prisoner for Christ Jesus”, “minister”

Colossians 1:23-25 - “minister”

Titus 1:1 - “servant of God”, “apostle of Jesus Christ”

Romans 1:1 - “servant of Christ Jesus”, “apostle (sent one)”

We noticed that all of these nicknames were focused on Christ. Paul was consumed with Jesus, because his identity was wrapped up in Jesus!

We then turned to Romans 1 where we focused our time looking at vs. 1-17. We saw that...

Belonging to Christ means...

1. Serving Christ
   Belonging means Serving. We are Jesus’s obedient servant, and He is our Lord -
   vs. 1) “servant”
   vs. 4) “our Lord”
   vs. 5) “obedience”
   vs. 7) “Lord”
2. Sharing Christ vs. 16-17 is the them of Paul's ministry. He is obsessed with the gospel, and he is not ashamed, because it is the power unto salvation! If we really believe that all humans are beautifully made in God's image, but born sinful and guilty before God, we must share the gospel of Jesus with them! We cannot be ashamed as difficult as it is to share our faith. We finished by reading Psalm 98, which is a celebration of salvation. This should be the song we share with the world.

High School - Proverbs 5

Proverbs 5 is all about sexual purity. It is a candid yet wisdom-centered approach to sexuality.

Big Idea: Skillful, Christ-like living means we flee sexual sin.

We began with the illustration of how scared we are of a disease like Ebola, and yet we take so lightly the disease of sin - particularly sexual sin.

Then, we saw 4 reasons we must flee sexual sin: 

1. What you see is not what you get (vs. 1-6, 22-23)
2. Sexual sin is bankrupt (vs. 7-14)
   Sexual sin will rob you of honor, reputation, time, strength, and accomplishments.
3. Covenant sex is fulfilling (vs. 15-20)
   Marital sex is the opposite of bankrupt. It carries the idea of: exclusivity, mutual ownership, commitment, enjoyment, fulfillment.
4. We live "Coram Deo"(before the face of God) - vs. 21

Parents - I encourage you to hit this link (http://goo.gl/TQgXxk) and read the whole transcript of the lesson so you know exactly what was said, or listen to it by clicking the player to the right of this page. This will allow you to continue the important conversation with your child about sexual purity.