lesson loop 7.22.13

Middle School
Last Tuesday we ended our series on Sin and Forgiveness, and we finished by talking about "Getting Past Your Past". While middle school students do not have an extensive past to recover from, there is no doubt that life has beat them up a little by this point. They have experienced the pain of sin already, and they are in need of serious forgiveness, because they are a human living in this fallen world.
We considered 3 individuals from the Scriptures who had to deal with painful pasts:

1. A Demon-possessed Boy's Father (Mark 9:14-21)
2. Rahab (Joshua 2:1-13)
3. Joseph (Genesis 37:12-28)

Then, we considered how God gave each person a clean perspective, and how He helped them overcome their pasts:

1. The Father - Mark 9:22-27
2. Rahab - Joshua 2:14-21; Hebrews 11:31
3. Joseph - Genesis 41:38-45; 45:1-8

When we consider how God helped each of these people overcome their past, we summarized it by saying they got past their past by GRACE.

• The Boy's Father - Jesus Strengthened his Faith
• Rahab - God Granted her Faith
• Joseph - God Purified his Faith

I then challenged the students to consider where they needed God's grace to overcome their past and their sin - Does their faith need strengthened? purified? Does God need to grant faith where there has not been any faith?

We concluded by looking at a summary of what we have learned in this series:

The theme of the Bible is Creation, Fall and Redemption

We could never tally enough good works to please God. We need Grace!

We must Remember Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. That must be our constant focus!

If we have truly been forgiven by God, we will forgive others - even when it is really tough. It is cause and effect.

It is God’s Grace that can help us get past our pasts and live a forgiven life.

High School

We continued our Judges study by looking at the next judge - Gideon.

The theme was that God is our Sure Deliverer.

We were reminded that the human judges in the Book of Judges are not the main characters, God actually is, and He is the Sure Deliverer!

We considered 5 Truths About Our Faithful Judge

1. God brings difficulties into our life to discipline us.
   (not because we are unlucky, or because of karma, nor because God is punishing us, is unloving, or out of control)
2. God can be trusted to deliver us (through suffering and from sin)
3. God bears with our weak faith
4. God fights for us!
   (our strength is incosequential when it comes to deliverance from sin)
5. God demands and deserves our worship.