moving to the email newsletter!

I wanted to let you all know that if you regularly follow this blog, which for the most part is the lesson loop, I am going to be moving this information to the synergy email newsletter which goes out every 2 weeks. I will have a section which will recap the lessons for the last two weeks, as well as a sidebar where you can access the recent lesson mp3's. As always, if you ever desire more detailed info on a lesson, please let me know and I will send you my notes.

I really want to make this stuff available for you as parents so you know what is going on. Some weeks you may read it. Some weeks you may not. But at least you know it is there. I would encourage you to glance at these things every 2 weeks when the newsletter goes out.

Let me know if you have any questions, and look next week for the next edition of the synergy newsletter.

lesson loop 5.20.16

Middle School - "Follow Me"
We began a brand new series this past Tuesday which will help students understand exactly what it means to follow Jesus. It is more than a prayer, and it requires all of us.

Big Idea: Following Jesus means obedience, change and relationship.

We began by talking about how people follow trends, especially teenagers. It is important when it comes to following Jesus, we are following Him not because it is trendy at our youth group, but because each of us personally have committed to Him.

We read Matthew 4:18-22

Following Jesus means obedience

• We looked at 2 key words in this passage that show obedience -
• "immediately" - do we obey Jesus right away? (we know we struggle with obeying our parents immediately. ;-)
• "follow" - This word had the idea of walking directly behind a teacher, doing what they did and obeying them.
• If we are truly following Jesus, obedience should be our heartbeat (obviously we mess up all the time, but we really truly desire to obey Him.
• We talked about how much commitment these fishermen had to drop everything, say goodbye to their families, and immediately start living with and following Jesus. Amazing!

Following Jesus means change

• Change in Identity - When Jesus saves us and we follow Him, we have a changed identity. We spent a little time talking about how hard it is to find your identity in Middle School. There are so many things that we might be known for, and whether they are true or not, when we are in Jesus there are some things that are more central to our identity than anything else. We considered the following:
• If you are in Christ, then you have a new name! (we don’t even know it)
• If you are in Christ, you are an adopted son/daughter of God
• If you are in Christ, you have a new family - with brothers and sisters!
• If you are in Christ, you are washed clean, and forgiven!
• If you are in Christ, you are God’s workmanship, which God is painting!
• If you are in Christ, you are called a friend of God
• Change in Direction - This is really just repentance. When we commit to following Jesus, it means we go where He wants us to, not just where we want to go.

Following Jesus means relationship…

• It is important to remember that Jesus said, "Follow ME". This is commitment to a person, not just a set of rules or a particular behavior. We actually have a friendship with Jesus!!!

High School - 1 John 1:1-4 ("The Real Jesus")

This was the beginning of our brand new series in 1 John. I am excited to see how God is going to use this book of 1 John to bolster the confidence of our students, and push them to be reflective and evaluate the fruit in their life that comes as a result of God's gracious work in their heart.

We mentioned off the bat that the book of 1 John gives us 3 primary tests to evaluate our life -

1. Doctrinal Test (Truth.)
2. Moral Test (Light.)
3. Relational Test (Love.)

Throughout the book, we will be coming back to these again and again.

I also made sure the students understood an important clarification:

Our salvation is not based on our performance, but on Christ’s work alone. And yet the “corroborating evidence” of Christ’s work in our life is truth, light and love.

We also talked about a little background for the book:

Author: Apostle John (son of Zebedee)

Date: between 90 - 100 A.D.

Recipients: churches around Ephesus (maybe the same churches in Rev. 2-3  Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, etc...)

Purpose: to bolster the confidence of the believers in these churches. They had recently gone through a confusing time, and they weren’t sure about their faith anymore.

Big Idea: Jesus is real and we can experience a personal relationship with Him that brings joy

Jesus is real and He is life (v. 1-2)

• He is eternal - "from the beginning"
• He became flesh
• sense perception (John really, really knew Jesus)
• "heard"
• "seen"
• "touched"
• "made manifest"
• He rose again and is alive today!

We can have a personal relationship with Jesus

• John's personal relationship
• Early believers (Johannine Christians) - they had been confused by false teachers and now needed to be encouraged and emboldened by John
• Us - Our relationship with God; sometimes we need confidence (encouraged the students that they may feel this way and 1 John will help)

A relationship with Jesus connects us with other Christians

• Koinonia - We talked about the richness of this word, and how it can only happen between believers. You can't experience this with an unbelieving boyfriend/girlfriend or marriage partner, or a good friend. This can only happen between believers who share Christ.

A relationship with Jesus brings real joy!

• Joy found in a person, not in an experience (this was a needed clarification since the believes had been influenced by some Gnostic-type false teaching)
• Joy that is full!
• Joy that is eternal! (assurance of salvation)
• Joy that is shared

lesson loop 5.12.16

Middle and High School - "What makes a good relationship?" (SALT final week)

We started with an icebreaker where students had to guess which movie famous pairs came from. The point that we were showing was that almost every movie has relationships at its center, because relationships are central to life as humans.

The students discussed the following questions:

• Why do you think relationships are so important to us?
• What do you think a healthy relationship looks like?
• What kinds of things nurture our relationships?

Then we considered what love looks like. Different people have different ideas of what love really is, and different people like to be loved differently. In a perfect world we would always love people just as they want to be loved, and our love would be perfect. But... we don't live in a perfect world. Sin has marred every relationships, and because of sin we face many challenges in our relationships.

We then watched the video which focused on the brokenness that happens in every other relationships except a relationship with God made possible through Jesus Christ.

Students then considered the following:

• Is it true that at some point every human relationship will let you down?
• Do you think that deep down, every person wants unconditional love?
• Why is it so hard for us to love unconditionally?

We talked about the 3 main Greek words for love in the NT:

• Eros - erotic love
• Phileo - brotherly love
• Agape - self-sacrificing love (God's love)

We then turned to 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 5:8, and we considered the kind of love that God has. While 1 Cor. 13 passage is most often applied to marriage (and it certainly does apply to marriage),we considered how this passage points to the love that God has for His children. Students were challenged to replace the word "love" with the word "God", and then meditate on the passage. They had an opportunity to journal a prayer or thought to God after pondering His agape love. 

I finished by highlighting the gospel - encouraging anyone who does not know what it means to have a relationship with God to talk to their growth group leader.