lesson loop 9.25.14

Middle School - "Born sinful"
We continued our study on humanity by looking at the other side of the coin. Last week we saw how we are all made "in the image of God", which gives us responsibility, value, the opportunity for a relationship with God and others. But there is more to the story when it comes to our makeup as humans. While we have immense worth, we are also born into sin. This is extremely important for each of us to understand, especially because we live in a culture that screams that people are basically good.

Big Idea: Who am I? I am made in the image of God, and born sinful.

Several verses teach us we are sinners from conception on - Isaiah 51:5; Gen. 6:5, 8:21; Jer. 17:9
We then spent most of the rest of the lesson unpacking the doctrine of total depravity.

What total depravity is not:

• erasing of the image of God in man - people still retain the image of God and can do "relative good" (although not truly good) deeds.
• unbelieving soldier
• pagan individual who helps the poor
• elderly man across the street who keeps to himself and doesn't hurt anyone
• absolute depravity - we are not as sinful as we could be (not everyone is a murderer)

What total depravity is:

• sin affects every part of our person - mind, heart, will, emotions, etc...
• there is no spiritual good (in relation to God) in the sinner at all

Another good way of stating total depravity is total inability -

• Man cannot do good.
• Man cannot understand good.
• Man cannot desire good.

Scriptures that show this: Romans 3:10-18, 8:7-8; Matt. 7:17-18; Jn. 15:4-5, 8:43

We ended with a couple last thoughts on "total depravity"

• total depravity is the state of unbelievers, not believers - Eph. 4:17-18; 1 Cor. 1:18, 2:14; Ezek. 11:19; Eph. 2:1-2,8
• total depravity explains the problems and great evil in our world
• total depravity teaches us we desperately need God's rescue
• total depravity teaches us even our desire for God comes from God - Phil. 2:12-13

High School - Proverbs 3:27-35

Big Idea: Skillful, Christ-like living includes being a good neighbor.

A good neighbor practices...

1. Goodness (v. 27)
   Mt. 5:43-44; Rom. 13:8-9
2. Generosity (v. 28)
   James 2:15-16
3. Trust/Integrity (v. 29)
4. Peace (v. 30)
   Romans 12:18
5. Contentment

Why be a good neighbor? (rationale)

• Fools are an abomination but the wise are in God's confidence (v. 32)
• Fools are under God's curse but the wise are blessed (v. 33)
• Fools are scorned but the wise are given favor (v. 34)
• Fools get disgrace but the wise inherit honor (v. 35)

lesson loop 9.18.14

Middle School - "In the image of God"
This past Tuesday we started a brand new series on humanity entitled "Who am I?"
For our first lesson the Big Idea was: Who am I? I am made in the image of God.

We began by talking about origins. Where we come from plays a role in our character and our purpose. We watched a science video that is in line with what middle school students hear in school or on TV about where we come from as humans. It was evolutionary, and so we talked about how this view (if it were true) would affect our purpose and goals for life.
We then considered another perspective - that of the Bible.
We turned to Genesis 1 and 2 and we considered our origin according to God. We then talked about how this truth affects our purpose and goals for life.

Because I am made in the image of God...

1. I have responsibility - even teenagers have God-given responsibilities and things God wants them to do for His glory.
2. I have value - We are distinct from animals and we have immeasurable value not because of us but because we reflect God's image.
3. I can have a relationship with God - We are the only creatures that this is true for. This is an amazing thing! Are we walking with God?
4. I am designed for relationship with others - God was in relationship before He created mankind - a relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are wired for relationship and we need one another. We need to be careful of technology squeezing out real interaction with other people.

High School - Proverbs 3:13-26

We continued in our study of the book of Proverbs.

Big Idea: Skillful, Christ-like living will be a valuable protection for us.

1. Wisdom is valuable.
   God has put the price tag on wisdom - and it is more than gold, silver, and precious jewels. Even though the world casts wisdom aside, God is the one who defines worth. So wisdom is immeasurably valuable.
2. Wisdom is protection.
   If we will keep wisdom, wisdom will keep us. Wisdom will be a "bodyguard" for us, and we will be cared for at all time - when we are active and when we are resting. Wisdom will also give us a "holy confidence". We don't need to fear if we are walking in righteousness and obedience to the Lord. One other thing we considered is how personal wisdom's protection is.
3. Wisdom is God's design.
   If wisdom was used by God to design the universe, imagine what it could do in our lives? Wisdom is a stabilizer, it is life-giving, and is ultimately what is best for us. We know this because God is the Designer. No one knows about a thing more than its designer. We need to trust God, even when it seems illogical; when the wise life doesn't seem like the best life. We talked about the illustration of sex only being enjoyed within the marriage context.

lesson loop 9.4.14

Red Carpet Night - MS & HS - Proverbs 3:1-12
Tuesday night we had the MS students join us in our study through the book of Proverbs, and we looked at 3:1-12.

We began by considering that there are 3 sets of eyes that view us in Proverbs 3 -

• The way that others view us (v. 4)
• The way that God views us (v. 4)
• The way that we view ourself (v. 7)

The way that God views us is the accurate view of us - and because He knows everything about us and the entire universe, we should live with a fear for God.

Big Idea: Skillful, Christ-like living comes through fearing the Lord.

We have learned in Proverbs that fearing the Lord is important. Proverbs 1:7 says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…”

Fearing the Lord means that we...

KEEP His commands (v.1-4)

• There is a connection between obeying our parents and obeying God.
• We learn to obey God by obeying our parents.
• Obeying God means keeping His commands "around our neck" and "written on our heart".

With each of these aspects of fearing the Lord, there are promises.

Promise (when we keep God's commands): long life, peace (shalom), favor with God and man!

There is not only a connection between our relationship with our parents and our relationship with God, there is a connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with others - "favor with God and man".

TRUST His direction (v. 5-8)

• “trust in the Lord” - points to trust in Jesus Christ! (Rom. 10:9)
• “with all your heart” - more than intellectual, deep reliance
• “do not be wise” - while Proverbs calls for wisdom, it is God's and not ours.

“acknowledge Him” - more than simply a courteous nod; idea of knowing (intimately) God.

Promise: straight paths, healing, refreshment

HONOR His name (v. 9-10)

• God demands our all, because He is King.
• Giving Him our money flows naturally out of giving Him our heart, soul ("Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart")

Promise: prosperity (this is a general rule, and sometimes we are not physically prosperous, but always spiritually)

ACCEPT His discipline

• God disciplines us because He loves us
• God disciplines us so that we will fear Him, and so then He will bless us.

Promise: the love of our Heavenly Father

lesson loop 8.28.14

Middle School - "Heirs"
We started by pondering what it would be like to leave a million dollars as an inheritance. To whom would we give it? After considering this I shared a couple bizarre wills that have been drawn up over the years. Then, we realized that whether we are rich or poor (or somewhere in between) in this life, we have a rich inheritance waiting for us if we are in Christ.
Big Idea: As heirs of God, we have a secure inheritance that gives us hope and motivates us to be holy!

1 Peter 1:3-5

This inheritance is secure!

v. 4-5

imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept, guarded

Even if we have the worst year in school ever, and we feel everyone is against us - NO ONE can take away our inheritance that is in Jesus. It is secure!

This secure, imperishable, undefiled, unfading, guarded inheritance gives us hope for the future!

v. 3 - “living” hope - living and guaranteed because of Christ’s resurrection (our future resurrection)

Titus 3:3-7

This inheritance should motivate us to be holy

• This inheritance isn’t just something we fantasize every once in a while… it affects our lives here and now! We also shouldn’t be arrogant...  taking this inheritance for granted and living for ourselves.
• “live in the light”
• Romans 8:16-17 (we are heirs provided we suffer (identify) with Christ)
• Colossians 1:10-14 (“walk worthy”)
• inheritance - Jewish term; we “share” in Israel’s inheritance!

This inheritance is secure, imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and guarded. It gives us hope for the future and motivated us to live holy lives!

High School - Proverbs 2

Big Idea: When wisdom is acquired, we benefit and God is glorified!

How wisdom is acquired:

• Receive/Treasure (v. 1)
• Listen/Adjust (v. 2)
• Call/Shout (v. 3)
• Seek/Search (v. 4)

These are things God is calling us to do. We are called to work hard for wisdom…

Involves Studying the Word (theology)

And yet…  wisdom is a gift!! v. 6-7a

How wisdom benefits us and glorifies God:

• We understand the fear of God (v. 5)

• We know God (v. 5)

• We gain life knowledge, understanding and justice (v. 6, 9)

• Our desires change (v. 10)

*a change in desires enables us to resist the temptation of v. 12-19 (the only way to survive temptation and grow in holiness is to have heart change); "expulsive power of a new affection"

• We have protection and deliverance (v. 7-8, 11-19)

Wisdom is a “Guardian”

Our parents will only be our guardians for so long…

What will guide and protect us when we are out of the house? wisdom.

What will wisdom guard and protect you from??

sinful people!!

Proverbs 2 gives us 2 types of sinful people…

• from evil men (v. 12-15)
• from evil women (v. 16-19)

sexual sin is serious!!!

Those of you dabbling with sexual sin - is it worth losing your soul over?

Why do I say that? Hebrews 12:14-17 (slide)

sexual infidelity and spiritual infidelity are interconnected - Israel, us.

• We stay on track (v. 20)
• We flourish (v. 21-22)

lesson loop 8.20.14

Middle School - "Adoption"
We began by admitting that we all struggle with feeling like we don't belong at times. This is something we all deal with, and especially in our middle school years. No matter how hard we try to fit in (clothes, hair, excelling at sports, music or academics, we will always run after the attention of others - until we realize that we are already accepted in Christ if we are God's children.
He has adopted us, and that changes everything.

Big Idea: When God adopts us, it means that we are accepted, safe, free and blessed.

We considered 4 aspects of God's adoption.

1. Being adopted means we are accepted (Romans 8:15;23)
2. Being adopted means we are safe (Romans 8:15;23)
3. Being adopted means we are free (Galatians 4:5-7)
4. Being adopted means we are blessed (Ephesians 1:3-6)

We then closed by hearing a personal adoption testimony from one of our high school students - Abram Gibson.

High School - Proverbs 1:20-33

We continued in chapter 1 of Proverbs, looking at the Call of Lady Wisdom.

In this passage, wisdom is personified, and she warns us and calls us to listen.

Big Idea: Skillful, Christ-like living is available to all but only acquired by those who listen.

1. Wisdom is available to all (v. 20-23) *creation speaks to every man *repentance is possible
2. Wisdom is ignored by most (v. 24-32) *simpletons *scoffers *fools
3. Wisdom is acquired by those who listen (v. 33)

lesson loop 8.14.14

Middle School - "Salvation"
We continued our series on salvation by looking at 4 different aspects of salvation. When God saves us He:

HEALS — Luke 8:26-39 (healing/wholeness)

FREES — Mark 10:45 & Hebrews 2:14-15 (freedom/redemption)

CLEANSES — 1 John 1:8-9 (forgiveness, cleansing/justification)

SATISFIES — John 19:30 & Romans 5:7-8 (satisfies God’s wrath/propitiation)

High School - Proverbs 1:8-19

We continued our brand new series in Proverbs by looking at vs. 8-19 of chapter 1. This is written as advice from a father to a son, but different from most wisdom literature the son's name is not mentioned. This is probably intentional so that all of us can act as the "son". This wisdom advice is given to all of us, and we do well to heed it.

Big Idea: Skillful, Christ-like living means we LISTEN & STEER.

1. We must LISTEN to our parents. v. 8-9 "listen", not just hear. When parents are absent or not believers, Solomon stands in the gap with dispensing wisdom.
2. We must STEER away from sinful friendships. v. 10-19 "entice" - sin is tempting, and even more so with peer pressure added. sin offers counterfeit blessings and counterfeit community. Our steering away from ungodly friendships must be deliberate. Otherwise we will see ourselves falling into the "way" or rut of the ungodly. Then it is hard to escape. We've lost power steering and we are on a crash course.

lesson loop 8.6.14

Middle School - "Grace"
Last night we continued our series on Salvation, and we took some time to talk specifically about grace. We looked at Luke 7:36-50. In Luke 7 Jesus extends grace to a sinful woman, and grace is received 2 very different ways - to Simon the Pharisee grace is strange and perturbing. To the woman, grace is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.

Our Big Idea was: Grace is a strange and beautiful thing!

We broke into 3 groups, and each group focused on 1 of the character from Luke 7:36-50 -

• Simon the Pharisee
• The sinful woman
• Jesus

As each group considered a character, they talked about what their character may have been thinking and feeling.

After this we looked at Romans 3:21-26, and we saw how this relates to the story in Luke 7.

• The sinful woman had received grace and was given "righteousness apart from the law". (Romans 3:21)
• God's righteousness came to the sinful woman because of her faith. Simon on the other hand did not have faith that Jesus was even a prophet.
  (Romans 3:22,25,26)
• There is no distinction between Simon and the sinful woman.
  (Romans 3:22-23)
• The effects of salvation are amazing! Jesus said to the woman "Go in peace. Your faith has saved you!"
• "justified"
• "redemption"
• "propitiation"
  (Romans 3:24-25)

High School - Proverbs 1:1-7

We began our new series in the book of Proverbs last night. 

We started by discussing how to be good at any occupation, we need to be trained in certain skills that are specific to that occupation. Why would it be any different when it comes to being an obedient Christ-follower. There are skills to living a wise, Christ-like life, and the book of Proverbs is designed to pass those skills off to us.

The word wisdom actually means - "masterful understanding; skill; expertise". This is the idea of putting God's Word into practice in our lives in a way that is skilled, something we should always be growing in no matter what our stage of faith.

This is something we desire strongly for our students at Ebenezer - that they will have a faith that is real and is fleshed out in their lives even as they leave the folds of our student ministry one day.

We looked at some background info for the book of Proverbs:

• The Major Sections of the book of Proverbs
• Authorship (mostly Solomon)
• Similarity to other wisdom literature
• Specifics of wisdom literature
• Proverbs points to Christ!
• even though it doesn't mention Christ
• Christ is the pinnacle and fulfillment of wisdom
• Proverbs was taught in the context of God's covenant with His people
• Solomon stands in the line of Christ, is a type of Christ and was a king like Christ.
• All of OT Scripture points to Christ!

Big Idea: God wants us to skillfully live like Christ!

1. Skillful, Christ-like living requires fear of God (v. 7)
2. Skillful, Christ-like living requires knowledge (v. 2)
3. Skillful, Christ-like living requires submission (v. 3a)
4. Skillful, Christ-like living requires application (v. 3b-6)