Day 5- The Journey's End.
Title: Day 5- The Journey's End. (Psalms 119:165)
Objective of lesson: To help the Sec 2s' identify how to experience God's peace, as well as make them more conscious of some issues hindering them from living in peace.
Hook: To create a visual reminder of the lesson, using the "light at the end of the tunnel" analogy.
Materials required:
a) Plastic bottles x n*
b) OPAQUE paper x (n*+1)
c) Needle/Pin x 1
d) Roll of scotch tape x 1
e) Markers/Coloring materials
*Where n= number of kids you have
Steps:
1. Using the paper, wrap around the plastic bottle tightly, such that the entire bottle, except for the cap, is covered.
2. Secure the paper around the bottle, with scotch tape.
3. Using a needle/pin, make a SMALL (though large enough to let light through) hole at the end of the bottle.
4. Decorate the bottle (optional)
Link (1): Ask them, "What do you think this represents?", and try to guide them to the whole "light at the end of the tunnel analogy. Then, try linking them to the metaphorical meaning that the "light" = heaven, and the "darkness" in the bottle = life's problems.
Link (2): Once link (1) has been established, move on to linking them to last week's lesson, by asking them to give a quick recap of what they've learnt/remembered from last week (John 16:33). It should go somewhere along the line of "God is for us and with us, and He gives His peace readily to all who earnestly seek Him." - John 14:27
Lesson:
Begin with an opening prayer
From Link (2), since we all know that God is willing to give His peace, and help us through every storm in our lives, WHY do we not experience this peace... all the time? WHY can't we say "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."-Psalms 23:4a Get them to think, and share one time they have been distressed. (In the event of unresponsiveness, leaders can start sharing themselves)
As we journey through life, (I.e. through the "darkness"), get the kids to read Psalms 23:4b, and lead them to the portion which says "your rod and staff, they comfort me". Ask them what they think it means, but try to lead them to the following breakdown:
| Item | Rod | Staff |
| Symbolism | Discipline | Guidance |
| What it may mean (can differ from leader to leader) | God uses discipline, to help His people achieve His will, or to help bring people back to Him. Case study: Israel exiled to Babylon. Upon seeing the impotency of the gods of Babylon, the Israelites turned away from their own idols, and back to God - Kings - Nehemiah Case study: Jonah, when he ran away from his purpose. - Jonah 2 Therefore, we should not look upon correction as a "bad" thing, though society advocates freedom without responsibility. We should stand against the crowd, against society, if we are to be called Christian. This, may be a struggle our kids are facing, especially in schools, CCA and in their relationships with others. Help them to see that the scolding's their parents give them (or not), the many stressful situations, etc...many be God's way of correcting something in their life that may not be right! Get them to learn, and start to accept the fact that they still have to listen to authority, that ONE PART OF GETTING GOD'S PEACE, IS BY ACCEPTING, AND RESPONDING CORRECTLY TO HIS DISCIPLINE, THROUGH SUBMISSION. -"For the Father only disciplines those He loves" | After discipline, (that's the significance of the order of the words), after a person is broken enough to be contrite, and submissive to Him, only then can God's peace come into the person's life, because God Himself will come and work in our lives. When we are contrite and stop trying to do everything on our own, we will tend to follow His leading more, and it becomes easier to focus on Him. In that situation, God is our shepherd, and we will be able to experience His peace, when he leads us through the storms in our life. - Proverbs 6:23 |
So, continue by getting them to reflect on their lives, and then get them to think of times when they have hated discipline (scolding), and ask them if they can link it to a specific time when the lack of acceptance of discipline has led to the problem worsening...
Help them to understand, that discipline is necessary, and that a Christian life is never easy. That one way God helps us to experience His peace is through correction, followed by guidance.
End with a prayer for them, that they may accept God's correction when it comes, and pray over them that when it comes, they may not forget this lesson, and will persevere on, and grow in God...which then will give them the peace we've discussed for the last 4 weeks.
Summary:
God's peace is obtained by growing in Him, which is done through accepting God's discipline and then looking to Him for guidance.
Memory verse:
Romans 8:6
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
---Joshua----
Assurance of Salvation
Whenever your youth need assurance of salvation ,encourage them to read 1 John. There they will find their answers.
Fear into Faith
Hi guys, this week’s lesson is called
Fear into Faith
Its on page 33.
Well I hope it is going to be. OK anyway
Im sure that all of you have some sort of fears. It could be
2. Fear of failure
3. Fear of loneliness
4. Fear of a wasted life
5. Fear of not living up to expectations
Yeah the list goes on.
So what do you when you have these fears? What do you do when you are inside a sinking boat? Where your worse fears and nightmares are coming alive right before your eyes
Well these are the most likely outcomes I can think of
You can trust in your own Armour 
your own power, your own human strategies to tackle the problem. OK I can do this, I can handle this storm!!!!! Time to kick some stormy butts.
You could be angry at the storm 
whining about how unfair life is
You could just crumble under the pressure of the storm and just give up.
ok in some special cases you would be like
But whatever path you take. (No matter how much you run away or hide. It will come back.) It always leads you back to one point. You realize that the storm is too big. Your methods and ways are not working. You are going down.
And this is the point where God comes in. Faith begins when you see God on the mountain and you are in the alley and you know that you are too weak to make the climb up. You see what you need, you see what you have and you realize that what you have isn’t even to reach the top. And you know where you want to be. You want to be at the top of the mountain where you can have
This
And this
Lol, noooo you cant really have all this on the top of the mountain, but you get something way way wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better. You get the peace of God!!!!!!
So how do we get to the top of the mountain you ask? If my iron man suit can’t help me then what can? By now you should be in the eye of the storm, your boat is leaking and your captain has abandoned ship. Oh and you can’t swim by the way, and there is a giant squid in the ocean. So you are trapped in one corner, you have nowhere else to turn to. And you see God, he is standing there he is fine and everything over at his side is calm and ok. So ofcourse in your hour of need you turn to God. You beg for help, you hear his voice and he askes you to trust him, to have faith in him, to walk on water.
And then ofcourse you go: Jesus you got to be kidding me, there is a freaking giant squid in the ocean and you want me to go into the ocean?
That is what faith is. Faith is believing and trusting in someone or something. Even though every fiber of our body tells us that it’s not logical.
But the thing is guys, when we look towards God. When we look towards God, we realize so many things. Like how we are in need of a great Saviour and that we are not strong enough. We realize how awesome, strong and big God is compared to our problems and storms. If you think about it, God is in control of everything. There is nothing more powerful than God. So with that thinking you can have the faith that you not only be able to survive the storm but also we can also OWN THE S*** of that storm. Not by your own works but through God.
But then there is the next problem. How do I get faith? How do I strengthen my faith with God?
Romans 10: 17 says Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Chirst
The bible explains it very clearly that to go through life, we need to hear the word of Christ. We need to read our bibles, we need speak to God. We need to know God more. We need to know him inside out.
· We need to know how much he loves us, that nothing we ever do or could do will ever make him turn his back on us.
· How much we need him.
· How much God is, has and will go through everything for you.
All this amounts to Grace. And grace is this
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, its is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
Grace is having faith in God and not by our own works.
So you got to feed on God's word more. We need to have an active relationship Its like taking booster jabs. I mean you are walking into an infested world, full of problems and storms. Do you happily walk into it without preparing anything at all? No right?
Well it’s a process of learning. It’s a process of breaking and moulding, breaking your pride and your doubts Haha which will take a life time to master. But everyday as you trust God more and more you will see that life is more like this
Ok bye guys, i hope this helped.
Appreciation
Dear Bro & Sis,
Teaching to Change Lives
Are the two copies of Teaching to Change Lives I gave away being passed around? Hope it is man... I feel the need to reread it too =]
Day 3- Peace in the Pain (pg 29)
Peace in the Pain.
Personally to me, peace in the pain sounds rather strange. You’d be pretty twisted in more ways than one if you experience peace when you go through pain, be it emotional, physical or whatever. Luckily for us, that is more or less the world’s view and since as John writes as well in John 17, verses 11 and 16. It more or less sums up the phrase, “We’re in the World, but not of the World” Conformity can be a very comforting thought or gesture, but I guess nothing’s really that easy is it.
The examples given in the book are more or less sob stories about loss of parents, loved ones, boy friend girlfriend yada yada, can’t play basketball/sports anymore etc. Sure this sound kinda sad and somewhat relatable to, but it’s not much different from anyone watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy or One Tree Hill.
I encourage you to share your personal stories be it the lowest of the lowest points in your life to them, your struggles, your heart aches, times when you felt like you’ve hit rock bottom, when you’re in desperation. Granted this may be very personal information that you’re sharing, but I believe it’s imperative in building trust with our kids, and I for one do share such stories with mine, though I suspect it kinda bores them.
Of course, the lesson also shares about how you should deal with these setbacks, comfort like how He’ll take care of those who are brokenhearted etc, the 3 verses the book gave on pg 31. Ultimately I’m sure most of the answers and solutions always boils down to how much faith you have. Though that is correct, I think it’ll be good too to perhaps share how you’ve got out of that hole or situation you were in like you shared earlier, kinda like the conclusion to that story.
The verses provided are powerful and relevant, however, sharing something from my own personal experience, James 1:2-4 gets me through a lot of times when I really don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore.
“ 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. “
In conclusion, faith will definitely get them through, but it’s important that we set the foundations right, and strengthen their faith so that they may one day rely on it.
Know that along with most things, this isn’t a magic formula that will make their problems disappear overnight, but it’s a gradual process that will eventually be resolved in His time.
Sometimes, things really have to get worse before they can get better.
Thanks for reading, hope this helps.
- Leroy