Guide for Lesson 4 of “Young Teens Aflame” –
Note: A very difficult
lesson ahead. If you are not convicted of it, I suggest that you ask someone
who is to teach it instead, especially since James 3:1 warns us that “Not many of you should presume to be teachers,
my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
I know this
lesson plan is very long, but lead as the Lord leads you – you may not need to
go through everything. Also, it is a lot of information – I want to encourage
everyone not to think that lessons may be “too heavy” for our youth. It is our
duty as leaders to give them the truth, the unadulterated truth that is not
diluted and teen-friendly. Indeed we must be sensitive to their needs, but that
doesn’t mean that we always pit things at their level, if not there will never
be upward growth. That is what God and His Word do to us also, constantly
challenging us and giving us things we don’t understand, which cause us to rely
on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and revelation. Loving them isn’t all about just
about making them feel loved and not guilty, it is also about presenting them
with the true image of a loving AND holy God and encouraging them – even when
it may be difficult – to live a holy life, which will probably include guilt.
Afterall, one of the earliest stages of true Christianity is having a very real
and painful sense of your sinfulness, not that we wallow it that and not
progress beyond that of course. Even as
we struggle with our own sin and inadequacy, may we continue to abide in Christ
and allow him to work through us in the lives of our youth! Press on dear
co-labourers in Christ!
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Section
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Do List
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Timing
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RELAX
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Get everyone to write their favourite
movie/TV serial down, and why they like it
Split into 2 teams to play charades!
One team will have to act out and
guess movies that people from the other team have written down.
The point system is as follows
·
1 point for
guessing the correct movie
·
3 points for
guessing the movie and the person who wrote it
·
5 points for
guessing the movie, the person who wrote it and why he or she loves that
movie
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10 Mins
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RELATE
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· Share how last weeks lesson impacted you this week
(try to get them to share something they had to let go off or give up,
whether it’s music or something else)
· If they were not at the lesson, share about
something God placed on their heart that week – it may simply be a deep
impression about a bible verse
· Pray for one another, and 2 other items from the
church
PRAY FOR SERVICES
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15 mins
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REACH OUT
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· Have 2-3
persons share what they have done to Invest & Invite their
friends/relatives to Christ or TTB (specifically related to the Tacklegames -
try to encourage them to invite their friends, since this week we will be
getting the invite slips)
· Thank God for
the effort and pray for these friends/relatives to be responsive.
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10 mins
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RECEIVE
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Introduction:
In this
series, you have been learning that as a Christian, as God’s chosen
generation (cf. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”) you have the
responsibility to be wise in your choices because they not only affect you
but they also affect others around you.
During
the last session, you learned that what you listen to is very important as
what goes into your mind will have a powerful influence on your life. Now,
this principle applies even more to what you watch. What you watch is even
more powerful because the mind remembers more what it sees and hears than
just what it hears alone.
Now,
just to put things into context, all that we are going to discuss is going to
raise awareness. It is easy to understand these concepts, but what really
counts in that we put them into practice. (Cf. Matthew 7:24-25, James 1:22-25
– espcially 22, James 2:14-26 – especially 26) Some people will not want to
practice what is taught because to them it seems like their freedom is being
limited. But the truth is that God loves us so very much because we are his
children. His laws are there so that we may live in freedom of sin that
oppresses us, so don’t see whatever we are going to teach as oppressive,
instead it is liberating! It is not easy to practice what has been taught in
the bible, it is not meant to be, but know that it is POSSIBLE – “No
temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. (Isn’t this amazing?
It is a fact that we are stronger than what Satan tries to throw at us!) But
when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so tht you can stand up
under it.” This reminds me a lot about the story about Joseph, so you may
want to quickly remind them about it.
Rationale:
Why is
it important to watch what you watch (haha)?
This is
merely a part of practicing Philippains 4:8 “Whatever is true, whatever is
noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such
things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me
– put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Look at the
verses preceding Philippians 4:8
Philippians
4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of
God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds
in Jesus Christ.”
All of
these point to having peace in us – Peace represents wholeness, harmony with
God, contentment and satisfaction with life.
First of all, no
matter what the need or situation, you must learn to pray specifically for,
and about your needs, accompanying your requests with thanksgiving for the
answers before you see them. These practices alone would relieve many
troubled believers and open the doors for peace. Secondly, Paul exhorted them
to think about the things that would facilitate a positive mental attitude
and a spiritual approach to every aspect of life. He said to think only about
the things that are true, and worthy of reverence and honorable or
seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable,
whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and
excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise. He told them to think on
or weight and take account of these things. The results would be
an abiding presence of God's peace that would make way for the help you
needed.
When we
watch shows, we are receiving ideas and messages into us. (e.g. guy who
perserveres and trains hard always wins, good triumphs over evil, the hot,
smart guy always gets the girl, success is being famous, feeling like a
winner etc…) These are all messages that are communicated via movies and TV
shows. Some of them are good, but we have to be on our guard today, because
moral filth (e.g. homosexuality, vanity, deceit, pride, violence) is being
subtly interwoven into an idea of what is “good”.
2
effects:
(1) We
are being exposed to so much sin, that sin becomes a norm for people. We
become familiar and hence desensitised to sin. THIS AFFECTS OUR GUARD AGAINST
SIN! For example, shows like
Modern family portray homosexuality as entirely acceptable in a “modern”
family, or shows which have people lying or stealing in order to achieve a
greater good seem promote the fact that sin is acceptable if it is for the
greater good.
(2) We
end up having a carnal mind – a mind so full of moral filth that we annot
think of whatever is
true/noble/right/pure/lovely/admirable/excellent/praiseworthy. This causes us
to face turmoil in our lives and be unable to rise above our circumstances as
all Christians should be able to do.
We
should aim to steer clear from shows that promote sin (glorification of the
self, sexual promiscuity etc). However, it is difficult in this day and age,
where so many shows have strands of that. So, we need to start watching with sharp
minds that sieve through the good of shows and the evil that displeases God.
Also, the rampant evil in this world unfortunately means that we should try
to watch less youtube and television. Much less. Afterall, time spent on
television is time not spent with God, as with all other relaxing activities
that we partake in.
Note:
To encourage them to watch less shows and movies is not to say that we run
away from this world – the television/internet/theatres are merely a part of
this world. Decreasing your time spent on them does not mean you become a
hermit or withdraw from the world – this time is better spent with people,
doing God’s work and most of all, spending time with God! (James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look
after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world.)
In
fact, Christians should be watching documentaries and the news to see the
needs of this world and how to pray for people other than ourselves – this is
a different kind of watching, it’s watching as worship to God, where we want
to be people who know the needs of others, who know the needs of the society
and want to make a difference. It’s very different from watching
funny/exciting shows that make us feel good and relaxed. (Basically, the
difference lies in who we are watching for – to enjoy ourselves or to be used
by God)
Teaching them how to think about shows:
Let’s
find out what some of the things are that make a good show:
Exercise:
Have them write on a piece of paper all the shows that they like watching –
be it genres (romance, thriller, action) or different types of shows
Go
through criteria:
(1)
Compare it to God’s ways
Psalm
119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to
your word.
What do
you think these worthless things are?
Approach:
If there are worthless things, there MUST be worthy things. We should learn
how to define worthless things by recognising what is worthy and realising
that the rest should be discarded.
Specific
examples:
·
Violence
·
Explicit love
scenes
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Wrong ideas and
values conveyed
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Bad language, bad
jokes
·
Horror or ghost
stories
·
Occult or
sorcery
Ephesians 5:3-5 “But among you there
must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or
of greed because these are improper for God’s holy people. Not should there
be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but
rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or
greedy person – such man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of
such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”
All these things can and will be
encouraged by the watching of wrong movies – how often have we been
desensitised to coarse joking? Some of us do this even in church. We repeat
the hilarious jokes that are uttered in the cinemas, and yes, they are so
very funny and provide for a good laugh. But when we see the agony of God
even as we are having fun sinning – I hope you don’t see this as an
exaggeration, because this really does happen and I am speaking from experience
– I think you will start to realise how truly borne of Satan some movies are.
(2)
Choose what will result in Good
Philippains
4:8 Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received
or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace
will be with you.
The
good stuff – which there are a lot of also!
·
Good ‘clean’
humour
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Good acting
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Teaching right
values and morals
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Fun and
entertaining
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Absence of bad
language
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Good storyline
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Documentaries
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Talk shows on
important issues
Personal application
Getting
personal
This is
a very difficult lesson, so please make sure your students understand.
·
For those who
are open to what you are teaching, have them clear up questions that they may
have. à This involves you finding out the answers to your
own question, be it from the bible or the internet or from older Christians
·
Go through the
list of movies that they wrote from the charades and ask each of them to
share what they feel about their favourite movie – whether it is a good movie
and they will keep it, whether there are certain areas in the movie which are
not pleasing to God, and finally whether they are shows that should just be
forgotten (have a very nuanced view of movies. Not all movies are all good,
or all bad, so discuss them and pick out the good parts BUT IF IT’S REALLY A
BAD MOVIE PLEASE DON’T GO LIKE “I LOVE THAT MOVIE TOOOOOOOO.” Or if you
really do then ask God for the strength to recognise that it is bad or
something haha.)
·
And FOR SURE
some of them aren’t hearing in their hearts (1. Don’t worry, God makes everything
beautiful in his time (Ecclesiastes) 2. Pray before you teach the lesson –
only God can soften their hearts and unblock their ears)
Important
and not optional:
Addiction: Ask them how much time they
spend watching tv/youtube. Ask them if they get angry when they parents tell
them to stop watching. If they would rather sin by shouting at their parents
than stop watching then evidently there is a problem. But all you should do
is ask to pray with them. You can also present the biblical perspective, but
it’s going to differ from person to person. Some people are ready for the
truth, others need God to soften their hearts first.
Important
but optional:
The issue of pornography. We may want
to split the group into two at the end of the lesson to address this issue.
We should root out this evil when they are at a young age. Leaders, if you
suffer from this and want to stop, please seek help, from pastors or even
your trusted and cell groupmates who are more mature than you. God wants to
deal with this in you so that you can be FREE! Remember that truth, openness
and humility are the only way for true fellowship in the body of Christ.
There’s no need to pretend to be holy, we are all sinners.
Closing Thought:
Watching
shows are only one aspect of our lives, but it is also a very major aspect
because what we watch very much determines the way we think and live our
lives. In an age where there are so many things to watch, we watch a lot of
things. Let us not make an idol of serial dramas etc. Worship means giving
worth to – you worship anything you give worth to, so if you are addicted to
shows and you watch them more than you read the bible, that is idolatry.
May we,
in all things, learn how to worship God and not created things!
Closing Prayer:
Dear God,
you are the God of all of me, the God of my mind, my body, my spirit, my soul
and this includes my ears, eyes and brains. Thank you for creating me in your
image. Thank you also for providing me with the bible that shows me how I can
live my life that is righteous and pleasing to You. May you give me the
desire to know you more through reading your word, and the discipline to read
your word each day. I confess that I do not love you and your word enough.
May you also convict my heart of the choices that I have to make, that the
choices I make should be right in your sight, not just in what I watch but in
everything I do. Thank you for having mercy on me and forgiving me even when
I have sinned so greatly against you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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40-55 mins
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1 comments:
You know, its the exact same thing that's been weighing on my mind the past few weeks too! Thanks Ariel =) Really really great job =)
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