Guide for Lesson 2 of “Young Teens Aflame” – Fashion Parade

: Note that if possible try to split the boys/girls from the beginning of this lesson

Relax

1. Start off by getting them to think of a celebrity perhaps that they would like to dress
like?

-Instead of sharing their answer straight away, get them to do something like Taboo/
Charades so that the rest of the group members can guess the celebrity.
For eg. Tyra Banks (description could be like American next top model….)
Robert Downey Jr ( IRON MANNNN)



2. If they could get all their clothes from a particular shop anywhere in the world where
would it be?



3. Next get them to brain storm about a few issues

- Is it right for a Christian to follow trends?
- Are there right and wrong ways for a Christian to dress? (be it just going out/going to
church)
- How should you choose when it comes to what to wear?
(this links back to our first lesson on choice, we must be conscious of the reasons of
why we make certain choices)

Relate

• Share one high and one low point
• Pray for one another, and 2 other items from the church

PRAY FOR SERVICES
That the Word of God proclaimed on 06-May by Mrs Ng Moh Ying (8am, 10am,
11am), by Pastor Clarence Lee (TTB), and by Mr Patrick Chua (Mandarin) will bear
fruit & not return void to God; and that the Word of God being prepared for 13-May
by Rev Dr Kow Shih Ming (8am, 10am, 11am), by Rev Joel Yong (TTB), and by Pastor
Wendy Tay (Mandarin) will be God’s Word for God’s People even as we continue to
celebrate together God’s power in raising Jesus Christ from the dead.

Reach Out

• Have 2-3 persons share what they have done to Invest & Invite their friends/
relatives to Christ or TTB
• Thank God for the effort and pray for these friends/relatives to be responsive.

Receive

It is not wrong to follow trends but doing it blindly is indeed a problem.

Try to ask them to recall when we went through the choices lesson, what were steps
that were involved in making choices?

So lets review the 3 Cs




1. Consider the choice
-If they recall we looked at Gen 39:1-15 which described Joseph consciously making the
right decision, he knew exactly, why he said no to the pharaoh’s wife.
-Likewise for the clothes that we wear we should stop and think first before following
everything new that comes along.



2. Comparing to God’s word
- Have them turn to 1 Peter 3:3-4

(New American Standard Version)
3 Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold
jewelry, or putting on dresses; 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the

imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

-The bible doesn’t say that it is wrong to try to dress well but in God’s eyes what is
important to him is not what you put on to make yourselves look good on the outside
but his concern is what is “beautiful” on the inside.
-We should not get caught up in spending too much time, energy and money on what
is not so important (our external looks) instead we should be trying to build up what is
inside. (eg. spiritual life, loving more..etc)




3. Choosing to be others centred

-Turn to 1 Cor 10:23-24 (NIV)
The Believer’s freedom
23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have
the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek
their own good, but the good of others.

-So why is this important? I mean after all just what I wear it’s my choice and how
would it affect others?
-The verses here in Corinthians remind us that although we have the right to do
anything it might not be beneficial and constructive so instead our guiding principle
should always to seek the good of others.

-Leaders here you can lead them to discuss about the issues you think that might affect
your group more.




For eg.

1. Girls wearing skirts/shorts that are too short (stumbling their brothers in Christ if it’s
in church/ attracting the wrong type of attention)

Some believe that based on 1 Corinthians 7:4 (NIV)
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In
the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to
his wife.
-Even if we are not married, our bodies are the temple of God and also they belong
to our future spouses and if we flaunt it off now it is seen to be robbing your future
spouse taking what belongs to him/her and giving it to someone else.

2. Guys wearing branded clothes/accessories / getting tattoos

3. Being overdressed/ under dressed



Closing Thought:
There are a lot of different trend of thoughts out there about how we should be
dressing as Christians, be it when we head out or to church but we must always bear
in mind the 3 Cs, we need to consciously make a choice and this choice must be in line
with God’s word and it must ALWAYS be others centred.
Encourage them beyond looking at their outward appearance and to also remember
that God’s concern is with our inward beauty

Closing Prayer:
Maybe the youths can pray for one another over the struggles they might have and
over the things that they discussed and that ultimately in everything that they do or
dress in this case would bring honour and Glory to his name.



Done by Petrina

Hey Guys,

For tomorrow's lesson. Ok we wont actually be doing a lesson since that some of the kids are still in the midst of exams and others have just finished. So we will be doing something more relaxing.

1) Game:

Objective: To allow everyone know each other better

Items required: A pen and a piece of paper


How to play: I think i may have played with some of you before. Basically everyone has a piece of paper and a pen. Except for one person. Oh and someone has to be the game show host as well. The game show host would ask the chosen youth (lets say aaron) a question. For example, aaron, who do you think is the prettiest girl in sea king? Then the rest of the people playing would have to write down the answer that they believe aaron would write and aaron would also write down his answer (honestly i do want to know this answer) haha. Yeah then slowly one by one everyone has to reveal their answer. The person or persons with the correct answer wins one point. After this, the game show host chooses a another person and ask he or she another question.


Here is a list of questions i thought of, just in case

1) Dream Job
2) When did you have your first crush
3) If you could only bring 3 things with you to a deserted island what would that be
4) First person you would turn to if in need of help
5) Worst food or thing you have even eaten before
6) If you could have a super power what would that be
7) If there was one thing you could change about your parents what would that be
8) Your pet peeve
9) Three things you never leave your house without
10) One person you always wanted to meet


Oh and after the games, as Petrina has already smsed you guys. Please go into a time of sharing and praying.

Sharing about:

1) The inner motivation, why the youths, strive to do well in studies. And you as leaders would also have to share what is that inner motivation that makes you strive for good grades (Its not about the money money money)
2) A recent exam experience for the uni students, or any significant exam experience you had.
3) How you dealt with the stress/ expectations from parents and self?
For the above question number 2, you can give practical steps or like you know stuff like go for a jog these kind of things, but also more importantly share with your youths, how by God providence/ grace and his word has empowered you to deal and stand upon the stress and expectations


Finally pray. Best if the ratio could be 1 leader to 3 kids. It is highly encouraged to get your youths to pray for one another instead of doing the typical mass prayer. Like melissa and heidi can pair up, find out each other's prayer request, and then pray for one another.
I think its good to start young, to get the kids to be comfortable praying for one another.

Ok lets see how it goes tmr, thanks guys

Alex

Guide for Lesson 1 – Making Choices (Practical Issues, Unit 2)

Section Do List:

RELAX-

Tuner: Choices

How To Play:
Have everyone start at the centre of the room and move according to your commands.

Come up with 10 to 15 sets of choices and have the youths move in different directions for the different choices. E.g. “For those that chose x, take 1 step forward, for those that chose y, take 2 steps back”

Try to come up with clear cut choices like “Book or TV, Red or Blue, Prata or Mutabak, etc.”

At the end of few rounds, the youths will be all over the room.

Debrief:
All of us make different decisions. We make the decisions based on who we are. At the same time, these decisions also define who we are. Like the game, we make the choices because of our preferences, yet these choices also determine the unique positions that we are in at the end of the game.


15 Mins
RELATE

•Share one high and one low point
•Pray for one another, and 2 other items from the church 15 Mins
REACH OUT
•Have 2-3 persons share what they have done to Invest & Invite their friends/relatives to Christ or TTB
•Thank God for the effort and pray for these friends/relatives to be responsive.


10 Mins
RECEIVE Introduction
The following is a list of things that influences us in our daily lives. Rate from a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being having no effect, 10 being an overriding influence to everything in our lives.

Advertisement, Friends, Parents, Horoscope, Trending, Bible, Teachers, 9gag/reddit/TV/movies, books/mags/newspaper

We know that the list is nowhere being close to being exhaustive, and not all of influences are bad, but not all of them are bad either. The key of today’s lesson is to help us make the right choice to be able to witness those that God had placed in your lives...

Read: Genesis 39:1-15
1) Do you think Joseph considered the choice carefully or was it a snap, on-the-spot decision?
2) What is the scriptural reference for your answer?

Looking at Joseph’s example, there are three things we want to learn from his encounter.

a) Consider the choice
Reflect on the decisions you make daily, how many of these decisions are made consciously? When was the last time you decided to go to school, or come for cell, or hang out with your friends? Joseph could only make his choice after he stopped to consider his choice.

b) Compare it with the Word
Now that we’ve stopped to think about the choice, the next question will be what to think about. Do we apply the standards of the world? Do we take own identity/position/morals into consideration? Do we compare it with the Word and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?”

Leaders please apply discretion for this point especially.

c) Choosing what will result in good
Now that our choices are informed, the hardest part always boils down to making the choice. The right choice is very often the hard choice too. It is up to us to make the decision and commit to it.
Would Joseph’s decision to say no have meant anything if he gave into the wife after her persistent pestering?

What about the times when all the options are equally bad/grey/good? Visit a sick friend vs studying for Exams; Committing time for devotions vs bible study; etc.. These are the situation where it calls for us to choose the decisions that will lead to the greatest good. I know that saying this doesn’t help with making up the decision at all. Rather, use this as a guideline for our choices. Very often, the best decision is not the one that is most “right” but the one that produces the most good.

Read: Genesis 39:16-20
3) What was Joseph’s “reward” for his choice?

4) Share about an instance, if it applies, when you got into trouble for doing the right things.

While, most of us know the story of Joseph’s success for the rest of his life. However, in this case we see that sometimes, in fact more often that we hope to be the case, making the right choice gets us into trouble. Yet, recognize that very often these “trouble” that we get into for doing what’s right, not the once that we deserve for doing wrong of course, are part of God’s plan. For Joseph, his jail time was his ticket into the pharaoh’s courts.

Closing Thought:
Read 1 Peter 4:1-11

Push your youths, ask the hard questions. Challenge them to commit all the choices in their lives to God above everything else.

Memory Verse:
1 Peter 4:19
“Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."

Closing Prayers

30-45 Mins

Notes:
I prepped the lesson to be a single train of thought. This could be hard to pull off depending on the dynamics of your group. Do rephrase the questions/ Break up the lesson and resolve some of the issues first. Once again, I cannot emphasize this more, apply your discretion.
I tried to condense the material as much as possible for this lesson, do go through the lesson plan and pick out some questions that you can ask if you see fit. Also please do Read 1 Peter 4:1-11 in advance and prayerfully consider ways to challenge our youth. I feel that the key to the lesson here is not about teaching them to choose God, but rather committing them to choosing God.


Done by Zhan Feng :)

Heyys leaders so for the benefit of those that are not involved in the production we are approaching the final leg of preparation and we thought it would be crucial for us to have a prayer session with our kids tmr to bring all of our concerns and hopes to God :):):)
So do spend some time praying with your kids, preferably give each of them a particular group of people to pray for and slowly guide them along and maybe you can use these prayer pointers:
1. Thank God for
b. Seeing everyone thru their respective major exams. For bringing them back safely and pray for an extra portion of your strength and grace for them to carry on for You
c. Bringing us thus far and for being steadfast in your promises even when we stumble
2.
“Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.”
- 1 Chronicles 16:11
Core Team
a. Pray for God to renew them with strength and grace for each new day to carry out the tasks ahead with confidence and dedication
3. Cast/Crew
a. Pray for focussed minds and concentration during rehearsals
b. Rehearsals to run smoothly and be productive
c. For them to find peace and purpose in their hearts as they serve
4.
“For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”
- Romans 11:36
Directors/Vocal Coaches/Dance choreographers/Band
a. For God to lift them up when they’re stressed, tired or discouraged
b. Motivation and creativity to press on for God
5. TTB (Everyone)
a. Faith to convict us that our purpose in all we do is to bring God glory
b. Attentive and obedient hearts
c. Strength and courage to persevere and sustain one another in love
d. Wisdom and peace that guard our hearts and minds
e. To be sure of our identity, purpose and direction so that we will not be daunted by our fears, sacrifice and trials but can have faith, joy and perseverance
Outreach
f. For our friends to have open hearts and minds
g. Courage to step out and invite

For more recent prayer pointers please refer to the church bulletin :)

Next thing we would be doing would be setting some goals and resolutions for next year since tmr would be our last lesson that we would have with our kids for 2011
1. Bring paper/ stationary for them to write
2. So what they can write about? Basically what they hope to achieve in the coming year
-studies
-CCA
-spirtiually
-service in church/..
-family/ friends (ties?)

5. Pray over the goals that they have set out

4. Then.. Collect all the paper and pass it to cheryl at the end of the lesson den she will help us keep it safely in a box until the last lesson of the next year, when we will reveal it and ask them to share if they managed to achieve it if so how and if not why?

Hi all :)

Here’s the heart of the matter. I think it’ll be good if we could look through it first to get a rough idea of what the lesson will be like.


Heart of the Matter

1. God allows us to make our own choices

2. Because God gives us choices, we must realize that all choices have consequences, both good and bad

3. No matter how many bad choices we’ve made in the past, they are redeemed by one good choice- to follow Jesus

4. Jesus loves you enough to let you choose


Theme verse: Colossians 1:13-14

For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.


Lesson start:


Pray!


Determining Your Destiny

Points to take away: Heart of the Matter 1, 2 and 4


Read through the passage and do question 1 with your kids

(Here’s what I think but do add on your own input)

1: Since God desired to spend eternity with us enough to have his own son killed, why doesn’t he just make all of our decisions for us?


The very fact that He sent His son to die on the cross for our sins shows that He loves us- a lot, infinitely. God probably gave us the freedom to choose and make decisions because He wanted us to willingly enter into a loving relationship with Him and not be ‘robots’ under His control (choosing Him would be one of the choices we would have to make).


Genesis 1:26 ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’


This shows that when God created us, He didn’t intend for us to be robots, but to be like Him, created in His image.


2: Read Genesis 2:15-17; 3:6 and answer question 2

Remember to highlight to the kids that Adam’s choice to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was really a choice to disobey God. And because of his choice, there was a consequence- a bad consequence.


The Message of the Two Crosses

Point to take way: Heart of the Matter 3


Read through the passage and do question 3

3: From the verses Matthew 6:24 and 7:13-14, Jesus is saying that we can only make one choice. If we follow the world, then we are not following God and if we follow God, then we cannot possibly follow the world.


We are called to be in this world but not of this world; to live in this world and be a witness for Christ but not to succumb to the temptations of the world and pursue its desires like material wealth etc.

1 John 2:15-17

‘Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.’


One Good Decision

Read through the passage and do question 4

I think it might be good to go deeper into some of the options with the kids.


For example the option ‘God is indifferent about our choice, as long as we’re good people.’

You might want to ask your kids what they think good people mean.

I don’t know about you guys but I find this option kind of confusing because it seems to suggest to me that it doesn’t matter what we do at all (good or bad?) as long as at the heart of it all we’re good? Maybe I interpreted it wrongly so if you’re not confused that’s good.

But for me I think I’ll refer my kids to Luke 18:19 ‘“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good- except God alone.”’

Based on this verse for me, if we’re good people, then we would make choices to follow God, choices that He would want us to make, and I don’t think He’ll be indifferent about us making choices to follow Him- It’s what He wants.


Another option ‘It doesn’t matter what choices we make in life, as long as we make the right choice in the end.’

The one right choice to follow Christ is the most important choice that we have to make. But since (hopefully) most of us have already made this right choice, it is important to remember that we also make the right choices to live our lives for Him after that, to be reflectors for Christ. We have been forgiven of our sins once and for all when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to make right choices anymore and we can continue sinning.


End

Have a time of sharing with your kids.

We have to make choices and decisions everyday. Some choices are obvious and with choices such as cheating in an exam, gossiping etc, we know what the right decisions are and what the wrong ones are. Still, it doesn’t mean we always choose what’s right. There are also choices to do the right things, things that are seemingly right like choosing to serve God. These are right if we do them with the right intention and not for self-interest. So maybe you guys could remind your kids to always commit their decisions to God, walk closely with God so that we’ll know the right choices He

wants us to make and remember to check their hearts when they do something. (you can add more too)


That’s all. I hope it helps and I didn’t go off tangent. Pray for your kids and the upcoming ttb production that all helping out in the production will grow to love and abide in God and love each other. (and pray for each other too, as in leaders)


Have a nice day!

by cher /.

Hey guys, I'm following the books lesson for all the examples, cause I really cant think of any better examples. Sorry!
You can follow the book for this cause its really straightforward. (:
Remember to ask your kids what they learnt last week because the lesson is more of less the same as last weeks.

Yeap! Get your kids to read through what he mentions!
Answer question 1 a) God keeps a record of our sins, but He forgives. b) We are all accountable to God c) We cannot hide from God, we will be accountable to Him. Remind your kids that no matter what we do, we will be held accountable when we meet Him. He knows every detail and we can't hide it. But we know that God's love for us is so strong that he is willing to forgive us from the wrongs we have done. He could have stopped this from happening to himself, because after all, He is the Son of God. But he resisted for our sake, so that we can be forgiven. Answer questions 2 and 3 You could remind your kids about the previous lesson and the example that gail gave on the youtube link, "The Gods Aren't Angry", to remind the kids again that every time they ask for forgiveness, their list is wiped clean. Answer question 4 and 5 So lets remind our kids that because of God's love for us, he sent his son to pay the ultimate price. Our list of wrongs are erased because of His love, and this does not mean that we can continue to do wrong over and over again, but we should appreciate the love he has shown for us. (:

Oh yes, and don’t forget to ask them if they have been accountable to each other! And also pray for them, for the production and those kids who are traveling now! (:

done by lish

Please note that we are going to do this lesson again because there were a couple of groups that missed it out so for those groups that have already done the lesson maybe y'all can ask your kids to share about their concerns about the upcoming year with new subject combinations (some taking trip science/full humanities..etc) i guess also general concerns about the future? what they plan to do?

Proverbs 16:33 - We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.
I find it very encouraging to know that God is truly in control of all the outcomes in our lives and nothing is a gamble! :):):)

More importantly I think we should try to provoke them to think about how as they grow older they should be also growing in terms of their maturity in Christ :) are they seeing any change in their relationship with God? Are they learning more about him everyday/every week? growing closer to him ? If not why and if yes how? Also try to share about the pivotal point in your own life that really led you to desire God more and what changed after that :):):)




Lesson:

Begin by asking your kids what is the greatest gift/ gift which touched their hearts that they have ever received. Who was it from? What was so great about the gift and did they feel thankful?



Now, ask them if that same person has ever failed them in another occasion. Maybe their parent has lost their temper at them when it wasn�t their fault, maybe a friend who once said � Call me if you need me� was not really there when they needed them the most, maybe someone got chosen over them when they thought they mattered more than that.



Did this make them doubt the sincerity of the giver? Did those incidents make them feel like the gift wasn�t as valuable before?



Theme verse: Colossians 1:13-14

For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.



Now, ask them what is the gift that God has given us. (Forgiveness from sins)

Can we trust in this, and are we able to accept it?

What is the difference between this gift and those that people have given us?



So what is so great about this gift?

1. Could anyone other than Jesus have died to save us?

a. (no, because only Jesus was perfect)

2. What was the price Jesus paid?

a. Pain, humiliation

b. He felt so much pain that in Matthew 27:45-46, it says, "Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He felt pain just like a normal human would.

c. If Jesus is God, why would He say this? (Go to qn.3)

3. Did Jesus have a choice?

a. Yes. Luke 22:42

i. "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Why did he do that? It was so painful.



And all this was for us.

He didn�t have an obligation; He chose to.



We are among the scoffers that caused His pain on the cross.

So should we feel guilty about this?

Read:

Hebrews 10:2, "For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins."

Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..."

Satan uses guilt as a weapon to draw us away from God. Do not be fooled!

Let�s look at a short story from a video titled The Gods Aren�t Angry:

Once upon a time in a small town there lived a woman who claimed she saw God in her dreams. People didn�t believe her, and the pastor went to talk to her. He, too, was doubtful. So he decided to test her. He told her, �The next time you see God, ask him what sins I confessed to him the last time I went to Him in prayer.�

Sometime later, the woman started having visions again, and the pastor heard people talking about it. So he asked her, �Did you ask God what I told you to?�

She said, � Yes I did, and God�s exact words were: I don�t remember.�



God keeps no record of our wrongs. When we confess our sins, forgiveness comes freely. There is no more debt. We are set free, just like that.

Since forgiveness is free, the next question to ask ourselves is: Can we accept it?

Or conversely, does that mean we can keep sinning and just keep confessing? Afterall, we�re forgiven no matter what.. right?

Sin is refusal of God�s grace. By choosing to keep sin in your life, you�re saying that heaven is not the place for you. It is like a person going into a Japanese restaurant even though he hates Japanese food. (or some other analogy :P)

So at the end of the day, we have to pick a side and stick with it, keeping in mind that our life here on Earth isn�t all. It is a preparation for eternity. Do we claim this gift that has been paid at a great cost, or do we live the way we like?

done by gaily