Next Steps: When Tragedy Hits Home

Next Steps: When Tragedy Hits Home: What To Say To Your Kids When Tragedy Happens by Matt Matzke Obviously, this past weekend has been full of sadness, prayers, and ...

Guardrails Pt. 2

Swerve


PARENT SYNC:
Read Proverbs 13:20

Our students live in a world that is consistently pulling them away from what they know is right. Their friends and peers can often be the ones pulling them in those directions. We would all agree that it isn't good to only have "Christian" friends because we know it has a tendency to limit our child's worldview (and kind of moves them away from the Gospel). But as parents, we also know it's not good if our kids let their friends pull them the wrong direction.

And to add to that tension, we all have regrets from our past. And most of those regrets revolve around friendships, dating, and decisions that pulled us away from God.

This week, we determined that:

Our friends influence the quality and direction of our lives

Eventually, the people we spend time with with influence us. In Proverbs 13:20, we see that if we spend time with fools, we will become fools. If we spend time with the wise, we will become wise. So the real question becomes, "How do I help my child recognize foolish and wise choices... especially when it comes to friendships? Maybe the following discussion will help... I would suggest that with this topic, you use the 80/20 rule. You listen 80% of the time and only talk 20% of the time. Tell them, "I heard you talked about friends on Sunday. There was a phrase "our friends influence the quality and direction of your life"... what did you think of that talk this past Sunday?

Discuss the following...

• What is it that you like most about your friends?
• What worries you most about your friends?
• What are some guardrails you have made in regards to your friends?

Further Study: One of the best books I think every parent should read is "The Best Question Ever" by Andy Stanley. Over the next couple weeks, we are taking the High School group through the process of learning how to ask the best question ever ("What is the wise thing to do?")... but it would be good for us parents to read the book and begin to teach our kids to apply it when it comes to the decisions they are making in life. 

Guardrails Pt.1

SHIFT

A guardrail is designed to keep vehicles from straying into dangerous or off-limit areas. 

You set up a guardrail for your kids... you told them at one point or another not to put their finger into something that runs on electricity (like a light socket). Instead of explaining everything about electricity and how it works, we as parents made it simple... "Don't stick your finger in that!"

We have given our kids guardrails because we want to keep them from danger. We realize that our greatest regrets relationally, morally, spiritually, and practically (in life decisions) are a result of "crossing a line" that could have been avoided if we had a guardrail.

What we shared with the kids was a new perspective on "guardrails"... Guardrails are meant to give us freedom (not take it away). For instance, in High School group, we brought us that "sex before marriage" is intended to to keep us from losing our freedom. Not only does it limit us in the future in regards to intimacy with our future spouse, but the girl who got pregnant has less freedom... the guy who has to support the girl... the teen who has a STD... the couple who want to trust each other and get married but can't get past the other one's past... all of those are limits in freedom.

We didn't focus on just that topic, but here's the main idea: 

We are all just one decision away from doing irreversible damage to our lives and relationships (now and in the future). No one has ever regretted having a "guardrail". Not one person has ever regretted saving their first kiss for their wedding day. But plenty of people wish they had established guardrails.

PARENT SYNC:
Read Ephesians 5:15-17

Discuss the following...

• How do we know if something is right or wrong?
• How do we know if something is wise or foolish?
• What are some good guardrails we have as a family? Why are they good?

Further Study: One of the best books I think every parent should read is "The Best Question Ever" by Andy Stanley. Over the next couple weeks, we are taking the High School group through the process of learning how to ask the best question ever ("What is the wise thing to do?")... but it would be good for us parents to read the book and begin to teach our kids to apply it when it comes to the decisions they are making in life. 

5 Things the Helps our Faith Grow

This week was a freebie for Jr. High and High School. We both took this week to discuss something we felt was important for our students to know. I can't speak for John so I thought I would share with you, briefly, what I shared with the High School Students:

We talked about 5 things that God uses to help our faith grow (taken from Andy Stanley). 3 of these things, we have some control over. The other 2 are a little let manipulatable (I think that's a word). Here are the 5 things:

1. Practical Teaching - what are the environments they are in that they are given practical teaching? Youth Group and church are ideal spots for this
2. Personal Disciplines - praying, reading the Bible (kids are supposed to read Romans 8-9 this week), journaling, listening to Christ-centered music... all stuff they do on their own
3. Personal Ministry - using their gifts and abilities to serve others
4. Providential Relationships - these a relationships that God puts together... parents, youth leaders, even friends
5. Pivotal Circumstances - things that happen in life where your faith in God is tested... death of someone close, financial issues, accidents, injuries, etc. 

Parent Sync:

Take the time, as a family, this week to write down a list of things that have impacted your faith... formed your faith... tested your faith. 

Then, see how many of those listed fall under 1 or more of those categories... 

Then discuss which of them (especially the first 3) you feel like you need to focus more on.

Pretty simple challenge... pretty big conversation.

Adapt & a Warning to Parents

I know this is long, but this is from my heart and it's a huge concern I have for our kids. The following is so vital, that I believe kids' relationship with God is threatened more than we know, and it may be our own fault as parents. Please read it all. I tried to make it brief, but too much info to cover. In the future, we will break stuff like this down but because of our topic on Sunday and some recent events in the news, I felt this needed a little more than a "quick" Parent Sync post.

Usually, we utilize this Parent Sync to equip each parent with the spiritual principle we are focused on for the week... but this week, I wanted to bring up something that is all over the news. If you haven't heard of the story of Amanda Todd, your kids probably have. Her video has received almost 20,000,000 views (there are several different versions with same video but different music) on Youtube. She committed suicide over a week ago but her self-posted video is getting her story into the news. If you would like to watch her share her story, here's the link (WARNING: although there is nothing shown, the story she shares is heart-wrenching and vivid enough that I would be careful showing it to your kids. It is very sad):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRxfTyNa24A

A brief run-down of the story is that she made some bad choices in regards to what she was doing on the internet and the road she went down due to peer pressure and the need to be accepted made her life difficult. The way people treated her and bullied her pushed her further and further into a place where she felt the only escape was to commit suicide. When I watched this video, it crushed me. As a youth pastor, this stuff sickens me. As a father, this kind of issue scares me.

To begin, let me say that our topic on Sunday in Jr. High and High School was "Reversing Darwin: Adapt". And it has everything to do with what this girl went through. Our kids are thrown into an environment that screams, "Adapt or die". If they don't learn to lie, cheat, or manipulate their way through school and relationships, they will never make it. And while we may say that's not true, we are fooling ourselves if we think that we can protect our kids if we are involved in their lives. It's not our school's responsibilities to discipline, train-up, and develop our kids... but too often we expect them to help our kids become responsible adults. Our main point was that the standards God desires us to live by are the main tool God uses to point people to Him. Purity, clean talk, and choices when we are with our friends can either point people to the Gospel, or away from it. They either show people Jesus, or points them away from Jesus. 

I have a lot to say on this but I want to keep this short: We as parents are given the responsibility, by God, to point our kids to the Gospel. It's not our job to transform them (that's the Holy Spirit's responsibility). It's our job to give them the opportunity to grow in their relationship with God. And part of that responsibility is accountability with what they are doing online. 

One of my "Must Read Books" for parents is "The Best Question Ever by Andy Stanley" It's based off of Ephesians 5:15. Our goal as parents is that our kids will grow up wise... not unwise. I would challenge you to read this as a parent and use "the best question ever" when training up your teen. It's not about internet safety or even being a parent, but it is about learning to make wise choices in life and it's practical enough for kids to put into practice in their every-day lives. 

But I also want to challenge each of us as parents and help us with some practical accountability in our kids' lives. My rule is this... as long as they live under your roof, they have no privacy. Don't expect teenagers to act like adults with their decisions. They don't think like adults. They don't have experience like adults. They are going to mess up. They will make bad decisions. There will be consequences. Don't expect them to make decisions like adults. They are going to mess up! It's our responsibility to be there for them when they do. This list is not exhaustive and not perfect, I've attempted to keep it simple and direct:

• Know what they do on the computer
• One of the most dangerous things we can do is put a computer in their bedroom. But that doesn't solve the issue. 
• Spend some money on "Safeeyes" program. You can track everything your kids do and post on the computer. 
• Consistently check on their personal accounts in Facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. If you don't know their password and username, have them give it to you or simply take the device away. 
• Do not let me use web-cam programs (gmail and facebook now have web and instant messaging ability) unless you can see what they are doing
• Randomly check their email, Facebook, etc. 
• Don't let them delete the history. If they are, they are hiding something.
• They may have a "secret Facebook" account... or username... or hidden program. 
• I know of way too many kids that post pictures, comments, or even random thoughts that if their parents saw, it would break their heart. I'm not the "post-police"... if I see something that I think puts a child in danger, I won't hesitate to talk to the parent. But I don't catch everything and I believe we as parents need to be more aware of what's going on. Lori and I check our girls' accounts, web use (we use Safe-eyes), cell phone text messages, twitter posts, insta-gram pics, pintrest accounts, Facebook, oh... and we are friends with their friends... so guess who else we are monitoring? Yes, that's a lot... but we love our girls. We think the world of them. We trust them. But we trust them to make choices like teenagers. If you need help with how to do any of this, let me know and I would love to help out.
• Know what they are doing on the devices
• iPhone, iTouch, smart-phone, text messaging, iPad, Kindle, etc. There are many devices out there... they are probably looking at, reading, and listening to a lot of things that will shock you. 
• Randomly, look through their apps, text messages, pictures, and everything on their devices. If they have deleted texts, don't fall for the "I was running out of space on my phone" lie... it would take them years to fill up even the oldest of cell phones with enough messages to make it where they needed to delete some messages. And the "my phone automatically deletes messages"... that's questionable, too. 
• Know what they are listening to and watching
• Look up lyrics to songs on their devices. Listen to their favorite radio station while in the car (and then ask them who the artist is or what the song is called. Get into their world a bit, then look it up apart from them. If it's not good, point it out privately and ask them, "where do the lyrics of this song point people... to God or somewhere else?"
• Know what they are learning
• I am convinced this week more than ever that what we are doing here at Arcade in our Student Ministries is exactly what your kids need. So join with us. Don't keep your kids from jumping in. Ask your kids questions about the topics. Have spiritual conversations with them. I've seen so many parents let their kids "skip youth group" or have no clue what their kids are being taught.
• Know how you are intentionally pointing them to the Gospel
•  How are you pointing them to the Gospel? None of us are the perfect parent. But we are always pointing our kids to something. Be intentional about pointing them to the Gospel.

I have a lot more thoughts on this and we are working on a class or series that we can discuss topics like this, further. 

Let me know if this is something you would like Arcade to have for parents and what topics you would like to discuss. 

We are here to help you. Until then, I am praying for you, your teens, and your family. Thank you for all you do!

PARENT SYNC: Discuss this with your teen...

• Did you hear about the Amanda Todd story in the news?
• Has anyone ever used the internet or a note to make you feel bad?
• What is something God expects us to do for people that are hurting or being bullied?
• Who do you know that I could pray for this week that, you feel, needs Jesus to show up?

P.S. And if you made it all the way through this post, you are my new hero!

Reversing Darwin

This series is not so much about "Evolution vs. Creation", as much as it is on the reality of what our teens face on a daily basis. "Survival of the fittest", how they "classify" themselves and others, and the danger of "adapt to survive" are 3 key discussions we are working through. It's vital that we as parents, each week, try to have at least 1 intentional spiritual conversation with our teen. 

In High School, we are going through the book of Romans in small groups on Sunday morning and seeing that Paul actually addresses each of these things within the first few chapters. 

In Jr. High, it's being taught on Sundays as a message and discussed further in small groups on Wednesdays. 

This past week, we covered "Classify". While the world "classifies" us according to what we like, what we do, what we are good at, and how much money we make or how popular we are, there is one thing that levels the playing field: WE ALL SIN. Jesus came not only to save us, but also to help us realize that no matter how we get classified, we are all sinners that need a Savior. And as Christians, we need to be careful how we "classify" others... Everyone matters. Everyone sins. Everyone needs Jesus. 

Sync: 
Ask your teen the following 3 questions:

• What is one thing you remember from the lesson in youth group? 
• If they don't remember, it's ok, just give them the challenge to remember one significant thing next time. It may not hurt to catch John or I and ask us what our "Bottom Line" was for that week
• What "classification" do you think you are in with your peers?
• What friends do they have that need to know Jesus?
• And maybe discuss what they can do to help point their friends to Jesus (i.e., invite them to youth group or a youth group event, pray for them, make wise choices, etc.)

Give us some feedback on how those conversations went this week!

Why Your Kids Need Five Other Adults in Their Lives

Why Your Kids Need Five Other Adults in Their Lives

Camps and Mission Trips

There is always that emotional connection a person has when they have been away from the distractions and craziness of being at home... it's an emotional connection that an individual feels with someone they have spent some time with and have had conversations with. We like to call this "mountain-top high" or a "camp-experience". When a person spends an entire week with God, I would hope they would feel like they are closer to God... but what happens to that feeling after a person gets back? How do I keep that "feeling"?


As parents, we can help reinforce what camp or a mission trip began... take some time this week to pray for you kids. And when you get a chance, ask them some questions... here's some to get you started:

• What do you remember most from camp/mission trip?
• What is one spiritual truth or encouragement you remember from camp/mission trip?
• How did God show up?
• If you could go back to camp/mission trip and do it again, what would you do differently? Why?

The Invisibles Part 2

"If we proclaim to love God, but refuse to unconditionally accept those He has made in his image, it destroys our influence in our friend's lives." -Andy Stanley


What our kids need to understand is that God has made them, on purpose. There is nothing about them that is an accident. And when we ignore people, it actually tells our friends that God really doesn't care about everyone. And when we tear ourselves down, it tells our friends that God made a mistake. Our kids find themselves trying to walk a fine line in how they view themselves... so to help them, we added to last week's phrase...


BOTTOM LINE:

EVERYONE MATTERS... EVERYONE IS IMPORTANT

Everyone matters. And when we read in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26, that everyone is important... EVERYONE. So for the next couple of weeks, you have the opportunity to do some affirmation. It's a chance to help your teen appreciate the abilities God has given both of you... and maybe a chance for you and them to learn about how your view yourselves. But as a spiritual leader for your teen, make sure you take the opportunity to help them focus on the Gospel and how God loves them beyond what they could ever imagine.

PARENT SYNC

This is your chance to "sync" with your child on a spiritual level. Discuss the following question(s) some time this next week:

What are some things you are good at?


What are some things you want to get better at?


What are you thankful to God for when it comes to what makes you important?

The Invisibles

There are those around us who seem invisible. In fact, many of us can think of moments in our lives where we felt invisible. Maybe it was at the school dance, or when we attended a youth group for the first time, or when there was that person that we liked and we didn't think they noticed us. People can feel invisible in the midst of a crowd... even when they are hanging out with friends. This week, many of our kids moved into a new class or role after being promoted a grade. Some moved into the Middle School class... some moved into High School... and some became the "influencers" who are now considered the "older" class. In the middle of all those changes, it's easy to feel invisible... which brings us to this week's BOTTOM LINE:

EVERYONE MATTERS

Everyone matters. We see this time and time again with Jesus. We looked at John 5 where a man who has been invisible for 38 years, get's noticed by Jesus. Jesus had a way with doing that. He seemed to notice those who were "invisible" to everyone else. So not only can we see that we matter to Jesus, even when we feel like we don't matter to anyone else... we can also see that, if we want to be like Jesus, we should be looking for those who are "invisible". 

PARENT SYNC

This is your chance to "sync" with your child on a spiritual level. Discuss the following question(s) some time this next week:

Share of a time when you felt like no one noticed you.


What does "Everyone matters" mean to you?

Fake ID Part 2

If who we are is determined by who created us, than wouldn't it make sense to understand who we are (our identity) from His perspective? But that's usually where we lose focus. We spend most of our time trying to impress our friends or get attention from them and our family. We try to "find ourselves" apart from the Creator... which brings us to this week's BOTTOM LINE:

WHO WE SPEND TIME WITH INFLUENCES HOW WE VIEW OURSELVES

That's why all those "girl magazines" have such a negative effect on young girls. That's why we, as parents, must take the time to know who our kids are spending time with and realize that those people will have a lasting effect on our kids. If the wrong people can influence a wrong self-image, then the opposite makes sense: the right people can influence a right self-image in us. Our goal as parents is to put our kids in the environments where they can develop a "Gospel-centered" self-image.

PARENT SYNC

This is your chance to "sync" with your child on a spiritual level. Discuss the following question(s) some time this next week:

What do your friends think about you?

What are some things that you do that get attention from your friends?


What does God think of you?


What are some things you do to get attention from God? (Kind of a trick question because we don't need to get God's attention, we should be putting our attention on God)

Fake ID

This month, we begin discussing our identity. Most of our students, after working through Jr. High, understand that we should find our identity in Christ. By the time they hit High School, they would say that's true, but if you were to ask them how we do that in practical terms, either they don't know or they come up with "go to church, read my Bible, pray..." There is no problem with those elements (church, Bible, pray). In fact, if our kids committed to those 3 things and lived them out daily, I think we all would be better off. But those things are not how we identify with Christ. Those elements enhance our process of identifying with Christ. Our identity is not determined by what we do... our identity is ultimately who we are. 

WHO WE ARE IS DETERMINED BY 

WHO CREATED US

That was this week's BOTTOM LINE. What we do should be our response to who we are. We go to church, we read our Bible, we pray, not because that's what a Christian does, but because of what Christ did for me and I have committed my life to Christ, I go to church, I read my Bible, and I pray. 

PARENT SYNC

This is your chance to "sync" with your child on a spiritual level. Discuss the following question(s) some time this next week:

What are some "labels" that people have of you that really bug you because they aren't true?

What does it mean to you to identify Jesus?

3 Story: GOD'S STORY

This week, we looked at CONNECTING TO GOD'S STORY. Our story is the story of who we are and how much we need Jesus. Their story is about them... where they are... what is going on in their lives... and noticing those connection points between their story, my story, and God's story.


When we take the opportunity to connect with God's story in our personal lives, we have more "God stories" to connect to our friend's story. If our kids have grown up in church, they probably know quite a few of God's stories... Daniel and the lion's den, Jonah, parables like the wise and foolish man building houses, the woman at the well... these stories have been told and retold, probably to the point that they have lost their "connectedness" to our story. But that's why we have youth group, church services, small groups... and why we should have personal time in God's story. Because the more of God's story we know, the more we understand God and the easier it is to point our friends to Jesus. As we have told the kids, "our main purpose for having friends is to point them to the Gospel." 

PARENT CUE: Depending on the age of your kids and how often they have been in church, see how many of the stories from the Bible you can name. Then discuss the following with your teen (make sure you answer it too):

Which of God's stories in the Bible do you connect with the most and why? 

3 Story: THEIR STORY

This week, we looked at discovering THEIR STORY. Our story is the story of who we are and how much we need Jesus. Their story is about them... where they are... what is going on in their lives... and noticing those connection points between their story, my story, and, as we will see this next week, God's story.


The challenge this week, was for students to listen... really listen to someone's story. They were challenged to ask questions (that don't have question marks)... like "Tell me about your family."... you know... those questions that don't allow you to say "yes" or "no". We parents us "how was your day?" And we know the problem with that question is that the answer can be as short as, "fine." How different of a response if we said, "tell me about your day". 

PARENT CUE: So show your kids "how it's done". Ask them a question that doesn't end in a question mark. Then take the chance to discuss how they can Discover their Friends' Story. Also, ask the following question and take time to pray for their unsaved friends. If they say they don't have any, this might be a good time to pray that God would bring someone into their life that really needs to know Jesus.

Tell me about your friends that aren't Christians.

3 Story: MY STORY

So this week, we begin a new series that is intended to help students share the Gospel with their friends. It consists of looking at 3 stories... and how these 3 stories link together is how the Gospel is shared.

This week, we looked at sharing MY STORY. Our story is the story of who we are and how much we need Jesus. It also is a chance for us to share how Jesus has shown up in the past... What's easy about sharing our stories is that we actually do this all the time. Your friend tells you something they did this week, which triggers a thought in your mind of something you did this week... and this story telling continues and builds into a relationship. 


The challenge this week, was for students to share their story... but not just the surface stuff... to recognize and share, within their story, a need they have or had in which they are trusting Jesus to meet. for young students, this is pretty tough... they aren't thinking this way very often. For older students, this is tough because they have learned to protect their reputation.

PARENT CUE: This might be a good week to help reinforce the lesson. Share a part of your life story in which you needed Jesus to show up. How did He show up? If He didn't, what were you feeling? Sometimes, the best way to teach something is to "go first"... you never know... this may open up a huge conversation about what your son or daughter is wrestling with... giving you the opportunity to know how to pray for them.

Share about a time when you need Jesus to show up? 

Missions

With Jr. High leaving for their Mission Trip to SF next week and many of our High School students going on various Mission Trips (including AZ, Brazil, India, and Kenya), this would be a good time to have a "mission" discussion with your kids. Here's some questions and a passage to discuss:


Matthew 28:18-20

• If there was one place you would like to go to share Christ's love with others, where would it be? Why?
• What are some things that might keep someone from being able to go on a Mission Trip?
• Is there something we can do as a family that would be "mission trip" like here in our neighborhood?

This is also a good time to begin praying together as a family and discussing going on a Mission Trip as a family. Maybe Haiti? Brazil? Poland? Russia? Let God lead your hearts as a family, but start praying now that God would make it obvious what you and your family should do.

Illuminate: BLOOD

WEEK 3 (March 18, 2012) It's amazing when we notice how our culture is infatuated with blood. Movies, TV Shows, Video games, vampires, cartoons, even music talks about blood. So what's the big deal about blood? When we talk about Jesus' death on the cross, it's common for someone to wonder, "How does Jesus' blood cover our sins?" This takes us back to the creation story... Adam and Eve have sinned; God has dolled out the consequences of their sin; then He covers them with animal skins. We see in the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt that putting blood above their door-post saved them and their family. God seems to be infatuated with blood, too. And for most of us, when we think of blood, we think of "loss". But Jesus's blood signifies something else that we may have missed... yes it was the perfect sacrifice for our sins (I'm still not sure why God decided that, but that's what makes Him God); but do we realize that Jesus' blood also signifies "gain"? We gain the opportunity to have a relationship with God. Jesus' blood and death satisfies God's demand for a sacrifice for our sins. We gain the opportunity to represent God. We gain an inheritance. We gain a standing with God that He calls us His child! Amazing! Jesus' blood brings us restoration with God! While Jesus may have "lost" His blood for us... we have "gained" much more than we realize.

"This is My blood, given for you. Whenever you drink this,                            remember My sacrifice for you."

-Jesus (Matthew 26:27-28 my summary)

BOTTOM LINE: 

God loves us... He will restore

PARENT CUE: This is a great time to have a discussion about control and what it looks like when we let God have control... especially in the middle of chaotic times. Keep the conversation simple and ask for examples.

How do we know that God loves us? 

Illuminate: WATER

WEEK 2 (March 11, 2012) Water. For us, today, water is nothing more than an everyday "thing" that we see, drink, or use. But back in Jesus' time, water was life. It was also chaos. We see in Genesis 1 that before God created anything, He hovered over the face of the waters. I don't know what that means, but in Jesus time, it water symbolized chaos. Namely, water on oceans or lakes. But there was also water that they called "living water" that came from springs and rain and wells. That water was for drinking, cleaning, and surviving. So when Jesus calmed the storm... He was showing power over chaos. When He called Himself "Living Water"... He was showing power over death... He brought life. So isn't it interesting that in John 19, we see that during Jesus' crucifixion, that when His side is pierced, blood and WATER flow out? Now I know there are medical reason for that... but there is a distinction between blood and water... it's as if God was reminding us that out of Jesus flows life and power over the chaos. Maybe it's overthinking it... but isn't it interesting what happens when we don't just "skim" over a passage, but we really read it, what the Holy Spirit reveals to us.


BOTTOM LINE: 

God knows is in control... He will be present

PARENT CUE: This is a great time to have a discussion about control and what it looks like when we let God have control... especially in the middle of chaotic times. Keep the conversation simple and ask for examples. (BTW, it would be a good idea to sit somewhere and drink a bottle or glass of water together while talking about this week's lesson).

How do we know if God is present or not? When are some common times when life seems a little "chaotic"?

Illuminate: BREAD

WEEK 1 (March 4, 2012) We begin a new series, reviewing a story that may be, to some of our kids, an over-told story. What is sad is that because our kids may have heard this story over and over, they can easily miss the significance of it. We are walking through Matthew 26-28, leading up and through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Bible reveals some important lessons during those last 3 chapters of Matthew, so we are focusing on 3 illustrations and taking them deeper: Bread, Water, & Blood. This week, we discussed the significance of "bread", when Jesus takes the bread and tells the disciples to eat it in remembrance of Him. For those disciples, they would have seen the significance. Bread illuminated the idea of God providing. It dated back to Moses and manna from heaven each morning.


BOTTOM LINE: 

God knows what is best for us... He will provide

PARENT CUE: This is a great time to have a discussion about what "being saved" really means. Keep the conversation simple and ask for examples. (BTW, it would be a good idea to go to Panera or  La Bou and share some bread and dill dip while talking about this week's lesson).

How has God provided for us, exactly what we needed? What is the difference between "need" and "want"?

Lost In Translation: Belief Righteousness Salvation

WEEK 4 (FEB. 26, 2012) Putting it all together... how does "Belief", "Righteousness", and "Salvation" work together? I shared an illustration of basketball. I want to play basketball and I believe that I can play so I go out and buy a basketball and find a hoop and start shooting (Belief). Sometime I make a basket... but, at least at first, most of the time I miss. I never miss on purpose but the more I practice, the more I make and the less I miss (Righteousness). God will only let me in heaven if I never miss a basket... but because of Jesus' death on the cross and my acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord (coach) of my life, God ignores my missed shots and only sees me making my shots. Now I know this has some theological holes, but on the surface, this is how "Belief", "Righteousness", and "Salvation" work... 


BOTTOM LINE: 

What we believe, fuels what we do. What we do moves us closer or further from God. God moves closer to us, because of Jesus in spite of how far we move from Him.

PARENT CUE: This is a great time to have a discussion about what "being saved" really means. Keep the conversation simple and ask for examples.

How would you illustrate "Belief", "Righteousness", & "Salvation"?

Lost In Translation: Salvation

WEEK 3 (FEB. 19, 2012) "Salvation"... one of the most overused and maybe underestimated words in the Christian vocabulary. It's easy to be thankful for salvation and yet forget what it really means. When you study the Scriptures, it's obvious that Jesus didn't just save us from the punishment of our sin... He saved us to actually live out what we say we believe about Jesus. How many people think that "I've said the prayer, now I'm saved"... unfortunately that's isn't anywhere in the Scriptures... there's something more to "salvation". It's not earning your salvation... it's more of "working out your own salvation" (Philippians 2:12-13)

BOTTOM LINE: 

Salvation... not just saved "from" but saved "to"

PARENT CUE: This is a great time to have a discussion about what "being saved" really means. Keep the conversation simple and ask for examples.

What does it mean to "work out your own salvation"? 

Lost In Translation: Righteousness

WEEK 2 (FEB. 12, 2012) We don't use the word "righteousness" anymore. But this word is a key to really understanding the Gospel. Without righteousness, we would be... well... unrighteous. And unrighteousness is what separates us from God. This week, we challenged the students to think about that word and how it works with "Beliefs". Beliefs are internal choices (convictions) that affect external actions (what we do). And "what we do" is either righteous or unrighteous. Our actions prove what we really believe... and what we really believe affects how we act or react... they go hand-in-hand. 

BOTTOM LINE: 

True righteousness begins when we line out hearts up with God's heart

PARENT CUE: We used a phrase "WHEN YOU SEE AS GOD SEES, YOU WILL DO AS GOD SAYS"... that's righteousness. And that is what God expects from us. Discuss the following question with your teen sometime after our discussion on Sunday morning (be sure to share what you think about the question... be honest, be simple, be listening more than speaking. You may have to explain the question a little, too:

Why do we try to separate what we believe from what we do? 

Lost In Translation: Belief

WEEK 1 (FEB. 5, 2012) Belief is a word that we use often in the Christian faith. We talk about believing in Jesus. We talk about believing in the Bible. We talk about believing in God’s church. But what if we are just scratching the surface when it comes to our understanding of belief? What if instead of simply believing in Jesus, we started to believe Jesus? Believe who He says He is and believe what we read about Him in the Bible. What if we saw the word “belief” as having more to do with a person and less to do with a set of statements or ideas? In this session, we look at the word “belief” in light of who Jesus says He is. We turn the tables on a belief that resonates with facts and instead resonates with the person of Jesus Christ. 

BOTTOM LINE: 

Beliefs are convictions that affect what you do

PARENT CUE: One of the phrases the students will see and hear this Sunday is "Trusting in who He is changes who we are"... and ultimately should change what we say we believe. We don't believe so we can trust... we trust so we learn what to believe. Discuss the following question with your teen sometime after our discussion on Sunday morning (be sure to share what you think about the question... be honest, be simple, be listening more than speaking:

What are some things that you have a hard time   believing about God?

Rhythm: Passion

Session Four (Jan. 29)

It's difficult to be passionate about others if you are out of rhythm with God. Following Jesus means being passionate about what He is passionate about--and Jesus is passionate about people. So if we want to be in rhythm, we not only have to be in sync with God and ourselves, we also have to be in sync with others. 

Session Four Parent Cue: No person can have a life in rhythm if they are not at peace with the people around them. In the final week of this series students will be challenged to be in rhythm with others, to be passionate about serving those they encounter and to seek forgiveness and reconciliation when needed. 

How can you work at making this a regular practice in your family? 

Rhythm: Discovery

Session Three 
You’ve heard the words before--“love your neighbor as yourself”--but most of the time we don’t really hear the second half of that. We don’t love ourselves. Perhaps it’s because it just seems wrong. After all, as followers of Christ, we are supposed to become less as He becomes more. But for some of us, somewhere along the way we’ve confused humility with self-hatred. If we feel like we aren't good enough or can be loved because we have messed up too much, it's because we have forgot about or stopped focusing on the WONDER of who God is and that He does love us. 

RHYTHM WITH GOD HELPS US DISCOVER WHO WE ARE

Session Three Parent Cue: This week students will be challenged to think about how they view themselves. How we view God our Creator affects how we view His creation, ourselves. They will consider the masks they wear and the faults they try to cover up, and they'll receive a challenge to use their gifts, given to them by God, to discover who they are. Talk openly and candidly with your student this week about the things both of you have a hard time accepting when it comes to the faults you see in yourself. How can you better accept yourselves as you are? 

This week: Come serve as a family during Winter Sanctuary

Rhythm: WONDER

Session Two

If you’ve been in church for a while, you’ve heard it all and seen it all. You know the stories. You know the songs. You know the words. Many of us even think we know all about God. We think we have Him figured out. We think we know everything about Him, and in our lives, He’s very small. But the reality is that we will never fully grasp how awesome and amazing He is. We can spend a lifetime in awe and wonder, and even an eternity, because He’s that big . . . and that good.

Session Two Parent Cue: This second week, students were challenged to look at God in new ways. Many times we find that we are so familiar with “churchy” descriptions of God that we forget who He really is. And when we forget who God is, how awesome and surprising He can be, then we are tempted to turn our attention and affection to other things and our lives fall out of tune. In week two students were challenged to discover a God who is bigger than our attempts to define Him. 

Discuss with your teen ways that God has surprised you and your family with how big He is. 

Rhythm: The Song

In the beginning, God created a song, a rhythm. Humanity existed in harmony with God, with ourselves and with each other. But then humankind settled for another song--a lesser one--and the rhythm started falling apart. Yet even then, God didn’t walk away, and because of that, we have a way to restore the rhythm with Him, with ourselves and with others.

Session One Parent Cue: The first week of the Rhythm series is designed to help students understand that in the beginning, God established a rhythm. We unpacked the story of creation and the harmony that existed between Adam and God, Adam and nature, and Adam and Eve. We stated that from the start, everything worked together in perfect harmony like a beautiful song. But then Adam and Eve made a choice that destroyed the song and threw the rhythm off. We looked at God’s response to Adam’s sin, and we saw that God continues to seek relationship with us even after things have fallen apart. 


Finally, we challenged them to memorize Micah 6:8. 

Take out some note-cards, write the verse out, and then post it in places where you both can remember it. 

Challenge each other to have it memorized by next Sunday as we walk through helping students join in the song of WONDER, DISCOVERY, & PASSION over the next 3 weeks!