Series: THE CHOICE IS YOURS (Sept. 16th - Oct. 7th)

Peer pressure on students is greater today than it has ever been. Teenagers will tell you that peer pressure is felt in every area of life. This study will help students identify that we make the choice to let others influence and pressure us. This study will also help students identify good pressure from negative pressure and provide tools to help them stand strong in the face of pressure. This study will help them to realize that they are the ones who should be influencing the crowd because of whose they are in Christ.

Going Along with the Crowd | Galatians 2:11-14 (9/16/15)

What’s the harm in a little peer pressure? Peer pressure can definitely lead you down the wrong road. Usually, letting others influence often comes down to a form of fear. Fear of being embarrassed, laughed at, rejected etc… Many teens say they feel pressured to look and act a certain way. We give in and allow others to influence our behaviors in because we don’t want to be rejected. Acceptance is the one thing students want. That is why we take a look at Peter in this lesson. He changed his behavior in order not to offend the legalistic Judaizers. By doing this, he compromised the message of grace Jesus called him to share. The truth is we are going to be rejected by someone or something at some point in our lives. When we give in to peer pressure, it leads others to do the same. We will help students see that as Christians they are called to influence the world, not reflect it.

Evaluating the Crowd | Proverbs 1:8-16; 13:20; Galatians 5:7-8 (9/23/15)

How can I recognize good peer pressure? Good peer pressure helps you become a better person.
The friends you choose to hang around with are going to help you. It will either be in a negative way or a positive way. Many teens feel pressure to drink or use drugs. We must learn to identify the right kind of friends to choose so as to be influenced in a positive way. A positive friend will help you to think pure and right thoughts, will help you to do what’s right in any situation, and will help you to grow in your walk with Christ and encourage you spiritually. The wrong type of friends can get us into trouble.

Resisting the Crowd | Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 11:24-26 (9/30/15)

How do I resist the pull of negative peer pressure? Stay focused on Christ. Many teens often feel lonely or left out. This makes it much easier to give in to negative peer pressure. Learning to resist negative peer pressure begins with a focus on Christ. Resisting peer pressure requires us to think of the long-term effects of our decisions today. Every decision we make today will have an effect on us in the future. Resisting peer pressure requires that I renew my mind on a daily basis. We must align my thoughts and motives with those of Christ.

Influencing the Crowd | 1 Timothy 4:12 (10/7/15)

Although many teens identify a friend as a role model, most teens say they see their parents as a positive role model and influence. Influencing the crowd begins with me making good choices in my life. We must recognize and understand that our words have the power to influence others. We may not think how we act influences others, but someone is always watching. Influencing others in a positive way really comes down to how we are walking with Christ on a daily basis. If we want others to follow in our footsteps, we must realize that everything we do has the potential to lead somebody to a close walk with Christ.

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Parenting Teens is a monthly magazine designed to provide relevant information, practical ideas, and biblical encouragement to parents of teenagers. Go to www.lifeway.com/parentingteens.

Series: HOMELAND (May 13th - May 27th)

We are teaching this: Heaven – What will it be like?

I have good news. Jesus has invited us to spend eternity with him in a place called Heaven. It’s actually the home where our heart longs to be, with God forever. Philippians 3:20 tells us that our citizenship is in Heaven yet we know very little about our homeland. The basis for the 3 talks in this series are the main questions that students ask any time they are deciding if they want to do something. They generally want to know: 1) What is it like there? 2) What are we going to do? Or, is it going to be fun? 3) Who is going to be there? At the end of the series, they will be able to speak more confidently about what Heaven is like and be more determined to share the Gospel with their friends and family.

Homeland Talk 1: Heaven is the home where our soul longs to be (5-13-15)

Heaven is our home and Christ has given us an invitation to go back home after our life is over. Any time I get invited to go somewhere that I have never been, the first question I ask is “what is it like?” I want details about what it looks like, what the vibe is like, what kind of cool stuff will be there. God understands our curiosity about Heaven and so He gave us some descriptions throughout Scripture of what it would be like. We don’t fully understand everything about Heaven and we won’t until we get there, but we definitely can learn some things from God’s Word and it sounds awesome in the truest sense of the word. First and foremost, Jesus is there, his presence fills heaven, and he is preparing a space for us to live there with him forever. That’s about as special as it gets but there is more. The city is made out of pure gold with walls made out of precious stones, a river with the water of life is flowing from the throne of God, a tree of life is growing there, and the whole place is going to lit up by the glory of our Lord God (Rev. 21:12-22:5). Not to mention that He will wipe every tear from our eyes and things like death, sorry, crying, and pain with be gone forever (Rev. 21:4). The blind will be able to look upon creation for the first time. It will be a place of endless joy in the presence of our savior for eternity.

Homeland Talk 2: Heaven will be the greatest adventure of our life (5-20-15)

Let’s be honest, the way we think about Heaven makes it sound really boring. Are we really going to just sit around on clouds wearing robes, playing harps, and singing songs forever? Can a place that is perfect and has no drama really be that interesting of a place to live? These types of ideas are what drive people to think that they might not want to spend eternity in Heaven. This type of thinking comes from incorrect information and incorrect thinking which causes you to believe that sin is fun and holiness is boring. Heaven is going to be awesome, in the truest sense of the word. We are going to do so much more in Heaven (especially on the New Earth) than just sit around. We will play, eat, draw, write, read, talk, laugh, explore the limits of our new bodies, and so much more. We will do this unaffected by the curse of sin while delighting in our Creator and He will delight in our worship of Him through the use and exploration of the gifts He equipped us with. No, Heaven will not be boring. Heaven will be a grand adventure full of jobs we enjoy, an eternity to go exploring, and all of it in the presence of God.

Homeland Talk 3: Big Idea: Our mission on earth is to direct people how to get to Heaven (5-27-15)

One of the most common questions we wonder about a place is what the people are like. Who is going to be there? How are they going to treat me? We are so curious about these things because relationships matter to us. In this final talk of the series we will explore these questions about who is in Heaven and how they got there. The discussion will take us to who we can expect to be reunited with and we may even explore the presence of animals in Heaven. We will review the importance of sharing the Gospel with everyone with the intention of showing them the only way to Heaven, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We know the way to Heaven and have been given the mission by Christ to take this information to the world around us so we can be in Heaven with as many people as possible. With this eternal perspective in mind, it will change how we live our lives here on earth.

Think about this:

This is our hope and the longing of our soul, to be home. With this better understanding of what your homeland, where your heart longs to be, is like you can sing songs more wholeheartedly, you can share with others what Heaven is like, and you can anticipate the days when your heart will finally be at home, with God in Heaven, forever. We have a great future ahead of us. This is not the final destination and it’s definitely not as good as it gets. God desires us to live with an eternal perspective as we live here on earth. He has a place that he wants us to go. Like a trip to Disneyland, we might not know exactly all that will happen when we are there but what we do know is that we will love all the things to do and we will love who we are with as we experience the greatest adventure of our lives. We are so eager to tell people about how awesome Oregon is or how awesome a place we visited was because we want them to experience it too. We don’t want them to miss out. We haven’t been to Heaven but we know who will be there and we have an idea of what we will do. Also, we know what they opposite end of this spectrum looks like too. So our challenge and our mission becomes to basically be walking advertisements for how great Heaven will be by loving people, telling people how much Jesus loves them, and telling them how amazing Heaven will be.

1.       Where do we get our ideas about what Heaven is like?

2.       How is the way Heaven was described tonight different than what you thought before?

3.       What is the difference between intermediate Heaven and New Earth?

4.       What questions do you have about Heaven?

5.       Given what we talked about tonight, what aspect of Heaven are you most looking forward to?