High School Small Group 9/25

NOTE: A student at Timberland, Robert Alexander, took his own like on Monday afternoon. Please be sensitive to the fact that several of our students may be struggling with this. Let me know about the reactions that may come from your meeting as we are contemplating how to address this situation through our ministry.

Announcements: 

• Serve Day this Saturday
• Six Flags, Oct 6
• Pumpkin Fest Oct 14 - No Shift
• Guys Camp Out, Oct 20-21
• Beauty: More Than Skin Deep (Ladies only lunch), Oct 27

Icebreaker Question: What is your favorite way to waste time at school or work without getting caught?

You probably have students who think they have this whole “following Jesus” thing figured out. They know what you’re supposed to say, what you’re supposed to do, what you’re supposed to know. And they may be completely fine with that. But faith is more than a checklist or a better way to live. Faith is a collision with God. A divine collision that consistently messes us up. It messes with the way we relate to God, to others, even with the way we see ourselves. But we’ll never change unless we’re intentional about colliding with God. We have to put ourselves in the path of that collision. It’s personal. It’s crazy. And totals our status quo—if we let Him.

Create meaningful conversation. Adjust questions as needed, and don’t feel like you need to answer all of them.

1. How would you describe the normal teenage life? Do you think you are living the normal teenage life?

2. What would you say are the normal things that are part of the Christian life?

3. Do you think living the status quo Christian life means you are colliding with God? Why or why not?

4. How would you describe what a collision with God looks like?

5. How do you think living the status quo Christian life could actually keep you from having a collision with God?

6. Read Matthew 4:18-22. These first disciples acted radically in order to follow Jesus—they left their families and their jobs to be with Him. They stepped away from the comfort of a familiar life. What would a radical action for the sake of following Jesus look like in your world? What is one thing you could do to follow Christ that is uncomfortable and unfamiliar for you personally? (Keep in mind this will be different for different people.)

7. How would you define a collision with God in your life right now?

8. What is the biggest obstacle keeping you from colliding right now?

9. How would your life look different if you allowed this collision to happen?

10. Colliding with God is more than just something that happens once and then is done. What can you do to continue to collide with God on a regular basis?

NEXT STEP: Student Devotional

XP3: Collide

Session 3 Devotional

Leaders: Or, small group leaders, hand out or email it directly to your students to continue the discussion after Session 3’s small group dialog.

Post Collision

By Sarah Anderson   

I totally admire creative people—people who can look at a blank canvas, start painting, and within a matter of hours have something beautiful to look at. That kind of thing has never come easy for me. Too many possibilities of getting it wrong. Too much white space to fill. I am more of a paint-by-numbers kind of person. Tell me the area I need to fill in and the color that needs to fill the space and I can handle it. Then I am certain to get the results I want because I followed the appropriate steps through the process. Paint blue, red and green here, here and here, and you get a masterpiece. Totally easy. Do these three steps, and you will get this desired result.

If only all of life promised and delivered such desired results. If only we had a guarantee that if we did something a certain way we would have a certain end. But we don’t. And the truth is, this isn’t a surprise to you. You know that even if you did all the right things, followed the right rules, got the good grades, practiced the hardest and studied the most, it wouldn’t mean that you would always get the results you expect. And the reason this is the case may be a lot simpler than you think.

Life isn’t lived off the recommendations of a step-by-step formula like we might find on a paint-by-numbers. Life, as followers of Jesus, is spent colliding with a very real, very alive, very unpredictable and big God.

If you think about it, this makes sense. Because if life was all about a simple procedure with simple rules and simple guidelines than I think the Bible would be a lot shorter—especially the Gospels where Jesus encounters people on a regular basis to heal their internal and external wounds. If there was only one way things were supposed to go—only one desired result—than I think all we would get is one story. Jesus would tell this one person what they should do, and whatever one thing He said would apply for all of us.

But it doesn’t really work that way, does it? There are four Gospels. And each Gospel is filled with stories—stories of individuals, stories of personal pain, delicate hurts, specific pasts and particular relationships. And Jesus doesn’t just say one thing to each of them. Jesus doesn’t just have one word, one cure, one message. When Jesus has an encounter with people, He collides with them. The Gospels are a collection of stories where time and time again a person collides with Jesus Christ—in fact, all of Scripture is the story of people colliding with a Creator God. And no collision is exactly the same.

So what does this mean for you—someone in middle school or high school? Someone who would consider himself or herself to be a follower of Jesus, but isn’t exactly sure what to do now? Well, if there was a phrase, if there was one thing that Jesus said over and over again to people He encountered, it was this: Follow me. In Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, Jesus says this to His disciples: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

“Follow me,” Jesus said. Where? Doing what? How? Well, you may not want to hear this, but I am not sure how to answer that. Only you can. It may mean going on a mission’s trip. It may mean serving in a place and serving people you don’t typically interact with. It may mean extending kindness, forgiveness and care to people who don’t deserve it. It may mean getting up early to pray one day a week or giving one week’s allowance to a charity or cause bigger than yourself. The point is, only you know what following Jesus—what colliding with Jesus—looks like in your life.

See, just like the Gospels are uniquely personal, so too is your story. If you are interested in following Jesus—if you are interested in being a disciple and in colliding with Jesus—then you are the only one who can determine what that means for your life. Colliding with Jesus is personal. It is unique. It will result in a story no one else can tell because it involves you and the God who made you.

I can’t give you a list of steps, directions or rules to follow to determine the collision that will take place when you intersect with God. I can’t make a promise about the result, about the destination or about the implications for your life. No one can. Except you. There is only one thing that is the same for all of us, only one call and one mandate that we can be certain applies to everyone—regardless of age, maturity, location, skills or fears. Jesus says to follow Him. He says to walk in His steps, even without the certainty of where you will go and how you will get there. Yes, it can be a scary proposition—the idea of colliding offers little guarantee for what just may happen as a result. But you can be sure that something will happen. To you. In your story. Because of your obedience. Because of God’s bigness. Because of your desire to love and honor the call Christ asks of you. Collide with God—not because there is a promise involved but because there is a big God involved, and because your story is involved—your story is on the line. And you just may be surprised to see what God can and is able to do when you surrender yourself to His lead. Follow Him and hang on. Only God knows where you will go from here.

Small Group for 9-19

This is one of those awkward weeks when we didn't have a lesson on Sunday because of game night. If you have already taught Collide #2, here are some ideas to get you going:

Announcements:

September 29: Serve Day at Love INC. (unless your group has a different project)

October 6: Six Flags

October 14: Pumpkin Festival (need trebuchet and face-painting help)

October 20: Guys Camp Out

October 27: Beauty Lunch with Mrs. Missouri

Icebreakers (Silly):

1. If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
2. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Icebreakers (Serious):

1. What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?
2. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be…

Lesson Ideas (Choose One):

1) Your Life Verse - Maybe there’s a verse that your parents dedicated you with as a child when you were baptized, or maybe there is a verse that you personally claimed during a particularly challenging stretch of your life. Either way, pull out that special verse and share the story about why it means so much and how you’ve experienced it in real life. Maybe encourage others to share a key verse that has helped them in their experiences, too.

Challenge Question to students: What is a verse that has special meaning to you?

2) Your Story of Trusting Christ - There’s nothing more powerful than someone’s story of coming to Christ. It might be a good small group night just talking about when you trusted Christ personally, your journey to faith. Others may also be willing to share, and you might be surprised at the discussion that comes up about faith, unbelief and even doubt. Just share your story and see what happens!

Challenge Question: What questions do you have about your faith journey?

3) A Life Changing-Moment - For each of us as small group leaders there’s no doubt a spiritual moment that defines us. It could be a huge high, or a dreadful low. Whether you share a joy or regret on this night — students will be riveted hearing how your life changed after that experience. Your failure stories (like getting caught for cheating) will be particularly powerful, though an emotional experience (like holding your first child) might ring well in their ears, too.

Challenge Question: What has been the turning point or significant event in your life?

4) Finding Your Spouse - One of the guaranteed most interesting small group nights you could ever have is when you talk about God guiding you to your spouse. Even unmarried small group leaders have this interesting story to share about their journey – they’re just still in the middle of it. Students are keenly interested in relationship dynamics and will hang on every detail.

Challenge Question: What are qualities that you look for when you think about dating?

Closing:

Take prayer requests

Sentence Prayer: Ask each student to pray one sentence as you close.