Our Middle School Inside Out Sunday AM series will focus on what Christlike character is, why it’s needed, and how to have it. Each lesson gives your student the opportunity to study Scripture and apply it to their own life. Below are the passages we are studying and the main takeaway from each lesson. We also have a key verse for each week.
Week1 – July 11 – Good Fruit
Galatians 5:22–26
THE TAKEAWAY When the Holy Spirit takes root, Christlike character grows in our lives.
Week 2 – July 18 – Be Wise
James 1:2–8
THE TAKEAWAY To be truly wise, you need to be on board with what God wants to do with your life.
Week 3 – July 25 – Thankful
Psalm 107:1–9
THE TAKEAWAY Christ-followers are thankful for the way God satisfies our needs.
Week 4 – Aug 1 – New Clothes, New Me
Colossians 3:1–17
THE TAKEAWAY God’s work on our insides should show change on our outsides.
Our OSM GAME NIGHT before Spring Break involved a simple game called IMPOSSIBLE SHOT. We went “big time” with the huge logo print out and a board backing to set up the target. The prize?
One full year of all OSM EVENTS paid!
Check out the Video Below
OSM Night Impossible Shot
The simple game involves a nerf bow and arrow, a long distance, and the perfect shot… that’s why it’s called IMPOSSIBLE SHOT!
We tied in IMPOSSIBLE SHOT with MISSING THE MARK referenced in Romans 3:23.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Romans 3:22-24 ESV
We can literally insert the greek word hamartía into the text to pull out the word picture presented and end up with:
“for all have [missed the mark] and fall short of the glory of God,“
Reality is, we have all missed it. The accuracy required to perfectly hit the target of the Godliness expected from the Father is unobtainable or IMPOSSIBLE.
Take the Rich Young Ruler that encountered Jesus and seemed to have a successful life with wealth to back up his claims. He seemed to hit the target with resources and following the guidelines setup by the Ten Commandments. You could say he was a “good guy.” However, Jesus challenges him to give up all his wealth. It seems that the ask to follow Jesus went deeper than outer appearance. Jesus was going for the Rich Young Ruler’s heart.
Even the disciples questioned Jesus about eternal things. It seems that they could not wrap their minds around what Jesus was aiming at. What they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears seemed to make salvation itself… IMPOSSIBE.
Jesus comes back with a key statement that we can all take to heart:
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Reality is, it is IMPOSSIBLE for humankind to reconcile with a Holy God.
That is why we need Jesus to take the bow and arrow, line up the shot for us, and nail it right in the target. PERFECT SHOT!
As fully God and fully man, Jesus aimed at the target of the cross. He lived as a perfect example and died in our place on the cross to pay for the overwhelming debt of sin that makes eternal salvation impossible. What seems to be impossible for mankind to pay, Jesus took care of by not only dying, but raising again to give us hope for eternity.
Will You Allow Jesus To Do The IMPOSSIBLE for YOU?
When we are faced with this question, many things might pop up in our minds. That movie scene, where monks are walking in a single file line, mumbling something in a monotone voice. We might easily envision the “praise and worship” time during a church gathering. Maybe you have read an account of a great man of faith that portrayed a “worshipful” way of life. Perhaps you have encountered God yourself, and visions of that moment bring back encouragement or remind you of a sense of great conviction. The truth is, if we are Christ Followers, we are meant to end up DOING WORSHIP FOR ETERNITY.
BEGINNING WITH THE END IN MIND
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
AND HIS SERVANTS WILL WORSHIP HIM.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
Practically, it takes effort to worship an INVISIBLE GOD.
Lets really think about this for a second. At least Revelation states that those who follow Jesus will “SEE HIS FACE.” So what are we supposed to do now? It seems a bit odd to an outsider to see people gathering on a weekend, singing songs, closing eyes, and talking to some BEING that is UNSEEN. As a believer, have you ever explained what WORSHIP IS to an unbeliever? How about trying to explain this thought to a group of young teenagers that mostly look at things in a concrete way and are learning to think in an abstract way.
This is where the lava lamp seems to help…
Worship is like a lava lamp…
Worship is like a lava lamp.
If a lava lamp is not plugged in, it doesn’t do anything. Once it is plugged in, the lamp begins to heat up, the colorful wax in the center begins to react to the heat, and the “lava” does what it is meant to do, produce interesting shapes and designs that might make us ask, “How does it do that?”
Similarly, once you start a relationship with JESUS, you begin to encounter him in your daily life, sort of like the LIGHT BULB turning on to heat the wax.
Your Spiritual “LIGHT BULB” comes to life and you begin living from the INSIDE OUT, reacting to what the Holy Spirit “heats you up” with. Worship begins to be that NATURAL RESPONSE to what God has started on the INSIDE.
The Truth is that WORSHIP is simply a RESPONSE.
When we start a relationship with JESUS, we begin to hear the “still small voice” that leads us to line up with the Word of God. As we read TRUTH in God’s Word, we find that His Spirit transforms us internally, We begin responding to His leading. As we follow Jesus as our example, it is like we begin responding to what we were wired to do in the first place. Every response, whether you are responding on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, is an act of worship. Every move toward Jesus and His Righteousness is a move of WORSHIP.
Worship is an INTENTIONAL response to an INVISIBLE God.
What would it look like if you began to consider WORSHIP to be an INTENTIONAL RESPONSE to GOD in your daily life?
If you are willing to take the WORSHIPER challenge consider this:
Write Out a prayer to GOD from your heart for the week
Set a reminder on your cell phone or device to remind you to connect with GOD through prayer.
We are challenging our Middle Schoolers to take the WORSHIPER CHALLENGE for the next 40 days and take the journey of discovering what Worshipping God is all about. We have some Devotional Journals left as a gift to your student to help them walk with JESUS and GROW in their relationship with HIM, or you can check out the link below.
When you throw around ideas in a meeting to find a THEME something like… BELIEVE WEEKEND… other ideas swim through your head as well!
Don’t worry, we are not asking GOD to bring any SHE-BEARS to Believe Weekend. Our intention is to challenge students to BEAR FRUIT. A completely DIFFERENT MESSAGE than this one!
However, if you are a parent in sudden need of a quick lesson on RESPECT, this IS IN THE BIBLE.
I don’t know about you, but many times, I want to pray, have the desire to grow in my prayer life, but I don’t know exactly what else to pray after about… 30 seconds. I think this problem leads to giving up on connecting with God in this way on a consistent basis. I mean, with all the distractions of raising kids, getting them in the right place with the right things at the right time, sometimes I turn around and realize I missed getting ME in the right place with the right things at the right time. Then we have technology, the game to watch, and oh yea, that source of income is good to invest in as well. It’s not that we don’t want to connect with God that’s the problem. I think its the fact that time is always slipping away through our fingertips. Before you know it, you are laying yourself to sleep and throw up a, “THANK YOU JESUS… FOR MY BED!”
So as not to WASTE TIME, maybe we need to build confidence to use our time WISELY. That is where the question begins to be:
If I’m going to pray, how can I do it right?
You want to do it right? Literally COPY A GREAT PRAYER!
‘And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ‘ Colossians 1:9-14
What better example do we have than Paul and his prayer out of God’s Truth in Colossians?
My challenge for myself for the NEW YEAR is to just PRAY THIS.
I am taking whatever time I have in the morning, after lunch time for a moment, as my mind wanders in the evening, to basically copy and paste most of Paul’s prayer for individuals that come to mind. The easiest way to start is to find those right in front of you. Pray for your family to be filled with Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding. Pray for good works and fruit from God Himself. Ask for strength according to His might. Do you need endurance, patience, and joy anytime soon? How about the consistent reminder that we have a Father through Jesus Christ that delivered us out of darkness and qualified us to be saints in light? Needless to say, I have found my own joy and connection with God as I have used a great prayer guide in Colossians Chapter 1.
For the next 2 weeks we are talking about three things on Wednesday Nights – PRAYER, CARE, & SHARE.
Greg Stier with DARE 2 SHARE encourages us to reach out to those around us during this pandemic by starting with PRAYER. Are there any people that come to your mind in your circle of influence that need hear the GOSPEL?
The DARE is to think of 3 names, download the app, enter them into the CAUSE CIRCLE and start with prayer.
Click on the Small Group Guide Below for more details or watch Greg Stier’s first video of his “YOU CAN’T QUARANTINE THE GOSPEL” series.
The Life in 6 Words App is an excellent tool to help your Middle Schooler think about SHARING the GOSPEL to their friends. It also provides amazing videos, helps you create a digital GOSPEL story, and connects you with others taking the same steps.
Thinking on Week 2 of our Worried Series, I am thankful that NO MATTER what the CIRCUMSTANCE, God will give us exactly what we NEED.
Week 2 Memory Verse
Just as Jesus points us to the Father that meets our needs in Matthew 6 by directing us to “Seek First the Kingdom of God,” we see in 1 Peter 5:6-7 that same thread that can be the key to calming the nerves. The truth is, GOD CARES. More than that, He KNOWS every detail of our lives, gets what we are stepping through, and will get us to the other side. True Humility revolves around acknowledging that GOD’s got it, He can take it off our hands, and He will deal with every situation in His time and His way. With the Mighty Hand of God on our side, who can be against us?
Parent Resources 