Home  ›  Blog  ›  February 28, 2019

February 28, 2019

Middle School:
Last night, the middle school group finished their three week series on the book of Genesis. During each of the last three weeks, the students learned about and why the book of Genesis is so important to the storyline of the Bible as a whole. This week, the students talked about the characters Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca, and Joseph and how they were imperfect people that God used marvelously for His purpose and glory. The focus of the night was mainly on the fact that God doesn’t use “perfect” people who never struggle, panic, or mess up… but He uses ordinary people who make all sorts of mistakes. In the same way, God is with us, and uses us, even as imperfect as we are. Our imperfections and struggles actually should help us to rely on Jesus more, and they help us to trust him more! Some questions you could ask in follow up from this weeks lesson are:

• Tell me about a time when you saw an ordinary person do something extraordinary for Jesus.
• Your small group talked about fear, manipulation, and jealousy as things that hurt you – Which do you think is the biggest struggle for junior high students, and why?
• How does understanding that we’re all flawed, ordinary people help you tell more on Jesus?

High School
The high school group continued to do an inductive study of the book of 1 Peter. We spent the night in 1 Peter 2:11-25 in which Peter talks about the ways that Christians aught to live righteously in the midst of three different kind of relationships. In 11-12, Peter calls christians to be different than the Gentiles by abstaining from the passions of the flesh, or in other words, don’t be like the world in regard to lust! We are to abstain from it in our relationships! In 13-17, Peter talks about submitting to the governing authorities for the Lord’s Sake. We related this to Romans 13, which tells us that God is the ultimate authority who sets up the authority figures in the world. To dishonor the authorities we have (ie, the president, police officers, our laws, our teachers, our parents), is ultimately to reject God’s authority! Lastly, in 18-25, Peter talks about slaves submitting to masters, even if the master is unrighteous. God wants us to be people that continue in godliness in every situation so that we would be light in a dark world. We talked about how verses 18-25 could be read in the context of a work relationship with a boss.

As we study, the students are asking great questions and really getting into the text. I’m excited by what I’m seeing, and I want you to see it too! If you don’t already do a family bible study, I totally encourage you to join together once or twice a week to do a small inductive study. Here’s a link to a study resource called the Swedish Method. It’s awesome, and totally doable as a family!

I am looking forward to seeing your students next week. Keep shepherding well, everyone! You are the appointed leaders of your own little flock, and God is glorified in your work!