11412147_10152857848592651_3337240594743305623_n#alienyoutharmy Welcomes Rising 5th Graders Lesson June 10, 2015

Quick overview of the lesson from tonight as we welcomed and laid the groundwork and expectations for our rising 5th graders.  Thought I’d share this for the 5th graders that weren’t there.

Opening videos during the greeting/welcome:

Started off with a bit of Julian Smith!

Announcements, welcome, and opening prayer.  Followed by our lesson opener video:

Talked about our youth family, how God has blessed us, how we’ve grown into an “Army” of young believers.  Challenged our high schoolers to embrace their role as leaders to the young ones within our youth family.  Challenged the middle schoolers to be examples for those still in children’s church.  Encouraged everyone to use the adult leaders in the room as a valuable resource of knowledge and wisdom.  Followed up with a discussion on some the things that are argued about within the church.  Almost all of the the examples given ended up being covered in this interview with Satan.

Okay, it’s just a guy dressed up like the devil, but the point comes across loud and clear: the devil hates those who are in the church and will do anything within his power to divide and separate those who love Jesus.

There are several different topics that are addressed in this video (which is actually a series hosted by this pastor). However, the overarching theme is that the devil’s task is to divide the church against itself…and he’s willing to use religious ideas and tools to accomplish his awful task.

Everyone can learn something from this short little clip because it speaks to some of our greatest weaknesses.  Moved into discussion of scripture…

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:25-32 ESV)

Illustration: no one really has it all together…everyone has problems, insecurities, “stuff”…

The devil wants us to hate one another and be divided against each other. That’s one of his greatest strategies of attack. Divide and conquer.

We have to make sure he doesn’t divide us. One of the best ways of avoiding that fate is to never give the devil the opportunity to attack us. If we never give him a place to stand, a foothold, he cannot attack us. The best way to do that is to live our new lives like Jesus!

Gospel presentation.

Video while we handed out notecards and pens for students to write about

  1. Giving thanks to God for something
  2. Writing down a prayer request/concern or something in their life they want me to know about
  3. If they don’t have a personal relationship with Christ and want to begin one.

During a time of prayer and while they fill out cards we played “Jesus I Come”

Afterwards, we collected the cards…I promised to read each one a pray over them…encouraged all of them…challenged them all to make sure that anyone that walked through those doors never felt left out or alone…and to remember the last part of Ephesians 4…Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

This is a paraphrase of the lesson tonight as I don’t follow a script and the only part that is followed to the T is scripture, but it should give you a good overview of the evening as well as provide you with a background of the topic to begin a conversation with your youth.  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.