In a world that lacks love, people will settle for 'like' or even just connection.

BibleSong Lesson 9

A Head's Up:

Sunday's lesson summarizes content from 1 Kings 17-19.  If you're looking for the scripture reference of the story/drama, that's where you'll  find it.  

The theme verse, however, is from 2 Kings 19:27.  This verse comes from a very different point in Israel's history.  Elijah is no longer on the scene.  In fact, the prophet Isaiah is the man of the hour.  Our theme verse comes from one of Isaiah's prophetic oracles (vs. 20-32).  Here God assures the king of Judah (Hezekiah) that the Assyrian army will not overrun and destroy Jerusalem.  The verse is a powerful reminder that God is in control, something our story about Elijah defeating the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 17-19) illustrates very well.

Hope this helps in your preparation for Sunday.

Now, A Word of Encouragement:  

The most important thing you can do as a student leader isn't to give the most dynamic talk, best drama, or be the funniest person in the room. The most important thing you do is love God—and focus on your relationship with Jesus. It all starts there.

This kind of love is contagious; it can't be contained. When you love God with everything you are, it oozes into the lives of those around you. Students are particularly observant and will easily pick up on your love for God.

Do this wisely. Pursue God with your mind—seeking God's wisdom for the sake of your own faith and for responding to the questions of your students. Be okay with telling them that you don't know all the answers, and work with them to seek answers to their questions together. Doing this model's something very important to students, we don't have to know everything before we start actively following God.

Be encouraged—God is using you to further God's Church in ways that are beyond your wildest imagination!  Thank you all for what you do. May you know God's blessing and joy in your work with students.

Rev. Brian

Genuinely Good Human Life

"We urgently need to recapture the New Testament's vision of a genuinely good human life as a life of character formed by God's promised future, as a life with that future-shaped character lived within the ongoing story of God's people, and, with that, a freshly worked notion of virtue." (NT Wright, After You Believe)

"Religion News Service reports that college graduates are more likely to consider the Ten Commandments irrelevant than those with no college degree, according to a recent study. They are also more likely to reject the Bible as the Word of God. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute surveyed 2,508 Americans on questions intended to measure the impact of a college degree on people’s beliefs." (quoted in Church Leader's Intelligence report)

When we set up our youth with an either/or faith, it should not be surprising that we get results like this.