My last 2 Youth Ministry Lessons

As these last 11 years of Youth Ministry come to a close...I thought I would share with you guys the last two lessons I gave to the teens here. The teens here have been so hungry and have been very inspiring in their faith and boldness. I decided that with the last two lessons I would focus on the Father's heart towards them. Thank you for indulging me and reading these last two lessons (without the power point slides of course)...hope they bless you as I know I was blessed every time I 'prepared' a lesson and God taught me in the process...

House of Grace 2/10/10

Let me ask you a question, again...how do you think God looks upon you tonight?
Slide 1 - Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7)

Because of his grace, he washed away our sins...this is HUGE!! Do you realize how they had to do sin offerings before Jesus came along and died once and for all as a sacrifice for everyone??
Old Testament Sin Offerings...Slide 2 - Put a picture of a beautiful white lamb. According to the law, a man must take a sin offering to the priest whenever he sins. Imagine that you are living in Old Testament times. You have sinned and you are now taking a lamb as your sin offering to the priest. The first thing that will happen is that the priest will examine the lamb to ensure that it has no blemishes. The lamb must be without blemish and perfect because it speaks of Jesus’ perfection. After the priest has examined your sin offering, you must lay your hands on its head. (WHY??) When you lay your hands on your sin offering, your sins are transferred to the innocent lamb. After you lay your hands on the lamb, you must kill it. The lamb must die because all your sins have been transferred to its body. And because it dies bearing your sins, you can go free. In the same way, Jesus had to die on the cross with your sins so that you might go free. (Do you feel free today??)

That is why, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” That is why Apostle Paul said, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become His righteousness.

PUT SLIDE 1 WITH THE SCRIPTURES BACK UP AGAIN....RIGHTEOUS (Burnt Offering)
While the sin offering speaks of Jesus taking your sins on His own body, the burnt offering speaks of the righteousness of Jesus being transferred to you at the cross. PUT SLIDE 2 UP OF THE LAMB...With the sin offering our sins were transferred to the spotless lamb (Jesus) on the cross, and the burnt offering transfers righteousness to us. We become His righteousness when we believe and are saved!! This burnt offering is a sweet aroma to God. God sees you clothed with the righteousness of His son as Jesus set you free of every guilt and condemnation at the cross!! The DEBT has been paid and God looks at you like Jesus!

Jesus is your perfect sin offering so stop examining your heart for sin as His blood covered all your sins of the past, present, and future. Look at the lamb again...Remember that when someone takes his sin offering to the priest, the priest does not examine him. He examines the sin offering. The priest is a picture of who?? God. When you go to Him today, God does not examine you. He examines your sin offering. He examines Jesus, who is completely perfect and sinless, without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. God accepts Jesus as your sin offering, and every one of your sins has been transferred onto His body! Isn’t that good news?!? So, stop punishing yourself...he took it on the cross and in turn gave you His righteousness!!

House of our Father’s Heart 2-24-10

Songs (Days of Elijah, You Have Turned, I Belong to Jesus, Great in Power, No Other Gods, Mighty to Save, What the Lord Has Done in Me...my favorite 7)

What a joy and honor it has been to teach you the goodness of our Father, His son Jesus Christ, and our power within - the Holy Spirit for over 2 years now. I have focused a lot on the teachings of Jesus and who we are in our Union with Jesus Christ from the letters of (Paul) and therefore the possibilities that lie within.

Being my last time to teach you in here...I want to end with a lesson giving a great picture of our Father’s heart towards us. The last lesson I did two weeks ago was on the difference between the Sin offering of the Old Testament vs. the Sin offering of Jesus Christ and showed you a great picture of our Father's heart toward us (briefly review again) and I want to build on that tonight.

(SLIDE 1) What do you think of when you hear the word lost? In Luke 15, we have several stories on saving the Lost and the broad definition of Lost in these scriptures literally means...to destroy; to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell

(SLIDE 2 - Question - Scriptures) Do you want to see how your Father responds when you have failed? Luke 15:11-32 shows the Father’s Heart of grace in an amazing way, told by His Son, Jesus...(You will have to read this on your own to get the full meaning, but I didn't want to put it all on here...ha)

His Father ran to him and instead of condemning him and punishing him, he gave him full love, grace, and celebration for his return. When Jesus told this story, they were still under the law...(SLIDE 3) do you know what the law says to do with a rebellious son like this? Take him out of the city gate and stone him to death to purge the town of this evil (Deut. 21:18-21). Those listening to this story would have been familiar with the law, so how Jesus portrays the Father’s heart of grace would have been radical...radical grace. Jesus was giving them a taste of what was to come...what we get to enjoy today!

His Father didn’t care what the reason was that had brought him home...he interrupted him before he could give his reason and asked the servants to bring out the best robe, put a ring on his son’s hand, and sandals on his son’s feet! He was returning because he was hungry!! So, when the prodigal son was still a great way off (and the father had no way of determining why his son was returning), his father saw him and had compassion and ran and lavished love on him. What a wonderful picture of God’s heart of love!

Who was the one sharing the parable of the prodigal son? It was Jesus. I think Jesus knows His Father really well, wouldn’t you agree? We are hearing an eyewitness account of what our Father is like from His Son and Jesus should know! If you are choosing sin and separation from your Father right now...He is keeping his eyes on the horizon daily, hoping that each day would be the day His beloved son or daughter returns home.

(SLIDE 4) Can you see His heart of love for you even when you have failed Him? You just have to take one step toward God and your loving Daddy in heaven will run toward you with no condemnation. He wants to fall upon you, kiss you, and lavish you with His love and blessings!! He is waiting to clothe you with the robe of righteousness, put the signet ring of authority back in your hands, and shod your feet with the sandals of right standing. He wants to reinstate you, wash you, and throw a party because you came home! Our God is a God who will run toward you with NO CONDEMNATION.

To God be the glory!

Todd