Examples of Jesus: 3rd Quarter 2014

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corp.

Examples for Jesus (ages 12-14). This book is for younger youth, ages 12-14. It is designed to build off of earlier Christian/biblical learning to better understand the spiritual foundation of salvation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Apr 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781589427815

Book preview

04-06-14

LESSON 1

OMG

OH! MY GOD

IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED

SAVED BY GRACE

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 2:1-10

DISCIPLINES TO BE LEARNED

   I. We Were Dead in Trespasses and Sins

  II. We Are Saved by God’s Grace

 III. We Are Saved for God’s Glory

TRAINING SESSION

Some books and movies can take us away from reality and give us the opportunity to explore our imaginations. Movies such as Star Wars and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe take us to other worlds outside of our own. In these movies, we get to see the journey of how the forces of good and evil fight to overcome one another. In the end, for the most part, good defeats evil. Those same forces are at work in our world.

Making the decision to do the right thing can be very difficult, especially when there are so many bad influences encouraging you to make the wrong choices.

For example, if someone bumps into you, there might be another person nearby encouraging you to bump the person in return. Whether the bump was an accident or not, you have a decision to make about how you will deal with this situation. In this decision, you will have to think about the consequences of your actions.

In our lesson today, we will focus on a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, a wealthy port city in the Roman territory of Asia Minor. Today’s verses illustrate how life was before we were saved. When we accepted Jesus as our Savior, we also accepted salvation and are now able to live our lives for Him.

I. WE WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS

Paul wrote to the Ephesian church while in prison in Rome. In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul taught us about the life we once lived as sinners, and the life we should be living now as Christians.

In The Chronicles of Narnia, the evil White Witch convinced Edmund to betray his siblings and join her in her attempt to rule Narnia. The White Witch tempted Edmund into helping her by using the things he liked. In the same way, evil forces try to tempt us into a life of sin. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:1-3, You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else (NRSV). We were dead during the time that we allowed sin to rule over our lives. In the movie, Edmund finally realized that he had made the wrong decisions when he helped the White Witch trick his siblings. He was later forgiven for his wrongdoings.

We all fall short of making the right decisions. However, God gives us a chance to make things right again. Only through our faith in Jesus Christ do we have that chance. We can decide as teenagers to remain loyal to Jesus. One way to do that is to think about what Jesus would do in certain situations. Another way is to pray and ask God for His guidance. Can you think of some other ways to avoid sinful behavior?

II. WE ARE SAVED BY GOD’S GRACE

God still loves us even though we sin. Through Christ, we are no longer considered dead, but we are alive. We are alive because God cares enough about us to make sure we have a chance to do things the right way. We call this grace.

None of us deserves God’s grace. Grace is divine favor that has been given to humans although they have done nothing to deserve it. God’s love is so great that He allows us to make mistakes, go against what He wants us to do, and still come back to Him and ask for forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Our good works alone do not save us. God’s grace saves