at Tom and Lindsey Farr’s House

Students need to bring at gag/funny gift to exchange that costs less than $10. 

Call the church office for directions.

Last night we looked at the most important event in the life of Jesus.  The event that changed everything for us.  In the past people longed for God but were separate from him.  There was nothing we could do to gain access to him.  For 1500 years that separation was represented through a large veil over a place called the Holy of Holies in the Temple where God dwelled.  No one but the High Priest on one day out of the year could into the Holy of Holies.  Anyone else who did so would die.  The glory of God was that powerful.  The Veil was the barrier of separation between us and God, and it was placed there because of our sin.

When Jesus was arrested, beaten, and crucified, he took on the guilt of the sum total of all humanity’s sin.  Jesus was tortured and his blood was spilled everywhere.  Death wasn’t something the God of the universe should have ever had to face, yet Jesus.  For us.  Something happened immediately after Jesus breathed his last.  Matthew tells us that the veil at the entrance to the Holy of Holies was suddenly torn in two from top to bottom.  Jesus’ shed blood on the cross caused God to tear the veil that separated us from him.  We now have free access to the God our hearts so desperately long for because Jesus was crucified in our place for our sin.

So what does that mean for us?

Hebrews 10:19-25   ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Questions for Parents to Discuss with their Students:

• How did it feel to hear the things that Jesus suffered on our behalf?
• How does it feel to know that you can freely access God because of the shed blood of Jesus?
• What are some ways that will help you to draw near to God?
• What things can I do to encourage you to draw near to God?
• Who are some people you feel like you need to encourage this week?

Grace is a word that has lost its meaning for many of us. We hear it a lot–both in Christian circles and outside them. There’s a level on which we can understand grace. We can define it in words and we can talk about what it is, but to truly get a glimpse of grace, you have to experience it and help others experience it as well. In a world of many beliefs, grace makes Christianity different.

John 8:2-11 “At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’”

Grace isn’t meant to be just something we know; Grace is meant to be experienced.

Questions for Parents to Discuss with their Students:

• One of the points of the lesson stated, “Christianity is the only religion in the world that defines itself with grace.” How does this change or challenge your view of Christianity and your identity as a Christian?
• Have you ever had a time when you really experienced God’s grace?
• What is hard about accepting grace?
• How does grace impact your view of God?

The Bible itself tells us that it is God-breathed or inspired by God in 2 Timothy 3:16.  God guided each of the authors to write down exactly what he wanted communicated to us.  Since we can trust that the Bible we have is the very words of God, we can rest in the assurance that God wants to communicate to us through it.

This morning we just took a look at several alledged contradictions that people have tried to point out from the Scriptures and their explainations.  Make sure to ask your students about some of the examples.

Jesus has grown up and become a man.  He’s faced off with the devil in the desert and won because he lived by every mouth that came from the mouth of God.

Tonight, we looked at how God created humanity in his image to live in relationship to him, to exercise healthy control over a God-centered life.  Into the midst of this context Jesus comes upon a man who is the opposite of all these truths.

Mark 5:6-20 1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea. 14The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Demon possession was a common occurence during the time that Jesus walked the earth.  In this instance Jesus comes upon a man who has no control over his life because thousands of demons have taken over his body, and all the man can do is watch as these things strip him of his humanity, the image of God that exists within him.  The man could be no further from the heart of God.  Jesus must be heartbroken to see this sight.

But Jesus comes in like a hero to save the day.  The demons are terrified of him, the only human they’ve ever been afraid of because he’s so much more than human.  Jesus commands the demons to leave, and the man’s humanity is restored.  Control over his life is given back to him.  But most importantly of all, Jesus has drawn this man’s heart to him as the God of the universe.  The man is never the same.  He proclaims the love of Jesus all over the country.

Questions for Parents to discuss with their Students:

• How do you view Jesus in light of the fact that the demons were afraid of him when they weren’t afriad of any other human being?
• Why didn’t Jesus let the man come with him?
• Why do you think Jesus hates to see human beings in self-destructive habits?

The Word of God is Food for Our Soul

Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  Jesus answered, “It is written: man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

For Jesus, the Bible was the difference between life and death.

God Speaks to Us Through the Bible

Proverbs 2:1-5 ¹ My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, ²making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; ³yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, ⁴if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, ⁵then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

The Bible Shows Us What is Wrong and Right, How to Fix What’s Wrong, and How to Do What’s Right

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Questions for Parents to Discuss with their Students:

• What can I do for you or get for you to help you understand more what you’re reading in the Bible?
• How can I make your day easier so that you can find time to read the Bible?

Continuing in our study of the life of Jesus, we come to one of the most intense stories in all of Scripture. A story that should leave our hearts desperately crying out for Jesus, who did what we could not.

What we discovered last week is that we live in the midst of a dark world in which nothing can satisfy the longing in our hearts. Into the midst of that darkness, God, who is the only one who can satisfy, became a human being. He showed up as a little baby boy who was loved by his parents, Mary and Joseph. Already, we see that the hero of the story doesn’t show up in ways that you would expect.

In the midst of our dark world, we all do things that we regret. And even after we regret doing the things that we do, we still seem to go right back to doing those things. Our lives are a never ending cycle of struggling with the bad things that we do and the bad things that other people do to us. We desperately need a hero.

Baby Jesus has grown up into a man, and after he is baptized to show that he identifies with us, he undergoes a battle that is only eclipsed by the crucifixion. A battle that Adam and Eve once fought and lost. A battle we’d never want to enter into ourselves.

Matthew 4:1 1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus, as a human, is led into a place that is deadly to face off with the most terrifying being in the universe. Adam and Eve faced off with the devil in a garden paradise, full of life. Jesus faced off with the devil in a desert wasteland.

Satan was once a powerful angel who loved God more than anything. One day Satan decided that he wanted to be the God of the universe. He wanted God to be his angel, his servant, and he wanted to be in charge. Because he loved God so infinitely, when he turned, he hated God just as intensely as he loved him. And God cast him out of heaven. Since God loves the things that he creates, I imagine God loved Satan a lot. And he watched his creation become a terrifying, bloodthirsty monster. But Satan was only an angel. Nothing can stand up to God because God is all-powerful. So Satan decided to attack what God loved most—us. Satan fell from heaven and landed in the Garden of Eden in the body of a snake, and he drew the hearts of humanity away from God. Satan has existed to break the heart of God and slaughter humanity.

And now Jesus, as both God and man, the two things Satan hates the most, is going into the equivalent of a haunted house to face off with someone he’s known for a very long time. Someone he created. Someone who once loved him. The one angel who has caused him and humanity the most grief since the beginning of time.

We read past this story a lot of times as if it’s nothing, and yet it’s one of the most intense stories in the Bible.

If you’re going into a haunted house to face off with a really angry spiritual being, you’d want to be as strong as you could possibly be, as prepared as you could possibly be, because there’s no way you could possibly win if you’re weak. We give in to temptation the most when we’re weak.

But Jesus does the opposite.

Matthew 4:2 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Forty days in the desert wasteland, completely alone, with no food. He’s physically weak, incredibly lonely, and everywhere he goes, he knows that Satan is lurking, waiting to attack. Jesus made himself the weakest he could possibly make himself before meeting the devil. Why?

Adam and Eve faced off with the devil as perfect human beings. They were the strongest they would ever be, and they failed. Human strength is useless in the face of temptation by the devil. So Jesus decides not to rely on human strength. Jesus allows himself to get to within an inch of death, and only then does he face off with the devil.

The story becomes more intense as Jesus’ body wastes away. And then the devil walks in and the showdown begins.

Matthew 4:3 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Satan wanted him to make himself stronger, to use his power to fulfill his needs.

Matthew 4:5-6 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

” ‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus would have been incredibly lonely after 40 days in the desert. He also knew that people wouldn’t believe him if he said he was God. Jumping off and being spectacularly rescued would have left no doubt in the people’s minds of who Jesus was. But knowing who Jesus is doesn’t guarantee we’ll follow him. Many of the Pharisees knew exactly who Jesus was and rejected him anyway.

Matthew 4:8-9 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

The devil is asking Jesus to make him God, to fulfill the desire he has been burning with for so long. The devil promises to give Jesus all the control over everything. He can skip over the next 3 years, avoid being crucified, and his mission will be fulfilled if he will only bow down to Satan. But once the devil becomes God, he doesn’t have to answer to Jesus anymore. The devil as God means that he’ll destroy Jesus and us, he’ll be the ultimate God of the universe, and we’ll have no hope.

The fate of the entire universe and all of human history rests on this showdown between Jesus and Satan in the desert.

Matthew 4:4 4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:7 7Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Matthew 4:10 10Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

For Jesus, the Word of God was the difference between life and death. Living as if the Word of God were true was the key to defeating the devil, not brute force. If Jesus took the Scriptures that seriously, knowing he couldn’t survive without them, how can we do any less?

The challenge is to begin reading the Bible daily and letting God speak.

Questions for Parents to discuss with their students:

• How does knowing what Jesus faced for us make you feel about him?

• Why do we have a tendency to think of the Bible as “just another book” and what can we do about it?

• How can we make studying the Bible the most interesting thing we do each day?