Belong

March 10-16

Welcome This week we continue to learn about How Church Works with the topic How to Leave. I wonder how many of you have EVER heard this preached at a church? Thank the Lord that our pastor cares enough to talk about a very touchy but relevant subject. Opening Prayer Father, unity in Your Church matters so much to You...so much so that you gave Your Son so that we could be united with You & have unity/peace with one another. Teach us tonight to value unity & peace in the church more & more.

Become
Family Time
A) Have any of you ever been in an argument with a friend or a family member? Its not fun to be upset with each other, is it? Why do we get so upset with one another? (answers) Sometimes our feelings get hurt, we dont get what we want, someone isnt nice to us, we lose a game or a contest...there are so many reasons why we might not get along, right? But lets read what the Bible says about how we should handle these uncomfortable times. Read Matthew 5:23-24 & talk about how we should follow Gods way to deal with our conflict. B) What is sin? What does the Bible say about sin? Lets read Rom. 3:23 & 6:23. So were all sinners & the punishment for sin is death. BAD NEWS. But theres GOOD NEWS (the Gospel). Read Rom. 5:8 & John 3:16. Our sin kept us from God because He is holy, pure & righteous. But instead of giving us what we deserve (death & hell), God gave His one & only Son, Jesus, to take our punishment, so that we could be forgiven & receive life, eternal life. So...if God did something SOOOO great for us, how should we treat people who are not nice, kind, or good to us? (love, forgiveness, patience, etc.)

Kids Time
A) Form a circle of kids...each child should face the back of the head of the person in front of them. The circle needs to be tightly packed...not much space in between. At the count of three everyone needs to sit at the same time on the lap/legs of the person behind them. The goal is to have a circle of people supporting one another. Every person is supporting & being supported by the person on either side of them. Talk to them about how God wants us to support one another & encourage one another. This involves growing in trust, dependence, closeness, relying on each other (big words that you might need to explain to the kids)& if everyone doesnt work together, the whole group cant win.

Adult Time
A) David talked about healthy & unhealthy reasons why people might leave a church. It would seem to me that God isnt as concerned about keeping people from ever leaving a community of believers, as He is about UNITY. You can have unity & still leave a community. Lets read Ephesians 4:1-6 together & then re-read verse 3. God exhorts us to do whatever we can, pull out all the stops, do whatever it takes to keep the unity of the Spirit in His Church. So, lets create a scenario where unity would be threatened in our HG. What sort of thing could be a threat to unity? (brainstorm) Now...having created a possible scenario, lets talk about what it would look like to do whatever we can do to keep unity in our group. Use the Bible as a reference where needed to support your proposal.

Prayer Time
Lord, continue to lead this HG to be a community that is growing in unity & peace. Teach us to have the mind of Christ as described in Philippians 2. Help us to take seriously the ministry of reconciliation that you have given each of us.

Beyond
Community Calendar We need thousands of candy-filled Easter eggs! And we need them soon! Easter is only a few weeks away! Is your HG planning to participate? If so, please get your eggs assembled & delivered to the church as soon as you can. It takes a team to make our Easter weekend a success! So, please join in! Church Calendar Please be in prayer for our HS & JH youth teams that will be ministering over spring break. The JH team will be serving in Houston, TX & the HG team in Colorado Springs, CO. Pray for lives to be changed, safe travels & the glory of God to grow!

PantegoBibleChurch