BOB studies adapted for Youth Group

In Semester 2, 2012, Luke the youth pastor at Hillcrest Chapel used the BOB studies for his youth group called Intake. He was kind enough to share his material and give feedback. He found it useful to have the statement of belief written up at the beginning of the session to focus the discussion. The 14 member group was divided into smaller groups with 4 simpler questions to discuss. Students were keen to explore the Trinity, the Holy Spirit and forgiveness more. Students were most struck by the idea that Jesus was fully man. (I have decided to type up Luke's material so that you could cut, paste and format the material for your own youth group)

Statement 1 from BOB: Who is this God?
There is one God who is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

Getting started: (5 mins)What are some things in life that you find hard to explain?Can you think of any movies that deal with the Trinity or Creation?

_____________________________________________________This statement is more of a stop signal to wonder and worship than an invitation to instant understanding.  The Christian confession of faith in God is unique because not three gods are worshipped but one ‘God in Three Persons’, the only true God. The Old and New Testament confess one God. The NT names Jesus and the Holy Spirit together with God the Father without attempting a systematic teaching or explanation. The incarnation of God in Jesus (God in human form) reveals the mystery of the Trinity. God becomes visible in a human face, touchable in a human body. The sovereignty of God in creation implies that nothing obliges Him to create, nor does the created universe limit, determine, enlarge, or bind Him. God is loving and desires an intimate relationship with all that He creates. ‘In Him we live and move and have our being. He is not far from every one of us.’
_____________________________________________________
Beginning in the bible: (10 mins)
Acts 17:24-29, Psalm 19, Colossians 1:3-8;15-23(Read through the Scriptures slowly and let people comment on anything that stands out to them about the Trinity or Creation)
There are a few places in the Old Testament where God allowed individuals to catch just a glimpse of Himself, and on each occasion, the persons response was immediate! They were instantly in awe of Him and became blindly aware of their own unworthiness!
(Moses in Exodus 34:8, Isaiah 6:5, Ezekiel 1:27-28)

Questions to get to know BOB better: (10 mins)

• In a world where many believe that humanity is an accident, what does this first statement in BOB and all these verses say to us? 

• Creation tells us about the creator. What are some things that the Bible, humanity, and all the created world teach us about God? 

• What does God the Father do? What does the Son do? What does the Holy Spirit do? - Why do you think that it is important that they are all one person?

Relating BOB to life: (15 mins)What does Romans 11:33-12:2 teach us about how we should respond to the Trinity and God as creator. What does one of your non-Christian friends believe about “God” and “Creation”? Does what you believe about the Trinity and Creation impact any area of your studies? 
Where to from here? (5mins) • As you walk around school this week try thinking about the world like the Psalmist?• Pray for an opportunity to talk to a non-Christian friend about Creation or God this week? Memorise the initial statement from BOB—and maybe consider memorising some of the verses you looked at this week? 

Charles Stanley Conclusion
"Friend do you feel like you've come to the end of yourself? Turn with me...to the Bible..."

The word Trinity cannot be found in the Bible, but the truth of it can. While there's only one God, the Godhead consist of three distinct persons--the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All are equally omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal and unchanging, but each one has unique functions.

Scripture shows how each member of the Trinity fulfils His specific role, and it also reveals how those three roles interrelate. Let me express this idea in simple terms: The Father creates a plan, Jesus Christ implements the plan and the Holy Spirit administers the plan.

The way of redemption showcases these roles in a clear manner. The Father designed and organised how humans would be redeemed (Galatians 4:4-5). He set into motion a complex set of events, actions, and prophecies which culminated in the life and death of a Saviour. The Son carried out the plan(John 6:37-38). He followed the Father's instructions to come to earth, even though that meant He would die. The Holy Spirit sees to it that every person feels a call towards God's saving grace (John 14:6, 16:8; Romans 1: 19-20) Furthermore, the Holy Spirit transforms the lives and hearts of those who receive salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in their divine attributes. Yet, each relates to humans in a different way because each has a different role. It's very important to understand this distinction: We do not have three gods; we have one God in three persons functioning uniquely and perfectly (together as a whole, single God).

What I believe? Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a word you hear a lot in church and in the Bible, but if I asked you to tell me about forgiveness, I wonder how confident you would feel with explaining it to me.
Get in a line.
Scared----------------some idea-----------------confident
So no matter where you are in this line, hopefully by the end of tonight you will all be standing at the confident end. Forgiveness is a major part of being in a relationship with God and because of that it is really important to be able to stand up and say, "this is what I believe about forgiveness."
Pray before starting.

Point 1  Why do we need to be forgiven?
So where do we start? Let's look at the question "Why do we need to be forgiven anyway?" What are your ideas? Here's a few things that the Bible says.

Romans 3:20-24New International Version (NIV)

20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The bible doesn't lie when it says "All have sinned." Deny it if you want, but none of us are perfect, and perfection is God's standard or as that verse puts it "God's glory". God longs to have a relationship with us, but we have all sinned and cannot sustain a relationship with God in that state. We are separated from God by our sin. Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death...." and death is a big price to pay! But it then goes on to say "but the free gift of God is eternal life..." So that's good news. That is the beginning of the answer to the next question. How do we obtain the forgiveness that we so desperately need?

Point 2: How do we get forgiven?

God offers us a free gift of eternal life, but we need to respond to him and accept that gift.

Imagine someone called you and said, "Hey, a really rich distant relative of yours has just died and left you a cheque for one million dollars." You'd be pretty stoked right! You would probably be off down to your local Vodafone shop to get yourself a shiny new iPhone or maybe you'd head down to the Subaru dealer and get a shiny new WRX. You do the paper work then swipe your card through the eftpos machine then die of embarassment because it says, "Declined". -Because you forgot something. You needed to claim the cheque and bank it. You had to accept what was being offered. Just knowing that the cheque was available didn't change anything. It is the same with the gift God offers us. Knowing about it is not sufficient; you have to accept it before it is worth anything to you.

So if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour are you then set for life, forever right with God? Do you think that we need to ask God for forgiveness?

1 John 1:9New International Version (NIV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 

I am not sure if we need to ask God to forgive us, but I do know we need to confess our sins to God to be forgiven. The difference between asking for forgiveness and confessing or owning up to our sin is quite important. It is heaps easier to say, "God please forgive me" than to say to God, "I'm sorry, I know I've done this and that wrong". I think, that by confessing specific sins to God, it helps us to be more aware of what our specific weaknesses are so that we can be more proactive in changing the way we live each day.

The other thing we need to do in order to receive God's forgiveness is forgive others. This is in fact essential and the Bible is quite strong when it talks about this.

Matthew 6:14-15New International Version (NIV)

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Read Matthew 18: 21-23

Wow! You get the idea that God isn't half-hearted in His desire for us to forgive others. And it makes sense really; Jesus said the two greatest commands are to love God and to love one another. And you can't say you love someone if you hold a grudge and refuse to forgive them. So forgiveness and love really go hand in hand, you can't truly have one without the other.

Point 3: How do we forgive others?

So how do we forgive others? Well you tell me.

Get into three groups and discuss these questions. (see below)

Point 4: What are the benefits?
Romans 5:1-2 Peace with God

John 3:16 Eternal life

Ephesians 1:13-14

Conclusion

Now if you are sitting there and you are thinking, God would never forgive me, I've screwed up too much! I challenge you to read the parable of the Lost Son or Prodigal Son. God has promised that He will forgive nothing is too big or difficult for Him.

None of us are perfect and at some stage we have all needed the forgiveness of our friends or family and likewise, we have needed to forgive them. It is a funny thing though forgiveness, it does seem to matter whether you are the one showing forgiveness or receiving it, it is always beneficial to you. There is freedom in forgiving others, perhaps even more so than being forgiven.

Cool verse:

Colossians 3:13The Message (MSG)

12-14 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Group 1
Read Ephesians 4:32-5:2 and John 13:34-35
Think about the following:
Who should we imitate?
In what ways should we be like him?
Is there any link between forgiveness and love in these verse? If so, what?
What else comes to mind?
In what practical ways can we apply what we learn from this?
Question for all groups: So how do we forgive others? What steps should we take?

Group 2
Read Matthew 18:21-35
Think about the following:
How many times should we forgive others?
In your lives, has any individual sinned against you more times than you have sinned against God?
In what ways would it be unbalanced of us not to forgive another person if God is willing to forgive us?
What does it mean to "forgive ...from your heart"?
What else comes to mind from this passage?
What practical ways can we apply what we learn from this?
Question for all groups: So how do we forgive others? What steps should we take?

What we believe? The Holy Spirit

Who is the Holy Spirit what is his role?

We are continuing our series on "What I believe". So far those that weren't here last time, we started this series by talking about who is God and who is Jesus and had a few discussions about the idea of Trinity, one God in three persons.

So we've talked about God, the Father and Jesus the son, so this week we are looking at the third person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. I find it easier to picture a Father or Jesus the Son, but the Holy Spirit is a little harder. It is funny that even though we find it hard to picture the Holy Spirit, He is probably the one we interact with the most in our day-to-day lives.

Tonight we are going to cover three questions:
Who is the Holy Spirit?
What does the Holy Spirit do?
What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?

Pray before starting.

Point 1: Who is the Holy Spirit?

To understand who the Holy Spirit is we are going to take a quick journey through the Bible.

HE WAS INVOLVED IN CREATION
The Holy Spirit is also known as the Holy Ghost and has even been referred to as the breath of God.
He was involved in the creation of the universe (Genesis 1:2)
He breathed life into humans (Genesis 2:7 and Job 33:4)

PARTICULAR PEOPLE, PARTICULAR TIMES, PARTICULAR TASKS
In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit gave people power:
to express themselves in art: Bezalel (Exodus 31:1-5)
to lead: Gideon (Judges 6:14-16, 34)
to perform feats of great strength: Samson (Judges 15:14-15)
to prophesy: (Isaiah 61:1-3)

JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Around the time Jesus was on the scene the Holy Spirit became very busy.
A man called John the Baptist announced that someone was coming who would baptise people not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit--that would be Jesus (Luke 3:16)
At Jesus ' baptism the Holy Spirit came down on him (Luke 3:22), and he received power (Luke 4:1)
Jesus predicted that his disciples would receive the Holy Spirit, but still they had to wait (John 7:37-39)
The Holy Spirit is now available to everyone! He can breathe new life into us and give us power and gifts to live for God. (Acts 2:38-39)

Point 2: What does the Holy Spirit do? (Believers and Non-Believers)
So that's a brief history of who the Holy Spirit is, now we are going to have a look at what the Holy Spirit does. We are going to split it into two parts. First we'll look at what He does is the lives of people who aren't yet believers and then we'll look at what He does in the lives of those who call themselves followers of Christ.

NOT YET BELIEVERS:
It is the work of the Spirit that brings a person into a relationship with God, through the conviction of sin, repentance, faith and adoption into God's family. Let's just briefly look at each of these steps.

Firstly, conviction. For someone to believe that they need a saviour, they first need to realise that they need to be saved from something, so the conviction that there is a problem that needs to be sorted out is the first step in which the Holy Spirit is at work. Jesus said the following in John 16: 7-8
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. 
Paul sums it up pretty well in 1 Thess 1:4-7 when he says:
4 For we know, brothers and sisters[b] loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 

Secondly, the Spirit is involved in a person repenting. People are naturally full of pride and confessing failures to God isn't an easy thing to do. We don't like to admit that we are wrong, but by the help of God's Spirit, a person can overcome their pride and come humbly before God in repentance.

Next is Faith. The bible tells us in Hebrews that...without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. So faith in God is key to a relationship with Him. Ephesians says: For by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not for yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Finally, it is through the Spirit that we are adopted as God's children. Check out what Romans 8 says: The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by hime we cry, "Abba, Father".

So the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives even before we give our lives to God and is in fact vital in the process. But he doesn't stop there!

CHRIST FOLLOWERS:
The Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts and lives of all believers, doing all sorts of things. Get into groups and have a look at these verses. Write down these different areas and ways in which the Spirit is at work in your life.

BOB says The Holy Spirit brings us to trust Christ and repent of our sins, lives in us, and develops our new life in Christ in the fellowship of the Church.

Activities
Coke can activity 
Spirit at work (If I only let the door be half open, it's harder for them to work on a task).
1 person acts as the Holy Spirit, the task is to bring all of the balls from outside into the PowerStation.
I lock some of the doors and hold the other half open.
Ask the person: What could I do to help you do your work?
If I am willing to allow the Spirit to do it's work in me and through me, it can do a lot more than if I shut areas off and refuse to be guided by it.

Spirit dwells in us since Jesus (Things changed) John 14:16
Spirit is a gift to those who believe John 7:37-39, Galatians 3:14 and Romans 8:9
Given at the moment of salvation Ephesians 1:13-14 and Galatians 3:2
We are sealed with the Spirit for the day of redemption Ephesians 4:30 and 2 Cor 1:22
The spirit can be grieved, quenched (suppressed) Ephesians 4:30 and 1 Thess 5:19
We should aim to be filled with the Spirit Eph 5:18
The Holy Spirit teaches and reminds John 14:26
2 Cor 13:14 says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."

Thank you Luke and Intake.

Not BOB: This is an example of a current question about God but it is not BOB

Different churches have different ways of answering questions on how the Holy Spirit is at work today. Here is one way, it is not BOB. So we may have differing slants when answering this question but we would call them Christian views as long as BOB holds true "The Holy Spirit brings us to trust Christ and repent of our sins, lives in us, and develops our new life in Christ in the fellowship of the Church".