Christmas Year Round

I don't know about you, but I love Christmas. It has always been one of my favorite times of the year. However, over the past few years it seems to have lost some of its luster to me. It's not that I don't like Christmas anymore, I love Christmas all the same. There is just something that disappoints me about the Christmas season. We call it the season of giving and we use it as a reason to serve and give more than we do. We call it a family holiday because we gather together and do so much more with our families during this season. We watch Christmas movies, read the story of Christmas together, decorate together and even sing Christmas carols in the car together. These are all great and fantastic things and they are part of what makes the Christmas season so fun for me. What saddens me is that after all is said and done, we pack up the decorations and call it quits on Christmas until next year. We get back to our crazy schedules and our solo lives. Suddenly, all of the giving and service that we were willing to do disappears. There is not as much time for family and we stop reading together and celebrating what Christ has done for us together.

We justify this by saying that the Christmas season is a time to go "above and beyond" in those areas, but isn't that what Christ came here to call us to? Wasn't part of the reason He came here to call us to a higher purpose, to a life of "above and beyond"? So why do we confine it to a season? I agree that the Christmas season and the celebration of the birth of our Savior should be celebrated with family time and Bible reading, giving and serving, but shouldn't we be doing that year-round? The celebration of Christmas is not a time for us to pull out our best and brightest attitudes and hearts. It's not a time for us to "get our serving in" or "be better because it's Christmas". We are called to more than just a season of better. We are called to a lifetime of adoration of what our Savior has done for us and a lifetime of service because of His sacrifice. 

As we celebrate our Savior's birth this Christmas, let's not forget that His birth and sacrifice are something to be celebrated year round. By all means, let's pull out the decorations and the Christmas carols, the feasts and the celebrations. Let's serve one another for the Kingdom of God and give to others. But let's not stop when Christmas has come and gone. Let's continue that kind of servant’s heart year round. Let's make the celebration of our Savior more than just a season. Let's make it a lifetime. 

Fusion 4:12 Summary- November 6, 2013

Parents, tonight we begin our dating series. We are going over the book "Dateable". Rest assured, I have parsed through the book and chosen what I think are the most important and valid parts of the dating talk. Tonight's lesson hits both males and females equally so they will be together. Next week, we will split the guys and girls up and talk about things like being a gentlemen and being a lady.

Since it is hard to summarize exactly what I said, I am willing to send out my lesson notes if you are curious as to what is said. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. Also, please know that these are notes and may not be the EXACT way that I have said something. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Fusion 4:12 Summary- October 23, 2013

Parents! We have wrapped up our talk on 1 Timothy 4:12 and are in-between series currently. Between most series I try to do something I call Q&A. This is a time for the students to ask whatever questions they might have about faith, God, the church, etc. I tell them that I, of course, don't know everything, but that I will try my best to give them biblically correct answers. For questions that I don't know the answers to, I encourage the students to write the questions down on cards we provide so that I can remember the question and do some study on it later. This has always been a popular night for the students and we always get some GREAT questions. I always look forward to these nights.

Next week, we will be starting our talk on Dating. This will be a 3 week talk on the book, Dateable. I highly recommend this book for any and all of your students. It encourages wise decision making and boundaries when in a dating relationship. The format for this series goes as follows: Week 1- I teach a lesson with a brief overview of the book, Wk 2- Kelly and I (along with the sponsors), split the students up into guy/girl groups and have the guys with me and the girls with Kelly, Wk 3- Same as wk 2 except we have switch the guys and gals to give them a dating perspective "from the other side". This was a super successful series when we did it almost 3 years ago and hope it will be even better this time around!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Fusion 4:12 Summary, October 9th, 2013

Parents!

Tonight we talk about that thing that every youth minister dreads, sexual purity. It is what's next in Paul's commands to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12. Paul commands Timothy to be an example in purity (more specifically the Greek word used here is chastity), so tonight we will be discussing what that actually looks like. I will give a brief intro to our discussion topic and then we will break the students up into guys and girls and will have more of a discussion with the students. Brandy Wert will be leading the discussion for the girls along with the other female sponsors and I will be leading the discussion with the guys along with the other male sponsors.

We will center in 3 texts:
1 Corinthians 6:18
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
Matthew 5:28

Our discussion will be guided by questions that I have written about these verses as well as about today's society. Please fell free look over them and discuss them with your teens when they get home.

My goal in this discussion is two fold: 1) to get the students to understand why Paul would command Timothy to do this and 2) why God is worried about our sexual purity. I want them to see that God is not simply denying us "fun", but instead is trying to prevent us from hurting ourselves and others.

Here are the questions we will be discussing tonight in our groups:

Purity Discussion Guide

Why do you think sexual purity is such a big deal to Paul that he would include it as one of the 5 areas of life he teaches Timothy to be an example in?

How do you think today’s society would react to Paul’s command? Why?

-         What are some of the things that our society (entertainment, media, friends) says about sexual sin/purity?

What does 1 Thessalonians 5:3-5 say about how we are to act? According to this verse, why are we to do so?

-         Why would God want us to stand out from society in this kind of way?

According to 1 Corinthians 6:18, why is sexual sin such a big deal?

-         What are some of the consequences of sexual sin that make it stand out from other sins?

According to Matthew 5:28, what else is included in ways that we should be sexually pure?

-         What all does this include?

Is God simply stopping us from “enjoying ourselves” as the world would say, or is there a bigger reason that 

He commands us to be sexually pure?

Now why do you think commanding Timothy about be an example in sexual purity was such a big deal to Paul?

Fusion 4:12 Summary, October 1st

Hola Parents!

We are still in our discussion over 1 Timothy 4:12. This weeks lesson is about how to be an example in your faith. We will be centering in James 2:20-24 and talking about the connection between faith and deeds. We will stress to the students that you don't get faith by your deeds, but that your deeds should be a product of your faith. We will end by challenging your students to look at what parts of their life they are lacking faith in and asking God to help them be stronger in their faith.

These are the discussion questions that your students will go over tonight:

How would you define faith?

What do you think someone who is not a believer thinks faith means?

What do you think Paul means when he tells Timothy to be an example in his faith? 

Does this mean that we can save ourselves?

How does living faithfully relate to fitting in with our culture?

Is there such a thing as having fake “faithful actions”? How?

Read Matthew 9:20-24- If we struggle with genuine, heartfelt faith, is there a way that we can overcome this? How?

Fusion 4:12 Summary- September 25th

Tonight we will be talking about what it looks like to sacrificially love others. We are continuing our talk in 1 Timothy 4:12. We are currently on Paul's command to Timothy to "be an example for all believers in.... love". This is not a romantic kind of love, but a sacrificial one. We will be referencing John 15:12-14 and John 13:34-35 in our discussion tonight. Both of these verses talk about Jesus' command to love others like He loved us: all the way to death on the cross. 

Below are the discussion questions from tonight:

Discussion Questions 1

-         How could we “die” for one another without actually dying?

-         What are some specific examples of sacrificial love that we could do for each other?

-         Read John 13:34-35

o   What are some ways that we have ruined our witness by not loving one another?

o   How can something as simple as loving one another sacrificially be a clue to others that you are a believer?

Discussion Questions 2

-         What are some ways that you have noticed people need to be shown love?

-         Why do you think we make ourselves so busy all the time?

-         What does being available for others look like for you? Do you need to give up something? Do you need to switch some priorities around?

Fusion 4:12 Summary- September 18, 2013

Tonight we will be jumping into our 3rd lesson on 1 Timothy 4:12. We will be discussing what it looks like to live our "life" as an example for all believers. We will be in 1 Peter 3:8-16 as our text and will be focusing on what godly character looks like. We will discuss that true character is what you do behind closed doors, not the facade that you can put on for others. Lastly, we will end discussing how Christ can help us gain godly character and get rid of those parts that are no good.

Here are the discussion questions your students will be discussing tonight:

-      - Which of the things that Peter lists would be most difficult for you to do and why?

-      - It sounds like Peter is telling the Christians to allow people to walk all over them. Is this true? Why or why not? How does this relate to the last part of verse 16?

-       - What does keeping a clear conscience mean?

-      - How do the things that Peter lists help us live in such a way, “that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander?”

-      - Are you a different person depending on where you are at or are you the same person?

-      - What are some of the reasons that we sometimes “change our character” for people?

-      - When might it not be beneficial to show people our real character? Why? How can we use this to identify what needs to change in our character?

-      - Can we change our character? If so, how?