Hey guys... the outline is coming along slowly. I spent most of the day trying to hammer out a topic. God is a lot of things. It's hard to pick one that is meaningful and relevant to the kids.
Anyway... the idea that I landed on was that God is joyful. Or, maybe a better way to put it is that God is a God of joy.
There are three basic points I want to cover, and there is a logical progression.
1. God is joyful (cf John 15:11, 17:13). I don't really want to get into what it means for God to be joyful. The point is that true joy comes from God. The joy that God desires for us to have is His joy. This is kind of the foundational truth, but I probably won't spend much time on this point. It leads us to the core of the message in points 2 + 3.
2. True and lasting joy is found in God, not things. The point of this section is that we have a distorted picture of joy. We think of happiness and pleasure, and we seek those things out in the world. Joy is better than both of those things, and we find it in God.
3. We are called to be a joyful people. The main reason I wanted to talk about joy is because I don't think we tend to associate faith and joy. We tend to get bogged down with the struggles and difficulties in faith. When we think of our relationship with God, we're so focused on what's wrong. Faith should be the source of a constant joy.
That's where I'm at now. I want to spend more time studying the idea of a biblical joy so that I can help the kids understand what it means to be truly joyful (and how to distinguish joy from happiness and pleasure). But ultimately, I want them to walk away feeling like their faith is a good thing. I'm kind of tired of us being downer Christians who always feel like crap and always feel like something is wrong.
Let's be a joyful people.
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yeah i know what you mean about choosing a topic. its hard to pinpoint the most meaningful and relevant.
ReplyDeletei like the idea you have though. the points are simple.
i would say just be clear in distinguishing points 1&2. they are both different and important points to make but they are somewhat similar as well. so i guess just be clear in that area. maybe its just that they are similar sounding--joy is from God, joy is in God.
out of curiosity, do you feel like we--as a youth group/church--are downer christians? or are you thinking more generally speaking?
Good point on points 1 and 2. I think the main focus of point 2 will be the point that we can't find true joy in things. So it just contrasts joy in God with "joy" in the world.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think as a youth group we're not so bad. I was speaking more generally. But, at the same time, I think the nature of youth ministry tends to be a little more positive. It just seems like as people get older, they become more and more negative. At some point, joy kind of gets taken out of the God equation.
I'm a cranky Christian.. (probably cause I'm getting older). Haha. You're definitley right that we need to be joyful in our faith. It is something of a burden sometimes... or at least it feels like it. So I'm glad you're covering how we can turn to other things for joy.
ReplyDeleteCan you elaborate on God being joyful and what does true joy look like? I'm feeling a bit fuzzy on what exactly you mean by those right now. I think you've got the right idea and the outline makes sense, I just need some more clarification, which I'm sure you'll be writing anyhow with the actual sermon
I'm here! I'm here! Sorry for being late again. I was out all day and got home really late last night. I feel like my input is meaningless. But here my two cents anywyas.
ReplyDeleteI like the topic and the points behind it. I really like point 2 and how you brought up true lasting joy being found in God and not in things of this world. I think that will really hit home. It does for me at least.
Point 3 has a nice ring to it as well. I think point 2 is the main point that they need to know, and point 3 is the reason why they need to know it. I like it a lot!!
I think the last thing you should really focus on is a strong application. What do they need to do and why do they need to do it.
It's all you bro!! I'm looking forward to hearing it.