Sunday Followup | April 9, 2017

Grades 9-12 | I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life
We’ve launched a new series focusing on how Jesus described himself in Scripture—it’s called “In His Own Words.” Each week, our teenagers will explore the ways Jesus “framed” who he is—his purpose, motivation, and intentions.
In this first lesson, we explored John 14:1-6, where Jesus promised his disciples that the terrible things that were about to happen to him on the cross would be overshadowed by the hope and certain strength of his presence. He is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and none of us can find our way to God on a path other than him.
This week, I encourage you to spend a few minutes talking with your teenager about our lesson. Consider building your conversation around these questions:

• Why doesn’t God simply answer our prayers by always changing our circumstances? What does he offer instead?
• How does Jesus’ bold statement that he is the only way to God compare to our culture’s stance on “finding God”?
• If we treated Jesus as the only source of truth and life, how would that change or challenge the way we live today?

Grades 6-8 | Using My Gifts to Help Others
We’ve wrapped up our series called “I’m Gifted.” In this final conversation, we talked about using our spiritual gifts to impact other people’s lives. We discussed the importance of partnering with Jesus and partnering with other Christ-followers. These partnerships help us see the ways we can use our spiritual gifts to serve others. We can see what Jesus is already doing in people’s lives. And our impact in this world is multiplied.
This week, think about what it might look to serve as a family, using your different gifts and talents together. Talk with your family members about specific ways to help a person, another family, a ministry, or an organization.
Here are some other questions to fuel the conversation with your teenager about our lesson:

• Describe a time you used a spiritual gift to help others—or you saw someone else do that. How did that honor Jesus?
• How has your faith in Jesus gotten stronger by seeing people use their spiritual gifts to serve others?
• How can you partner with other people this week to help and serve others?

Thanks for all your prayers for our students and our ministry. Have a great week!