Shearer Hills Student Ministry
Weekly Update
What's Happening...
This week's schedule:
- Wednesday Night - insideOUT! @ 6:30
- Sunday Morning - Explore the Bible: Hebrews
- Sunday Night - Middle School and High School Ministries @ 5:30
insideOUT - September 21st
One Thing
Confidence in Jesus gives us courage in life.
Why Is That Important?
Jesus wants us to take part in pushing back the darkness and brokenness in the world we live in. We will either let fear hold us back or we will let faith propel us forward.
Book (Mark 4:35 – 5:43)
Jesus instills confidence in his followers by showing his authority over:
Nature (calming the storm)
Demonic Forces (healing the demon possessed man)
Diseases and Death (healing the sick woman and raising Jairus’s daughter back to life)
In all of these stories there are three main themes:
Death
Desperation
Fear vs. Faith
Death – If the boat capsizes, they will parish. The demon possessed man is living in tombs, surrounded by the reality of death. He’s cutting himself, and possibly trying to commit suicide to take himself out of the turmoil he faces from all the demons. The lady with the hemorrhage will eventually bleed to death. Jairus’s daughter is on her death bed. Death is all around.
What’s the message? Jesus is better than anything that threatens human life, and he has the power to save!
Desperation – The disciples are desperate when they wake Jesus from his sleep. The demon possessed man throws himself at Jesus’ feet in desperation, pleading with Jesus not to cast him out. The townspeople show desperation to “save their economy” by asking Jesus to leave after he heals the man (note: people are okay with Jesus as long as Jesus doesn’t interfere with their lives). Jairus shows desperation in falling at Jesus’ feet pleading for his daughter’s life as he risks losing everything. He was a ruler at the synagogue, and other leaders thought Jesus was of Satan. He didn’t care if this ruined his reputation. He was desperate! Then the bleeding woman desperately pushed through the crowds in hope of just touching Jesus’ garment.
What’s the message? We are all desperate for Jesus. Some people recognize it, other people ignore it. But in the end, we all need him more than we could ever know.
Fear and Faith – (look at 4:41; 5:15; 5:33; and 5:36)
What’s the message in all of these contrasts of fear verse faith? Faith, or confidence in Jesus being God, casts out fear!
What Should We Take from This?
We are called to continue Jesus’ mission of pushing back the darkness in the world. That can be an overwhelming thought, but Jesus gives us the confidence we need by proving to have the power to defeat all of Satan’s work in this world.
This doesn’t mean we have to change the world tomorrow, and if we don’t, then we’ve failed.
Looking at this chunk of scripture, we see that Jesus calls us to start small.
So what should we do? Start small!
Look at 5:18-20
Question: Where did Jesus tell the man to start? (at home, with his friends)
Doing God’s work doesn’t mean you have to give up everything you love and journey off to a far and distant land. It means taking what Jesus has done in your life to the places you already are and the people you already know.
Why Is This Important?
Sometimes we bite off to big of a chunk and take on too big of a project and we end up doing nothing at all.
Biting off too much can be discouraging… and we want confidence leading to courage, not discourage!
Explore the Bible: Hebrews Part 4 - Don't Give Up
Sunday morning we studied Hebrews 3:7-15
The central truth was: Following Jesus is a lifelong commitment and we all need to constantly encourage one another to stay strong in Him.
The author has already warned us about drifting away, and now he is warning us against having hardened hearts. From this text we see two things that can progressively lead towards our hearts becoming hardened towards God:
- Persistent Sin... or having a habit of sin without true repentance
- Absence from Encouragement. When you are absent from Christian community you are neglecting yourself from encouragement God intended for you to have
To keep these two things from happening we need to have accountability and encouragement from a community of Christians in our lives.
What should students do with this truth?
Think through the following:
Who do you know that might need some encouragement this week? List at least two names:
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Think of at least two ways that you can encourage each person in their faith this week. Write these two ways below:
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Now you know who to encourage and how to encourage them. What needs to be your next step?
What is the one thing you can do this week to search your own heart for any rebellious attitudes or actions?
Controlled Chaos (Middle School Ministry) - September 28th
Sunday night the Middle School students wrapped up their series "Mean People and Jesus."
Quick Recap:
Part 1 - Sometimes when people are mean to us God works it out for a greater good.
Part 2 - When people are mean to us we need to think about treating them like we would like to be treated. When we do this, we identify ourselves with the character of God.
Part 3 - We don't have to be afraid of mean people because Jesus promises us that the Holy Spirit is with us.
For part 4 we looked at how Jesus forgave those who were mean to him. When observing all of the events that led up to his crucifixion, and then hearing his words, "Father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing", we find ourselves almost caught off guard because this is not how we would act in the same situation.
If Jesus can forgive those who killed him then we really don't have an excuse not to forgive people who are mean to us.
This week's challenge is to think about someone that has been mean to you. Think about how they make you feel. Then write their initials down on a piece of paper that you will look at every day. Then every day commit yourself to pray for that person and to ask God to give you the strength to forgive them.
High School Ministry - September 28th
The High School students spent time reflecting on Wednesday night's talk and having deeper discussion.
Here are a few of their discussion questions:
When we talk about Jesus’ mission being to push back the darkness in the world, what do you think that means? What does that look like in the 21st century?
How would you define courage?
Why do you think it takes courage to take part in Jesus’ mission?
Why do you think Jesus continually displayed his authority over nature, demonic power, diseases and death? (to give his disciples greater confidence)
One question that Mark will continue to revisit is, “Who is Jesus?” We all need to have answer to this question. What are some things that give you confidence in your answer? (how you personally experience Jesus working in your life, the reliability of scripture, the eyewitness accounts, historians outside of Christianity reporting on the events of the New Testament, current smart guys like Ravi Zacharias, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, David Nasser, etc.)
Is there anything that could help increase your confidence further?
Have you ever felt like God was calling you to do something that would take great courage? If so, do you mind sharing what it was?
What holds us back from doing courageous things for Christ?
What does doing God’s work mean? (while it could mean leaving everything you’ve ever known and moving to a far and distant land, most of the time it means taking what Jesus has done in your life to places you already are and to people you already know)
What does Jesus tell the man who was healed from the legion of demons to do in regards to doing Christ’s work? (5:19… remember, start small)
What’s one thing we can do tomorrow to take a step towards being more courageous for Christ?
Important Dates:
- Strong Foundation October 16th
- Fall Festival October 29th