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Written by: Clint Walker

Edited by: Ginny Richardson and Jessica Tidwell-Weinzierl

www.youthministryconversations.com

Youth Ministry Conversations ©2018 Faithlab, LLC

http://www.youthministryconversations.com/

Our Mission:

At Youth Ministry Conversations, we believe you know your group best. This means our resources look a little different than what you may have experienced in the past. We try and create a “buffet” of material so you can choose and pick what works best for your group. You will find ideas, instructions, and possibilities in this packet all related to the theme of “The Life of Adventure.” How you use them, and how you structure your study is up to you. We hope you enjoy this resource and return in the future to check out other materials.

This Study: The call to follow Jesus is so much more than a call to proper belief in doctrinal statements. When Jesus called the first disciples he called them to a life of adventure. He called them to a life of doing-the-impossible and facing the unknown. “The Life of Adventure” takes us through the aspects of our faith in terms of an epic adventure, from discussions of mystery and purpose, to finding companions to go with us.

Lessons Included:

1 The Mystery of God Page 4

2 Companionship on the Adventure Page 10

3 What We Think We Know vs. What Really Is Page 14

4 Start to Finish Page 19

5 Inspiring Others to Step Out 4

Youth Ministry Conversations ©2018 Faithlab, LLC Page 2

The Writer:

Clint Walker is a native of Rockcastle County, a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, and a graduate of Baptist Seminary of Kentucky. He was a Ministry Intern at the First Baptist Church in Richmond from 2010-2011, the Interim Youth Minister and Minister of Outreach

and Education at the First Baptist Church of Winchester from 2011-2013, and the Youth Minister at the First Baptist Church in Carlisle from 2013-2015. In addition, Clint is a self-employed contractor who makes home repairs and improvements. His wife’s name is Hannah.


Lesson 1: The Mystery of God _____________________________________________________________

Focus: Every great adventure begins with a mystery. God has revealed much to us throughout history, enough so that we could find our way to salvation, but we shouldn’t stop there. God has called us toward a deeper understanding and a life of adventure in our faith. There is so much more to be found if we have the heart to pursue it!

Scripture: Matthew 4:18-22 Isaiah 40:27-31 Isaiah 55:6-9

Supplies: □ Bibles□ Closed box with a mystery object inside□ Blindfolds□ Notecards□ Pens or preferred writing utensils□ Mystery-flavored candy of your choice: Airheads, Dum-Dums, Jelly

Beans, etc.

Background on Scripture and Topic: When Jesus was walking the lakeshores and city streets of Palestine

gathering disciples, he was calling them to step out in faith on an adventure that would literally change the course of history. He didn’t tell them where they would go, what they would be doing, or how their lives and the lives of everyone around them would be changed. He simply told them to follow. Their faith journey began with little or no warning and with even less information. All they needed to know was that they were following God’s spirit, and they would figure out the rest along the way. That was the call of the disciples. It is a call that we struggle with in our information-flooded society. We have access to the vast knowledge of generations of people at


the click of a button. If Jesus were to ask us to follow, most likely we would have a lot of questions. “Who are you?” “Where are you going?” “What do you want me to do?” “How long will we be gone?” “What will it cost me?” There would probably be even more questions. Much of our faith is learned on the journey though, and that is something with which we need to be comfortable.

As the disciples began their years of training and growing they saw firsthand the miracles and passions of God. They realized that God did things in ways that they never imagined possible. That is because God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). No matter how much we want to make God fit into our prescribed box, God does not bend to our methods and opinions. Try as we might, there are depths to understanding God that we could spend our whole lifetime trying to unravel and never finish.

That is not to say that we shouldn’t try! The call of God to follow is a call to participate. We are not called to sit on the sidelines and watch as the world goes by us. We are called to be a part of God’s work in our world. God’s depths may be far beyond our understanding, but they are not hidden from us (Isaiah 40:27). God invites us to challenge our faith in new ways, ask new questions, and to learn and grow our whole lives. That sounds daunting, but God assures us that we will not be left powerless (Isaiah 40:29-31). God will be there to strengthen us in times of doubts and conflict, there to rejoice with us in times of great celebration, and all the times in between.

Parent Email Prompt: Today we will talk about what it means to begin our faith adventure

with God. We will focus our attention on the mystery of God. God has revealed many things to us in scripture and especially through Jesus, but there is still so much more to know about God that we could never even imagine. Please help us this week by prompting discussion with your child about what questions they may have about God. Encourage them by assuring them that you are a person to whom they can bring their questions, and if they ask a question and you don’t know the answer, don’t panic! That’s what our faith is all about. We don’t have all the answers, but it can be exciting to try and figure them out.


Text Prompt the Night before: Do you have more questions about God than answers? Don’t forget

we begin our epic adventure in faith tomorrow! We will delve into the mystery of God.

Activity: Mystery BoxPrepare the mystery box beforehand. Place an object in a box that

you can hold in your hand. Make sure it is a sturdy object that won’t break with potentially rigorous shaking. Seal the box securely with tape so that no one can get inside. At the beginning of the lesson, have the students pass the box around and try to figure out what is inside. Once the lesson is over you can reveal what it is, or if you want to increase the anticipation, you could reveal it at the next meeting time. Offer a prize for whoever guesses most accurately.

Game: Blindfold ChallengeHave your students pair up. You can have as many pairs participate

at a time as you have the space for, keeping in mind that more participants lead to more chaos. Have one student from each pair line up on one end of the room to be blindfolded. Once they are blindfolded, have the other student of the pair stand someplace at the other end of the room so the blindfolded student does not know where they are. For added challenge, you can now place chairs in the path between the two students. If you have multiple students participating, you can make it a race. The non-blindfolded student should give directions to the blindfolded student guiding them across the room, avoiding the obstacles in their path, using only their voice. To add even more challenge, have the students not participating shout other instructions as well.

Connection to the lesson: The purpose of this game is to illustrate how the Holy Spirit would like to lead us through life around obstacles, but there are many other voices pulling our attention away. It can be hard to hear God’s voice in the middle of everything, but if we are patient and listen closely, we can hear God leading us in the way we should go.


Large Group Discussion Questions: What was the hardest part of the blindfold game: obstacles that you

didn’t know were there, other people shouting false directions, or running into the other players?

How do you view your faith? Do you see it as something that you have, given to you by your parents, grandparents, friends, etc.? Or do you see it as something that you have discovered all on your own?

Do you think that once you believe in God that your faith is complete? Or just beginning and that there will be a lot more to come?

Does your faith ever seem weaker or stronger at different times? Why?

What do you think about the statement “The Lord works in mysterious ways”?

Scripture Reading: The following reading has been adapted from the scripture verses. All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version. The idea is that the first reader is telling the story of the disciples being called, while the other two readers are reflecting on what it would mean to follow God in such a manner.

Reader 1: While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:18-19).

Reader 2: Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth,


so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:6-9).

Reader 1: Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them (Matthew 4:20-21).

Reader 3: Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,“My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?Have you not known? Have you not heard?The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:27-31).

Reader 1: Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him (Matthew 4:22).

Small Group Questions: Put yourself in the shoes of the first disciples. You are at school,

putting your things away in your locker at the end of the day, ready to go home, and some stranger walks up and says, “Follow me.” What would you do?

Do you find it hard to believe that these disciples would drop everything and follow Jesus without a second thought?


God does still lead us today, even though we don’t expect Jesus to walk in this room right now and ask you to go with him. God leads us through many other ways. Have you ever heard God leading you? What was it like? Did you hear a booming voice or did you have an instinct that made you think you were making the right choice? Or was someone you trusted guiding you?

Sometimes God called people like these disciples to drop everything and go with him, traveling the country and even around the world. Other times, Jesus told people to stay where they were and serve through their jobs and families. Have you ever thought that God was calling you to drop everything and follow, or do you think that God wants you to learn to serve where you are?

What would Jesus have to say to you to get you to follow him? What are some of questions that you’ve always wondered about

God? (Remember that you don’t have to have an answer for these. The point is to make them think about deeper things that they may not already know.)

Do you get excited when you have opportunities to find answers to those questions?

Small Group Activity:Have the students write down some questions on notecards. Give

these questions to your youth pastor or pastor to review. Consider leading discussions that would try to answer these questions. Remember, they can be anything. Encourage their deepest curiosities. Examples could be:

How do we know the Bible is the word of God? Why do we have to go to church? How does God hear our prayers?

Prayer Time: Have a volunteer read this prayer aloud to close the session -

Gracious God, Creator of all of the universe and its vast wonder, thank you for setting us on this grand adventure. We pray that you fill us with renewed excitement and curiosity every day. Help us to see the world, others, and our faith with passion and love. Amen.


Remind Youth/Tangible Item They Leave with: Give the students a mystery-flavored candy. These can be anything mystery-flavored, such as Airheads, DumDums, and Jelly Beans. Remind the students that they already have a start on their journey. Now they can dive into the adventure and pursue the mysteries of their faith.


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