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Thanks for choosing Radiant Life Youth for your group! This quarter, we’ll look at what God’s word has to say about some important topics.
As your students get settled into this school year, Ready for School? explores how Elijah “graduated” to heaven and Elisha picked up his mantle. Using everyday school experiences like heading to class, eating lunch, sports, and pop quizzes, you’ll explore how Elisha got to see God do even more incredible miracles through him.
Being back in school probably brings challenges for your students too. So Living for God looks at highlights of Paul’s teaching in the book of Romans. Your students will be challenged on the basics like salvation and facing temptation as well as how to live God’s way around both believers and unbelievers every day.
We’ll wrap up with a series talking about topics that can be divisive. We’ve Got Issues begins by addressing when us-vs.-them thinking goes too far. Then we’ll explore what God’s word has to say about poverty, discrimination, and gender roles. God cares about the people on all sides of these issues, and His word can help us know what He wants us to do in response.
Remember to access the bonus Powerpoint slides at RadiantLifeCurriculum.com/ Youth-Resources too.
Thanks for teaching!
Director of Curriculum and Sunday School teacher
P.S. Do you have any feedback that you’d love to share with us? Please scan this QR code or send in the survey on page 7. Help us make Youth resources even better!
What’s in Every Lesson?
READY FOR SCHOOL?
HEADING TO CLASS
What’s the focus? People can doubt, criticize, and try to distract us when we’re following God’s plan. Why does it matter?
How should we respond?
Remove distractions, refocus, and keep doing what God is calling you to do.
FOR THE LEADER About the Series—As a new school year begins, your students are one step closer to the event most can’t wait for: graduation. What legacy will your seniors leave behind? Who will younger students want to be like? Will they be on the honor roll or barely pass? Through the life of Elisha, Ready for School? explores how these same questions can be asked about our faith journeys. Elisha shadowed the prophet Elijah. After his mentor “graduated” to heaven, Elisha chose to pick up the mantle and see God do even more incredible miracles through him.
About This Lesson—In Heading to Class, we’ll look at how Elisha dealt with setbacks and distractions while fulfilling God’s purpose for his life. Elisha had barely begun his new role of prophet when others questioned and criticized him. Students will learn that setbacks like these may threaten to slow us down, but we have to keep going to continue growing. Distractions that keep us from following God may require an intentional and aggressive response (that probably won’t involve a bear attack).
•
ENGAGE
WELCOME Welcome guests and introduce them to the group. Pass out the Youth Student for this lesson.
INTRODUCTION
? Have you ever been so distracted that you were late to class? What caused you to be late?
Last time, we talked about how Elisha was chosen to be the next major prophet for the people of Israel. The prophet who came before him, Elijah, showed him the ropes of the job. When Elijah “graduated,” he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and Elisha was left standing on the riverbank. Now it was Elisha’s turn to step up and do what God was calling him to do. But Elisha faced some setbacks that could have distracted from God’s purpose for his life.
EXPLORE
1. LOOK FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD
After following Elijah for some time, Elisha was set up for success. If he were a freshman in high school, he’d have carried a backpack full of supplies and textbooks, followed his schedule, and chosen his seat in the classroom before the bell rang. He was ready to step into the role that God had given him as the next prophet to Israel. After all, he’d asked to be the main successor of Elijah’s prophetic ministry, had Elijah’s cloak, and had God backing him up. Now the pressure was on. Let’s read 2 Kings 2:12 to find out how Elisha reacted after his mentor was gone, and he was finally launched into the role of prophet.
? Why do you think Elisha acted the way he did when Elijah left?
EXPLORE
REFLECT
given him, he appeared to be sidetracked by the search for Elijah. Did that mean that he wasn’t the right person for the role of prophet? Of course not! There will always be challenges and setbacks when we start something new, but the important thing is that we don’t let them stop us from moving forward. The lesson we can learn from Elisha is that looking backward at the wrong time can slow you down, and you have to keep going to keep growing. 2. DON’T GET DISTRACTED BY DISRESPECT Sometime later, when Elisha had finally moved on from Jericho, he was faced with another distraction. But this one had a very different outcome. Let’s read 2 Kings 2:23 to learn what happened. ? How would you expect Elisha to respond to this name calling? Before we talk about Elisha, we need to make something clear about the people calling him names. Different Bible translations call them different things. The Hebrew word that’s used to describe them is used for men who are old enough to get married. So, these are young men, not little children, yelling at Elisha. At this point, Elisha had done some amazing miracles with God’s help: He’d divided a river and purified a spring that had been harming people. He must have been feeling pretty confident in his calling. When we’re obeying God and walking with Him closely, that can be the time when we face the most opposition. Sometimes, the opposition comes from people like our friends or family who aren’t Christians. Other times, it’s from things in our lives that distract us from what God has called us to do. ? What are some things that might distract someone from following God? Elisha’s distraction came from this group who disrespected him by mocking him. At first, it seems like their insults were just about his physical appearance. Let’s read 2 Kings 1:7–8 to get a better idea of why they might have decided to call him “baldy.” ? How is Elisha’s mentor, Elijah, described in verse 8? Elijah was known as a hairy man, and Elisha, as we can guess based on the insults, may not have been. But the young men’s words went more than skin deep. The other part of their taunt, “go away” is more literally translated from Hebrew as “go up.” It’s likely they were talking about how Elijah had recently gone up and were taunting Elisha for not doing the same if he were a legitimate prophet. Not only was Elisha’s position as a prophet being questioned, but the God he served was also being made fun of. Let’s keep reading in 2 Kings 2:24–25 to find out what happened next. ? Does what happened in these verses shock you? Why or why not? This wasn’t an overreaction to a few kids who simply didn’t know any better. They weren’t just insulting and belittling Elisha’s authority. Because these young men were mocking God’s prophet, His representative, it was like they were insulting and belittling God himself. When Elisha faced opposition in the form of distraction, it was aggressively removed by God. So, what can we learn from this scenario? Should we pray that God takes out whoever and whatever is distracting us in the same way? Of course not. Instead, we can learn two things from Elisha’s encounter: God’s authority should never be taken lightly, and following God may require the intentional elimination of distraction.
For the Leader
Every lesson begins with a page just for you. You’ll get an overview of both the series and the lesson you’ll lead. Every lesson also has a theme verse, and most lessons also include a Bible character as an example.
About the Lesson
Engage your students with opening discussion questions to focus in on the topic.
The first lesson in most series includes a QR code for a survey. We want to discover what students think about the topics before each series begins. We hope to see some perspectives change as they discover what God’s word has to say. 3 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Students will Explore what the Bible has to say. They’ll read Bible passages shown in blue and discuss together. Getting Youth Student makes it really easy for everyone to follow along.
Most lessons have a Slides activity, too. These bring in visuals and tie into the lesson theme.
Lessons wrap up with Reflect questions, so save time for students to hear from God at the end of your class time. Most lessons also have a Salvation feature. Listen for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
We’ve made it easy to add the Activities in the lesson. Just make copies of this final page to work on together. There’s a variety of activities from group input to art to math.
About Your Students
While we hope that everyone in your group is pursuing a close relationship with Jesus, we know that most likely you have a variety of students and range of interests in faith. So we’ve tried to make sure that Radiant Life Youth helps everyone feel welcome and challenged to grow. Here’s who we keep in mind.
Discipleship Dylan
He loves God and is all in on his faith journey. He engages during class time, most likely has personal devotions during the week, and probably shares his faith with friends who don’t know Jesus.
Brainiac Brooklyn
She’s influenced more by scholarly opinions that counter faith than by faith itself. Creation vs. evolution and other doubts might cloud her beliefs that God and the Bible are real. She’s more likely to describe herself as atheist or agnostic rather than Christian.
Superficial Sophia
She knows what’s expected of her to say at church, but who she is around her friends doesn’t quite match up.
Isolated Isabella
Have-to-Be-Here Hunter
He’d rather be pretty much anywhere else other than church. But his parents make him come.
Lots of reasons make someone feel like an outsider. Their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, difficult home situation, and being new to the whole church experience are just a few of the reasons she might feel left out. Regardless of where each of these students is on their faith journey, they all have one thing in common—Jesus loves them and died for them. Thanks for investing in them!
JUNE
SEPTEMBER
Ready for School? (Elisha)
Content Control
As a new school year begins, your students are one step closer to the event most can’t wait for: graduation. This series explores how Elisha shadowed the prophet Elijah and asked for a double share of his spirit. Then after his mentor “graduated” to heaven, Elisha picked up the mantle and got to see God do even more incredible miracles through him.
JULY
OCTOBER
Religions: Top 5
Living for God (Romans)
In this series, we’ll explore how salvation is a gift, not something we earn. But that’s just the beginning of our lives with God. We’ll also look at how His word guides us as we resist temptation and live out our faith in front of others, both believers and nonbelievers. Most importantly, we need to do all of this with a heart of love and gratitude like Paul did.
NOVEMBER
AUGUST
Spread the Word
We’ve Got Issues
As our world is becoming more connected every day, people’s viewpoints on many things seem to be getting more diverse. This series begins by addressing when groupthink goes too far. Then we’ll explore what God’s word has to say about poverty, discrimination, and gender roles as well as what He wants us to do in response to these issues.
LIVING FOR GOD (ROMANS)
START WITH JESUS
What’s the focus?
Salvation comes through our faith, not our efforts to please God with our actions.
Why does it matter?
Faith in Jesus and what He did for us gives us the opportunity to become Christians.
How should we respond?
Place your faith in Jesus to be your Savior and then choose to live for Him as your Lord.
FOR THE LEADER
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
About the Series—Have you discovered that it’s not quite as easy to live as fully for God as you thought it would be? Thankfully, Paul offers a lot of wise advice in the book of Romans to help us out. In Living for God, we’ll explore how salvation is a gift, not something we earn. But that’s just the beginning of our lives with God. We’ll also look at how His word guides us as we resist temptation and live out our faith in front of others, both believers and nonbelievers. Most importantly, we need to do all of this with a heart of love and gratitude like Paul did rather than out of mere duty.
About This Lesson—We have to earn most things in our lives—money, free time, respect, and trust, to name a few. But salvation, the most important thing of all, comes as a gift. Through the examples of Abraham and Paul in Start with Jesus, students will learn that eternal life can’t be earned on our own. Nothing we do will ever be good enough. And that’s actually good news. God doesn’t limit salvation based on our backgrounds or what we have to offer. He just wants to be in a relationship with us.
YOU WILL NEED
• Youth Student, 1 per student
• Living for God Slides for this lesson
• Traditions Page
• Pens or pencils, 1 per student
• Stopwatch or smartphone
GETTING READY
• Download the Living for God Slides.
• Make copies of the Traditions Page, 1 per student.
• Pray for your students and their prayer requests.
ENGAGE
WELCOME
Welcome guests and introduce them to the group. Pass out the Youth Student for this lesson.
INTRODUCTION
? What is your dream vacation destination? Why do you want to go there?
Paul, the man who wrote most of the New Testament books, really wanted to travel to Rome to visit the church there. He had heard that their faith in Jesus was being talked about all over the world (Romans 1:8). In his letter to these believers, Paul wrote that he wanted to encourage them in their faith and share the good news of Jesus with nonbelievers in Rome at the same time. Paul has a lot to say in the book of Romans, but today, we’re going to focus on the first step of becoming a Christian: accepting salvation through Jesus.
EXPLORE
1. SALVATION: WE CAN’T EARN IT
? Have you heard about Abraham in the Old Testament? What do you know about him?
Paul used Abraham’s life as an example of what it looks like to have incredible faith in God. Faith means having complete commitment to and confidence or trust in someone or something. Abraham is so well-known for his faith that he’s sometimes called “the father of our faith.” So what did he do to get that title?
Abraham grew up in a city called Ur. Eventually, God told him to leave his home to move to a new place far away. In faith, Abraham obeyed God. Much later, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had their son Isaac. God used Isaac to test Abraham’s trust in Him, and Abraham passed with flying colors! He was obedient to God, and God honored him for his faithfulness by making him a “great nation.” In fact, Abraham’s 12 great-grandsons became the foundation for the tribes of Israel. Let’s read Romans 4:1–3.
? According to verse 3, what did Abraham do for God to consider him righteous?
Abraham didn’t earn righteousness because he did some good things. He believed that what God was saying was true. Does that mean Abraham never had doubts about God’s plan? Of course not. Abraham was human—he had worries, fears, and doubts, just like we do. He even made some pretty big mistakes. But through all of that, his faith in God was bigger than anything he was facing. He didn’t earn God’s favor—he simply believed in God in response to God choosing him.
? How many of you have a job with a paycheck? How many of you wish you did?
When we have a job, we get paid for the work we do. In some jobs, you even get a bonus when you go above and beyond what you’re told to do or when you work extra hours. Our paychecks are earned. It’s not the same as money someone might get on their birthday or at Christmas. Let’s read what Romans 4:4–5 has to say about that.
? How does it make you feel to know that salvation is a free gift from God, not something you have to earn?
EXPLORE continued
When it comes to salvation, we can never do enough or give enough to deserve the gift Jesus offers us. Think of the kindest person you know—someone you think is totally deserving of every good thing coming their way. Maybe your grandma or a missionary comes to mind. But even with all their goodness, they still fall short of earning salvation. This gift of salvation is bigger than you or I can imagine. We can’t earn it. We can’t volunteer our way into heaven. Being on the worship team or serving soup to people who are homeless are good things, but they don’t help us earn our salvation, no matter how many times we do them. Let’s read Romans 4:14–15 to see why being good enough isn’t even the point.
? What do you think the world would be like if we had no rules to break?
? Does it make sense to you that even following God’s law can’t make us righteous enough? Why or why not?
The rules and Law we see in the Old Testament reveal our sinfulness (Romans 7:7) and our inability to make things right with God. They help us know what is sinful and wrong, but they can’t make us right with God. And no matter how hard we try, we can’t follow them perfectly anyway. The solution to this problem is God creating a way to bring us up to His standard and make us right with Him. He chose to do that by having Jesus die on the cross for us.
? Why do you think God chose to give us a way to be made right (righteous) through Jesus?
2. SALVATION IS GOD’S GIFT FOR EVERYONE, INCLUDING US
So who exactly is this amazing gift of salvation for? The first believers in the early church were mostly Jewish. It makes sense because these were the people Jesus had spent His time with and ministered to while on earth. But we see in the book of Acts that these believers began sharing the good news with other people groups. We read about Ethiopians, Romans, Greeks, Macedonians, and people from other cultures who chose to believe in Jesus. God was starting to fulfill His promise to Abraham that he would be a father of many nations. A question the church had to answer early on was: “Do these believers need to follow Jewish traditions in order to follow Jesus?” Let’s find out what Paul had to say about this in Romans 4:16–18.
ACTIVITY: TRADITIONS PAGE
Before we talk more about which faith traditions are important, let’s see some other traditions we have in common.
• Hand out the Activity Page and pens or pencils to each student.
Name as many of your traditions as possible for these special days before the timer
? What’s your favorite holiday tradition?
runs out. Then, we’ll compare answers and see how many of us have similar traditions.
• Set the timer for 3 minutes or whatever seems right for your group.
• Encourage the students to share what they wrote with the group. Then talk about which traditions you have in common.
? How about Christian traditions? Which one stands out to you?
For Christians, some activities, like communion and water baptism, are done because Jesus commanded us to continue them. But neither of these are a way to earn God’s grace and forgiveness. The gift of salvation is available to all of us who have faith to receive it. It doesn’t matter who you are, who your family is, where you come from, or how much money is (or isn’t) in your bank account. When we invite Jesus into our lives to be our Lord and Savior, we become part of a very large family—one that stretches all the way back to Jesus dying on the cross so we can be forgiven of our sins. But it doesn’t end there. Each time we share our faith with others, and they choose to follow Jesus, they automatically become part of this same family too.
? What kinds of things come to mind when you think of family?
People have positive, negative, or complicated feelings about families. Our family of believers can be complicated sometimes too, but it’s important to remember the One who’s holding us all together: God. He’s the Father we have in common no matter where we come from. Through Jesus, we all get the opportunity to start fresh as a member of God’s family.
3. SALVATION GIVES US A NEW BEGINNING
Reading Abraham’s story in the Bible from our viewpoint today makes Abraham look like someone who always had extreme faith. We see all the wonderful things that happened because Abraham trusted God. But Abraham couldn’t really see how it would all turn out from where he stood. He was an ordinary person, like you and me, who trusted God for extraordinary things.
? What kinds of things might weaken someone’s faith?
Abraham made mistakes, like so many other men and women in the Bible. He learned that he couldn’t please God or do what He asked without His help. He understood that he needed God’s wisdom and strength to accomplish what God gave him to do. Let’s read Romans 4:22–25.
? According to verse 25, why was Jesus handed over to die? Why was He raised to life?
When we put our faith in Jesus, we’re made new. All our sins are covered by Jesus’ sacrifice, and we’re given a new beginning. Paul knew exactly what it meant to be forgiven when he didn’t deserve it.
Paul’s Story
When we first meet Paul in the New Testament, he was called Saul. He was not just present as a Christian named Stephen was stoned to death. Saul was in favor of it (Acts 8:1). Stephen was the first Christian the Bible records being killed, or martyred, for his faith. At that time, Saul was an enemy of Christians. In his eagerness to uphold what he understood as Jewish law, he hunted down Christians to put them in prison. In fact, he was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians when his whole world was turned upside down. Let’s find out what happened to Paul in Acts 9:3–9.
? What surprises you more—that Jesus chose Paul or that Paul chose to follow Jesus? Why?
ACTIVITY: WHAT IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU? (SLIDES)
• Show the slides for this lesson as you share the following information.
EXPLORE continued
Imagine if what happened to Paul happened to you. How would you react if . . .
• Show slide 1: Bright light.
A light shone all around you on your way to school, and you heard a Voice call you by name and say, “Why are you persecuting me?” How would you respond?
• Show slide 2: Staring up.
This Voice, seemingly out of nowhere, told you to stop what you were doing, go to the next town, and wait for instructions. Would you go? Why or why not?
• Show slide 3: Person who’s blind.
What if you suddenly couldn’t see anything? What would you miss seeing? What challenges would you have?
• Show slide 4: Jesus.
? How do you think your relationship with Jesus would change if something like this happened to you?
REFLECT
? Have you ever felt that you had to be good enough to earn your salvation instead of accepting it as a free gift? Why do you think that is?
? What would you say to someone who feels this way now?
Even though Paul had a history of imprisoning faithful believers, God chose him to spread the good news all over the world. Paul recognized his sinful ways and turned his eagerness for putting Christians in prison to pursuing God and encouraging others to do the same. And Paul counted his forgiveness as joy. Let’s read Romans 4:6–8
? When you think about God giving you a fresh start through salvation, what emotion do you feel?
The gift of salvation wasn’t given because of anything we could have done or could ever do in the future. God gave us this amazing gift of a relationship with Him simply because He wanted to.
• Close in prayer.
Salvation (Add this if you sense someone needs to respond.) The most important thing Jesus wants is to have a relationship with you. That’s why He came—to make this free gift of salvation possible (Romans 6:23). He loves you and wants you to know Him better. If you’re ready to make that decision, I’d be happy to pray with you.
• If you sense the Holy Spirit’s leading, give students the opportunity to invite Jesus into their lives as their Savior.
HOLIDAY TRADITIONS
Name some traditions for these special days (special foods, deorations, things you do, etc.).
