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Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
| In This Issue |
- Featured Resource: Batman Begins Video Clip Discussion Idea- Complete with a Scripture Passage, Small Group Questions, and a Wrap UP
- Another Free Resource You Can Use: 30 FREE theological trainings written for students with over 30 FREE coinciding youth leader outlines from Dare 2 Share
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| Batman Begins Video Clip Discussion Idea- Complete with a Scripture Passage, Small Group Questions, and a Wrap UP |
by Jonathan McKee
Attention Grabber: Batman Begins Clip
The movie Batman Begins was a great movie with several clips that provoke discussion. One of these clips provokes excellent discussion about our actions.
Introducing the Clip: Here’s How to Introduce the Clip…
“Today I want to show you a clip from the movie Batman Begins. Many of you have already seen this movie, but for those that haven’t, this scene begins with Bruce Wayne and his lady friends exiting a large hotel/restaurant after making a huge scene and swimming in the decorative indoor pond. Bruce is a playboy, or so it seems, and he writes a check for the price of the hotel in order to not get kicked out of the hotel’s restaurant. On his way out he runs into Rachel, his childhood friend who has some interesting things to say about his actions. Let’s take a look at this scene.”
Start the DVD at Chapter 21 – 69:56.
Key Dialogue:
- Rachel:
Bruce: Rachel?
Rachel: I’d heard you were back. What are you doing?
Bruce: Just swimming. (quickly changing the subject) Wow, it is good to see you.
Rachel: You were gone a long time.
Bruce: I know. How are things?
Rachel: The same. Job’s getting worse.
Bruce: Can’t change the world on your own.
Rachel: What choice do I have…when you’re too busy swimming?
Bruce: (embarrassed, and at a loss for words) Rachel, all of…all this…It’s-It’s not me. It’s…Inside, I am…I am more.
(Bruce’s lady companions yell for him from his car parked just out front of the hotel – – “Bruce, we have some more hotels for you to buy.”)
Rachel: Bruce, deep down you may still be that same great kid you used to be. But it’s not who you are underneath…It’s what you do that defines you.
(Rachel walks away and Bruce stares off.)
Stop the DVD at Chapter 21 – 71:17.
Transitional Statement:
“In this scene it was obvious that Bruce was embarrassed by his actions when he saw his good friend Rachel. He tried to explain himself, but it was too late. There was no “sweet talking” himself out of this one. His actions had been noted.
Let’s divide into small groups and talk about this.”
Small Group Questions:
- In the scene we just saw, it was obvious that Bruce was embarrassed by his actions when he saw his good friend Rachel. Have you ever seen someone doing something they shouldn’t have been doing… and got caught in the act? Were they embarrassed? Did they try to explain themselves?
- Share a time you were doing something you shouldn’t have been doing… and got caught in the act, causing embarrassment.
- Why do we try to explain ourselves in these situations? (Because we want them to know that this is not what we’re really like- we’re better than this.)
- But do our outward actions speak loudly as to who we are inside? How is this?
- Do our actions define us even more than our words? Explain.
- Read the following passage:
James 2:14-17 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone. [15] Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, [16] and you say, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well”-but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
[17] So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all-it is dead and useless.
INCLUDING MORE QUESTIONS AND A WRAP UP
Jonathan McKee is president of TheSourceForYouthMinistry.com and author of the new book “Do They Run When They See You Coming? Reaching Out to Unchurched Teenagers.” (CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK) Jonathan speaks and trains across the country and provides free online resources, training, & ideas for youth workers at www.TheSource4YM.com | Another Free Resource You Can Use: 30 FREE theological trainings written for students with over 30 FREE coinciding youth leader outlines from Dare 2 Share |
November 1, 2005
I haven’t met a youth leader yet who hasn’t (from time to time) run out of time to prepare a lesson. I also know for a fact that the average student couldn’t argue his/her way out of a wet theological sack.
What do these things have in common?
Usually not much, but our friends over at Dare 2 Share Ministries have found a way to connect them. Their newest web site- www.capturetheirhearts.com – contains over 30 FREE theological trainings written for students with over 30 FREE coinciding youth leader outlines. These outlines are good to go with little to no preparation, and the best part is they cover the 30 core truths of Christianity.
Below is a sample of one of the youth leader outlines- click here to get access to all the outlines through a free registration. Oh yeah- there are also over 30 FREE parent discussion guides so you can get your students’ folks involved as well. Check it out today!
Written by Lane Palmer
Answers the question: Who is Jesus?
Theological question:
Who is Jesus?
Big Idea:
Jesus is completely different and unique from every other religious leader because He has always existed, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, made extreme claims and proved them to be true by coming back from the dead and ascending into heaven.
Scriptures Used:
John 8:57, 58 -“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
John 8:46 – Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?
Acts 1:8-12 – “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere–in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It was not long after he said this that he was taken up into the sky while they were watching, and he disappeared into a cloud. As they were straining their eyes to see him, two white-robed men suddenly stood there among them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. And someday, just as you saw him go, he will return!”
Opener:
Show scene 8 from the Passion of the Christ through time mark 28:45 (where the beatings start.) You may want to set up the scene with some background and who the key players are. This scene depicts the “trial” before the High Priest where the Jewish leaders ask Jesus who He is and accuse Him of blasphemy. This scene brings out the divisive effect that Jesus had (and still has) on any given crowd.
After the scene, ask the students:
- Why didn’t Jesus answer the High Priest?
- What were some of the things He was called?
- What did Jesus call Himself?
- Why did the leaders get so furious?
- How could so many different opinions of Jesus be formed when they were all hearing the same thing?
In many ways, Jesus is still “on trial” today. For every 100 people there are probably 100 different opinions about who Jesus is. That’s why if you even think about opening your mouth and talking about Jesus, you better be ready – because that is not a name you can say without getting some kind of reaction. Mentioning Jesus has a crowd splitting opinion-shouting effect that forces you to know what you are talking about, so tonight we want to make sure we all know what we are talking about.
When you mention Jesus to a group of people, a very common reaction is: “Yeah, I know about Jesus, but I believe that He was just one religious teacher just like all the other religious teachers. What makes Him so different?”
At this point you have an awesome opportunity…that is if you actually do know what made Jesus completely different, unique, and totally distinct from all other men and women who claimed to know the way to God, Nirvana, the path of enlightenment, etc. etc.
But the fact is, most Christian teens – or adults too, for that matter – don’t know. In their hearts there is belief in what Christ did, but in their heads there is confusion about who Christ is.
So let’s get the facts straight so you can shoot straight about Him with your friends who desperately need to discover the true Jesus Christ!
Teaching Outline
Pass out note cards and pens/pencils to the students and say something like:
We are going to cover six main facts about Jesus that completely sets Him apart from all other religious leaders. I encourage you to jot these down so you can have a ready reference guide handy when the opportunity comes up.
Fact #1 – Jesus has always existed.
In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM”. He was responding to a sarcastic and stupid question thrown at him by the religious rulers of the day:
“You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” (John 8:57)
Jesus had just told them that He knows Abraham – a guy who has been dead for thousands of years. So they come back with: “Wait, you’re not even 50 years old, so how could you be 2000 years old?”
Brilliant. As if someone could live that long?
So Jesus’ response tells us that He’s not 50, He’s not 2000, He’s infinity. He had no beginning, He will have no end. He has always been around as the second Person of the Trinity.
No other religious leader has always been around. They all were born at some point- which was the beginning of their existence. When Jesus was born, it was not the beginning of His existence, it was the beginning of His humanity. Jesus, as God, took on human flesh when He was born. That’s sorta unique – wouldn’t you say?
Fact #2 – Jesus’ mother Mary was a virgin at the time of His birth.
So if you’re even just a little familiar with the way the whole pregnancy and birth thing works, you realize that the words “virgin” and “birth” don’t usually go together. This is why Jesus’ birth was such a miracle! The fact that Mary was a virgin shows that Jesus’ Dad is a holy God, not a sinful man. No other religious leader has made that claim- nor would they.
Ask the students:
- Why is it important that Jesus be born of a virgin?
- Why is that so hard for people to accept this fact?
Those two facts alone establish Jesus as the most unique person who ever lived, but now let’s get into even more amazing facts.
Fact #3 – Jesus lived a perfect life.
Jesus didn’t live a good life, or even a great life. He lived a perfect life. As in perfection. As in, He never ever, ever sinned. Never thought badly about a person. Never told little white lies (or big black ones either). Never once in 33 years of life did He mess up in word, action, or even thought. And it’s not like He didn’t face temptation either. Can you imagine doing battle with Satan himself? Or how about refusing to be angry towards the malicious, hateful Romans who beat Him, whipped Him, and nailed Him to a cross? If you do any sort of research on other religious leaders, you will discover that they were far from perfect in their words and actions, which is why they never claimed perfection. They wouldn’t dare. But Jesus did – check this out:
Read John 8:46:
“Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?” (John 8:46)
And no one could. As you saw in The Passion, they tried at His trial, but those weren’t truthful accusations.
Fact #4 – Jesus made extreme claims.
We’re not talking extreme claims like “I can hold my breath for 10 minutes” or “I can burp the entire alphabet without stopping.” This is even beyond claims that other religious leaders made. They said they knew the way to God, Jesus said He IS God. This is why you can’t categorize Jesus as just a good teacher or moral example. He went around saying things like “I’m going to raise myself from the dead”, “I can forgive sins”, and “I’ve always been around”, etc. Good teachers and moral example type people don’t go around saying crazy, whacked out things. If they do, we don’t trust them anymore, right? Unless, of course, they could prove that their apparently crazy claims were actually true.
Ask the students:
- Why is it career suicide for a religious leader to claim to be God?
- If a religious leader claimed to be God, what proof would you want to see?
There are two more facts that we need to cover, and is the most important one of all:
Fact # 5 – Jesus came back from the dead.
This is the one that pretty much knocks out any possibility of Jesus being “just another religious leader.” You can visit the graves of every founder of every other religion, and unless someone dug them up and sold them on e-Bay, they should still be there. Jesus’ grave was a three-day rental, and it is has been empty for nearly 2000 years. Actually his grave was borrowed, which proves the point even more. He knew He was going to die, so why would He completely ignore making any funeral plans unless He knew there was no need for them? No one has ever found His body, and no one ever will, because He’s alive and well.
Fact #6 – Jesus ascended into heaven.
This one is often overlooked, but it is very important. After Jesus came back from the dead, the Bible tells us that He appeared to more than 500 people (I Corinthians 15:6). After His appearances, He put an exclamation point on the story of His life by being transported to heaven. Here’s what happened:
Read Acts 1:8-12
“When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere–in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It was not long after he said this that he was taken up into the sky while they were watching, and he disappeared into a cloud. As they were straining their eyes to see him, two white-robed men suddenly stood there among them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. And someday, just as you saw him go, he will return!”
Jesus was taken up to heaven, and the angels promised that one day He will return. That was kinda their way of saying “Jesus is coming back, so don’t look busy, get busy!”
Go ahead and Google every other religious leader. They didn’t go up, they went down – and they aren’t coming back.
So now that you know what you’re talking about, it’s time to start talking to those who have been misled by false teachers and false books like the da Vinci Code. You have the truth, so open your mouth and free them from their closed minds!
Application:
Have the students get with a partner and role play a scenario where one teen believes Jesus was just another religious teacher, and the other teen uses the 6 facts to debate this opinion. After a few minutes, have the teens switch roles.
Closing:
Allow some time for questions and/or comments, then say something like:
There may be some in this room who have realized the uniqueness of Jesus for the first time. There may also be some in here who have trusted Christ, but tonight have rediscovered how incredible our Savior is and what He offers us in our everyday lives. Right now I want to give everyone in this room some time to connect or reconnect with Jesus, the one and only true way to heaven.
Close by presenting the G.O.S.P.E.L. Journey and give an invitation to unbelievers to trust Christ, and also a challenge to Christian students to spend time each day reflecting on the six facts about Jesus and how they can apply them to their lives.
Head:
What you need to know about this truth
Jesus is completely different and unique from every other religious leader because He has always existed, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, made extreme claims and proved them to be true by coming back from the dead and ascending into heaven.
Heart:
What you need to feel about this truth
Confident and extremely grateful. Confident that you have discovered the truth about Jesus, and because of that you should be grateful that you personally know the God-Man who split history in half and paid the penalty for your sin. Be grateful as well that one day He is coming back to take you to your true home! For one of the greatest descriptions of Jesus ever recorded, click here and download the file called “My King.”
Hands:
What you need to do about this truth
You ever wonder why some people just flat out refuse to hear the truth about Jesus? The Bible tells us why:
Satan, the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them. They don’t understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
The good news is that the good news of the gospel can remove the blinders from our friends who need to trust Christ. As one writer put it: “With great power comes great responsibility.” You have the facts about Jesus, and that is a powerful message. Will you fulfill your responsibility? Don’t let the facts about Jesus go to waste in your head. Brush up on your G.O.S.P.E.L. Journey and take the 48-hour challenge today!
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Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.