And in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord

Week 4 had a little bit more of me talking than usual.  I don't like to do that on a regular basis - I prefer to have more interaction.  But even when I do more talking, there are still times for great interaction and for questions.  I lost some of the more restless teens, but the majority were really engaged.  I am always looking for different ways to present the Gospel message, ways that make the Gospel understandable to teenagers.  Let me know what you think of this way of breaking such good news down.

Apostle's Creed Week 4:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended to the dead.  On the Third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."

Review of last week

“And in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord”

Mark 1:1-3, 9-15; John 20:24-31

Let’s talk about the person of Jesus Christ.

Review: What is the difference between believing in a person and believing that a doctrine is true? (Belief in a person requires relationship, loyalty, mystery [a person is more complex and God infinitely so], persons are moved by others; belief that a doctrine is true only requires intellectual assent, doctrines can be fully known, doctrines are immovable).

According to the Creed, who is Jesus?

Why do we care?

“Let me tell you a little bit about this Jesus, for those of you who may not know him.”

When did Jesus walk this earth?
What does Jesus mean?
God saves
What does Christ mean?
Anointed One - Messiah
How do we say that Jesus is the Son?  Of whom is he the Son?  (“The Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth”)

“You see, we declare that the Father and Son are both God.  We’ll talk a little more about God as Trinity in a few weeks, but for now, I want each of you to know who Jesus is.”

“This Jesus, who is God, came down to earth, walked among us, served humanity, and then died.  Over the next few weeks we are going to look at these things and other specific attributes of Jesus.”

“You remember a couple weeks ago, when we talked about The Prodigal Son?  We said that the best way to know God the Father is to look at Jesus, the Son.  Then we looked at a parable that Jesus told about God’s love.”

“It’s hard for us to know what God is like.  But when we look at Jesus, we have concrete actions and pictures that he gives us about who he is, who God is.”

Have somebody read John 15:13

According to this verse, what is the greatest way one can show one’s love?

Say something like:
“This same Jesus, the Son of God, the one who is God walking amongst us humans, died so that you and I can live.”

“You see, humanity has tried to do it by ourselves.  For thousands of years, humanity tried to be like God, we tried to do things our way.  Many tried to be good and tried to choose what they believed was right.  Many more chose evil and selfishness and did whatever it took to make themselves bigger in the eyes of others.  Yet whatever the motive, ultimately not even one of us could do good, could change the world for good, could make our lives matter.  The good works passed away.  The evil only led to more evil, more unhappiness.”

“Each of us is caught in this state as long as we try to do it ourselves.  Each of us is bound to screw up, to spend life searching for meaning only to find only emptiness and hollowness.  When we do something good, we quickly realize their is so much more to be done and what we just did is fleeting.  We are plagued with the knowledge that we will never measure up, never be good enough or strong enough or clever enough to find satisfaction.  Our actions only lead to more evil, more unhappiness, more sin.”

“And this is where it is so important that we believe in Jesus Christ.  God came down and did what nobody else could do.  He lived that life of complete satisfaction, complete obedience to God, complete good.  Where did this lead him?  Death.  He lived this life of service, of goodness, and complete other-centeredness, and it led to being killed by those who believed only in promoting themselves.”

“We’ll talk more about this in a couple weeks, but I must mention it now, too.  You guys, we know that Jesus did not remain dead.  God raised him from the dead, making it possible for us to participate in him.  We no longer have to worry about whether we have done enough good to make a difference, or whether anything we do has meaning, or whether there is any meaning to our life.”

“Our meaning is found in Jesus Christ.  Our good works find meaning and longevity in him.  Our happiness is found in him.  Our identity is found in him.”

“He is called Jesus Christ - remember, “God saves”, and “Anointed One” - because he came to be faithful when we couldn’t.  God came to save us because we could not save ourselves.  God’s anointed one died so that we can live and live life to the fullest.”

“We hear from society that lots of things make you happy.”
If appropriate timing, ask, “What kind of things does society tell you will make you happy?

“But look around you.  Do you see a lot of happiness in people, or do you see a lot of depression, violence, and sin?  It is only in God that you will find true happiness, true fulfillment.”

Close in prayer.