Do Not Be Conformed

The purpose of this study is to teach youth to avoid the habit of imitating the pattern of sin in the world, and instead look to God and be transformed into something much more exciting.

Activate Your Audience

1. CHINESE WRITING
   Have your "assistant" leave the room knowing the pattern. You ask the youth to come up with a short word that you can translate into Chinese (short -- because your Chinese is not that good). After the youth have chosen the word, your assistant should come back inside. You draw Chinese looking letters on the board and your assistant guesses the word immediately.

   Here's the trick. For consonants, start a sentence with that letter. For instance, if the word is "moon," you might say, "Maybe this is it." For vowels, draw a Chinese type character using the same number of lines as the position of the vowel in the pattern AEIOU. Still using "moon" as an example, you would say, "Maybe this is it." Then draw two Chinese characters, each with four lines, since "o" is the fourth vowel. Then say, "Now, do you have it?"

   The point? There is a pattern that you have to know to figure out the solution.

2. THREE BY THREE
   Place nine hymnals or same-sized rectangular objects on the floor in a three-by-three pattern. Have your "assistant" leave the room knowing the trick. Have the youth pick one of hymnals or objects to be "it." Then, have your assistant come back inside. Using a pointing stick, deliberately point to the wrong hymnal, but place the pointer on the hymnal in the same position as the real hymnal. For instance, if "it" is in the upper right-hand corner of the pattern of hymnals, point to the upper right-hand corner of one of the other hymnals and ask "Is this it?"

   The point? There is a pattern that you have to know to figure out the solution.

Build a Bridge

Communicate the Word

1. LIVING PARABLE
   Tell the story of the three riddles that Indiana Jones had to overcome in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The riddles were as follows...
   1. Only the penitent man will pass. Indy had to bow his head to avoid getting it cut off.
   2. In the name of God you shall walk. Indy had to step on the letters of God's name.
   3. The leap from the lion will take you there. Indy had to step off a cliff, so it seemed.

   Transition: To get to where God wants you to go, you have to follow certain instructions, or the consequences will follow. If Indiana Jones had just ignored the instructions and gone on ahead his way, he'd be dead by now. We, too, have instructions to follow that will get us safely through the challenges ahead.

2. LIVING WORDS
   
   1. The pattern of this world
      1. Fame (Matthew 6:1)
         Change who you are to become what other people are so you'll feel accepted and people will like you. Look up to the popular people and get in line behind them to take their place when they are gone.
      2. Fortune (Matthew 6:19 - 21)
         Go to school so you can get into college, so you can get a good job, so you can make a lot of money, so you can buy a lot of stuff and save a lot of money, so you can retire when you're old, so you can die and lose it all. What's wrong with this pattern?
      3. Power (Luke 9:25)
         Just take over. Follow the example of all the other Hitlers and rise to the top no matter who you have to hurt and who you have to step on. Do your very best to become the most powerful person in your little world, be it school, or home, or work, or a big company, or a political organization, or a state, or a country, or the entire world. When you finally make it to the top you'll hear a still small voice from above say, "How does it look from down there?" You know what we're going to do tomorrow, don't you? The same thing we do everyday -- try and rule the world.
      4. Pleasure (Hebrews 11:25)
         It feels good, so do it. Listen to all the commercials and videos and movies and songs that tell you that there is a lot of fun stuff to do out there, especially the stuff your parents and youth ministers are telling you not to do, and enjoy the pleasure. After all, the mass media and your friends can't be wrong, can they? It sure does feel good. As a matter of fact, it feels real good. I think I'll throw away the rules I've grown up with and my reputation and my sanity so I can just enjoy these things. That's the pleasure principle.
   2. The transformation of the renewing of your mind
      1. Through God's Word
      2. Through Prayer
      3. Through living your life the way Jesus would live it
         In every situation you face in life, the world says to ask these questions...
         1. What's wrong with doing that?
         2. What's in it for me?
         3. How much can I make for myself?
         4. How good does it feel?
         5. How good does it taste?

         In the Christian life, there is only one question to ask...

         Given my present situation, what would Jesus do if He were me?

         Ask yourself what Jesus would do. Then do what Jesus would do under any and every circumstance regardless of the consequences to yourself or others. If you do that, then you will have broken the mold, thrown a wrench in the works, and gotten off the merry-go-round to become all that you were intended to be.

   Do Something About It

   Explain to the group that you cannot do what Jesus would do unless you know who Jesus is, and unless you know Him personally. To illustrate, show the video Secret Ambition by Michael W. Smith on the video cassette TwoxFour.

   Sum up with specific challenges that fit your group. Discuss different practical ways that your group can do as Jesus would do: on school campuses, at home with family, in church when visitors come, etc.