Lesson: Comfy?

Comfy?

The Point of it all

This lesson is built off the song "Lost the Plot" from the Newsboys cd "Take Me To Your Leader." The point of the song is that when we don't remain conscious of the the fact that Jesus is returning, we will grow complacent in our faith and lose sight of our calling to the great commission.

Prepare Yourself

I did this lesson with a mixed class of about twenty Jr and Sr High Students and it worked well. It should work with any size group. It can easily fill 30-45 minutes but the discussion can go much longer, just let the spirit lead. I recommend you pick a location outdoors (the church parking lot worked well for me), if it is night time that's even better. You will need the song on cassette or CD (and the appropriate player), a copy of the lyrics for yourself, pencils and paper for the class, and a compass (you can get a pretty cheap one in the sporting goods section at Wal-Mart pick one with a string you can wear around your neck if you can). Find the Bible verses below and mark their places.

So you show up at the church with your bible and maybe a boom box. And you've got this compass hanging around your neck. Your kids won't be able to keep themselves from asking about it. Don't let them know what's up. Tease them, let it arouse their interest.

Let's Get Started

So I'm in the parking lot and the sun has just gone down but it's not totally dark yet. I'm sitting on the trunk of my car and the youth group is seated around me. I have my compass on. Everyone wants to know what is up. I look at my watch

"I want you guys to take 60 seconds and be very quiet. Listen to the sounds around you. For 60 seconds try to remember every sound you hear."

I tell them to start and I time the 60 seconds on my watch. When the time is up I ask them what they heard...
"cars" kid's playing" "birds" "crickets" "wind" they mention all the sounds they heard.

Now I change the rules slightly. I pick up my compass and orient it to find East. "That way is East (pointing). I want you to listen again but this time try to just focus in the sounds you hear coming from that direction."

I tell them to start and I time them again. I ask them again what they heard and I get very similar answers to the first time. The group is still clueless but this exercise is just so odd that they are playing along to find out what the point is. I open my bible and read, carefully pointing out the verses that are in red letters... "You know what that means!"

MT 24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other"

1 CO 15:51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

"Hear any trumpets yet?"

1 TH 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

"How about the Lord himself with the voice of the archangel? Do you hear that yet?

MT 24:27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

REV 1:7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

"Do you see our Lord coming yet?"

For our purposes here I will assume the answer is no. If in fact those events occur while you're doing this lesson then what a wonderful sense of timing our God has, huh? But now it's time to get the kids started thinking just a little. Ask them...

"Is it silly for us to sit in this (parking lot) and listen for those things that will signal Jesus' second coming?"

"Is it really possible that Jesus could return right now and interupt my carefully planned out meeting?"

"Do you really believe that it could have happened? Right while we were sitting here listening?"

"Do you ever think about that while your at school? I mean your walking down the hall and all of the sudden you think 'hey, Jesus could come back right this second!'"
Yup, they probably think about that a lot during exams.

Bring on the Tunes

The lyrics to the song have a great way of driving home this message and I want to make sure the kids hear and understand the lyrics so I have one of my student leaders pass out the pencils and paper while I intro the song. I tell them that while the song is playing they must right down as many of the lyrics as they can. Most of the song is slow so it's not that daunting a task. It's real dark out by now, but the light of the street lamp is enough to write by.

After the song finishes I point out that it has some hidden meanings and that interpreting the lyrics is a little like reading poetry in class. At this point let your class pair up (don't force uncomfortable pairings). Give them 5-10 minutes to compare the notes they made and try to figure out what the message of the song is. You might have to give them some general hints to get them started, Like, the beginning of the song is from the viewpoint of a Christian talking to Jesus.

After they seem to be finishing talking about the lyrics go over them verse by verse. Ask volunteers to tell you what they thought they heard and then tell you what it they think it meant. You can get the lyrics and my subjective interpretations here. You will be suprised the wisdom your kids will pull out of it on their own. Lead them towards the important points if you have to. A little poking around the subject will usually set off light bulbs all over their heads and they'll volunteer to compete the thought.

Challenge

OK, so this song has seriously stepped on few people's toes by now. It's hard to be comfortable when you've been shown how self-centered you can be. Now's the time time to challenge your kids to recommit to being God's servant. God could come back at any moment. Ask them...

"If God did come back while sitting here in this meeting. Who's name is going to go through your mind? Who is it that you missed? Who is that person you could have asked to church but you didn't?"

"Are you going to commit to leaving out of this life with no regrets? Or are you just too comfortable to be obedient?"