For the 2016-2017 school year, the high school students who participate in Youth group each Wednesday night are going to engage with Jesus’ words in Matthew 5-7 often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.
We’ve spent the past 2 years going through discipleship, spiritual stages of growth, being able to both understand and articulate the Gospel, and create an environment for our friends to reconnect with God through Youth Alpha. It’s been a great 2 years!
This year, I sensed that for all the “over-arching” stuff I love to talk about, we needed to get really practical on what kind of world Jesus was actually calling people to live in.
What does God really want this world to look like?
And if I really understand what that world is, do I want to be a part of it?
Do I want to actually repent of the world I can create for myself and believe in the kind of world God wants for me?
There is no better concentration of teachings on the good life than the sermon on the mount. So that is what the plan is for this school year!
I order to prepare for this, I took the ESV version of Matthew 5-7 and had it printed up (minus section headings) by splitting up each sections into what I thought Jesus might be focusing on as he walks through his teaching on the good life. I placed this text on the wall in my office:
I went through the text and split them up into categories as well as spent some time highlighting, underlining, and circling repeated words and phrases throughout the sermon. I’m also adding creative elements and ideas to the wall as I come across them in my research and study.
My wall is going to look like an amalgamation by the end of the school year!
I’m looking forward to what God is going to teach us about his good world through the words of his son, Jesus Christ!
source Creation Swap (origination for series graphic)
