Parents Guide to The Trip

Week 3 of Things that are Impossible to God

It is Impossible for God to Reject You

Teaching Points

1. God accepts you as you are (Romans 8:38-39)

2. God loves you too much to leave you that way (John 12:47)

3. God loves you too much to give up on you (1 John 1:9-10 & Isaiah 43:25)

How to respond to this truth:

1. ACCEPT God’s free gift of love (Colossians 2:14)

Questions to ask your kids

1. Tell me the story about the Korean orphan.

2. Explain the contrast that God loves you the way that you are but also loves you too much to leave you that way.

3. Tell me the story of David Wilkerson, the gang minister.

4. Explain how God never rejects us, but we can reject Him.

Impossible for God to Fail

Teaching Points

It’s Impossible for God to Fail… regardless of how we feel

1. Sometimes I feel like God has failed because of the way I’m DESIGNED

2. Sometimes I feel like God has failed because of my PAIN

3. Sometimes I feel like God has failed because the world is MESSED UP

“Where is God when I need him?” Believing that God fails leads to a LOSS OF HOPE

For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good ad not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

The Truth

1. God has created everyone as an ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE (Psalm 139:14).

2. God comforts his children and today’s pain is only TEMPORARY (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

3. God has promised to create a new temporary HEAVEN and EARTH (Revelation 21:1).

How to have more hope

1. Open yourself to new BELIEFS (Proverbs 21:30).

2. Learn about God’s PROMISES and believe in them

3. Live your life based on GOD’S PROMISES

4. Trust your FUTURE on God’s promises (Psalm 33:11).

Questions to ask your child:

1. Have you ever felt like God has failed you?

2. What did you learn tonight to help you know that God never fails us?

3. Where can you go with the pain in your life?

4. What is the biggest pain that Wes has experienced in his life?

Parents Guide to The Trip

Tomorrow we are starting a new sermon series tomorrow called Things that are impossible to God. First up is impossible for God to Lie. Here are the main points:

1. The Bible teaches that God is all-powerful, and has control over EVERYTHING. (Luke 1:37)

2. God can’t go against his OWN NATURE; God can’t be inconsistent. (Num 23:19)

This Truth Means We Can:

1. Hold on to God’s PROMISES (2 Cor 1:20-21)

2. TRUST God’s motives. (Romans 8:28)

3. SHARE FREELY with God who loves you.

4. We can rest in the TRUTH OF GOD (John 14:6)

Questions to ask your Teena

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1. Why can't God lie?

2. Why did Wes bring his middle schol yearbook?

3. What are some of God's promises for us?

4. Jesus said he is the what? (John 14:6)

5. Why is it important to you that God cannot lie?

The (former) Blind Man

The picture is from one of my favorite photographers, Paul Strand. The lesson we studied tonight is where Jesus healed a blind man by putting mud on the blind person's eyes. We talked about the three types of people found in the text: the followers (Disciples), the hurting (Blind Man), and the skeptics (Pharisees.) We also talked about what Jesus does for these three sets of people. Jesus brings healing to hurting, Jesus has answers for the skeptics, and Jesus proves his power to His followers.

"I don't know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!" (John 9:25).

Questions to ask your teenagers:

1. Describe what happened in John 9?
2. Why did Jesus make the blind man walk to the pool?
3. Where did the blind guy go after he was healed?
4. What did Jesus do at the end of the chapter?
5. How can Jesus heal your hurts?

Parents Guide to The Trip

On Wednesday, we continued our series Made: Becoming what God wants You to Be. This was week two in the series and we studied about Sheep. We talked about what it means to be a sheep, but more importantly we focused on God being our shepherd. We decided that we needed to let God be our Shepherd and to trust that he will take care of us. The text for the sermon came from John 10 and Psalm 23.

Questions to ask your kid:

1. What does it mean to be a sheep?

2. What were shepherds like in the Bible?

3. What does it take for a sheep to lie down?

4. What did a shepherd use a rod and staff for?

5. Are you a part of God's flock?

Parents Guide to The Trip

Tonight at the Trip, we talk about salt. We took a look at Matthew 5:13 where Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth. We talked about 3 characteristics of salt.

1. It adds flavor to things. I passed out some saltless potato chips to the youth and let them eat them. It showed them how things without salt is bland. As Christians, we are supposed to add flavor to the world. According to John 10:10, Christians should be having the most fun.

2. Salt preserves things. We need to be saving our friends from hell. We can and are supposed to be the earth's preservers.

3. Salt has variety. There are over 14,000 different kinds of salt. God loves variety in salt and us. God has given all of us different abilities and likes. We can rejoice in our differences and use this to be a complete body of Christ. It takes all kinds of Christians to reach all kinds of lost people.

4. You have to chose to be salty. God cannot use you if you choose to make yourself unavailable. At the end of the night, I gave the youth a packet of salt to take home with them. I told them to put the packet somewhere they would be reminded daily to be salt to the world.

Questions to ask your Kids

1. How did the chips taste? (Some kids actually liked them. This is great news for healthy parents.)

2. What does it mean for a Christian to add flavor?

3. How can you be a preservative?

4. Name some different varieties of salt? What variety are you?

5. Where did you put your salt packet?