St



St. Peter UMC Youth

2005/2006 Cell Groups

To: Stephanie, Nick & Stacy

Date: November 2, 2005

Re: Mid-High Cell Group, Week 9

This week’s lesson will return us to the spiritual discipline study we started a few weeks ago, and introduce students to the concept of mercy. The outline of the meetings seems to be working so let’s stick with:

Community Builder

Opening Prayer

Main Lesson

Closing Prayer

Community Builder

This week’s game is an offshoot of the old “Fruitbasket Upset.” Students (and leaders too!) will form a circle, with each person in a chair – no one should be on the floor. One person will stand in the middle of the circle. The game begins with the person in the middle of the circle calling out one “I have” and one “I have never” statement. All of the people in the circle who can identify with either statement (“I have an A in math” and “I have never seen the Empire State Building”) then get up and find a new seat. (Obviously the people who do NOT identify with either statement remain seated.) The middle person also finds a seat. The person left with no seat is now stuck in the middle, to call out “I have” and “I have not” statements. This game has no real ending, so use your best judgment as to when the game has finished.

|Opening Prayer |

|Mercy |

|For the Leader |

“Mercy! Mercy!”

Elementary school recess monitors hear it all the time, shrieked loudly as two kids bend each other’s fingers backward or in some other way inflict pain on each other in an effort to win the competition. At its heart, this game of “mercy” or crying “uncle” is about who can take pain longer and cause more excruciating pain on his or her competitor. This introduction to the concept of mercy for young kids has nothing to do with mercy at all.

Do your teenagers have similarly distorted views of mercy? In other words, is mercy for wimps? Do fairness, justice, or vengeance trump mercy when it comes to real-life situations?

When we willingly let someone off the hook who’s in our power—that’s mercy. To enter the kingdom of God we must accept God’s mercy, his undeserved forgiveness. But it’s a gift few of us willingly pass on to others. Teenagers need to know that we’re all dependent on God’s mercy—and we’re to show that same mercy to others. Jesus called that kind of life blessed! Use these ideas to help students see mercy for what it really is: an essential virtue for the Christian.

|Key Scriptures |

Check out what God’s Word has to say about mercy:

Job 40:1-14; 42:1-6

Matthew 5:7

Luke 6:35-36

Romans 3:23-24; 5:6-11

|Devotion |

Blessed Are the Merciful

Help your teenagers discover the blessing of mercy.

|Supplies: |

|Bible, over-size paper “Band-Aid” |

Time: about 20 minutes

You’ll need to make arrangements with two co-conspirators before the devotion—someone in your group who’s known to care deeply about his or her car, and another teenager who drives to your meetings. Ask the car-loving driver to tape the paper Band-Aid you’ve created to his or her car, then dash into your meeting wailing, “Someone crunched my car in the parking lot!” Have everyone go to the parking lot to investigate.

Ask if anyone knows who crunched the car. When nobody confesses, lift the Band-Aid, peer intently at the fender, and then examine the hands of everyone in your group until you reach your second co-conspirator. Melodramatically declare you’ve found matching fingerprints. Prearrange with your second collaborator to give a tearful confession about causing the damage.

Ask:

How should this problem be resolved? What’s fair?

After your teenagers offer their suggestions, ask the car owner what he or she intends to do. Prearrange for the car owner to offer mercy as the solution. Have the car owner say that he or she is willing to pay for the damage, and the guilty person owes him or her nothing.

Then ask:

Is this solution fair?

Will justice be served?

What good will come because of this solution?

What bad will come because of it?

Say: Mercy goes where “fair” and “justice” can’t.

Read aloud Matthew 5:7; Romans 3:23-24; and 5:6-11.

Then ask:

Think about the good and bad outcomes we’ve just talked about—do any apply to God’s gift of mercy to us? Explain.

Why is it often hard for us to accept God’s mercy?

How do we typically abuse God’s mercy?

What does God’s act of mercy toward you say about who he is and what he stands for?

To close, have teenagers pray together, thanking God for the mercy they’ve received and asking for opportunities to share mercy with others.

|Devotion |

On the Lookout

Students will look for “trash” and consider the power of showing mercy and kindness to others.

|Supplies: |

|Bible |

Time: about 10 minutes

Lead students on 5-minute walk outside. Explain that as they’re walking, they should be on the lookout for forgotten coins on the ground, for dropped or overlooked papers, for discarded cans or candy wrappers. Have students take note of how many small items of trash they see. After a few minutes of walking, have everyone gather back together and report on what they saw. Then ask:

Do you normally pay attention to those things?

Say: If you weren’t looking for them, would you notice them? Would you have seen that penny near the edge of the sidewalk? Would the bubble gum wrapper have caught your eye?

Probably not. It takes an intentional vigilance—a purposeful watchfulness.

God’s mercy is like that.

Have a volunteer read 2 Samuel 9:1-13. Then have the volunteer read verse 1 again.

Say: David is on the lookout. He’s seeking a way to demonstrate God’s kindness.

And he does. David finds out about Mephibosheth, the grandson of a man who spent years trying to kill him, and shows him extravagant kindness.

Now have the volunteer reread verse 8. Say: Mephibosheth was shocked that David even noticed him. He called himself a “dead dog.” He’d been crippled all his life. He’d probably felt discarded, overlooked, and forgotten by society . . . like a coin on the side of the road. Yet David changed everything. He invited Mephibosheth into his household and treated him like his very own son.

God’s Spirit enables you to exhibit that same sort of kindness and mercy. Mercy that moves beyond reacting to a need to actually seeking out needs.

Through God’s Spirit, you, too, can live out mercy that’s on the lookout—always observant, aware, open-eyed, open-eared—for overlooked people or unnoticed needs.

Lead students in prayer, asking God for ways they can be on the lookout for ways to show mercy to others.

|Illustration |

Increased Sports Blowouts May Lead to “Mercy Rules”

Students will discuss a news-story illustration that explores whether mercy is always a good thing.

|Supplies: Bible |

Time: 10 to 20 minutes

Read the following illustration to your students: In the wake of a growing trend toward outrageously lopsided scores in girls’ basketball, the National Federation of High Schools is considering adopting mandatory “mercy rules.”

Many youth leagues already have such rules. For example, in some soccer leagues, coaches are fined if their teams win too many games by a margin of more than six goals, and some baseball league games automatically end if one team is winning by 10 or more runs.

The debate on sportsmanship and fair play in high school sports is fueled by scores such as the 115-2 loss suffered by the girls’ basketball team at Lakeshore Public Academy in Hart, Michigan.

“I’m very concerned about these blowout games, because I think they’re increasing in number and getting worse,” says John Johnson, communications director for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. “The purpose of school sports is to educate teenagers. That’s what makes us different from college and the pros. There’s nothing to be learned in these blowout games. No one should be embarrassed in high school.”

Smaller charter or prep schools that started girls’ teams after Title IX, the federal law that says girls must have the same athletic opportunities as boys, often don’t have enough students to stay competitive with larger schools that have more students and more focus on athletics.

“It’s so frustrating and embarrassing,” says Ashleigh Hendricks, whose St. Bernard basketball team recently lost 77-13 to another Cincinnati area team. “We don’t have any confidence after games like that.”

Discussion Ideas:

Do you agree with the so-called mercy rules? Why or why not?

What if you were the losing team? Would you be happy to end early or disappointed to not have the opportunity to come back and win?

If the National Federation of High Schools did adopt mercy rules, what kind of rules should they be?

What’s the purpose of school sports?

Should Christians be competitive in sports? Or should they show mercy and intentionally let others win? Explain.

Are Christians always required to show mercy to others?

When is mercy appropriate? Does biblical mercy include situations like sports, academics, or other competitive situations? Why or why not?

Aside from “mercy rules,” what are other ways Christians can show mercy to people who feel like losers?

How is God calling you to show mercy this week?

Scripture Links: Leviticus 26:17; 1 Chronicles 22:13; Ecclesiastes 9:11; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; and 2 Timothy 2:3-5.

|Movie Clip Discussion Starter |

Jonah: A Veggietales Movie

Help students explore mercy through the story of Jonah.

|Supplies: |

|Jonah: A Veggietales Movie (G) video or DVD, TV, VCR or DVD player, Bibles |

Time: 5 to 15 minutes

Scripture: Luke 6:35-36

Clip Location: Approximately 1:08:00 through 1:10:00 when the VCR counter is set at 0:00:00 as the studio logo appears at the beginning of the film. Be sure to preview this clip!

Synopsis: Khahil eats Jonah’s shade weed. Jonah moans about his horrible luck, and Khahil jumps on him for caring more about a weed than the people of Nineveh. God is compassionate to all people and wants to provide everyone a second chance. God forgave Nineveh and so should Jonah.

Illustration: I don’t know about you, but I have a sneaky suspicion that I harbor a heart like Jonah’s at times. We like receiving God’s mercy, but we can get a little bent out of shape when “really” bad people get their own mercy pass. Teach the beauty, mystery, and equality of God’s grace toward all humanity, and help your students extend that mercy to others.

Discussion Questions:

Who do you think are the most evil and despicable people in the world?

Would you feel it was fair if God forgave them of all their wicked deeds? Why or why not?

Read aloud Luke 6:35-36.

Ask:

Why is God merciful to all people, no matter who they are or what they’ve done?

Why does he command us to be merciful as well?

What attitudes convince us not to be merciful?

Who’s someone in your life you’d like to have a more merciful attitude toward?

What’s one thing you can do to begin to express a different attitude toward this person?

|Prayer Idea |

Variation on the Lord’s Prayer

Students will practice a mercy-focused prayer.

|Supplies: |

|none |

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

GROUP Magazine contributors Steve Argue and Dave Livermore write the Jesus-Style Youth Ministry column for the magazine. In one issue, they offered readers an example of a mercy-focused daily prayer they called “The Followers Prayer”—if you’re looking for ways to develop a God-kind heart in your teenagers, one full of mercy, this prayer is a good place to start. Lead your students in this prayer by reading it aloud (or by having teenage volunteers lead the prayer).

Heavenly Father . . .

Father . . . Abba . . . Daddy. I take comfort in knowing you are my Father, a Father who is intimately concerned and connected to his children—to me, to my closest friends, to my students. Heavenly Father, I look at the world from such a limited vantage point. But your vantage point is heaven, a place of complete knowledge and infinite power. A place where nothing escapes your scope, your attention, your reach—yesterday, tomorrow, and today.

Hallowed be your name . . .

I praise your name—the I AM. It’s sacred, holy, unique, and glorious. May my thoughts and words reflect your name, your character, your purposes, and your person so that people see you clearly in my life and in my community—the church. When I think of you, I want to pause in wonder.

Your kingdom come . . .

May it come today and may I believe that it is coming more today than yesterday. Jesus, you said, “The kingdom of God is near.” I believe that, because you, the King, came near. Draw near to me in my life today. Change me as you’ve promised to do. As I gather with other believers, help us to make it a tangible expression of your body. And may we, your body, bring hope to the hurting and the needy—to the desperate places on earth where the poor, the broken, the hurting, and the powerless live. Bring your kingdom to the students I so desperately love—to their homes, schools, workplaces, and hangouts. Bring it to their single parents. Bring it to our neighborhoods.

Your will be done . . .

Bend my will toward yours. Plant in me a hunger to know your will and your timing. I trust you to do your work in my life, my world, and the world that you so passionately love. May we not see your world as a lost cause, but seek to bring heaven back to earth through the assurance of redemption and the hope of the Cross.

Please provide . . .

This prayer is my declaration of dependence. I need you today, tomorrow, and every day for the things that seem impossible—and even for the things I feel I have under control. I want to discover your continual provision. I want to live in the truth that in you, Jesus, all things are held together. I may never measure up to the standards and expectations of church members, so-called friends, and co-workers. But you sustain me.

Forgive and make me forgiving . . .

Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sin. I hate that word—“sin.” I would rather call it a mistake or lack of judgment. But it’s sin—rebellion, treason, and hatred toward you. Have mercy on me, based on your righteousness, Jesus. Thank you for speaking in my defense ( 1 John 2:1 ). And as I experience your mercy and grace, may I pass the same on to others who’ve wronged me.

Lead me, deliver me . . .

. . . From the things that tempt me—money, sex, power, acceptance, approval, and success. Keep me from spiritualizing my life rather than dealing with the realities of life and the pitfalls that await me apart from your leading. May my “quiet times” be moments when I cling to you, declaring that I need to be led, lest I perish.

Ultimately, I have hope, for . . .

Yours is the kingdom

Yours is the power

Yours is the glory

Forever and ever

I never want to take the prayer you gave me, Jesus—the Follower’s Prayer—lightly.

Amen.

Closing

Wrap up this week’s lesson by reminding students that God’s mercy is an example for us; we should also have mercy on one another. Have the students form a circle, and send a lit candle around to each student in turn. Instruct them to pray a brief prayer for God’s mercy on themselves as well as their own mercy to others. Let them be as general or as specific as they want to be.

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