Building Spiritual Strength · Eric Liddell was a Scottish runner in the 1924 Olympics. While being a highly-decorated athlete, he was most passionate about his calling from God to

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Lesson 4

Building Spiritual Strength Core Essentials: Creative Discipleship Students will gain an understanding of basic spiritual disciplines and some ideas on how to begin their own plan for spiritual growth using Word of Life’s Creative Discipleship program. Holy habits build spiritual strength. Ephesians 3:20-21 Creative Discipleship: Word of Life’s discipleship process for encouraging growth in your walk with Christ. Quiet Time: time alone with God praying, reading His Word, and applying its truth to one’s life. Gospel Conversation: sharing the Gospel with someone who is not a Christian.

1. A PowerPoint is available for this lesson. 2. Creative Discipleship Record Sheet (One copy for each student.) 3. The video clip Chariots of Fire: “Chariots of Fire – Finale”

https://teachersource.wol.org/resource/SBS18/4-1/ (3:31)

1. Eric Liddell quote: https://teachersource.wol.org/resource/SBS18/4-2/ 2. The video clip Chariots of Fire: “Chariots of Fire – Finale”

https://teachersource.wol.org/resource/SBS18/4-1/

Scope and Sequence

Lesson Objective

Key Verses

Definitions

Checklist

Sticky Statement

Resources

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If you want to be strong, you must be sure to create habits that are godly; habits that are holy. Creative Discipleship is Word of Life’s discipleship process for encouraging growth in your walk with Christ. Holy habits build spiritual strength. The Creative Discipleship Program: I. Attendance – (Hebrews 10:24-25) II. Quiet Time – (1 Peter 2:2) “time alone with God praying, reading His Word, and applying its truth to one’s

life.” III. Scripture Memory – (Psalm 119:11) Strength to stand against sin is directly related to the habit of hiding God’s Word

in your heart. IV. Service to Others – (Matthew 22:37-39) Every believer is uniquely equipped and called by God’s love to serve and meet

the needs of people around them. V. Reading Books One good way to allow the lives of other Christians to help develop your

character is by reading about their challenges and victories in Christ. VI. Bringing Friends – (John 1:41-42) VII. Gospel Conversations – (Acts 1:8) A Gospel conversation is defined as sharing the Gospel with someone who is

not a Christian. By yielding to the Holy Spirit in us, we can begin to create holy habits and holy habits build spiritual strength.

Lesson Overview

Hook

Teacher’s Note: This lesson will urge students to take advantage of available resources to help them with a discipleship plan. Familiarize yourself with Word of Life’s Creative Discipleship Program before the lesson. Word of Life scholarships are referenced as a potential reward for completing the entire discipleship program. It is recommended that periodic incentives be used to help students remain faithful with the Creative Discipleship Program which can help create the habit of spiritual growth. The Creative Discipleship Sheet can be found on Teacher Source.

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When you hear the word “strength,” what picture comes to your mind? [Allow the students a chance to respond.] While there are different kinds of strength, nearly everyone has a desire to be strong. One of the ways our culture likes to highlight and focus on strength is by the creation of superheroes. There is rarely a time you can go to a movie theater these days when there isn’t at least one superhero movie showing. People tend to like superheroes. Why do you think superheroes are so well liked? [Allow students a chance to respond.] Superheroes are strong. They are heroic. They find a way to persevere and overcome in a way that we all would like to do with the challenges in our lives, but the strength of superheroes is fictitious. What about real strength? I would like to draw your attention to two examples of strength: one from the Bible and the other from a more modern time. The Apostle Paul, who has many of his accomplishments of life recorded in the Bible, is widely considered the greatest missionary who ever lived. If you read about his missionary journeys, you’ll find as many twists and turns in the plot of his life as you would in a good superhero movie. While he was in Lystra on his first missionary journey with Barnabas, Paul miraculously healed a lame man, preached the Gospel, and saw many become believers in Jesus Christ. Yet, it was on this journey that he was promptly stoned by angry Jews and left for dead outside the town (Acts 14). Does anyone know enough about the Apostle Paul’s story to know what he did when he recovered from physical abuse? [Allow students a chance to respond.] He went back into the town and then went on to the next town to preach the Gospel there! Considering the millions of people who have been impacted by the Apostle Paul’s ministry and writings, what would have happened if he had quit? [Allow students a chance to respond.] Only a man of great strength could keep moving and finish the race like this regardless of severe trials and setbacks. What was the source of Paul’s strength? In Ephesians 3:16, Paul prayed that the believers would be strengthened by the Spirit in their inner man. [Read Ephesians 3:16.] In fact, he recognized that the power or strength of God in us can do great things and will bring Him glory. [Read Ephesians 3:20-21.] The source of Paul’s strength was the power of the Holy Spirit within him. God was able to do more than Paul could have imagined through the power that worked in him and this brought glory to Jesus Christ through him. Our second illustration of strength comes from a great Christian missionary who was also known for finding strength to literally finish the race. Take a look at this video clip of his life as recorded in the movie Chariots of Fire. As you watch, pay attention to where Eric Liddell says his strength came from.

Teacher’s Note: Have the video clip from Chariots of Fire: “Chariots of Fire – Finale” https://teachersource.wol.org/resource/SBS18/4-1/ (3:31), ready to show during the Hook.

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Eric Liddell was a Scottish runner in the 1924 Olympics. While being a highly-decorated athlete, he was most passionate about his calling from God to be a missionary and spent his life spreading the Gospel message in China. Did you notice where he said the strength to finish the race came from? [Allow students a chance to respond.] He said that it came “from within.” So again, we have this notion of tapping into strength already inside you. Here is the full quotation from some of Eric’s writings: “Where does the strength come from to finish the race? The strength comes from within. Jesus said, ‘the Kingdom of God is within you.’” By giving his life to pay the penalty for our sins, Jesus has made a way for us to become part of the “Kingdom of God.” Salvation comes only by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus promised that believers will receive the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within (John 14:16-17). So, do we have the strength within us? Yes, if we have accepted Christ as Savior, we do. But how do we tap into it like the Apostle Paul or even Eric Liddell did? We do this by building up our relationship with Jesus and steadily giving control of our life to the Spirit. Building this kind of strength is like building physical strength. It requires time, effort and faithfulness.

It takes time to build physical strength. It also takes time to build spiritual strength. You need a plan and the commitment and motivation to execute that plan on a daily basis. Spiritual strength begins with the Holy Spirit inside but hinges on the habits you create alongside. If you want to be strong, you must be sure to create habits that are godly; habits that are holy. Word of Life has a plan to help you create those habits so you can become stronger in your spiritual walk; that plan is called Creative Discipleship. Creative Discipleship is Word of Life’s discipleship process for encouraging growth in your walk with Christ. Just like people often enlist the help of a personal strength coach to guide and encourage them in their physical strength training, Creative Discipleship helps you connect with others in your spiritual strength training. This is where your youth pastor, youth leaders, or small group leaders can be a valuable resource. Building strength of faith and personal character requires similar disciplines as a strength coach. Having a training partner is actually a good idea. Word of Life’s Creative Discipleship program is designed to motivate you to grow in your relationship with Christ as you develop habits like personal Quiet Time, Scripture memory, service to others, and Bible study. You see, it’s not enough to simply want these things, you have to work to make them habits.

Teacher’s Note: Show video clip from Chariots of Fire: “Chariots of Fire – Finale” https://teachersource.wol.org/resource/SBS18/4-1/ (3:31).

Lesson Content

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Using a structured process like Creative Discipleship (along with your small group leader) can help you create holy habits, and holy habits build spiritual strength. It is important to understand that involvement in the Creative Discipleship program, or any spiritual growth program, does not mean you are holy, but creating holy habits will help you be spiritually strong.

We’re going to spend some time discussing several specific habits that will help build your spiritual strength as you learn to yield to the Holy Spirit, your source of strength. This lesson is designed to help you understand where you have opportunities to start your own spiritual strength training plan. Remember, Jesus paid a high price to adopt you into His family and He’s not finished with you. If you know Him as Savior, you now have access to unlimited power. Let’s talk about how you can begin this training plan to grow spiritually stronger. The first part of the Creative Discipleship program is: Attendance. I. Attendance – (Hebrews 10:24-25) It is obvious that there are huge benefits to Christians who get together to worship, study God’s Word, pray, and fellowship. [Have a student read Hebrews 10:24-25.] Our youth group meets every week for the purpose of encouraging you in your walk with the Lord. We want the weekly meeting to be the highlight of your week. We desire to launch you each week from our meeting ready to impact the world with the Gospel as you live out what you are learning. Also, we want to encourage you to come to our weekly church services to be a part of the larger body of believers and receive additional teaching and fellowship to help you grow in your walk with the Lord. Make it a habit to be here every week. Think of it as your spiritual feast to keep you walking in step with Jesus during the week. Being here is the first step in our Creative Discipleship program. The second step is developing a personal quiet time. II. Quiet Time – (1 Peter 2:2) By quiet time we mean “time alone with God praying, reading His Word, and applying its truth to one’s life.” [Have a student read 1 Peter 2:2.] God speaks to us from His Word. That is why the Apostle Peter exhorts us to build a desire for His Word like a baby desires milk. Just as a baby needs milk to grow, so we need God’s Word to grow. It is the “protein” necessary for building “spiritual” muscle. So much of our attitude and what we become is determined by what we pour into our heart and mind. If strength of faith and character is our desire, God’s Word is the fuel to get us there. Making quiet time one of the first things we do each day allows God to speak to us with encouragement and wisdom for the day.

Teacher’s Note: Before you teach the content below, be sure each student has a copy of the Creative Discipleship Sheet. Be sure to refer to it after talking about each part of the Creative Discipleship process.

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Like any habit, you may have to start small and grow into it. If you don’t have this habit of daily time in the Word of God yet, set a goal. If your desire is to know Him and be spiritually strong, discipline yourself to meet with Him twice a week or maybe three times a week. Over time, your desire to spend time with Him daily will grow. Before we move on to the next point, ask yourself, “Am I willing to do what it takes to know God more? How much time will I give God this week?” When we move into small groups, be sure to share your goal with your small group leader.

Take a look at your Creative Discipleship Sheet, what goal will you set for your personal quiet time this year? A third component of Creative Discipleship and a habit that will help with your spiritual growth is Scripture memory. III. Scripture Memory – (Psalm 119:11) In Psalm 119:11, we see the power of “hiding God’s Word in our hearts.” [Have a student read Psalm 119:11.] Hiding something in our heart is another way of saying memorizing. Notice the connection between the memorization of Scripture and the believer not sinning – or strength of character. [Ask a student to re-read Psalm 119:11.] Why did the psalmist say he hid God’s Word in his heart? [Allow students a chance to respond.] Right, so he would not sin against God. Strength to stand against sin is directly related to the habit of hiding God’s Word in your heart. This shows strength of character. Holy habits build spiritual strength; create the habit of memorizing Scripture. It’s important to remember that the power comes from understanding and living out these verses, not just memorizing. Just memorizing to complete a program is good, but God wants you to live out His Word in your life. With the new Creative Discipleship Scripture Memory program, you get to choose the topics of the verses that you memorize. Each verse pack has eight Scripture verses that relate to one theme or topic. Each verse also has a “Truth Focus” to help you think through how this verse impacts the way you think and live. Which of the topics, if you memorized and lived them, would help you to transform your life this year? Memorizing Scripture is a holy habit and holy habits build spiritual strength.

Take a look at you Creative Discipleship Sheet, what goal will you set for Scripture Memory this year? The Creative Discipleship program will help you create the habit of reading God’s Word every day and the habit of memorizing portions of it to help transform your life, but it can also help you create the habit of serving others.

Teacher’s Note: Give the students an opportunity to look at the Creative Discipleship Sheet and set a goal for personal Quiet Time.

Teacher’s Note: Give the students an opportunity to look at the Creative Discipleship Sheet and set a goal for Scripture memory.

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IV. Service to Others – (Matthew 22:37-39) Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). It should come as no surprise that we grow strong in faith and character by loving others. You will find in Scripture that love is almost always characterized as action or as active service to others. By focusing on others we unlock God-given strengths we may not even realize we have. Every believer is uniquely equipped and called by God’s love to serve and meet the needs of people around them. The Creative Discipleship program helps you try different areas of service to help you serve in the ways you have been gifted and, perhaps, discover other ways to serve that you may have never considered. Your small group leader can help you identify the best opportunities for you and perhaps even partner with you in service to others. Serving others is a holy habit and holy habits build spiritual strength.

Take a look at your Creative Discipleship Sheet; how many service items will you set as a goal as you seek to serve others this year? Another feature of Creative Discipleship is reading good Christian books. V. Reading Books Many faithful followers of Christ have been gifted with wisdom, unique experiences, and teaching ability that has been captured in books so that other believers might benefit. These books can inspire, teach and encourage you on your discipleship journey. One good way to allow the lives of other Christians to help develop your character is by reading about their challenges and victories in Christ. There are Bible study books, Christian or missionary biographies, and books about how to live for Christ and tell others about Him, etc. Will you allow the lives of those who have lived before you to help you build your spiritual strength?

Take a look at your Creative Discipleship Sheet, what goal will you set for reading good Christian books this year? The last two habits are related in that they are focused on reaching out to those who are not followers of Christ.

Teacher’s Note: Give the students an opportunity to look at the Creative Discipleship Sheet and set a goal for serving.

Teacher’s Note: Share the Word of Life book list and make sure you share that autobiographies, biographies of Christians, and the New Testament can all be used in the Creative Discipleship program.

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VI. Bringing Friends – (John 1:41-42) [Ask a student to read John 1:41–42.] Andrew was the kind of person who wanted to introduce people to Jesus. Andrew introduced his brother Peter to Jesus and that is exactly what we want to do with our friends. We want you to invite your friends to our youth group and events so they can hear the Gospel and be introduced to Jesus. We encourage you to invite them to anything we are doing as a youth group or church so we can introduce them to Jesus. God wants to use you to reach your friends with the Gospel.

Think about the friends you would like to invite this year and write their names down. Then start to pray for them to be open to coming. As you learn to invite them to come and hear the Good News here at church, the Creative Discipleship program will encourage you to learn how to share the Good News with others by having Gospel Conversations. VII. Gospel Conversations – (Acts 1:8) What do you think is the best way for our church to get the Gospel to every student in every school represented by our ministry? [Allow the students to respond.] We have just encouraged you to bring your friends to church to hear the Gospel. Is that the best way to get the Gospel to every student in every school represented by our ministry—to do more evangelistic events and have you bring your friends who need Christ? [Allow the students to respond.] Actually, the most effective way is to engage every student who knows Christ to begin having Gospel conversations with their friends on a regular basis. By doing this we could get the Gospel to every student in just a few years. So, what is a Gospel conversation? It is defined as sharing the Gospel with someone who is not a Christian. [Ask a student to read Acts 1:8.] Every believer already has everything he needs to be able to have effective Gospel conversations. If you have put your trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and received eternal life, you can tell them your story of belief in Jesus. You can tell them how you believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. You can tell them how your sin was forgiven. You have the power of the Holy Spirit working in you because you received Him when you put your faith in Christ. Now, it is a matter of creating a list of friends who need Christ and praying for God to give you opportunities to have those Gospel conversations.

Teacher’s Note: Give the students an opportunity to look at the Creative Discipleship Sheet and set a goal for friends they will invite.

Teacher’s Note: Give the students an opportunity to look at the Creative Discipleship Sheet and set a goal for having Gospel conversations with their friends.

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Think about your friends who need the Gospel, write their names down, and begin to pray for God to provide opportunities to have Gospel conversations with them.

These are seven incredible habits that every believer needs in their life. You can be certain that your involvement in Creative Discipleship in no way determines how godly you are. The Creative Discipleship program can, however, help you create habits that will help you build spiritual strength and impact others in service and sharing the Gospel.

Scripture tells us God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Sincerely pursuing these areas of discipleship will help you walk closer to Jesus every day, making you a believer who is strong in faith and character. That is a substantial reward, but there are other short-term awards likely available to you for your faithfulness. Creative Discipleship has an incredible reward structure which includes significant scholarships. Be sure to talk to your small group leader about how you can be rewarded by your involvement in Creative Discipleship.

Always remember where the strength comes from. As believers, we find it from the power of the Holy Spirit in us. This should keep us humble and very much assured that the power is eternal and unfailing. By yielding to the Holy Spirit in us, we can begin to create holy habits and holy habits build spiritual strength.

What happens next is what is most important and it is up to you. Take a moment to consider the Creative Discipleship Sheet you have. In light of what you have heard tonight, what things do you need to start doing or do more consistently? Will you allow someone to help you as a spiritual strength coach? The Creative Discipleship program is designed to give you a plan for creating habits for spiritual strength. Will you make a bold choice to grow closer to Jesus this year? Will you connect with your small group leader to work out a plan that will challenge you and make you strong in faith and character? If you see your need for spiritual growth and are willing to take the steps necessary to create the necessary habits, will you pause right now and surrender to the Holy Spirit inside of you? With the Creative Discipleship Sheet in front of you, will you take a few seconds right now, as we pray, and ask God to give you the strength to create holy habits? Will you commit to following a plan for spiritual growth?

Connection

Teacher’s Note: This is where you will share with your students the rewards they can earn on a weekly basis. We encourage your church to create some system of rewarding faithfulness in spiritual growth. You could give prizes for “Doing your quiet time every day for a week,” “memorizing five verses,” etc. Just make it simple enough and short enough so the students will stay motivated weekly or monthly to achieve the prizes. Be sure to reward the students in a public setting. The Creative Discipleship Sheet can help you track that growth.

Decision

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If you see your need for spiritual growth and are willing to take the steps necessary to create the necessary habits, will you pause right now and surrender to the Holy Spirit inside of you? With the Creative Discipleship Sheet in front of you, will you take a few seconds right now, as we pray, and ask God to give you the strength to create holy habits? Will you commit to following a plan for spiritual growth?

Now it is time to get really practical and really specific. If you already marked a few things on your sheet and set a few goals to create habits, take that sheet to your small group and allow your small group leader to be your accountability partner for creating those habits. If you have not determined which habits you need to work on, before you leave small group tonight be sure to set at least one goal that will help you create a habit for spiritual growth.

Holy habits build spiritual strength.

1. How do you see the Creative Discipleship program helping you to create the habits necessary for spiritual strength? (Let the students discuss the different parts of the Creative Discipleship Program. Use the Creative Discipleship Sheet to help them understand the program and how it works.) 2. What are your goals for creating holy habits? (Allow each student the opportunity to share their areas of focus for the year. Remember, completion of Creative Discipleship should not be seen as a mark of being more spiritual because it isn’t. Make a point of highlighting growth and development of habits to build strength. Be sure to meet each student where they are and help each one set a goal that will help build spiritual strength. Growth for one student may be “beginning a personal Quiet Time” while sharing what they learn each day may be growth for the student who does his Quiet Time every day.) 3. In what area would you like me, as your small group leader, to help keep you accountable to your decision? (Obtain permission from each student to contact them throughout the week or at certain times to encourage consistency and the creation of spiritual habits.)

Teacher’s Note: This is where you will share with your students the rewards they can earn on a weekly basis. We encourage your church to create some system of rewarding faithfulness in spiritual growth. You could give prizes for “Doing your quiet time every day for a week,” “memorizing five verses,” etc. Just make it simple enough and short enough so the students will stay motivated weekly or monthly to achieve the prizes. Be sure to reward the students in a public setting. The Creative Discipleship Sheet can help you track that growth.

Teacher’s Note: Take the time to pray for the students and encourage them to talk to God about their habits of spiritual growth. After you pray, draw their attention to their Creative Discipleship Sheet for the final part of the lesson.

Sticky Statement

Small Group Discussion Questions

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