All posts tagged Youth Outline

Nicodemus Part 2 of 4

by Ryan Marcum on April 6, 2010 in Blog, Ministry Helps, Sermon Outline with No comments

NICODEMUS – BORN AGAIN LESSON #2

Tonight is the second part of our series on Nicodemus! Who can tell me anything from last week? (Wait for something about shallow faith) Good answers. Let’s pick up where we left off, Nicodemus met with Jesus at night and gave Jesus a compliment about being from God, but what we did not see is Jesus’ response. Check out:

John 3:3-8   3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Here some things that stick out, that we will be looking at:

  1. Born Again
  2. Kingdom of God
  3. Born of water and spirit

So, what does it mean to be Born Again? (give adequate time for students to think about the question) The phrase, born again, is the display of God giving eternal life to a person who is dead in sin. Let us take a look at some verses to explore this though even more. (Divide students into groups, depending on the number of students you have) had out the following verses for each group to look up, act out and recite to the group as a whole; BORN AGAIN:

Ephesians 2:4-5  4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

2 Corinthians 5:17  17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Titus 3:5  5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

James 1:18 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

1 Peter 1:3    3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

These verses give us a look into salvation that only comes from God through Jesus, this “new birth represents the gift of God that brings us life out of death! When Jesus tells Nicodemus You must be born again, this birth is a second chance! Wayne Grudem explains it like this; Regeneration is a secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us This is sometimes called being born again(using language from John 3:3-8)[1]. Jesus then goes on to say that Nicodemus cannot see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. What is the Kingdom of God? (again give students adequate time to answer) Nicodemus being a Jew anticipated the Kingdom of God and like all good Jews believed that doing the right things (observing laws and religious rituals) would work their way into the kingdom of God. For brevity when we say the Kingdom of God we are referring to; the Kingdom of salvation, the spiritual realm where those who have been born again by divine power through faith now live under the rulership of God.[2]

Born of Water & Spirit

What does it mean to be born of water and spirit? (give students adequate time to answer) Some would hear this and think there are two aspects of being born again; one being born of water and the second as being born of spirit. DO NOT LOOK AT IT THIS WAY.  Born of the water and Spirit parallels the phrase “born again” in verse three.[3] Some scholars believe that Nicodemus would not have understood our understanding of Christian Baptism because it did not exist yet.[4] Jesus new Nicodemus would have understood both water and spirit symbolically through the Old Testament to spiritual cleanliness. Have students read the following verses out loud;

Numbers 19:17-19  17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or someone who has been killed or someone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify him. The person being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and that evening he will be clean.

Isaiah 4:4 4 The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

Joel 2:28-29  28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Ezekiel 36:24-27  24 ” ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

John MacArthur says of Ezekiel 36:24-27; It was surely the passage that Jesus was had in mind, showing regeneration to be an Old Testament truth with which Nicodemus would have been acquainted.[5] Jesus’ statement was very clear, without being born of water and spirit which is acted out only by the Holy Spirit, no one can enter the Kingdom of God.

What is Baptism? Denfinition:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.[6]

For our definition we will use this simple definition: Baptism = outward expression of inward transformation. (SHOW CLIP OF Oh’ Brother Where Art Thou Baptism Scene)

Oh’ Brother where art thou? Clip

Was this a picture of being born again? If Baptism is an Outward Expression of an Inward Transformation something must be different! The Holy Spirit washes us clean and we become a NEW CREATION!

In closing, if you are here tonight and have ever made the decision to follow Christ with your whole being yet have never outwardly expressed that decision I invite you to come forward during the closing song and speak with a counselor and know that you know you have been born again.

[1] Grudem, Wayne Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, Zondervan 1994) 699

[2] MacArthur, John The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, Moody Publishers 2006) 102

[3] Ibid, 104.

[4] Carson, D.A. The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans 1991) 191-196

[5] MacArthur, John The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, Moody Publishers 2006) 105

[6] Baptist Faith and Message Baptistm and the Lord’s Supper; available from http://www.sbc.net/BFM/bfm2000.asp;  Internet; accessed 06 April 2010.

Nicodemus, Jesus Knows Your Heart

by Ryan Marcum on April 6, 2010 in Blog, Ministry Helps, Sermon Outline with No comments

This is the first of four simple teaching outlines for youth ministry feel free to take and adjust for your needs!

Background of Nicodemus & Jesus Knows Your Heart LESSON #1

Good evening! Great Worship time guys, if you have your Bibles raise them up! If you need a Bible let a student leader know and they will help you out. Tonight we are going to begin our new series about Nicodemus. Can anyone tell me anything about Nicodemus? (Give Students the proper amount of time to respond) Does anyone know the verse John 3:16? You may not know what the context around this verse but the passage, John 3:1-21, is in the middle of a conversation Jesus had with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Does anyone know where Nicodemus is mentioned in the Bible besides John chapter three? Let’s take a look at some scriptural references of where Nicodemus is mentioned;

John 3:1-21 (already mentioned)

John 7:45-51, Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why   didn’t you bring him in?” “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared. “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

John 19:39-42, He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Who was Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a Pharisee, his name was Greek in origin which means, victor over the people. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin a ruler of the Jews; however nothing is known about his background. We saw in John chapters seven and nineteen that Nicodemus became a believer. In the passage we will be talking about Nicodemus is still seeking answers from Jesus.

Check out John 2:23-3:3:

23Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name, 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. 3:1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”

Here we see Jesus in Jerusalem performing miracles and they believed in His name. Like the people mentioned here there are some here tonight who believe the things we talk about but if you look in the very next verse we see something that I do not want you to miss. Check out verse twenty four; it says that Jesus knew all men and He knew what was in a man. Jesus KNOWS your HEART. True faith is much more that believing in miracles it is a whole-hearted commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior over your life. So the question tonight is; is your faith a shallow faith?

Then walks in Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, who is connected with the superficial believers whose heart Jesus read like an open book.[1] In this passage we see Jesus pointing Nicodemus to the life changing nature of true saving faith.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, this is interesting because it could mean a couple of things, one being that Nicodemus did not represent all of the Sanhedrin and two, he did not want others to know of the inquiry. The most important part of these two is that Nicodemus showed up! Nicodemus was willing to put himself out there, remember JUST SHOWING UP DOESN’T GUARANTEE SALVATION but it is important that you showed up tonight.

Back to the question; Is your faith shallow? Have volunteers read, Romans twelve verses one through two and James one twenty two through twenty four.

Romans 12:1-2 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What does it mean to be a living sacrifice? To live is to, well, BE ALIVE! And to be a sacrifice is to BE DEAD! So how can one be alive and dead at the same time? It does not make sense! (Wait for student responses) God calls those that follow after Him be alive in Christ, repenting of sin, accepting the gift of salvation and allow Jesus to be Lord over our lives. God also calls us to die to self, no longer living in sin which represents selfish desires in essence dying to ourselves. If you are here tonight living for self take a moment to evaluate why you are here, really dig deep and seek God. Some are here just talking the walk instead of walking the talk. Check out our next verse.

James 1:22-24 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

How many would raise your hand if I were to ask, how many here tonight know that you only hear what we talk about and never do anything about it? (Rhetorical) The simple fact is we all at times miss the point of walking by faith! We like Nicodemus are inquiring instead of living our faith out.

As we close tonight evaluate your relationship with God and ask yourself if you are living for God or if you are living for self. Jesus knows your heart. You can not fool Him, you cannot squeak by. You either are a true believer or you’re not.

CLOSING GAME:
(blind-fold obstacle course)
Students will pair off in two’s – Teammate will blindfold the other and guide blindfolded teammate through obstacle course while other teams try and confuse them by yelling and making noise.

[1] MacArthur, John The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, Moody Publishers 2006) 100