Is God in Control?
When our daughter was killed on our church youth group outing the congregants and attendees reeled with grief and confusion. The question of, “Why do bad things happen to Christians if God is in Control,” was smack in their faces. No one felt this sting more than us, her parents. We heard our pastors try every explanation to explain that, Yes God was in charge but he hadn’t actually allowed our daughter to be killed. After all a good God would never do such a thing. Our pastor even went so far as to insist that not everything in the Bible was infallible and that the book of Job really didn’t belong in the Bible. We actually left the church over this dangerously unbiblical theology because we believe God is Sovereign.
Here is my sermon entitled, “You Can’t Believe Your Eyes.”
In these Bible lesson I grappled with this issue with my Sunday School class. They needed answers too.
In the Hands of the Sovereign Lord
When things go horribly wrong in a Christian’s life, a believer can be left bewildered, wondering why bad things happen to 
good people. Questions are raised: “Doesn’t God love me?”, “Am I being punished?”, “Can’t God protect me from evil?”, “If He can, why didn’t He?”, Is God responsible for evil?” Faith can waiver. The goal of this lesson is to firmly lock the issue of sovereignty into your kids faith so (Ephesians 6:13)”…that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (NIV)
This is a very detailed two page lesson plan with teachers guide. It’s more suited to older middle school and high school kids. You’ll need 30 or 40 minutes. Before the lesson, being a Star Trek fan, I played a scene from the movie, “Undiscovered Country” where Captain Kirk is being interrogated by an alien tribunal. The question was, “Are you aware that as a Captain you are responsible for the actions of your men?”
Predestination or Free Will:
Believers have always felt compelled to choose sides between the Sovereignty of God and Free-Will. Both doctrines are well documented and described in the Bible but simply can’t exist simultaneously by human reasoning. In God’s economy they can. I use the illustration of a horseshoe dipped in a bucket of milk. All we can see are two ends sticking up that are impossible to get together. However, once we lift the horseshoe out of the water we see that each, seemingly opposing end is part of the same shoe.
Get more understanding of this subject from the book below.
These lessons are free to use but if you would like to support our ministry you may make a donation using this button. Thank you for your support. More information about donations.
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
By J.I. Packer / InterVarsity Press
If God is in control of everything, can Christians sit back and not bother to evangelize? Or does active evangelism imply that
God is not really sovereign at all?
In this new edition to the popular IVP Classics series J. I. Packer shows how both of these attitudes are false. In a careful review of the biblical evidence, he shows how a right understanding of God’s sovereignty is not so much a barrier to evangelism as an incentive and powerful support for it. With over 100,000 copies in print, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God is truly a classic that should be read by every Christian.
Serving Two Masters:
The goal of this youth Bible study is to help the kids understand their feelings when they want to do what is right but 
frequently choose to do what is wrong. They must understand the battle within themselves and be encouraged to surrender more and more to the Holy Spirit.
It is a one page lesson plan with a really fun pre-lesson activity that helps reinforce the lesson. You’ll need to get a very large “sleep shirt” for the activity.
These lessons are free to use but if you would like to support our ministry you may make a donation using this button. Thank you for your support. More information about donations.
Stripped Clean: Down to Nothing But the Cross
Give your teenagers a guilt-free, up-close look at materialism–one that strips away the overwhelming messages of a consumer society. You’ll see authentic changes in readers as they tear out pages to use in Jesus-centered activities. From the back cover: Do you own your stuff… or does your stuff own you? Like you, Jesus had stuff. Unlike you, it didn’t have him. Take a guilt-free, life-changing look at what you have… what it means… and discover how to tread lightly in the world as the steward Jesus calls you to be. Oh yeah: and don’t get too attached to this book. As you change, it changes, too. Get free, stripped clean, down to nothing but Jesus.
God Wants A Monopoly On Your Life
Click on Bible lesson plan to download free .pdf.
This Bible study lesson focuses on the deceitfulness of possessions and worldly desires. Help your youth group kids look for things that take precedence over their relationship with God. This may be the first time that they think about making a serious commitment to God. Discover the difference in viewing God as a part of our lives compared to feeling that we are servants of God for Him to use in His life.
This is a one page lesson plan with leaders guide. For a pre-lesson activity we play a few hands of the board game Monopoly. I renamed the titles of the squares to things like Money, friends, video game, etc. Better yet, buy the electronic game for your Wii. It’s actually fun.
The book above is a remarkable devotional on the same topic, combating materialism. Have a few copies ready and suggest them to parents as a continuing education devotional series for their kids. See how life changing this can be.
These lessons are free to use but if you would like to support our ministry you may make a donation using this button. Thank you for your support. More information about donations.
Chosen by God [R.C. Sproul]
By R.C. Sproul / Tyndale House
Tackling the subject of predestination, Sproul argues that it paints a portrait of a loving God who provides redemption for radically corrupt humans, rather than that of a whimsical or spiteful Lord. Point by point, he examines Scripture and discusses God’s sovereignty, the problem of evil, human freedom, and the task of evangelism. 213 pages, softcover from Tyndale.
