teaching opportunity

Apparantly I am now the official Youth Sunday School teacher at my church, along with my wife since its not kosher for me to go it solo when teaching girls, which is pretty much the entire youth group at our small church. On any given Sunday day our youth group could actually fit in a minivan or even a small car. Ha.

Anyway, its a good opportunity to try and learn to relate to younger people. I know I'm only 25 years old but I'm still more comfortable debating the eschatalogical positions of the ante-nicene fathers, or the soteriological quandries of the 2nd Great Awakening with my pastor than trying to relate Biblical lessons to bored high schoolers whose parents make them come.

I guess if anything, it is a challenge. I need to try and make the Bible come alive to these kids like it has for me. Today we talked about suffering. I tried to address the three types of suffering, being:

Suffering directly from sins we have committed. (David, Soloman, King of Babylon)

Suffering indirectly as a result of sin being in the world (genocides, wars, etc etc)

Suffering as a result of serving God through faithfullness and obedience. I had to leave this last part of the lesson for next week but that is great because we will get to talk about it in detail instead of rushing through it. Examples include: Job, the OT prophets, Peter and John rejoicing after being flogged for preaching Christ (Acts), Paul suffering imprisonments and floggings, John being exiled to Patmos, and the general persecution of the early Christian church. Ultimately these, like our own suffering; all point toward Christ and direct us to His sufering in obedience to the Father by laying down his life as a substitution for his beloved after a life of sinless obedience.

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9:22

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” Isaiah 53:3

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our inequities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5

and to point us to the life to come in glorification...


“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

Chew on that.