Resolve :: God gives us conviction to carry out his will.
Share this pic with the group.
Have a student read this section
This is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Constructed between 1173 to 1372 ALMOST 200 years
The tower started sinking by the time they were building the 2nd story.
By the 3rd story it was leaning.
It is 7 stories tall and it is leaning at 12 feet and 7 inches from top to bottom. And that is after they took 11 years to correct it from being dangerously tilted.
The builder made the floors taller on one side to try and compensate for the lean so it is literally impossible to make it straight.
The word pisa was derived from a word meaning marshy land!
Even though the leaning tower of Pisa is safe for the public you can still easily see something is off.
We learned tonight the importance of a firm foundation in our beliefs will always make our actions match our values. And when our foundation is shallow or uncertain our actions can be all over the place. Like the leaning tower of pisa what we see in our lives can help us understand whether our foundation is strong or not. You see the builders picked a soft spongy land and then decided to only make the foundation 10 feet deep! That means the foundation it was built on never even got to the solid ground below. It was too shallow.
3. Have the students answer these questions:
Imagine you are the leaning tower of Pisa. Where is your foundation not reaching deep enough to hit solid ground? Where do you find yourself leaning away from what you should be doing?
They repaired the leaning tower by pulling some of the marshy soil out from underneath it so it could sink down to more solid ground. What do you need to excavate from your life so your foundation is sitting on more solid ground?
4. The most firm foundation is the one built by God. We saw in Paul’s life that even when you have a firm foundation for your beliefs, without God supplying that foundation you end up confronted with the damage your actions have done. Jesus called him out for bullying and murdering the very people God was using and his whole belief system changed in a moment. Ask the students to share an experience where they did something that ended up causing hurt, or where someone else’s actions caused them to hurt. Then discuss what that experience taught them. As leaders help them navigate this concept in their particular contexts.
5. Ask the students to tell a time if they have one where God was prompting them to do something, and they didn’t. This could be a great space for you as leaders to be transparent and connect (appropriately :) ) with the students with a personal story like this. Talk about why there was a gap between their beliefs and their actions.
6. Have a student read Luke 6:46-49 - Then have the students discuss what these verses mean
7. Have a different student read Proverbs 27:17 - When iron is refined it requires heat and friction, It requires focus and action. These students are the iron so as we have time spend it talking openly about the things in their lives (family, school, friends, etc) and encouraging the students to listen to one another and encourage one another. You as leaders can lead by example but leave space (even silence) for the students to talk together. And when students do share make sure they know you are glad they did and that whatever they shared is safe among your life group and that they are not alone. Don’t let anyone be an island.
** Make sure you just circle around at some point to accountability.
*** Also talk to them a little about the CIY camps this summer.