Deliverer :: Choice

• Use the lead app to check in students and make sure any students not listed fill out a connect card digitally.

• Do not move on until check-in has happened and any students not listed have filled out a connect card.

Start by having a student read Romans 7:15-25

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Now have another student read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

CHOICE

Choosing Discipline over Regret.

Create a discussion led by these questions:

• “Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” How does that statement play out in your own life?

• Why do you think our actions tend to favor the pain of regret over the pain of discipline?

• What are some areas in your life where you feel you lack discipline? What will your life look like next year if you don’t make changes?

• What goals could you set that would require you to rely on God's strength and grace?

Share

Leaders if you have a story you can share where you chose discipline over regret share it. And explain what worked for you to do that. How did you tackle it in the real world - not just as an idea.

Next Step

What do you need to do differently now to achieve what you want most?

PRAY and CHILL

Be intentional with your prayer. Make sure you approach it with humility asking for Gods power in our weakness so we might be able to choose discipline over regret.

We will know we have hit our target if:

-Students leave understanding choice is the linch pin of this whole series, and ultimately we should choose dscipline over regret.

-Everyone leaves with a next step on pursuing what they want most over what they want right now.

-Students leave remembering the two questions:

      -What do you want most?

      -What do you need to do now to achieve what you want most?