Atomic Week 1- Time With God
Notes
Transcript
WHAT? What are we talking about today?
QUESTION | "What are atoms?"
Welcome to our first week of Atomic! Has anyone studied atoms in school? What are they? INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond. Atoms are the smallest unit of matter and they make up everything we see around us. So they're both super important and super tiny.
ACTIVITY | Atomic Tag
If you had a microscope powerful enough to see atoms, you'd see that atoms are pretty tightly packed together. So let's play a game — "atom" style.
INSTRUCTIONS: All you'll need for this game is either a bunch of cones, rope, or masking tape to mark your boundaries. Play a few rounds of tag with either with your entire group or just a handful of students — but make it "atomic" by playing inside a very small playing area. If you're a science nerd, make this game extra interesting by playing inside three concentric circles, each one symbolizing different states of matter. "Solid" would be the center ring, where atoms (your players) are most tightly packed. "Water" would be the center ring, and "gas" would be the outer ring where atoms are most loosely packed. While you play, randomly shout out different states of matter to change the boundary lines. Give Atomic Fireballs to your winners.
OBJECT LESSON | Your Morning Routine
Atoms are super important because they make up everything in our universe. Every single thing that exists is made of atoms, even though we never see or notice them at all. Kind of like atoms, your life is made up of lots of things you never see or notice — like your habits. You don't always notice when it's happening, but you probably have a habit of . . .
Breathing.
Getting hungry every few hours (or minutes).
Checking your phone as soon as you wake up.
Throwing your stuff in the same spot every time you walk into your house.
Sitting in the same seat you usually do, even when you don't have to.
Humming when you're thinking.
You probably even routines you fall into every day, even when you don't mean to.
INSTRUCTIONS: Before your teaching time time, fill a box with things like a pillow, blanket, toothbrush, pair of clean socks, bowl, spoon, box of cereal, or hairbrush. Invite a student to the front to walk through their typical morning routine, starting with when their alarm goes off and ending when they leave for school. Have the other students play along, encouraging them to shout out their own preferences for what order they do things or maybe start a debate about whether you should brush your teeth before or after breakfast.
We all have habits we don't really think about. Some of those habits are helpful, some are harmful, and some are neutral.
Sometimes we don’t realize we have certain habits until they cause trouble for us. Have you ever noticed a habit you didn't realize you had? What about a habit you wish you didn't have? But instead of stressing so much about our bad habits, what if we focused more of our time on adding helpful habits to our lives?
SO WHAT? Why does it matter to God and to us?
QUESTION | "What are some things that are small but powerful?"
Our habits are small but incredibly powerful, just like . . .
Atoms.
Dirty baby diapers. I mean they're small, but the smell is, uh, pretty powerful.
Coffee. It's just some thin, dark liquid, but it keeps you energized for hours.
What else is small but powerful?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
In the same way, most of your habits are probably small, tiny, hardly noticeable habits. But over time, those tiny habits can powerfully impact your life — for good or bad.
So what about your spiritual habits?
What are the small things you do every day that either draw you closer to God or keep you at a distance?
What small changes can you make now to get closer to God over time?
And after you set some goals for getting closer to God, how can you actually meet them?
For the next few weeks, we're going to talk about four different spiritual habits that can help you get closer to God over time. You may already have some habits that help you do this, but we're going to get really specific to see what other new habits we might be able to create in order to grow.
SCRIPTURE | Matthew 17:1–8
The problem is, how do you know which habits will actually help you get closer to God? "Growing spiritually" feels like such a mysterious process sometimes. What does it mean? How does it happen? How do you know when it's happening? To help us answer those questions, let me share with you a story written by a man named Matthew, who was one of Jesus's first followers. Not only was Matthew one of Jesus's first followers, he was a historian. He wanted people for generations to remember what God had done, so he wrote out in detail all of Jesus's important stories and encounters. Jesus had a habit of climbing mountains in order to spend some time with God. Over and over throughout the Bible, you see mentions of Jesus heading out on solo hikes in order to pray in solitude. But this time, He invited a few friends — and then something incredible happened. INSTRUCTIONS: Read Matthew 17:1-8
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
VIDEO | A Clip of a Kid Being Surprisingly Good at Dancing
If you're reading this and thinking, "Wait, what just happened?" then you know how Peter and the other disciples must have felt when they saw Jesus transform right before their eyes. They thought they knew everything there was to know about Jesus, but suddenly, it was like . . .
INSTRUCTIONS: Kid Dancing at school Video
Okay, maybe Jesus' transformation was a little more awe-inducing than a dance battle, but you get the idea.
Jesus' transformation on that mountaintop is an important part of Jesus’ story. Many religious leaders had expectations of who Jesus was supposed to be. Some believed he was the Son of God and some didn’t. Even his followers struggled to believe who he was. Peter was one of Jesus' closest disciples, but he still questioned if Jesus really was God. But when Jesus' form changed right before his eyes, Peter's understanding of who Jesus was shifted too. In time, this shift in Peter's perspective led to a significant shift in Peter's whole life. Although Peter's journey with Jesus was a little messy at times, he stuck close by Jesus' side and God used him to do incredible things. Just like Peter, we may have our own assumptions about Jesus, questions, and misunderstandings of Jesus. Maybe you think . . .
Jesus was a good teacher, but nothing more.
Jesus is just a crutch to lean on when life gets tough.
Jesus won't love or accept you until you get your life together.
Jesus is a good option, but not the only way to know God.
Until we make it a habit to spend time with Jesus ourselves, we won't have a chance to see how amazing He truly is or have our misunderstandings about Him transformed. As we spend time with God, we'll be able to see more clearly who He truly is — just like Peter did that day on the mountaintop.
Peter realized that the all the Old Testament and prophecies within it find their fulfillment in the figure of Jesus the Messiah.
Moses, the law and Elijah the prophet had become one with the gospel of Jesus.
-Origen
It all leads to Jesus!
SCRIPTURE | II Corinthians 3:18-4:2
Paul is another early follower of Jesus, and he wrote a letter to a church in the city of Corinth. In it, he described how Jesus's followers can experience the glory of God.
INSTRUCTIONS: Read II Corinthians 3:18-4:2
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
*Title Slide*
It's not just Jesus who transformed. We can be transformed too, to be more like Jesus over time. That happens by the power of God's Spirit and our commitment to change our habits. When we make it a habit to spend time with God and turn away from the things that displease God, we . . .
Discover God's transforming power. Better understand how great God really is. Experience God for ourselves. Are changed from the inside out.
STORY | Talk about how spending time with God transformed your life.
For as long as you live, you will continue to build habits. But the habit of spending time with God regularly is one habit that can transform your life in significant ways.
INSTRUCTIONS: Tell a story from your own life (or ask a volunteer or student to tell a story) about how spending time with God transformed your life. Identify a specific thing God changed in your life or your heart and share the process of how that transformation happened. Be sure to also share what "spending time with God" looked like for you in detail. What specific habits did you practice that led to this transformation?
Right after I got saved, I realized I didn’t have a Bible in my college apartment.
So I went to a Christian bookstore in Murfreesboro, TN and got a a big NIV Bible.
Every morning when I got home from my night shift job, I would read the Word and pray.
Every time I was tempted to do something stupid and sinful, I would read the Word and pray.
And I didn’t miss a church service, small group or Sunday School class for nothing.
I was at my home church on Sunday morning and evening, Wednesdays, and my friends and I would travel to a college service in downtown Nashville each Tuesday.
I wasn’t a Pastor back then, and didn’t know the Bible really well, but I knew what Christ did for me and I wanted to spend time with Him every chance I had.
God transformed my life from living for myself to living for Him.
From cussing up a storm to the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart pleasing Him.
When we spend time with God, we become more like Jesus. We are transformed to reflect more of God's nature and character. So as we build habits that shape who we are, let's
make it a habit to spend time with God.
make it a habit to spend time with God.
NOW WHAT? What does God want us to do about it?
DISCUSSION | "How are you supposed to spend time with God?"
But like we said before, spending time with God can be a habit that seems strange and mysterious. It's not like Peter spending time with his friend Jesus — it's us trying to spend time with our invisible Creator . . . which can be weird. Spending time with God might be easier to understand if we break it into these three words: learn, pray, worship.
LEARN: Thanks to the Bible, books about faith, or teaching like this message right now, we can spend time with God by learning more about who God is and what God says.
PRAY: We spend time with God every time we listen and talk to God, and that's all prayer is.
WORSHIP: We spend time with God when we worship on our own or with other Jesus-followers. So let's get specific. How does this actually work? How are you supposed to spend time with God?
INSTRUCTIONS:
Lead this discussion by writing on a large chalkboard or whiteboard —
embrace the science classroom aesthetic! Start by writing three words on the board: learn, pray, worship. As students give ideas, write them under each category. If they give you ideas that don't fit in those categories, let them know you'll talk about those habits in future weeks and redirect them to the specific habit of spending time with God in personal spiritual disciplines. When they share an idea, ask follow-up questions to get as specific as possible. For example, if they say "pray," ask, "About what? When? Where? For how long?" Then write the results, such as, "Pray for two minutes while I brush my teeth," or "Pray for strength when I'm tempted to be a jerk."
IMAGE | Habit Stacking
When I look at that board we just made, do you know what I see? Habits! A ton of them! Now let's see how we can stack those habits.
Habit stacking may sound like a game you download on your phone, but it's actually a strategy for developing good habits that was popularized by a guy named James Clear. Habit stacking might sound like a weird idea, but it’s really easy and effective! All we need to do is follow a simple formula: "After/before I ____, I will ____."
INSTRUCTIONS: Show the image provided in your Week 1 folder. Here's the idea: you already have a ton of habits that you do every day. If you want to add a new habit to your routine, an easy way to do it is to attach it to a habit you already do. So first, choose a habit you want to develop (maybe one from the board) and then try to attach it to a habit you already have.
After I eat dinner, I will write in a prayer journal. After I see a Bible App notification, I will read the passage that pops up. Before I get out of bed, I will read the Bible for at least two minutes. After I think about someone, I will pray for them. Before I walk outside, I will thank God for creation.
RESPONSE | Habit Stacking Blocks
INSTRUCTIONS: Give every student three small connectable building blocks like these or these, along with a permanent marker. Invite them to write one spiritual habit they want to develop on one block, a habit they already have on the second block, and the word "transformation" on the third block. Do the same from the front with three jumbo building blocks, connect them in a sequence (with "transformation" on top), and share your own stack.
If your first block is your current habit (like brushing your teeth), and your second block is your new spiritual habit (like following a reading plan on the Bible app), what do you think transformation could look like for you? What are some ways your life could change if you spent more time with God?
What kind of transformation you experience depends on what God needs to transform in your life, and it's not always predictable. God likes to surprise us sometimes — just ask Peter. But one thing is for sure: when you spend time with God consistently over time, you can't help but be transformed. That's what God's Spirit does. So this week, give it a try — whether it's through learning, prayer, worship, or all three,
make it a habit to spend time with God!
make it a habit to spend time with God!