BreakTrail Week 4-Jesus is Alive

WHAT? What are we talking about today?

QUESTION | "Is anyone here a hiker?"

Welcome back to Break Trail! If you haven't been here for a few weeks and you're wondering what "break trail" means, it has to do with hiking. Is anyone here a hiker?

INSTRUCTIONS: Have students raise their hands to indicate whether or not they like to hike. Follow up with some of the students who responded by asking them questions like . . .

Where do you like to hike? How often do you hike? Has anything interesting ever happened to you on a hike?

IMAGES | It's Alive!

When you're out in nature, it's pretty common to be taken by surprise by a wild creature or two. Maybe . . .

A bird dive-bombs you and steals your snacks. You get stalked by a bobcat. You brush a leaf off your arm and realize it's a giant spider. A snake interrupts your casual stroll. When you're out in nature, you have to stay aware of the many living things around you. A lot of animals have a natural ability to blend into their surroundings for protection, so they're hard to spot. But even indoor animals have some camouflage abilities, like . . .

Is it a poodle or fried chicken? Is it a husky or a bagel? Is it a parrot or some guacamole? Is it a kitten or a caramel sundae? Is it a chihuahua or a blueberry muffin?

INSTRUCTIONS: Before your program, prepare the images provided in your Week 4 folder. Show them on screen one at a time. If you'd like to turn this into a game, show the blurred versions of each picture first and have students guess which box is which. Otherwise, just show the unblurred versions of the images.

STORY | Talk about a time you were surprised something was alive.

INSTRUCTIONS: Tell a story from your own life (or have a volunteer or student tell a story) about a time when you were surprised something was alive when you thought it was inanimate. You might talk about the time what you thought was a stray hair was actually a bug on your face, or when the thing you thought was a pillow was actually your dog, or when you were singing at an embarrassing volume because you thought you were alone, only to find out that lump of pillows on the sofa was actually your roommate. (Ask Brad to do this while he’s hiking)

Considering it's Easter, you might know where I'm going with this whole "being surprised something was alive" thing. Let’s take a look at Jesus' journey to the cross and beyond.

Jesus was betrayed by His friends on the night of His arrest. Then he was beaten, tortured, and mocked on His way to the cross. Then we find Jesus on the cross in the last moments before His death.

And today, in celebration of Easter Sunday, we're going to talk about what happened next.

SO WHAT? Why does it matter to God and to us?

STORY | Talk about a time you experienced a hopeless situation.

I'm guessing you know what happened after Jesus was killed. It's what Easter Sunday (and our entire faith in Jesus) is all about. Three days after Jesus died, He rose from the dead!

But before we get there, I want us to think about what it must have been like for Jesus' friends and followers before they heard the good news of Jesus' resurrection. Try not to jump ahead to the celebration just yet. Instead, see if you can imagine what it must have been like to be one of Jesus' followers. Your leader (the one you thought was the Son of God) is dead. Your own life is danger too. Your movement seems to be over. Everything that had given you hope and purpose just a few days earlier now seems like a lost cause. If you had been there you would probably have been feeling pretty hopeless. You probably would have been wondering, "Will things ever get better?"

INSTRUCTIONS: Tell a story from your own life (or have a volunteer or student tell a story) about a time when you experienced what you thought was a hopeless situation. Choose a story that ultimately has a happy ending, but don't share the conclusion just yet — you'll come back to this story. For now, leave everyone wondering if or how this could possibly turn out well.

You may not have the same story that I have, but you probably have a similar story of a moment when you just couldn't see how your situation could work out for the best. In our lowest and most hopeless moments, it often seems impossible to imagine a find a way out of our hopeless stories. But Jesus is in the business of breaking new trails no one else could. Let's see how Jesus broke trail on the path to hope.

SCRIPTURE | Luke 24:1-12

On our last stop on this journey toward Easter, we left with Jesus' body being taken down from the cross and prepared for burial, while his close friends and family mourned their loss.

In Jewish culture, it was customary when someone died to visit their tomb on the third day. During that visit, friends and family would cover their loved one's body with oils and spices to honor the dead and limit the odor a dead body would give off. Three women who had been close followers and friends of Jesus were the ones who got up early on that third day to go and treat the body of Jesus. All things considered, these women expected to go Jesus' tomb and find Him . . . well, dead. This was a sad, somber, and overall hopeless situation. As far as they know, all that was left to do was grieve and mourn what had been lost.

INSTRUCTIONS: Read Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1–12 NIV

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

The women went to the tomb, expecting to see Jesus' body there. But they didn't. Instead, two men appeared (probably angels) to tell the women the person they were looking for wasn't dead at all. He was alive!

Can you imagine the shock these women must have experienced? Because this announcement does not make sense. They saw Jesus die. They saw His body. They knew He was buried. But now He's not? When they started thinking through all the things Jesus had said that once seemed so cryptic, things began to make sense for the first time. Jesus really was alive — and this shouldn't have been a surprise. Jesus had been hinting at this all along! The women ran to the rest of the disciples to tell them Jesus was alive! But of course, they found it hard to believe. Even Peter, who was usually the first to get excited, had to go to the tomb and see for himself. Peter saw the empty tomb, but he still didn't believe it. Luke told us Peter walked away, in awe, wondering what was going on. Can you blame Jesus' followers for their confusion and hesitation? The idea that Jesus had risen from the dead was so fantastic and unbelievable. It makes sense why they had trouble grasping it.

IMAGES | The Chilean Mine Collapse

In 2010, there was a disaster in the country of Chile. Thirty-three miners were at work underground, just like they did every day, when the ground shifted and a rock bigger than a skyscraper fell into the only path that existed for the miners to exit the mine.

These men were completely trapped below ground. In the dark. With limited food and supplies. And dwindling oxygen. If ever there was a moment that felt helpless, it would've been this one. However, after almost 70 days of planning, innovating, failing, succeeding, and a whole lot of drilling, an international team of miners and scientists had a breakthrough. They drilled a hole that reached deep into the earth, to the place where the miners were stuck, and then built an extraction tube to rescue them.

INSTRUCTIONS: As you teach, show a few images of the Chilean mine rescue, like this one of the extraction tube that was built for this escape plan or this one of one of the men after his rescue.

This device could only pull up one of the miners at a time and it took roughly 15 minutes to slowly climb all the way to the surface. A man named Florencio Ávalos was the first to make the trip.

No one was confident he could survive or that it would work. No one had ever built a device like this before. Certainly, no one had ever tested it to see if it could work. Thirty-three families, friends, scientists, and media outlets from all over the world watched as Florencio emerged from the extraction device. Safe. Alive. After Florencio successfully broke this trail, every single one of those 33 miners followed in his footsteps and took their trips to the surface too. Florencio blazed a trial for his fellow miners. It was a trail that led from death to life, if only they were willing to follow his lead.

SCRIPTURE | I Corinthians 15:21-26

It's not a perfect analogy, but in some ways, Jesus' resurrection was similar to that first trip taken by Florencio. When Jesus rose from the dead, He showed all of us the way to finding new life too. Here's how the apostle Paul talks about it . . .

INSTRUCTIONS: Read I Corinthians 15:21-26

1 Corinthians 15:21–26 NIV

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Title Slide

When Paul says we can be made alive again in Jesus, he means two things:

When we die, we don't stay dead. Just like Jesus, we can rise again and live an eternal life with God. But with Jesus, we can also find new life right here and right now. The things in our lives or hearts that seem dead don't have to stay that way. At the core of our faith is the belief that God can . . .

Turn death into life. Redeem anything that's gone wrong. Resurrect anyone and anything. Seeing dead things come back to life is kind of what following Jesus is all about.

Jesus is alive.

And with Jesus, so are we.

NOW WHAT? What does God want us to do about it?

STORY | Finish talking about your hopeless situation.

INSTRUCTIONS: Wrap up your story from earlier. How did God bring your hopeless situation back to life?

With God, any hopeless situation can turn for the better. Anything dead can come back to life. With Jesus, there truly is no such thing as hopelessness.

VIDEO | A Clip from a Video about Animals in States of Torpor

With Jesus, I sometimes feel a little bit like this mouse.

INSTRUCTIONS: As a teaching tool, play a short clip from a video like this one (0:00-0:40, 1:15-1:25, 2:30-2:40) of a man reviving a mouse from a state of torpor.

This little guy had been in a hopeless situation. He was stuck in a trench, powerless to free himself, unless someone bigger and more powerful came to rescue him. Honestly, this video really resonates with me. Not just because we're both adorable and like to take naps, but I know what it's like to get stuck in a state of torpor.

PRAYER | Hoping for New Life

What about you? Is there part of your life where you've lost hope?

YOUR FAITH:

Has it been a while since you really gave your faith a chance? Maybe you haven't spent much time with Jesus. Maybe it feels like that part of you is in the past or was never real to begin with. Maybe you've never before made a decision to follow Jesus, but you think you might want to start today.

YOUR DREAMS:

Do you feel like all of your hopes and plans are falling apart? Maybe it seems like it's time to give up and stop trying.

YOUR WORLD:

You may have been fighting for a long time now to try and see things change in our city or around the world. You see brokenness and want to see change, but nothing ever seems to get better.

YOUR RELATIONSHIPS:

Maybe there is someone you love and have been praying for, but you're beginning to lose hope they'll ever overcome the problem they are facing. It's not easy to hold out hope when thinks seem so dark. Jesus is alive, but there was a time when Jesus was truly dead and His followers' faith was still shaken to its core. I don't know what the future holds, but I believe Jesus can do things none of us would expect. There is no prayer too big for the One who died and decided not to stay dead.

INSTRUCTIONS: Invite students to spend a moment asking Jesus to bring life into their situations that seem dead. As they pray, begin to play some music quietly in preparation for a time of worship.

MUSIC | Easter Worship

There are things in our life that we cannot bring life to on our own, but thanks to Jesus, nothing has to remain dead, lost, or hopeless.

Not us. Not our faith. Not our dreams. Not our world. Not the people we love. Yes, Jesus died, but that's not the end of the story. Jesus got up. He left death, hopelessness, and the power of sin behind — not for Himself, but for you and me. Death and sin don't have to have the last word for this one reason:

Jesus is alive!

And thanks to Him, we can be too.

INSTRUCTIONS: If you can, end a little early this week so you can spend some extra time in worship to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. You can use any songs you like best, but here are a few specifically about the fact that Jesus is alive . . .

"Graves Into Gardens" Have students sing with live music?