Now Go High School Home Group

QUESTION- How many ever do the bare minimum in something in life???

Lets take a poll… How many have…

Have slept in up until you had 5 min left to be or go where you needed to be?

Have done 100% of your studying for a test or quiz 5 min before the test or quiz?

Have intentionally ran slower in the mile because you just didn’t care?

Have pretended they ran 4 laps when in reality you only ran 3 laps around the track?

Have intentionally been late for a class because you knew you still had 1 or 2 more warnings left?

Were tolled to clean your room and stuffed everything under the bed?

MAIN POINT- After we have an encounter with Jesus we now need to go for more.

Raising The Bar

MAIN POINT- After we have an encounter with Jesus we now need to go for more.

CHALLENGE- GO FOR MORE, don’t just do what it takes to get into heaven.

September 2nd, 2015

QUOTE- I pray the day that I die all of hell rejoices that I’m finally out of the fight.

THEME VERSE- (NLT) — 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

THEME VERSE- (NLT) — 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

MAIN QUESTION- What are some ways you can raise the standard for how you do things this school year?

Spiritual.Practical.

THEME VERSE- (NLT) — 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Introduction

QUESTION- As Christians is it important to raise the bar for how we live our lives? Why or why not?As we continue to live our our lives should we periodically raise the bar (standard).

ILLUSTRATION. When power lifters train they are always working to towards putting more weight on the bar, when runners train they always are working towards taking seconds off the clock and running further then they have before…

KEY POINT- We stop growing when we stop pushing ourselves.

Word

(NLT) — 1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. 8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

In our series we have been looking at big moments where someone has an encounter with Jesus, in this story we see Peter has a small encounter with Jesus…

Peter allowed Jesus into his boat - into his life…

Then Jesus said NOW GO… Then we see the miracle…

KEY- There will be times when you have an big supernatural encounter with Jesus when everything changes and he’ll say to you, “Now Go…” But there will be times when you let him into your life and he’ll say, “Now Go.” before the miracle.

POINT- After you let Jesus into your life its not enough to stay the same, its time to go deeper!

1. The call to raise our standards

Take time to break down some verses and hit on some of the topics Paul mentions in this passage.

1. The call to raise our standards

MAIN QUESTION- How do I go deeper?

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old

TEACHING POINT- When Paul was addressing the church things were going well. In general people were living a life for Jesus and living in a way that was pleasing, yet we still see Paul giving these instructions.

Things can be going well, and your walk with God might be good, but we are to never settle with where we are at. “10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”

Why shouldn't we settle with where we are? Why should we keep raising the bar?

CurveBall Question- We are saved by grace, as long as we are not intentionally sinning and causing problems, why should we try to keep taking strides to be more like Jesus?

What is in it for me?

2. How to make real change happen

POLL- Have you set goals for yourself at the start of the school year in the

What happened?

Some of the goals we may have set for ourselves in the past might sound like…

I’m going to stop using bad language… I’m going to stop becoming overwhelmed… I’m going to stop hiding my faith… I’m going to stop being lazy… I’m going to stop letting impure thoughts and images into my brain…

So many people let goals like this and they fail.

Why is real change so hard?

TEACHING POINT- It is not enough to simply say I am not going to do something anymore, we need to replace that with something… This is why Paul teaches us to go beyond simply stopping certain behaviors but adding new ones to replace them with.

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you

Application

Ask yourself, what are some ways I need to raise the bar in my life?

Set goals, not just saying I’m not going to do dot dot dot but saying I will do.