What's Happenin' @ Forward Mid-Week

Below is a brief summary of what talked about tonight. Most of the time we teach through a series for several weeks at a time that way students that miss can get caught back up quickly, and so we can dissect a topic more fully than just a one night deal. Use the overview and questions for both you and your teen to answer and have a dialog that continues outside the church walls and into your homes. Use this opportunity to see what God is teaching your student and also allow your student to see what God is teaching/taught you.

Current Series:

Imagine your life as a car. Now imagine your heart as the car’s gas tank. What is it that fuels you? Is it others’ approval? Is it being the most popular? The most athletic? The smartest? Do you have to feel liked by others to like yourself? Do you need to feel accepted by others to know God loves you? The danger in fueling ourselves by people and things is that eventually, they will let us down. And what happens when that fuel is gone? When our friendships fade? When we’re not the fastest anymore? When we make a C in math? Or when our crush turns us down? What do we then? The truth is, we all want to be loved, but sometimes people reject us. We want to be liked, but sometimes we don’t think we’re as cool as we wish we were. And we don’t want to lose the people we love, but sometimes we get our hearts broken. Or you could say it this way: deep down, we’re all asking for three things: Love me. Like me. And don’t leave me. As we look at the lives of Jesus, Paul, and Jeremiah, we’ll learn how to answer these questions in a way that keeps our hearts up and running.

 

This Week's Recap:

Week #2 (10.12.2016): Like Me

Bottom Line: When I feel unlikeable, God still likes me.

What we talked about:

We all want to be liked. No one wants to be the last person chosen for the team. No one wants to eat lunch alone. No one wants to be cropped out of that Instagram photo or blasted on social media for a mistake we’ve made. No, we want to be liked. We want to be included. We want to be in. Our desire to be liked can lead us to wish our lives looked a little different. Maybe we wish we had more friends, cooler clothes, better stuff, funnier jokes, more talent or simply more popularity. But if having the best and being the best is our main focus in life, we’re going to be disappointed. And more than that, we’re going to miss out on something more important—God’s will for our lives. It is possible to set aside our desire to be liked to do something that really matters.