Mar10

What’s this all about?  Each week I’m going to give a brief overview of what happened on a Sunday Night AMP.  Basically this is for three main reasons:

1. For students who weren’t able to come – I want you to be able to know what happenend.
2. For students who want to take another look at some of the main points and verses that were talked about.
3. For parents – I want you to know what was taught on, so you can follow-up with your child when opportunities arise.

So here goes:

Series: AM I HAPPY (week 1 of 4) – March 7, 2010

Overview:

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”  If that’s Jesus’ purpose, why are there so many unhappy and lonely people in the world and inside the church?  Where do relationships fall into our search for happiness?

Notes:

This week I took some time to dive a little into the word happy and then asked the students to rate themselves on the Happiness Scale (1 – My Life is HORRIBLE to 10 – My Life is AWESOME).  As you can imagine people would be all over that scale.  Some are really struggling with a lack of purpose and close friends seem to be doing well.

For those of you who feel down and lonely.  I want you to know that you’re not alone.  Check out the following verses: Psalm 13:2; Psalm 116:3; and Psalm 42:3, 5.

Then we watched a video about people who sought happiness through unhealthy relationships.

Lastly we ended our time together with four thoughts:

1. Our value doesn’t come from what people say about us.  Our value comes from a God who made us and loves us more than we could ever imagine.
2. If your desire for happiness has brought you down the wrong paths in life, turn from it and turn to God.
3. Take a risk and be vulnerable in your small groups.  Share your number on the Happiness Scale.
4. Memorize Psalm 42:1 and let it sink deep down into your soul.  “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.

Fun/Funny:

I gave away two CD’s.  The first cd went to the first person who could take off a sock and bring it to the front of the stage.  The second cd went to the first person who could take their shoelace out of their shoe and bring it to the front.  hahaha – the sad part was seeing the people who took their shoelace completely out, but didn’t make it to the stage in time.

Final Thought:

There are people all around us who are hurting.  People who need encouragement.  People who need to simply be asked “How are you really doing?” by people who genuinely care.  I was able to join one of the HS guy small groups and was amazed at their vulunerability.  Some of the guys were doing well, and some were chomping at the bit to share their feelings of loneliness and lack of close friends.  These guys then took it upon themselves to encourage one another and pray for one another.  How awesome is that!!!

Up Next: AM I HAPPY (week 2 of 4)