XP3 High School Students Collide Session 3: Totaled Bottom Line: Nothing in your life will ever change unless you collide with God. Are you a safety boy/girl? Do you like the predictable? Do you like to know the outcome before you dive into something? Do you like to keep things the way they are—predictable? Isn’t that, well, a little boring? Maybe you need to collide with God. Maybe you need to place yourself in His path so that something in your life will change. It’s a collision that will leave you different than the status quo—and that’s a very good thing. CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT We believe that the set, stage, music and everything in your room communicates a message—without you saying a word. That’s why we put together a list of production ideas to help you set the stage for the session and the series. From the music you play when students come in to the room to the worship set your band plays, we want to make sure that your room conveys “Collide” in a multi-sensory way. There is a downloadable checklist available in your series downloads that will give you all the elements for this session (and the entire series). BACKGROUND PLAYLIST FOR THE “COLLIDE” SERIES: “A Beautiful Collision” by David Crowder Band (from A Collision (or 3+4=7)) “Lucky One” by Vertical Horizon (from Burning The Days) “Hello Seattle” by Owl City (from Ocean Eyes) “Closer to Love” by Mat Kearney (from City of Black & White) “Before We Come Undone” by Kris Allen (from Kris Allen) “Waiting for the End” by Linkin Park (from A Thousand Suns) “My Own Little World” by Matthew West (from The Story of Your Life) “The Sound of Sunshine” by Michael Frenti & Spearhead (from The Sound of Sunshine) “Halfway Gone” by Lifehouse (from Smoke & Mirrors) “Crashing Down” by Mat Kearney (from Nothing Left to Lose) “How In The World” by Family Force 5 (from Dance or Die) WORSHIP PLAYLIST FOR “COLLIDE” SESSION 3: “Awesome Is The Lord Most High” by Chris Tomlin (from See the Morning) “God Of This City” by Chris Tomlin (from Hello Love) “From The Inside Out” by Hillsong Live (from Mighty To Save, Live) “We Will Worship You” by Carlos Whittaker (from Ragamuffin Soul) THE SET: If possible, go to a local junkyard or auto body shop and ask to borrow some bumpers, dented doors, smashed headlights, etc. Place the items on both sides of the stage and if you are able, position the car as if it’s coming out from a wall behind you. And if you don’t have access to the smashed car pieces but you have some amazing artists around, then you may want to consider creating those pieces out of foam. For a backdrop, use a white piece of foam board or a white sheet and draw an outline of a person in the middle of the sheet, to appear as if someone ran into the wall. SERIES ART: Art for PowerPoint backgrounds and for series promotional ads is available as a free download with every series. Visit the XP3 website, log on to your account and download the images to use in your presentation, newsletters and website. VIDEO: There are four videos available for the Collide series—three video communicator videos and one bumper video. The three video communicator videos can be used in each session of this three-week series in place of a live communicator. The bumper video was created to be used as an intro for all three sessions of the Collide series. Collide Session 3: Totaled TEACHING SCRIPT The teaching script is divided into five sections. INTRODUCTION: The introduction is intended to connect you, the communicator, to the audience, usually through a personal story or observation. We’ve included our stories, but you may want to substitute your own story in this section. TENSION: The tension moves the message from the “me” mentality of the introduction to a “we” mentality. For example, a transition statement might be, “At some point in our lives, we have all been jealous of someone over something.” TRUTH: Once the tension builds, the next logical step is to uncover the truth of what the Bible says about the topic. APPLICATION: At this point, the message moves to a “you” mentality in order to teach the application. The “you” is the student. Take God’s truth and unpack how it relates to each student so that he or she can apply it to everyday life. LANDING: Here it is important to land the message on what each student needs to know and do with what they’ve heard. Just as the message began with a personal story or observation, the message also ends with a “me” mentality. For example, one possible landing statement might be, “I have a greater sense of purpose knowing that God created me in His image.” Leave the students with a clear sense of what all of you should do with what you’ve heard. Unless otherwise noted, the landing will always set up the small group dialog and give students an opportunity to process and internalize what they’ve heard. Collide Session 3: Totaled Bottom Line: Nothing in your life will ever change unless you collide with God. TEACHING OUTLINE INTRODUCTION When it comes to colliding with God, He will win every time. Status quo = the way things are TENSION There are things you do when you call yourself a Christian that are just “normal.” The status quo of Christianity isn’t necessarily the most satisfying, faith-building place to be. What if colliding in our faith means more than doing the right things and believing the right things? What if it has a lot more to do with the God who is calling us to collide in the first place? TRUTH The Pharisees set the precedent for the status quo. Jesus didn’t speak kindly about this super-religious group. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:27-28, 33 NIV). Why was Jesus frustrated with this group when it seemed like they did everything right and believed all the right things? As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him (Matthew 4:18-22 NIV). These men dropped everything and did exactly what they needed to do to join ranks with the Son of God. They left in order to collide with Jesus. They wanted a life walking with Jesus, and doing that is anything but normal, anything but routine, anything but predictable. It is a life spent colliding. APPLICATION Collision is questioning the way things are—the status quo. Collision is proactive and not reactive. Collision is placing hope in the bigness of God—in His ability to show up and do something in a way you couldn’t do on your own. Ultimately, colliding, at its core, is an act of trust. You can spend your whole life believing in God, but not believing God for who He says He is. You can spend your whole life believing in God but not following Him. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Going to a Christian concert, on a mission trip or volunteering in the nursery doesn’t make you a Christian. These are great things, but these things don’t make you a follower of Jesus. Living life without colliding is easy. It is safe. It is predictable. It is popular. It is the status quo. Living a life where we collide with God means putting more hope and confidence in Him than in anything or anyone else—including ourselves. LANDING Where does a collision need to happen? Where do we need to intersect with God so that He can do something big—bigger than what we can do on our own? What can God do in you? Where can you invite God to do something that only He can? And what is keeping you from inviting God into your life now? What’s preventing you from wanting Him to interrupt your life? Not all of us are colliding with God, but all of us could be. Collide Session 3: Totaled Teaching Script Bottom Line: Nothing in your life will ever change unless you collide with God. INTRODUCTION A. The past couple of weeks we have been talking about this idea of colliding. We have said that colliding is essentially change. Like we said the first week, it is putting ourselves in positions where change can happen. It’s putting ourselves in the right place where we can collide in order to get the right kind of change we desire and need in our lives—the kind of change that leads us to become the sort of people we want to be.