Spiked Student Ministries

The Cross: week one
People wear a cross on necklaces, sport one on bumper stickers and even slap on across T-shirts, but what does the cross really stand for? What does it really mean? Over the next two weeks, we will take a look at the cross in a different way, a way that moves beyond gratitude and nostalgia to a way of life. The cross teaches us that we live so we can die, and we die so we can live.

Most of us think of the cross as the place where Jesus died for us. That is true. But it’s also about more than that. The cross isn’t just the place where Jesus died. The cross is the place where we die too. Christianity is not just about an event that happened thousands of years ago. It’s about being a consistant follower of Jesus. This week students will discover the ongoing, sacrificial life Jesus called His disciples to lead—a life characterized by the cross.

THE CROSS (1): LIVE TO DIE

Bottom Line: The cross isn’t just where Jesus died. It is where we come to die with Him.
Scripture References: Isaiah 9:6-7, 53:3-11; Mark 8:31-38; John 6:66

1. What did you think of the talk this week? What did you hear the speaker say?
2. What do you typically think about when you think about the cross? What images come to mind? How do you feel?
3. How did the speaker challenge you to think about the cross in a new way?
4. Read Mark 8:34-37. What do you think Jesus meant when He said, “take up your cross and follow me”?
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

5. In John 6:66, we learn that many of Jesus followers stopped following Him after He gave this proclamation. Why?
6. What would it look like for you personally, in your own everyday life, to take up your cross?
7. What is it about your life that you might need to lose in order to really have a full life with Christ?

CLOSING CHALLENGE:
So, if the cross is the place we come to die with Christ, what is it you need to die to? What is it in your life that consumes your thoughts? What do you long to control? Chances are if you spend some time alone this week, you will begin to see one area of your life that you need to “die to.” You will notice something that you should surrender. Use this week to reflect on this. Next week, come with that one thing in mind.

XP3
THE CROSS (2): DIE TO LIVE

Bottom Line: The cross isn’t just where we come to die. The cross is where we come to live.
Scripture References: John 10:10; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27; Romans 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

Life–what an amazing thing! Your goal this week is to paint a BIG picture. This week is all about the incredible wonder of living a life surrendered to God. Be careful not to let it become cliché or works-driven. Let their imagination run wild. You might even share a story from your own life or the life of someone you know who has been a part of something exciting because of his or her decision to surrender to an exciting, creative, and amazing God.

1. What did you think of the talk this week? What did you hear the speaker say? (You may also want to open with a question about what they thought about the XP. How did it feel to lay their note cards on the cross?)

2. Is deciding to “die” to something a one time thing or is it a process? Why?
3. The speaker mentioned being afraid of a “lame life.” What do you think he/she meant by that?
4. What is the checklist for your life? How do you expect your life to turn out?
5. Have you ever known anyone who followed God’s lead and went in a different direction than the path they were on (or were expected to take)?

6. Read Galatians 2:20. What does it mean?
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT).

7. Part of living a full life is opening yourself up to experience the things God nudges you to experience. Have you ever felt like God was asking you to do something?

8. If you could live outside the expectations (from yourself, others, and our culture) laid out for you, what might God be able to do through you?

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” –Abraham Lincoln