For many, that's just how they look at New Year's Eve. That just because the sun sets on December 31, that everything will be made right the next day. How disappointed they must feel when nothing changes. New Year's is a great time of personal evaluation and reflection, which can lead to goals set for the new year and beyond (some people call them resolutions). No matter what you call them or how you decide on them, they will only be accomplished with real effort on our part. Pray and ask God to guide your goals and to give you the strength and endurance to accomplish those goals. This is a great opportunity for a family or one-on-one discussion with your students about how they evaluation their life and setting of goals to improve.
We are making the transition to using Zoom as our video chat platform starting in January. It is more familiar to students and it worked well for the Teen Christmas Party and TBC Family Trivia Night. We will use the same link for both Sunday School and Wednesday night. The link will be emailed to students and parents. If you did not receive the link, please email Pastor Steve @ pastorsteve@tbcdecatur.com.  We will continue to us the same livestream website for Wednesday night lessons. It can be accessed from the TBC Website (tbcdecatur.com) or App.

The Sick Cycle of Sin ~Judges 2:10
Objective:
Students will understand Israel’s cycle of rebellion and be challenged to live free from the cycle of sin.
Key Thought: 
The remedy for rebellion is repentance.
Lesson Summary:
Our lesson tonight is the first of a four-part series called “Delirium: Break the Cycle.” It’s a study in the Book of Judges about the sickening cycle of Israel’s rebellion and how God delivered them each time they repented. The students learned this week that God is faithful even when we are unfaithful.

The Book of Judges records for us the cycle of rebellion by God’s people, the Israelites. Over and over again, Israel rebelled against God. They would turn their back on God, resulting in sin.

The rebellion of the Israelites led to two major sins: idolatry, and immorality. Idolatry is defined as “excessive devotion to something other than God.” Immorality is defined as “anything evil, sinful, or otherwise wrong behavior.” Israel had an excessive devotion to other gods which led to an excessive lifestyle of sinfulness. The same can happen to each of us if we are not careful and rebel against God. Thankfully, Israel repented of their rebellion and received God’s forgiveness. Your student was reminded that the remedy for rebellion is repentance.

Take some time and talk to your students about rebellion. Share a time when you rebelled and the consequences you faced. Have prayer together and ask God to protect both of you from rebelling against Him and the authority placed in your life.

Faith’s Assassin ~Hebrews 3:12
Objective:
Students will learn about Israel’s unbelief and be instructed to live by faith.
Key Thought: 
The assassin of faith is unbelief.
Lesson Summary:
Our lesson tonight is the second of a four-part series called “Delirium: Break the Cycle.” It’s a study in the Book of Judges about the sickening cycle of Israel’s rebellion and how God delivered them each time they repented.

This week we learned about a military general named Barak. In Judges 4, we saw how God used Barak to defeat the Canaanites. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive the honor for the victory because of his unbelief. Deborah, the prophetess, had to push Barak to obey God, remind him of God’s promise, and command him to get up and go fight for the Lord. Because of his unbelief, he did not act like much of a military general.

The study of Barak helped us understand that the assassin of faith is unbelief. In Matthew 13:58, we are told that Jesus didn’t do many miracles in His hometown. Do you know why? It was because of their unbelief. Mark 9:24 records the account of a dad who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and cried out for Jesus to heal his son. The dad cried out, “Lord, help my unbelief.” According to Hebrews 3, The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years because of their unbelief.

Talk to your student about their faith to take God at His Word and live according to faith. Make the bold step to ask them if they are struggling with unbelief about God in any area. Find out their questions and don’t be afraid of those questions or doubts. If you don’t have an answer, take the time to find the answer. Ask the youth pastor, pastor, or someone else you trust to help you find the answers. Your student has been challenged to write down three promises of God and review them each morning. Make a point to ask your student about those three areas each day this week. Lead your student to stand firm in their faith and to lean on the promises of God.

Warped ~Judges 6:12
Objective:
Students will learn about Israel’s idolatry and be exhorted to worship the true and living God.
Key Thought: 
God must work in you to work through you.
Lesson Summary:
Our lesson tonight was the third of a four-part series called “Delirium: Break the Cycle.” It’s a study in the Book of Judges about the sickening cycle of Israel’s rebellion and how God delivered them each time they repented.

In this week’s lesson, we learned how God first worked in Gideon so He could work through him. God had to increase Gideon’s faith and then address his fears. It was then that God used him to lead the Israelites into victory over the Midianites. God allowed the Israelites to experience oppression from the Midianites because of idolatry. The first thing God told Gideon to do was to tear down the worship altars of Baal. Gideon obeyed and almost lost his life for doing so. God protected him and promised to use him to deliver the Israelites from their oppression.

The goal of this lesson was for the students to learn about Israel’s idolatry and be exhorted to worship the true and living God. The students were encouraged to identify some of their idols and challenged to surrender them to the Lord.

Take some time this week and talk about the idols that we struggle with in our culture. Be open and honest about the idols you, as a parent, face and battle against. Share how God has worked in your life so that He could work through you.

Played ~1 Corinthians 10:13
Objective:
Students will be challenged to identify their greatest sin and learn how to avoid being played by that sin.
Key Thought: 
The sin you play with will play you.
Lesson Summary:
Our lesson tonight was the fourth of a four-part series called “Delirium: Break the Cycle.” It’s a study in the Book of Judges about the sickening cycle of Israel’s rebellion and how God delivered them each time they repented. Tonight, we looked at the last of twelve judges that God raised up to deliver Israel from their oppression. His name was Samson.

Perhaps the saddest word in the Book of Judges is the word, “again.” Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord again and again and again. That’s what happened to Samson. Samson kept playing with sin and eventually lost because sin was playing him. It’s impossible to play with sin and win. Proverbs 6:27 says that you can’t play with fire and not get burned. Sin only lasts for a season, and then it’s payday (Hebrews 12:24-25).

We discussed three reasons why Samson played with sin.
1. He didn’t take God’s Word seriously.
2. He didn’t listen to authority.
3. He didn’t guard his heart.

As we talked about these three reasons, we gave modern-day examples for the students because we do the same thing. Samson eventually lost his life because he played with sin. The statement we wanted the students to remember is this, “The sin you play with will play you.”

To help make this as personal as possible, we asked the students to write down, on an index card, the sin they struggle with the most. Sometime this week, spend some quality time with your teen and ask them what they wrote down. Encourage them, pray with them, and give them some wisdom. Help your student realize that you can help him/her work through defeating that sin.