"The Gospel According to Finding Nemo"

"The Gospel According to Finding Nemo"

-Start the class with prayer

-Introduction of self and introduction of the theme

-What is the theme of the weekend?

-How do we go deeper into God's love?

-By embracing the love of God.

-One of ways we embrace God's love is to believe what God has said about us. We do this by digging into the Word to see what is there.

-By staying connected to God through the day.

-Prayer (different kinds) and the kingdom of God

-By realizing God desires a relationship with you

-Ask about their relationships, how many of you have a boy friend of girl friend? How does the relationship work? What happens if you didn't communicate with your significant other? What would happen in a marriage if there was no communication. What happens to us spiritually if there is no communication?

-But, how many of you regularly read your Bibles? Why do you think that is? In a few moments, we are going to read Scripture together that is aimed at getting you involved with words of Scripture.

-How many of you have seen the movie Finding Nemo? What is it about? (Read a little from the above sections)

-What is the Gospel? What were you thinking when you came to this class? What do you want to get out of this class?

-So, what is the gospel?

-A type of music

-Four books of the NT

-The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

-The good news

-But what is the good news and why is it good?

-Because, the gospel is the story of Jesus. The Gospel, the good news is that God has broken into our world and desires a relationship with us.

-Anything plus Jesus is not the Gospel (Paul's words in Galatians 1).

Hopefully, from this class you will get a fresh look at what the gospel is and how it invades our world. Also, I hope to help connect a popular movie with your understanding of the Gospel and how big and consuming God's love is.

-Have class turn to Matthew 14:22-32 (Lectio Divina)

-Introduce Lectio (holy reading)

-Discuss what they heard

-Would you use this to study the Bible in the future? Why or why not?

--Show scene of Nemo @ school with his friends, out near the edge of the reef, staring at the boat…(stop just after Nemo places a fin on the boat).

-What keeps you/others from going deeper in your faith?

-Fear – our eyes often deceive us

-Contentment w/ the way things are. We like things comfortable, safe and controlled. Taking risks is, well, it is so risky…

-Not equipped (Moses and his incredible excuses Ex. 3)

-Maybe paralyzed with sin and guilt

-How is the story in Matthew 14 similar to our video clip of Nemo touching the butt, I mean the boat?

-Who got out of the boat? Who walked on the water with Jesus? What were the other disciples doing? Who are you most like in the story, Peter or one of the boat safe potatoes?

-Let's go back to Nemo for a minute…

-Nemo's Disability

-He is aware of his disability, but if you remember from the movie, his dad loves him anyway

-What do we know about Nemo's dad? He is over-protective which creates tension between father and son. Any of you ever experience family tension?

-What are you insecure about? You may not have a short fin, but what do you find yourself comparing yourself with others about? Your looks, your weight, your height, your family's social status, how much money your dad makes?

-Illustration: The puppy nobody wanted [1]

-Do you want to know the truth about you? It doesn't matter how different you think you are, God loves you just the way you are. He doesn't make no junk. You are precious to him, and where you see weakness and worry, he sees strength and hope. He understands your brokenness and heartache, for he to shared human flesh and was tempted in every way as we are.



-Nemo's departure:

-Due to this overbearing-ness the Nemo feels from his father, Nemo tries to prove his worthiness, you remember the scene from before?

-Luke 15 – the Prodigal and his request for the inheritance in his culture was saying to his father, that you are as good as dead to me.

-Nemo's difficulty:

-As Nemo is trying to prove himself, what happens? He is captured and then eventually caged (placed in a tank).

-If we are honest with ourselves, what sin has captured us? What decisions have we made that has lead us to this place? What do you need to do about it?

-The Father's Pursuit:

-The two other stories in LK. 15, Something is lost, something is pursued, something is found.

-The story of the prodigal son is really the same theme

-Something is lost, and there is a search.

-What do we learn about the father in Lk. 15?

-The prodigal son is really about a run-away and reunion. It is the story of the gospel, and the promise of second chances.*

-What we see in Finding Nemo is what we see in the Gospels, a love-sick Father pursuing his wayward child.

-Just keep swimming (Discipleship)

-Journey

-The dance (story of Rachel and daddy dancing)?

-Let it go (scene with Marlin and Dory in the whale)

-There comes a time in our lives when we have to make a choice -We can choose to remain in a hopeless situation like Marlin was going to do

-Or we can give the situation to God, and let him have the steering wheel. This is an act of deliberate trust on our parts, we are choosing to believe that God will do what he said he'll do.

-Yes, letting go is scary, yes letting go is risky, but letting go is worth it

-What do you need to let go of?

What do we learn about God from the stories in Luke 15?

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1 Youth Specialties. The Puppy No Body Wanted.

* Wade Hodges, www.wadehodges.com

Article Source: http://youth-ministry-resources.com

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