So, What Next? Sample

You’ve decided to follow Jesus – so, what next? Living the Jesus way is the most fantastic life-changing adventure you could ever go on. As you continue your journey with him, we want to help you on your way.

Open this booklet and delve into three key questions: Who is God? Who am I?

SO, WHAT NEXT

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Who am I becoming?

LIVING THE JESUS WAY8:1–11

www.scriptureunion.org.uk ISBN 978 1 78506 976 5

9 781785 069765

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© Scripture Union 2024 ISBN 978 1 78506 976 5 Scripture Union, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF, UK Email: info@scriptureunion.org.uk Website: www.scriptureunion.org.uk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Scripture Union.

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Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK Company. All rights reserved.

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The right of Brogan Hume, Joel Barwick, Lee Kirkby and Alice Young to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

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Photo credits: Cover Per Bengtsson/Shutterstock, p26 selimaksan/istock, p31 ifong/Shutterstock. All other photos from Unsplash Cover and internal design: heatherknight.me.uk Design consultant: Zara Tipples Printed by Belmont Press, Northampton, UK.

This resource has been developed in collaboration with New Wine (Luminosity).

Luminosity is New Wine’s youth ministry and hosts the Luminosity youth festival as part of the annual New Wine festival.

Luminosity’s vision is for every young person to be a changemaker in the world who pierces unimaginable darkness with the light of Jesus.

Find out more at: www.weareluminosity.org

Scripture Union is an interdenominational Christian charity working to share the good news of Jesus with the next generation. Through a wide range of activities, resources and initiatives, we invite children and young people to explore the difference Jesus can make to the challenges and adventures of life.

Find out more about our work at: www.scriptureunion.org.uk

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Grace

Righteousness

This word is packed with meaning.

You might think about it as God’s loving kindness – he never gives up on us. You might think about it as God giving us what we don’t deserve – we have turned our back on him, but because of what Jesus did, he forgives us (instead of punishing us) and we can be friends with him again.

The world calls this being morally true or justifiable. However, for Christians, it has a deeper meaning – being right in the eyes of God. For humans, this is impossible on our own, but because of what Jesus has done, we are ‘right in the eyes of God’.

Repentance On page 18, repentance is described as: ‘we say sorry to God for our deliberate disobedience, turn back to him and ask him to help us live differently’. Because we are human and we carry on getting things wrong, we need to keep coming back to God to say sorry (‘repent’) and ask him for help to live his way.

Resurrection When Jesus died on the cross, he didn’t stay dead. Three days later, God made him alive again, and this is called the resurrection. You can read the story in Matthew 28:1–10.

Through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death and made it possible for us to be with God for ever.

Salvation The act of being saved. Because Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment for our sins, we are saved if we acknowledge what he did and commit to becoming more like Jesus.

Sin On page 10, sin is described as ‘the desire to be god of our own lives’. Sometimes, Christians talk about sin as doing things that are wrong, but it’s more than that. As well as ‘wrongdoing’, sin can be ‘wrong-being’. Without Jesus, we go our own way, we reject God and we make ourselves ‘god of our own lives’.

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CONTENTS

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How to use this booklet How do I talk with God? How do I hear from God? How do I find things in the Bible?

4 4 5 5 6 7 8 9 10 12

Who am I? You are… created to worship God and nothing else You are… someone who needs forgiveness You are… someone who turns back to God You are… free to live life to the full You are… adopted by God

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Who am I becoming?

You are becoming… more like Jesus You are becoming… someone who loves God and loves people You are becoming… sustained by the Holy Spirit You are becoming… a good and faithful servant You are becoming… part of God’s plan for the world

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What’s next?

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Glossary

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Who is God? God is… your Creator, who made you do greater things God is… the one with immeasurable love for you God is… the one who hates injustice God is… the restorer of right relationships God is… with you

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What just happened?

So, what’s next?

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WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

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SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

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You’re holding holding this this booklet bookletfor a for a reason.

Whether you’ve reason.

Whether you’ve been given been it by a friend, family it by agiven friend, family member or member or youth leader –toorpick youth leader – or chosen chosen pick it –up forfact yourself it up forto yourself the that – the fact that you’re it is you’re holding it is a holding sign that a sign Godinisyour at work in your God is that at work life. This life.

Thishas booklet beenfor written booklet beenhas written a for a particular purpose: toyou help particular purpose: to help you following Jesus.

If you’ve startstart following Jesus.

If you’ve just just made a commitment to follow made a commitment to follow him, then you’ve you’ve started started the the most most fantastic, life-changingjourney. journey. fantastic, life-changing

You might imagine that becoming a Christian is a bit like hiking up a spiritual mountain – that you’ve started off on the path and have got a long way to go until you finally reach the top where God is.

Every other religion and worldview works that way: do the right things, put enough effort in, be a better person and you might finally get to the top. However, following Jesus is completely different.

the Bible uses an image of a Jesus who comes down to us. He finds us at the bottom of the path, takes our hand, if we allow him to, and walks with us up the mountain. He is the one who doesn’t put a foot wrong, stays on the path and, if we listen to him, brings us safely to the top. Being a Christian isn’t about learning how to climb up a spiritual mountain – it’s about learning how to live in God’s presence at the top.

Instead of thinking that we’ve got to climb up the mountain ourselves, 3

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HOW TO USE THIS BOOKLET

HOW DO I TALK WITH GOD?

To learn to live in God’s presence, we need to know three things:

When Christians talk about prayer, they’re really describing a conversation with God. If you’ve never prayed before, you might be wondering how to make a start…

2 Who are we, that God should both need to rescue us and be willing rescue us?

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3 Who will we be when we’ve spent a lifetime learning to live in the presence of God?

Prayer can take so many forms – you can pray out loud or quietly in your head, by writing in a journal or by taking a walk and talking to God as you go. Don’t be afraid to try out lots of different ways of praying and find one that works for you.

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1 Who is this God who would come and find us rather than wait for us to climb up to him?

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The three main sections in this booklet will help you to explore these questions.

This booklet has been designed to help you read the Bible each day.

Each section has some Bible verses for you to look up (see page 5) and read, then a short exploration of what you’ve read, followed by a prompt for prayer (see below) and reflection.

After reading and exploring, take a few minutes to talk with God about what you found powerful and life-giving in the passage, what questions you have, how you want to live differently and about people who you know are in need. Take time to listen to what God might be saying in response.

BIBLE RE FERENCE

NOTES PRAYER/RE FLECTION PROMPTS 4

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HOW DO I HEAR FROM GOD?

HOW DO I FIND THINGS IN THE BIBLE?

In order for us to know about God, he must show himself to us. Every time we read the Bible, we are hearing God speak to us. These words, recorded over many years by many different people, were all guided by one Holy Spirit. This means that you can trust the Bible to reveal to you what God says about who he is, who you are and who you will be.

The Bible is a big book! It might even seem a bit intimidating to approach at first. We’ve created this short booklet to help you get to grips with it, alongside help from a Christian friend, youth worker or church leader.

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To find something in the Bible, first find the contents list at the front, and find in there the name of the book you are looking for (for example, Romans) and head to the page number given. Each book in the Bible is broken up into chapters and verses. Work your way through to the right part of the book – the big numbers are the chapters, and the little numbers in between sentences are the verses.

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God can also speak through words, pictures, feelings, other people, the natural world around us and much more, though he will never contradict the Bible. If you’re not sure whether you’ve hearing from God, talk with other Christians about their experiences and ask them for their guidance and advice.

JOHN RE FERS TO THE BIBLE BOOK OF JOHN (THE BIBLE IS A BOOK OF BOOKS – 66 BOOKS IN ONE!)

JOHN 3:16

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IS THE CHAPTER NUMBER – IT’S USUALLY A BIT BIGGER THAN THE OTHER NUMBERS

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IS THE VERSE NUMBER – LOOK FOR THE LITTLE NUMBERS

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WHO IS GOD? Introducing the Psalms

God’s people have always loved to sing about how amazing he is. In fact, there is a whole book of the Bible that contains these songs! It’s called Psalms (pronounced, ‘sarms’), and in it there are 150 individual psalms. As Psalms is in the Old Testament, you won’t find Jesus mentioned here by name… but all the psalms point forwards in time towards him. They reveal to us something of who God is and who we are.

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GOD IS.. .

YOUR CREATOR, WHO MADE YOU TO DO GREATER THINGS EXPLORE: You are not a mistake. You were created with a God-given purpose. In Psalm 8, the author reflects on how amazing it is that the God who made the moon and the stars is interested in you and me.

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READ: Psalm 8

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Creator God didn’t just give you breath in your lungs on the first day of your life, but he has given you breath every day of your life. He pays that much attention to you.

God also has a purpose for your life. You’re created to share in the task of making the world more like God would have it be – you’re given authority to rule over the works of God’s hands (verse 6). The God who made the moon and stars gives you a purpose – to care for and rule over the things he’s given you in a way that is worthy of him.

RE FLECT

How does it feel to know that the indescribably powerful God, who created the high mountains and glorious golden beaches, also chose to create you?

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PRAY

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God of immeasurable love, thank you for creating me with the purpose of loving and serving you.

Help me always to know your presence with me, by the power of your Spirit.

I turn away from anything that doesn’t please you, because you have brought me back into relationship with you through Jesus.

Amen

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You’ve decided to follow Jesus – so, what next? Living the Jesus way is the most fantastic life-changing adventure you could ever go on. As you continue your journey with him, we want to help you on your way.

Open this booklet and delve into three key questions: Who is God? Who am I?

SA M

PL

E

Who am I becoming?

SO, WHAT NEXT LIVING THE JESUS WAY8:1–11

www.scriptureunion.org.uk ISBN 978 1 78506 976 5

9 781785 069765

So What Next? cover final.indd 2-3

30/04/2024 13:37