Sermon Notes:

Colossians Series

Week 1

Introduction to Colossians 

Week 2

Colossians part 2 Christ

Week 3

Colossians part 3 Heresy

H.A.B.I.T.S. (by Doug Fields)
This acronym stands for six things that will help the students in their pursuit of God and a Godly lifestyle. The acronym stands for:

    1. Hang time with God
    2. Accountability with another believer
    3. Bible memorization
    4. Involvement with a church body
    5. Tithing committment
    6. Study scripture

Habit #1: Hang Time with God
(Quiet Time Journals)   
    When you look through our quiet time journals, you’ll see that it’s really nothing more than a short space to write, a little design, and a few prompter questions. We’ve learned that half-sheet size journals work best. The short space doesn’t force the student to write an entire page for each day’s entry. When a student asks for a new journal, it becomes an opportunity to affirm him or her and a reason to celebrate the students’ growth and ask  about his or her times with God. [You might also consider using the One Minute Bible 4 Students as a way to help them develop an appetite for God’s Word in a simple, usable format. You can check out the One Minute Bible 4 Students on-line at www.simplyyouthministry.com

Resources/Activites:
Acts of Humility Journal
Book of Deep Questions
Girls Night Out
Guys Night Out

Habit #2: Accountable Relationship with Another Believer
(BACK TO BACK)   
    BACK TO BACK is our new name for our 1 on 1 accountability groups. For 10+ years we called them S.A.G. 5. SAG stands for Student Accountability Group and five is the amount of time (five minutes) we ask students to connect with another Christian during the week. It doesn’t matter what you call it as long as you challenge, and then coach your committed students to have one other Christian friend on their campus they can pray with and develop an accountable relationship. (I love “See You at the Pole” but one time a year isn’t enough.)  We don’t tell them to pray in the middle of the campus or stand on lunch tables to draw attention to their spirituality. We encourage them to meet somewhere at school and pray together.   
    We regularly remind students to seek out a BACK TO BACK partner, but we always end our camps or retreats with a challenge to find one before they go home. The camp or retreat experience can quickly fade if a student doesn’t have some nudging and challenging from a friend. For the most part, students keep their same BACK TO BACK partner during the entire school year. We have them sign the BACK TO BACK Covenant (included in the Production Pack) and then give them the business card as both a reminder and an opportunity to record their partner’s phone number and email. We also laminate their signed covenant and return it to them with a note of encouragement.

Resources/Activites:
Back to Back Howto
Back to Back Covenant

Habit #3: Bible Memorization
(Hidden Treasures)   
    The title of this resource comes from a combination of the NIV and the NASB translation of Psalm 119:11, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (NIV).  Your word I have treasured in my heart . . . (NASB).  Hidden Treasures is a simple flash-card type, Bible memorization tool.   
    When committed students sign up for Hidden Treasures, we give them a set of three to five verses. We’ve made them small so a student can carry them with their keys. After a student has memorized the first set of verses, we give them the next set (then the next, then the next). Again, customize our stuff and do it however you want. If you want to give them the entire set all at once—have at it.

Resources/Activites:
Scripture Memorization

Habit #4: Involvement with the Church Body   
    
    This is the only habit of the six that doesn’t need or require a resource to give to students.  We are always talking to our students about attending the church and being involved with the ministries of our church body. We talk highly of all-church events, and we model involvement from our leaders by supporting church-wide programs. The periodic letters we send to our committed students remind them of the importance of being involved with the church beyond their youth-ministry experience. 
    Some youth ministries have taken this “involvement” idea and developed it as the habit of serving in a ministry.

Habit #5: Tithing Commitment
(Bank of Blessings/How to Get Rich mp3)
    Of the other resources listed, this is the toughest one to get students excited about. Even though this isn’t as appealing of an idea, we don’t want to pass up the opportunity to have students develop the habit of giving while they’re young. 
    When a student signs up for this resource they are usually excited to get the bank but not as thrilled to do the work (complete the Bible study) that goes with it. Of all the resources, this is the one that doesn’t get the follow-up the others do. We do want to know if students understand everything they studied on tithing and we want to answer their questions, but we don’t want to pressure them into giving to please us rather than giving out of their love for God.  The study is to inform them, the mp3 is to encourage them, and the bank is to remind them to give.

Resources/Activites:
Bank of Blessing mp3
How to Get Rich (The art of giving)

Habit #6: Study Scripture
(Rootworks)   
    This Bible study tool gets its name from Colossians 2:6-7 (NCV), “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.” 
    As you can see in Rootworks, I’ve written questions for students to answer after they read certain sections of the Bible. The idea behind this resource is to help them study the text (The keyword is “study” which makes this distinct from Hang Time with God.) We’ve given you three volumes for student to choose from. You can decide if you make them all available or if you give them one volume at a time. 

Resources/Activites:
1st John
Philippians
Psalms

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