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INTRODUCTION
1) Why do teens lie?
Some answers:
a) Afraid of getting in trouble
b) Want to look good in front of other
c) Ashamed and embarrassed about something- leader of the study should share some lies they have told and why they told them - even from their teen years.
2) Who do teens lie to?
a) authority figures( parents, teachers, ministry leaders, etc)
b) friends
c) siblings
3) What do they lie about?
a) performance (i.e. report cards, chores, Bible reading, sports performance, home work ,etc)
b) treatment of others
The goal of this study is to get you top see that honesty is what God wants from you and that when you are hones, you are like God.
1. Psalm 139:1-18, 23-24
1 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
Name some different things God knows about you? Why does it make sense to be honest all the time?
a) God knows ad sees when we even just think about lying.
b) God knows and sees when we tell half-truths, when we exaggerate, when we're deceitful and when we blatantly lie.
Bottom line : God knows everything about us. Lying to others instantly leads to lying to ourselves and ultimately, lying to God.
2. John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
What can you learn from this Scripture?
a) lying is Satan's language
b) Satan is the father of lies.
Bottom line : Satan is behind every lie.
3. Mark 7:22
..greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
How would you define "deceit"?
a) shading the truth
b) not telling the whole truth , usually to make yourself or a situation look better
c) not saying what you are really thinking, to being open( giving answers like 'fine" "okay' or "I don't know' when you there's more in your heart than those)
Bottom line : Saying what you are really thinking is very important because that's the only way you can get the spiritual help you need to be able to change your heart.
4. Revelation 21:8
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
Does God take lying seriously? Absolutely yes!
Bottom line : Liars go to hell.
PERSONAL HEART - CHECK QUESTIONS
When are you most tempted to lie?
Are you willing to change your life and be totally honest all the time?
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
When you lie:
a) Confess it to the person you lied to
b) Confess it to your parent(s) and/or teen leader.
c) Tell them that you are sorry and you want to change.
d) Then, go on your way happily and joyfully because you did what right before God.
Write out one page about what you've learned from this study, some things you have done or will do differently because of this study, and how all this will help you be a disciple someday or how it will help you be
a better disciple if you already are one.
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