NF is back with a brand new song and video and I have written a bible study you can do with your students. These is the raw notes, but if you want the slides and graphics, sign up for my newsletter here.
Prepare
To prepare for this study on hope, consider putting some mirrors up in your youth room. If you’re room is too big to hang mirrors, think about placing standing mirrors at the doors.
Place someone at the door who can shoot short video clips of people walking in, catching people looking at themselves in the mirror. Show these clips later as an intro to your main message or save them for social.
Opening
If you want a fun game with no prep, try the improv game Mirror. Tell students to find a partner. Ask paired up students for a volunteer to be the mirror. The mirror must mimic every thing their partner does. Give each person 30 seconds to a minute to be the mirror.
Open up with the video you took earlier of kids checking themselves out in the mirror. This is for fun but also makes the point that we care what we look like and that we mirror on the outside what we tend to think of ourselves on the inside.
Introduction
If you’re students have never heard of NF give them a short bio
- NF is Nathan John Feuerstein, a rapper who is also a Christian
- NF grew up with a mother addicted to drugs who passed away from a drug overdose in 2009
- NF was diagnosed with OCD and has worked through other mental health issues
- NF has five albums which cover his mental health battles all without swearing
- NF’s music videos connect to each other.
Introduction
Say: NF has a new song out, but to understand this song Hope, we have to watch another video so you can see the before and after.
The video I am about to show you is called The Search which shows the dark side of his mental health battle.
Show the video
Discussion
What stuck out to you about this video?
Did you hear anything he said that you connect with? What?
What did the shopping cart and the black balloons represent?
Now for the second video, Hope
Discussion
In this video you see Nate on a raft floating in the ocean, have you ever felt this way?
Does the raft represent hope? Why?
Later on you see the raft on the beach walking with a map. Anyone remember, from the last song what map NF was looking for? (the map to hope)
Bible Study
Shortly after landing on the beach, he meets his mirror image, the NF that wears black from previous videos. The dark clothed NF is trying to bring down this new, hopeful NF.
The Old You
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
Ephesians 4:17-20
The Gentiles were people who were not Jews and many who were pagans who worshipped other gods.
The apostle Paul describes them as
- darkened in their understanding
- alienated from the life of God (because of ignorance)
- hard hearted
- callous (unfeeling, no empathy)
- sensual, greedy and impure
Discussion
After we become Christians, why shouldn’t we act like everyone else?
What does it mean to be alienated from God? (no longer close or affectionate to someone)
How does our old self try to keep us from living for Christ?
Paul tells the Ephesians, But that is not the way you learned Christ!— vs 21
The New You
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24Paul tells the Ephesians to
- Put off your old self (that dark mirror image of an old life)
- Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (think differently about yourself)
- Put on the new self
Because
- You are created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness
Discussion
What does it mean to “put off your old self” ?
Why is this hard for teenagers to do?
Why should Christians renew their minds every day?
How do Christians renew their minds? Give me some examples.
How does renewing your mind change the way you think about your life as a Christian?
How does knowing you are made in the image of God make you feel?
How should righteousness and holiness look in the life of a believer?
Do you ever feel like your old self and your new self argue? What’s that sound like?
How can the new self win the argument with the old self?
Closing
Have a mirror and write “Old Self” on it and say, When you look into the mirror of your mind what do you see? The old self? A reflection that tells you,
“You’ll never make it”
“You’re a phony”
“No one believes you can change”
That is the voice of the Enemy.
The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians,
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
God sent his son, Jesus, so that we could be a new creation.
Hold up a Bible
This is your new mirror. In this mirror you see
- How much God loves you
- The power you have in Christ
- The map to hope
If you’re not a Christian and you’re looking for the map to hope, Christ is your hope. He wants to make you new.
Are you a Christian struggling with their old reflection? Christ says you are a new creation and offers you new clothes to put on.
If this is any of you, it’s time for a new way to look at God and yourself. The Bible is your map.
Let’s pray.
If you want to do another NF video, you can grab Lost for free here