2013 Term 1 Week 3 - Why do we sin? - Part A - Greed

This will take a few weeks, particularly because week 4 is a public holiday and the guys will have forgotten most of it.

The catch phrase for this section is: "Good desire, sucky execution."

It means what our sinful actions are attempting to get for us is ultimately good, our way of going about it is sinful. At our core we desire God, we are made for relationship with God. Our entire being is oriented towards God.

To get there we will start with Greed.

The catch phrase for this lesson is: "The problem is that you are not greedy enough."

We define greed as asking something to be more than it is. Eg asking a car to help me feel better about myself.

Ultimately all desire leads to God. Greed is what happens when we settle for less. Instead of desiring God we desire something else.

2013 Term 1 Week 2 - Sinning by doing nothing

To start us off we will be looking at Genesis 3, particularly at how Adam sinned. It is my belief that we (guys) sin in a similar way to Adam. So this passage tells us not only about how sin entered our world, it also informs us about how we follow in Adam's footsteps.

Men, in general, sin more by omission (absence). That is to say we sin by leaving something good undone. Adam is the first example of this. The snake was causing much confusion and Adam held back waiting for more certainty before he spoke. Adam was with Eve (Gen 3:6) and let her do the talking. He waited for her to make it safe for him. Then he blamed her when they got into trouble. The strategy Adam used is still used by men today. It is as ingenious as it is diabolical. We will look at examples of other Biblical characters in Genesis as well as common situations in today's world.

Examples:

• During devotions when a hard question is asked everyone goes quiet waiting for someone else to make it safe to have the discussion.
• In group conversation when everything goes quiet, the guys wait for someone braver to break the ice.
• At planning meetings, when asked what class do you want to run this term, guys wait for an idea to be put forward because its less risky to adapt an idea than to suggest one.
• When a guy likes a girl he will try to reduce the risk before he asks her out, which is fine until the acceptable risk is defined. In most cases we want the risk so low that there is no longer a place for courage or boldness.
• We notice someone is not themselves and do not ask them about it as it is none of our business/I'd only make it worse/it would be awkward/it's not my gift/I don't know how/etc
• "Does my bum look big in this?"
• "What are you thinking?"
• "My parents are getting a divorce."

This week will focus more on seeing how wide spread this problem is. Next week will look at some of the contributing factors..

2013 Term 1 Week 1 - Introduction

The devotions for the older guys is run differently. Whereas the younger groups focus on learning about/from the Bible, this group aims to integrate Bible knowledge with everyday life.

Due to this difference it will take the guys a while to adapt, typically the best part of the year. To start this shift we will start by getting the guys who were involved last year to explain to the newcomers what the differences are


The goal is to have the guys thinking about sin at a relational level. For many Christians, sin is considered mainly at a theoretical level. I want to give the guys an opportunity to develop a language (and confidence) to talk about their sinfulness. When we get to term 2 we will be talking about the gospel and the hope is that this focus on the personal will continue into the discussions about the gospel and how it affects all areas of life.

To start us off we will be looking at Genesis 3, particularly at how Eve sinned.We look at how doubt sets us up for sin and how doubt leads us judge God. We think that God is holding out on us. Also we don't really know what good is, more on this idea later on.