Not Far from the Kingdom of God

Youth Ministry Meeting

“Not Far from the Kingdom of God”

Captain Omar Rolon

Mark 12: 28-34. (NIV)

28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c There is no commandment greater than these.”

32“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Service Program

Prayer

Our Lord, how wonderful it is to have you in our hearts. We want to ask you in this moment to continue increasing our love for our neighbors. Dear Father, help us love you with all our hearts and soul, and help us love each other the same way we love ourselves. We ask you to bless them and protect them forever. At this moment, we pray that you love them with the same love you have for us. We believe in your Word. We ask all this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN

Reflection

Dearyoung ones, I would like to tell you something that happened to Jesus. The Phariseesonce asked him a question to shame him thinking that the Lord would not know what to answer. The question was: what is the most important commandment of God´s law? The Lord answered: Hear, O Israel, you only have one Lord, your God, and you will love him with all your heart, your mind and all your strength; that´s the most important commandment. The second commandment is very similar: Love your neighbor as yourself. Besides that, in the Bible, someone asked: how can you love a God you have never seen? To love your neighbor means that you love God. Christian life is not measured by the number of times we sing or how many things we do, because the true disciples of Christ did one fundamental thing: He said: If you are truly my disciples, love each other. How do you recognize a true disciple of Christ? In the fact that we love each other. When you see someone who loves another human being and shows love and cares, that person is without a doubt a Christian because the only way we are able to love is by having Christ in our hearts. If we become his disciples we should love our fellow human beings without any problem.

Hymn

[Replace]

“Not Far from the Kingdom of God”

Mark 12:28-34

I / Z / J / O / M / C / S / P / D / P / A / Y / O / Q / D / M / C / W / U / S
P / F / R / T / T / U / R / S / Z / C / L / U / Q / S / X / A / Y / A / H / M
N / L / R / N / S / O / A / M / L / A / L / K / Q / X / O / E / Q / S / M / K
K / V / D / E / J / S / A / P / L / G / B / Q / S / T / I / S / J / H / K / Q
U / J / J / I / I / A / P / S / K / E / L / J / N / E / Y / T / C / S / I / Z
Q / M / M / M / K / C / Z / S / H / Y / W / E / P / I / A / E / J / B / Z / X
C / O / V / I / S / A / C / R / I / F / I / C / E / S / S / A / L / A / B / A
C / R / J / D / Y / H / H / G / E / M / J / H / K / U / H / C / E / Z / J / T
O / Z / B / N / B / F / J / O / A / U / M / N / S / G / D / H / A / W / A / P
M / P / Z / E / I / X / W / D / L / T / B / R / O / T / H / E / R / V / Z / Y
M / X / X / T / D / D / N / S / H / O / Q / V / N / J / O / R / S / G / S / S
A / S / N / N / A / A / Q / V / O / A / C / P / F / T / S / W / I / B / U / Y
N / N / H / E / A / R / T / I / N / O / X / A / Z / Q / E / W / T / U / G / C
D / E / G / V / W / Y / V / Q / X / N / I / Z / U / X / X / B / A / D / E / Q
M / B / T / O / M / K / A / E / W / N / M / J / H / S / T / U / P / D / R / W
E / B / U / L / I / M / J / K / I / N / G / D / O / M / T / X / E / W / S / E
N / P / M / B / O / S / Y / X / R / O / Q / R / K / P / Y / C / P / M / F / W
T / N / T / R / O / A / V / R / O / Y / H / X / C / T / Y / R / S / I / L / N
E / W / L / U / S / M / G / N / I / D / N / A / T / S / R / E / D / N / U / I
K / J / L / D / K / I / Y / O / G / N / O / Z / A / R / O / C / U / D / T / R

SoulLoveHeart

GodUnderstandingStrength

HolocaustIsraelJesus

TeacherCommandmentMind

BrotherKingdomSacrifices

“Not Far from the Kingdom of God”

Mark 12:28-34

Fill in the blanks the following Bible passages with the correct words from the previous exercise.

“Love is______, love is______. It does not______, it does not______, it is not______. 5It does not ______others, it is not______, it is not easily______, it keeps no ______of ______. Love does not delight in ______but rejoices with the ______. 7It always ______, always ______, always ______, always ______.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

“My ______is this: ______each other as ___have loved you”.

Juan 15:12

“Dear______, let us love one another, for love comes from______. Everyone who loves has been ______of God and ______God”.

1 John: 4-7

“But God ______his own love for _____in this: While we were still______, Christ ______for us”.

Romans 5:8

“For God so ______the world that he gave his one and only______, that whoever ______in him shall not ______but have. 17For God did not send his Son into the ______to ______the world, but to ______the world through him”.

John 3:16-17

“Not Far from the Kingdom of God”

Mark 12:28-34

Objectives:

Teaching young people to apply what they have learned in this lesson to their lives. To teach them that God is love and that everything is possible if done with love.

Introduction:

We have all been in situations where we needed help. We have also had the opportunity of helping other people. But problems arise now and then: As followers of Jesus Christ we are asked to be witnesses of His great love for people who might have not felt that type of love. But sometimes it is difficult to show love to others, in particular when they do not treat us with love. We get frustrated because they do not treat us with love. You might ask the Lord: “how do you WANT ME TO LOVE THIS PERSON? The passage from Marcos 12:28-34 will teach us that what Jesus wants from usis true love, and how to show it to others.

Scripture Reading:Mark 12:28-34

28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Time for Discussion:

1. Why is it important for Jesus that you love God with all your heart?What about your neighbor?

2. What do you understand by “our neighbor”?

3. How can we show love for our neighbor?

4. Have you found it difficult to love a particular person?

5. How do you want to change someone for him/her to be able to love the way God desires?

Time for Prayer:

Let´s do it differently this time. We are used to holding hands, letting a person pray and saying “Amen” when they finish. Prayer time is very important and necessary for any Christian. It is our channel for maintaining communication with our Heavenly Father.

This exercise will provide a different experience in group prayer. Get together in a circle back to back toeach other. You can hold hands or arms. (The right way is to do it as in the picture). The purpose is not to look at people while knowing that your group is there with you, together in prayer. You are all going to pray at the same time, out loud and without any fear. Pray so that God shows his love for us. You can pray this way for five, ten minutes or the time that the Holy Spirit allows.

Conclusion:

To sum it up, you know that God´s love is abundant in our lives. Even if it is difficult showing it to other people, Jesus tells us that we need to do it in order to live a good life. How much love do you show God? What about your neighbor? When loving a person who makes our lives unbearable becomes a difficult task, remember that Jesus loved us so much that he died on the cross for all of us; and he never used any excuses.