Be-with Factor Student Guide : Six Questions Students Need to Ask about Life with God

by Bo Boshers and Judson Poling

• ISBN13: 9780310271611
• ISBN10: 0310271614
• Edition: Student
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-10
• Publisher: Zondervan

Summary

Having the right person in a young person's life can make a hugedifference. Jesus knew that, so he spent time with his young disciples, talking with them, listening to them, having fun with them- being with them in everyday life. Imagine students in your ministry having wise, caring mentors in their lives. They can! Jesus' model of how to transform lives is needed today more than ever before. This generation needs to discover how real faith plays out in the real world. Six important, thought-provoking sessions help junior high and high school students consider how God shows he is real, what he really wants from his followers, what his purposes are for their lives, why it matters what they believe, how he keeps them strong when life is hard, and the kind of people he wants in their lives. This student guide is supported by coaching and leader's notes in the book The Be-With Factor, but it can also be used alone. These questions help you initiate some of the most rewarding and genuinely lifechanging moments you and a student will ever experience.

Table of Contents

introduction	7	(2)
How Does God Show Me He's Real?	9	(10)
What Does God Want from Me?	19	(10)
What Purpose Does God Have for My Life?	29	(10)
Why Does It Matter What I Believe about God?	39	(10)
How Does God Help Me Stay Strong When Life Is Hard?	49	(14)
What Kind of People Does God Want in My Life?	63

Excerpts

The Be-With Factor Student Guide
Copyright 2006 by Willow Creek Association
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
ISBN-10: 0-310-27161-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27161-1
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible:
New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked TNIV are taken from the Holy Bible: Today’s New
International Version. TNIV. Copyright 2002, 2004 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible: New Living
Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Interior design by Mark Sheeres
Printed in the United States of America
06 07 08 09 10 • 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Welcome to The Be-With Factor. The Be-With lifestyle is about “being-
with” each other. It’s about asking tough questions, listening to
each other, and discovering with others what the Bible says about your
life with God. It’s also about hearing what those others have to say —
everybody’s point of view matters.
The best way to use this book is as a discussion guide for meetings
with a mentor. That’s one of the most important Be-With relationships
you can have. A mentor can help you learn what being a Christ-follower
is all about. But this book is also a great study guide for getting together
with other students to study the Bible — if you have a small group leader,
we recommend they purchase The Be-With Factor book which has a
leader’s guide to go along with these questions. Or if you just want to
personally “be-with” God in a closer way, these questions and exercises
can help strengthen your relationship with him.
Here are six “Big Questions” you might be asking — lots of students
are. They’re important questions, and how you answer them will determine
how your relationship with God unfolds. So, no easy answers
allowed. It’s time to dig deep.
1. How Does God Show Me He’s Real?
2. What Does God Want from Me?
3. What Purpose Does God Have for My Life?
introduction
8 the be-with factor student guide
4. Why Does It Matter What I Believe about God?
5. How Does God Help Me Stay Strong When Life Is Hard?
6. What Kind of People Does God Want in My Life?
Each question is the theme for the discussion, and there are several
other questions and Bible verses to read to help you answer each Big
Question. Take one lesson each week. If the conversation really gets
going, you might not have time to discuss everything in the lesson, but
that’s a good thing. Don’t worry about finishing every question in the
study — the focus should be on your life with God, not on completing
lessons. What’s important is to be real about your relationship with
God and the questions you have about your faith. You can always go
back and finish the questions when you take time to be alone with God
during the week.
discussion questions
1 What are some of your earliest memories of what you
thought God was like?
2 How has your view of God changed since then?
big question #1
How Does God
Show Me He’s
Real?
big idea
God wants a personal relationship
with us and has taken steps
to make himself known.
10 the be-with factor student guide
read these passages from the Bible:
3When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers — the moon
and the stars you have set in place — 4what are mortals that you should
think of us, mere humans that you should care for us?
PSALM 8:3 – 4 NLT
1The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of
his hands. 2Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they
display knowledge. 3There is no speech or language where their voice
is not heard. 4Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the
ends of the world.
PSALM 19:1 – 4
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal
power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood
from what has been made.
ROMANS 1:20
3 How would you sum up what these verses are saying about
God’s message to humanity through his creation?
4 How does God use his creation to speak to you personally?
how does God show me he’s real? 11
God also speaks to us through the Bible, his written Word, and Jesus,
his Word (message) made flesh.
John 1:1 – 5 says:
1In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
TNIV
Hebrews 1:1 – 3 says:
1In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many
times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by
his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he
made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
TNIV
5 What do these passages teach us about Jesus’ role in helping
us understand God?
now read John 1:10 – 14.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,
the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own,
but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to
those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of
God — 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or
a husband’s will, but born of God. 14The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and
only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
TNIV
Many people saw and heard Jesus without being changed. In our
day, too, lots of people know some facts about Jesus but are not among
his followers.
6 According to verses 12 – 13, how does someone go from being
a creature made by God to a child born of God?
7 Tell the story of when and how that happened for you.
In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and
have it to the full.”
8 What do you think keeps some people who follow Christ
from having “life to the full” as he promised?
9 What do you think is your role in making sure you experience

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Excerpted from The Be-with Factor Student Guide: Six Questions Students Need to Ask about Life with God by Bo Boshers, Judson Poling
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