Page 60 - Youth Discipleship Student Textbook

1. God talks with you. You need to have a daily time in God’s Word. Have them read a passage, then
journal the central point of the passage in their own special journal. Assign them accountability
partners. Each week they get together, either on phone or ZOOM or personally, and share their insights
from their journal The journal should include the central idea of the passage, and their response
personally to that idea.

2. You talk to God. You need to set aside a time to talk with God in prayer. Perhaps teach them to pray
using this anachronism:
A – Adoration. Tell God how great He is and how you worship Him.
C – Confession. Confession means to agree with God in the areas of your life that offend or
displease God, and ask Him to change that in your life. Turn from those sins.
T – Thanksgiving. Give God praise for all the wonderful things in your life that He blesses you
with.
S – Supplication. Ask God to meet the needs of others and your own personal needs.

3. You talk with others. Teach them how to share their faith with others. Have them practice on one
another, then practice in every opportunity you can provide for them. Perhaps a curriculum on
Apologetics would be appropriate to boost their confidence in what to say to those who oppose them.

4. Stand for your faith. Our society is becoming more and more hostile to the things of God. As the
youth begin to practice the first three of these basic principles, they will assuredly be confronted with
those who adamantly disagree with them. Remember, youth have a basic need of being accepted and
respected. Standing for their faith flies in the face of meeting this basic need. They will need great
encouragement in this area, understanding that finding favor with Jesus is so much more important than
finding favor with their friends or acquaintances. The must learn to stand as unique in a world that
demands compromise.

5. Help them discover their spiritual gifts. When a person receives Christ as Savior, upon his rebirth
the Holy Spirit comes into the believer and brings with Him special spiritual gifts to empower the
believer for service. These gifts are for the edification of others, not for the believer himself. Every
person receives one of these special gifts, and perhaps multiple gifts. It should become your desire to
seek to determine with what special gift the Spirit empowered you so you can start being a blessing to
other believers.

There are actually three Biblical lists of the “gifts of the Spirit”, also known as spiritual gifts. The three
main passages describing the spiritual gifts are Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; and 1 Corinthians
12:28. The spiritual gifts identified in Romans 12 are prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving,
leadership, and mercy. The list in 1 Corinthians 12:4–11 includes the word of wisdom, the word of
knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in
tongues and interpretation of tongues.

Many of these gifts are considered permanent gifts given to believers throughout the church age.
Others were given as temporary “sign gifts” for the purpose of validating the message of the one
exercising the gift. They were given to the early church to enable the gospel to be preached throughout
the world to all the nations and in all known languages. It involved the divine ability to speak languages
previously unknown to the speaker. This gift authenticated the message of the gospel and those who
preached it as coming from God. The phrase “diversity of tongues” means several kinds of languages

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