Lesson 1:

romans: rescued In Need of Rescue

This includes:
1. Leader Preparation
2. Lesson Guide

1. LEADER PREPARATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
We will see God’s ultimate rescue plan for us. Your students will leave this conversation
with a clear picture of sin, an understanding that we are all sinners, and an appreciation
that God loves us so much he rescues us from our sin without any need to earn it on our
part.

LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. WHAT: Everyone is in need of rescue—God offers a rescue to each of us.
2. WHY: Even when we ignore God’s plan and do what we want, God wants to rescue us
anyway.
3. HOW: Students will discuss how in order to be rescued, we must know we are in
need of rescue and must accept the help.

PRIMARY SCRIPTURE
Romans 3:21-28

SECONDARY SCRIPTUREs
Romans 5:8; 6:23; 10:9-13

TEACHING PREP
The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want
to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as
you lead.

Read Romans 3:21-28.

The book of Romans opens with Paul making the case that no one is righteous in God’s
eyes, and a righteous God cannot tolerate sin. In Romans 3:21 a transition happens,
and we begin to see God’s plan to rescue us from our sin through Jesus.
God’s rescue plan has nothing to do with what we do, but rather it has everything
to do with what God has done. All that is required of us is to accept God’s rescue.
However, accepting rescue first implies we understand we are in need of being
rescued. Many today do not even recognize the sin that entangles them. Our goal will
be to have every student understand why we are all in need of the rescue God offers.

The big story of the Bible builds to this point in Scripture. The Old Testament begins
with a perfect creation, but that perfection was tarnished and damaged by sin. Then
we meet Jesus in the opening pages of the New Testament. He is the one who makes
things right, who offers a way for restoration, and who rescues the lost, the dying,
and the desperate.

Romans can be a challenging book because of Paul’s theological presentations.

Your students don’t need to get bogged down in these details, but it is helpful to
understand because there are places in the book that can be difficult to understand.
Paul writes in a style that uses a lot of long sentences and a lot of imperatives. This
means things can be hard to read and harder to understand. Your students should
not feel frustrated if they read passages in Romans and don’t fully understand it. For
many of your students, this may be the first time they’ve wrestled with some of the
deeper truths of Romans, so we will try to bring some of these heady thoughts down
to bite-sized, manageable chunks.

THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]

Text Message Questions

We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior
to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the
curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.

• Ever see someone get rescued? It turns out that we all need a rescue.
Come join the group tonight to learn more.

• Ever been punished? Ever been rewarded? Come out tonight ready to share
a reward or punishment you have received for something you did.
Parent Email
We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson.
Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and
customize the email to fit your ministry needs.

Dear parents,

This week we started a four-lesson series on the book of Romans. I am excited about
it because we will have a chance to really see and understand the heart of the gospel
and God’s plan for rescuing us from sin.

As we started this week, we spent our time looking at sin and its effects. Many people
don’t recognize their need to be rescued from sin. They may do things wrong from
time to time, but they aren’t that bad, right? They don’t rob banks or kill people, so
they assume they are OK. The trouble is, we all need to compare ourselves to God’s
ideal, not other people. When we do this, we don’t look so good.

The good news is that while God does compare us to his ideal, if we have accepted
the free gift of salvation through Christ, God also sees Jesus standing in our place
before him.

To keep the conversation flowing at home this week, consider asking these kinds of
questions:

• What are some similarities between people who need to be rescued from a
disaster, and people who need to be rescued spiritually?
• If you’ve accepted God’s gift and rescue, why is it important to tell other
people about this rescue opportunity?
• Why is it important to confess if you’re a follower of Jesus and to let other
people know you’ve made this decision?

Have an amazing week!

 Lesson 1:
romans: rescued In Need of Rescue

2. LEsson guide
GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]
You’ll need a newspaper for the opening activity—multiple copies, if possible, and
ideally from different days.

Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, pass the
newspaper(s) around for students to see, and then ASK:

• What is the most surprising or shocking news article in that copy of the
newspaper?
• Do you see any articles about people who were rescued or who might need
some kind of rescue? If so, tell us what the article says.
• If someone needed to be rescued from a fire, a flood, or some other kind
of disaster, what would you say about that person if they did not accept a
rescue team that came their way?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: If we’re in a disaster, we want to be rescued—we want to

survive! It sounds crazy to think of someone not accepting the help of a rescue team
in that kind of situation. Yet this is what happens to many people our world—they
need a spiritual rescue, but they don’t accept the opportunity when it comes. And
some people are never given the opportunity because no rescue team ever reaches
them. As we look at our Scripture for today, we are going to see that we all are in
need of rescue.

TEACHING POINTS
The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with
more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen are (1) We
need to be rescued, (2) Jesus is our rescuer, and (3) We must accept the rescue.
 Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you
use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it
clearer for your audience.

Read Romans 3:21-28 together as a group. Consider dividing verses among your students so
everyone has a chance to read.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: These verses are really important in our faith. Let’s see what
we can learn and appreciate why this Scripture is so significant.

1. We need to be rescued

ASK:
• Have you ever gotten lost or trapped, and needed to be rescued? If so, tell
us about it—and tell us what it was like.
• What are some similarities between people who need to be rescued from a
disaster, and people who need to be rescued spiritually?
• Describe in your own words what sin is.
• Look at verse 23. Why is God’s standard so glorious?
• If God’s standard is glorious and perfect—and it is—and we’re imperfect
because of sin—and we are—then we have a problem, right? Is it possible
to be good enough to meet God’s standard and be rescued on our own?
Tell me what you think.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: God cannot stand sin—yet every human being sins. That
sin creates a separation between God and us. It breaks the relationship God wants
to have with each of us. But God loves us very much, so he came up with a plan
to rescue us. But we first must realize that we need to be rescued—to admit and
believe that we sin and we need someone to rescue us.

2. Jesus is our rescuer

ASK:
• When did you first hear about Jesus? How old were you, and who told you
about him?
• Based on what you know about the Bible, what are some ways Jesus
rescued, helped, and saved people when he walked on this Earth?
 • How have you seen Jesus rescue, help, or save people you know—friends,
family members, or people at church? How are their lives different because
of Jesus?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: This Scripture tells us that the way we can be rescued
is through Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sins.
Normally, the person who commits a crime must pay the penalty—but Jesus loved us
enough to pay it for us. He is our rescuer, the one who helps us and saves us.

3. We must accept the rescue

ASK:
• What’s the best gift you received for Christmas last year? Why did you love
it so much?
• Read Romans 6:23. This verse tells us that eternal life is the rescue
or “gift” from God. Think about the gifts you got for Christmas or your
birthday this last year. If you don’t accept the gift, did you really receive it?
Tell me what you think.
• What are the benefits and rewards of accepting God’s rescue?
• If you have accepted the gift God offers—forgiveness and eternal life
through Jesus—tell us why you made that decision.
• How is your life different because of following Jesus?
• Why do you think God doesn’t force everyone to accept his rescue?
• If you’ve accepted God’s gift and rescue, why is it important to tell other
people about this rescue opportunity?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: God does not force this rescue on us. God allows us to
decide if we want to be rescued. Each of us must choose: Will we accept God’s
gift, or reject it? If we accept it, then we receive forgiveness and eternal life through
Jesus. But if we reject it, we will spend eternity separated from God.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional]

Ask students to form groups of two or three for these questions.

ASK:
• Read Romans 5:8. What are some ways you’ve made sacrifices for the
people you love the most? Why are sacrifices such a great way to show
your love?
 • Read Romans 10:9-13. Why is it important to confess that you’re a follower
of Jesus and to let other people know you’ve made this decision?

• What is the difference between people who are basically good—like your
small group leader—and those who are really bad—like Hitler? Do they
have different needs for forgiveness, or is it all the same in God’s eyes?
What do you think?

Bring everyone back together, and ask for volunteers to share answers to the
previous questions, as time permits.

APPLICATION
ASK:
• Even if you’ve been rescued from the penalty of your sin, you continue to
sin. Think about one area where you struggle with sin—what is something
you can do this week to make better choices in that area?

• If you’ve accepted God’s gift and rescue, how can you tell other people
about this rescue opportunity?

• If you have not yet accepted God’s gift and rescue, do you have questions
that we can answer? How can we help you consider this decision—or is it a
decision you’re ready to make today?

SUMMARY
End your lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home challenge
based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3)
your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture
of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and
discussion time.

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]

Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ
Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).