The Gateway to Heaven (Pentecost 22B)

The Gateway to Heaven

Click to download The Gateway to Heaven study for Pentecost 22B.

Text:: Mark 10:23-31 (Pentecost 22B)

Objectives

  1. Understand that faith in Jesus Christ is the only gateway to Heaven.
  2. Gain a deeper understanding of the first commandment and abstain from having false idols.

Instructions: This Bible Study has been developed for use in small groups of 6-8 persons, if your group is larger than this, divide into smaller groups. Choose as the leader whoever has the birthday closest to the day of the study. The leader’s sole purpose is to keep the group moving through the study and ensure that everyone who wishes can participate.  

Materials Needed

  1. Bible
  2. Writing Utensil
  3. Large and Small Hula Hoops

Community Building

Have everyone in your group hold hands to make a long, connected line. At one end of the line give a person a large hula hoop in their free hand. Ask the group to move the hula hoop down the line as quickly as possible without breaking any of their connections. If the connection is broken, they have to start again. Once you are through the hula hoop, you may not touch it again.

Time the group. See if they can beat their time in a second round. If time allows, you can try again with a smaller hula hoop.

  • How did it feel to try and get through a small space?
  • Could you have completed the task if the other people had not done their part?
  • What would have happened if we had continually made the hoop smaller?
  • Have you ever faced a challenge that you knew you couldn’t complete on your own? How did you handle it?

Involvement Activity

Share with the group what your favorite thing that you own is, or what the best gift you have ever received is.

Looking at God’s Word

Have a volunteer read Mark 10:23-31

  • How does someone get to Heaven? What are answers you hear in culture? What do you know is true because of your gift of faith?
  • Why were the people so astonished that Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven?
  • Jesus came to fulfill the law for us, because we can’t fulfill it ourselves. What does His sacrifice mean for us before the Father?

Remind youth that on their own they are never going to be good enough or right enough with God to make it to heaven. Having money doesn’t change anything. Rich or poor, we all need God’s forgiveness.

  • What is a false god that you see in our world today? In your own life?

Have students consider how money, influence, social media clout, or other things could become idols that move us away from Jesus.

  • Read the following verses: Isaiah 42:8, Matthew 4:10, 1 Corinthians 8:4, or 1 John 5:21. How can we keep from other idols in our lives?
  • The things we do or have will not earn a place in Heaven. Jesus is the only one that can justify us, how does that affect the way we live?

Have students consider how out of gratefulness for God’s goodness, through the Holy Spirit, we prioritize Him in our life. That can cause us to de-prioritize things that others thinks are important like money or fame.

Reinforcing What We’ve Learned

  1. “Today I learned that…”
  2. How does our justification in Christ shape our lives?

Close in Prayer

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