Use this lesson to help students in your ministry make good choices.

Students are often blinded by what molds and shapes the decisions they make.

This lesson helps peel back the “why”, “how” and “what” behind their choices.

This lesson really has the power to help your students in a big way.

Especially if you create some space at the end of the message, allowing students to reflect and go to God with the choices they make.

Doing that allows room for God to move in their hearts and minds.

-Nick Diliberto, Ministry to Youth

Looking for youth ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR PASS – For one year save 93% on $1,440 worth of youth group lessons, Bible studies, games, events & more. Only available through March 28!

Youth Group Lesson on Choices

DOWNLOAD THE PDF OF THIS LESSON

Bible: Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

Say: Ever think about the everyday choices we make?

Like for real!

Why do we dress the way we do?

Why do we talk and act the way we do?

Why do we hang around the people we hang with?

Why are we sitting in this room right now?

Before today is over, I want you to ask yourself three questions…

  • Who makes my choices?
  • How am I making my choices?
  • Why am I making them?

Who Makes Our Choices?

Who or what pressures us to do what we do?

Wear what we wear…

Talk how we talk…

If we are honest with ourselves, we would say that the culture around us has a huge say in what we do, what we wear, how we act, and how we talk.

And when I say culture, I’m talking about social media, movie stars, recording artist, athletes, where we live, the school we go to, and the friends we hang out with.

I’m talking about technology, books, and whatever social class people put us in.

Maybe your parents make all the choices for you. Either because they are afraid that you are going to turn into a heathen, or because they want to “protect you”!

Maybe your friends make your decisions for you. Because they are the closest family you have, and you’re afraid you will lose them too!

Maybe money makes your choices. Because you don’t have any, and you are tired of living broke! Or you have a lot of “stuff” and that’s what drives you.

That’s a few examples of what could be making your choices.

Let’s look at how we are making our choices.

How are we making our choices? 

How can music influence the choices you make? How does it influence how we act, talk, and what we wear? (Get responses)

Most of you have probably heard the phrase “YOLO”, you only live once. A lot of people adopted this “motto” and started to live life like there was no tomorrow because of a popular song.

Now what happens when you live like there is no tomorrow? Then all of a sudden, tomorrow comes.

You’ve been spending all you money.

Telling people what’s on your mind, because you know they deserve it.

Maybe you started gravitating towards drugs and alcohol.

Skipping school and sleeping in.

What happens then?

What happens when someone disrespects you and you’re like “YOLO”!

What happens when you are tempted to steal from the mall, knowing the police is in there, knowing they have people watching you, knowing they have cameras…but you’re like “YOLO”!

What happens when your boyfriend or girlfriend is pressuring you to have sex, and you’re like “YOLO”. Then a month later someone is pregnant!

That’s just one example of the culture around us can influence our choices.

The idea is to be aware of what is influencing you and how you make the choices you do.

What is the “why” behind our choices? 

Again, if we are honest – music, money, friends, movies, sports shape the choices we make for two reasons:

Acceptance and fear!

Pretty much any choice we make hinges on those two things.

We dress like our friends because we FEAR that we will look different, and we want to be ACCEPTED by our friends. We want to fit in!

We chase money or “stuff” because we FEAR that we won’t live a good life and have good things. We fear that we won’t be ACCEPTED if we don’t have a lot of money or “stuff”.

We flirt and sleep around because we FEAR that we are not good enough for someone to love us, and we want to be ACCEPTED by our boyfriends and girlfriends.

We get drunk at parties and do drugs because we FEAR that people will label us “goody goodies”, and goody goodies are not ACCEPTED by the circles we run in.

Listen to what Romans 12:1-2 has to say about choices.

Read Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you

(Note to leader – Talk a little about the meaning of this passage in your own words)

Let me give you a choice to make.

Live free following Jesus!

Or..

Be enslaved to FEAR and ACCEPTANCE

Who’s going to make that choice for you?

How are you going to make that choice?

Why will you make that choice?

I hope this message has challenged you to think about the choices you make.

I hope you’re inspired to ask God to show you the source of your choices, how you make them, and why you make them.

(Note to leader: End the message with a time of reflection for students. Have the worship band (if you have one) come up and play a song. If you don’t have a worship band, play a worship video or song. During the worship song, encourage students to reflect on the message, bringing their choices before God. Allowing Him to speak to them about the choices they make.)

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Say your name, grade, and if you prefer Apple or Android.

How easy is it to cruise through a day and not even think about the choices we make? Why is it so easy?

How do things like music, media, celebrities sports, etc. influence the choices we make?

How/why do we allow our friends to influence the choices we make?

What does “the renewing of your mind” in Romans 12:2 mean to you and how can your mind be renewed?

DOWNLOAD THE PDF OF THIS LESSON

End lesson.

Looking for youth ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR PASS – For one year save 93% on $1,440 worth of youth group lessons, Bible studies, games, events & more. Only available through March 28!

Like this lesson? Then you will also like this free…

Youth Group Lesson on Judging Others

17 Replies to “Youth Group Lesson – Choices”

  1. Fhumulani Cassius
    • August 7, 2016

    I like this group discussion. I had like to receive more information via E-mail.

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Nick Diliberto
      • August 10, 2016

      Great! Just sign up to our email list by clicking on the “top 10 free games/lessons” on the sidebar of any post/page, or at the very top of all the posts/pages.

      Reply
  2. jimoh Rebecca
    • August 12, 2016

    i am blessed

    Reply
  3. Kyle Brenner
    • October 22, 2016

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure these lessons are widely used and appreciated.. but I feel that they are more of a moral lesson than a bible lesson. I’ve looked at several lessons, and have yet to see more than 1 or 2 verses in each one. I’m not sure if there are different people making these, or 1 person.. either way Thank You, but please take what I’m saying to heart. Try building your lesson around the bible, not a moral idea with religion somewhere in there, but no real religious backbone..

    Reply 2 Response
    1. Nick Diliberto
      • November 7, 2016

      Kyle, thanks for your honestly here. It is definitely well received for sure. We will take that into consideration. We do, however, have a number of paid series that go thru the Bible pretty extensively. We have a series on the book of James, book of Ephesians, book of philippians, and proverbs. Up until this point, we’ve created those type of series/lessons for our paid products and done the more topical ones for the freebies. But you do bring up a good point here. Thanks again!

      Reply
    2. Brice
      • September 18, 2021

      Hello Kyle , I want to try to look at another side to your observation.
      You are right about the moral aspect and I think is a huge point, I was going through this and I decided to add the gospel at the center of this lesson. However I also realize that as we approach the end we are more force to first relate with people at their level and then present Christ somewhat after. So maybe that is left to the person handling this and how grounded he is spiritually, Nor withstanding you have a valid remark and I just want to add that maybe not making it full of bible verse but ensuring this lead to the Gospel , because more bible verse at times to non converted youth create more hypocrisies as we observe today. We need youth who have encounter the Gospel not youth who have been preached too, and given good dosage of scriptures….that is another side to avoid…

      Reply 1 Response
      1. Selena D Perry
        • November 3, 2021

        I agree with this comment! I think real life situation gets their attention and it also can help they make decisions for themselves. I don’t want to come preaching to them because I think they will retain more and open up more if we can have a group discussion about things. Then reference it with a scripture. That’s just my take on it.

        Reply
  4. Emmah mokeira
    • December 22, 2016

    According to me I think the lessons are good. Am a youth leader and my youths get bored easily when I use the Bible all the time. So I thinkyou are doing a great job with the verses but with more explanations to the reality of life to our youth.

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Nick Diliberto
      • December 23, 2016

      Thanks Emmah!

      Reply
  5. Jazmin
    • October 14, 2017

    I agree that the lessons are great. I just started teaching sunday bible to kids from ages 9 to 14 and these lessons have helped tremendously. We are going into our 3rd month tofether and there’s a tremendous change in them. From spiritually to personality wise and at home…. Parents won’t stop talking about it. Thanks! For what you are doing. Like another person commented on here they get bored very easy, they do not want to hear bible all the time. We know it is the BEST for them but they are yet to figure it out themselves. It is our part to guide them that way and this lessons are a big tool to help us teachers take them there. Thank you so much!!

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Becky Forkel
      • October 15, 2017

      Jazmin – Thanks for the message.

      We think you would really enjoy looking at one of our sister sites – preteenministry.net.

      The lessons and games found there are specifically geared towards 4-6th grade students.

      Check it out! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Carla Graham
    • October 3, 2018

    Thank you so much for this! I enjoyed the free lesson on choices. I, too, work with youth and find this will be a helpful tool as we start our series on “The Choice Is Yours”. But it’s just that ~ a tool. My plan is to incorporate more scriptures into the lesson to bring home the power of choosing and making the right decisions. As an instructor it is my responsibility to use this lesson as a foundation and build upon it. As with many lesson I use off line, I tailor it to the group I am teaching. Thank you again.

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Kristy Preston
      • October 3, 2018

      Hi Carla, You are so welcome. We are glad to hear that our ministry is such a blessing to you and your students.

      Reply
  7. Tanya Ford
    • March 20, 2019

    I love this lessons. I feel like the kids could really benefit from them. Thank you

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Kristy Preston
      • March 20, 2019

      Thank you for reaching out to use Tanya! We are so glad to hear that you like the lesson.
      God Bless!

      Reply
  8. Kimberley Hillyard
    • July 10, 2021

    Thank you for all your lessons and your mission on reaching the youth, you have helped me on so many different occasions, and my youth class. ❤ I have had youth give their lives to God in Sunday school, May God continue to bless this ministry.

    Reply
  9. Darrin
    • August 31, 2021

    Have used a couple of your lessons with our youth group at church.Teaching the one on (Choices) tomorrow night to our Wed. night teens.This is exactly what our teens need to be hearing right now with everything they go through in life on a daily basis.Keep up the good work,these are great lessons to be sharing with our kids.😁😁

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Emmah mokeira Cancel reply

*