Teaching Topics…?

Yesterday I received an email inquiring about teaching topics.  If you’re looking for a topic or series, here’s one idea of three I wrote about in an article called, “Top Topics for College-age People to Hear” that I think hits one of the core needs of college-age people!

I believe that a lack of understanding of our sin nature is the number one thing that will cause a college-age person to shrink back in his or her faith. During late adolescence, people are beginning to see much more of themselves—the good and the bad. Dealing with the guilt of sin, in my opinion, is the number one contributor to college-age people slipping into “mediocre Christianity” and the thing that most often will hinder them from truly engaging in a life of ministry. Most college-age people, like other stages, feel as though they’re the only ones struggling with that particular sin issue. They need to know they’re normal.

So, I’ve taught the following messages frequently in our ministry: 

1. Dealing with shame and regret (a walk through Psalm 51). Shame of sin causes us to run or hide from God, just like Adam and Eve in the garden. 
2. Putting sin in its place (Romans 7:14-8:1). This talk basically deals with wrongly identifying ourselves in sin, rather than in whom God has made us to be in Christ. 
3. I also typically will add two or three more messages to this series related to what I’ve heard or know specifically people are walking through at the time.