Student Option

(5–8 minutes, easy setup)

Ask students if they are familiar with this popular expression borrowed from poker: “All in.” Ask a voluteer to explain what the phrase means. Clarify that if they have seen poker on ESPN or elsewhere, they know that to go “all in” is when a player is confident or desperate enough to push all of their chips to the middle of the table, committing themselves fully to the cards they’ve been dealt. Explain that in the game, the hope is that they will be rewarded, at least doubling their chips by fully investing everything to the game. Ask students: What are things in your own life for which you are willing to bet it all? Is there anything you are so passionate about that you would risk losing everything in hopes of seeing it succeed or experiencing some great reward? Allow students to discuss anything about which they are deeply passionate or hopeful. Transition to the lesson by saying: Today we’ll begin to see that we can’t give tokens of appreciation here and there to Jesus. To follow Him requires that we are all in because we know that He is a greater reward than anything in this world.