God wants to give us a full life beyond what we can even imagine.  As Christians, we are not doomed to a life of boring sameness.  Instead, through the sacrifice of Jesus we are freed to have a fun, wild life!

Good shepherd, bad shepherd

One person is blindfolded and must be guided through tables and chairs. This is the “sheep.” Two people are selected to be shepherds, but unbeknownst to the sheep, when is the bad shepherd, one is the good. They both call out directions at the same time— the goal of the good shepherd is to get the sheep to them (and unharmed) the bad shepherd’s goal is to impede this goal :). Repeat as many times as you’d like.

Discussion in groups

Read John 10:7-10

Jesus spent a lot of time explaining who he was to the people who followed him. They had a hard time understanding how immense his love was for them and really had a hard time figuring out who he truly was—we still struggle with that today! In this passage, he’s talking about the Wild Life he has come to bring to anyone who is gutsy enough to follow him.

1. What stuck out to you in this passage?
2. In our activity, we had a bad shepherd trying to distract and delay the sheep— how have you experienced a bad shepherd in your life? This could be a person, but this could also be a particular sin or set of choices.
3. How could you tell that the bad shepherd didn’t have your best interest at heart?
4. What does a shepherd do?
5. How is that similar to what Jesus does for us?
6. How can we be shepherds for our friends and family?
7. In what way can we be bad shepherds for our own lives?
8. What does a life abundant look like for you?
9. How have you experienced an abundant life?
10. How can Jesus play a role in an abundant life for you now and in the future?