TEACHING OUTLINE
HOOKED | SESSION ONE | BAIT & SWITCH
BOTTOM LINE
THERE IS A HOOK IN
EVERY TEMPTATION
SCRIPTURE
ANGLE OF SCRIPTURE
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting
me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he
tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they
are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;
and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
There is a lot to talk about in this passage! But for this
session in particular, you’re going to focus most heavily
on this phrase: “after desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth
to death.” That, right there, is the “hook” that you’ll
talk about throughout this session. No matter how
tempting sin looks, it hides a sharp little hook. And
that hook will lead to our own misery.
JAMES 1:13-15 NIV
SESSION SUMMARY
INTRO
TENSION
TRUTH
APPLICATION
LANDING
Introduce the visual
of the fishing pole.
Understanding
how a fishing pole
works can help
you overcome
temptation.
Tell a personal story.
Have you ever given
in to temptation? Of
course! But have you
ever been glad that
you did?
James 1:13-15 tells
us that giving in to
temptation will make
us miserable (maybe
not immediately, but
eventually).
Explain the visual of
the fishing pole and
the gummy worm.
There is a hook in
every temptation.
Giving in to
temptation will
make you miserable.
But remember, no
matter what you do,
God’s love for you
never changes.
QUESTION
WHICH TEMPTATION IS MOST DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO RESIST?
WHAT IS THE HOOK THAT TEMPTATION HIDES?
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
TEACHING SCRIPT
HOOKED | SESSION ONE | BAIT & SWITCH
BOTTOM LINE
THERE IS A HOOK IN
EVERY TEMPTATION
INTRODUCTION
INTERACTIVE:
Let’s Go Fishing
Begin with the fishing pole in hand.
How many of you have ever been fishing? How
many of you have gone fishing so many times that
you would consider yourself a fisherman? And last
question, how many of you have no idea how to use
this thing and would probably starve to death if
your life depended on it?
Most of you are probably wondering why I brought
this fishing pole to church. We are at the start of a new
series on temptation – the temptation we all face to
do what’s wrong, instead of what’s right. This fishing
pole, believe it or not, is one of the most important
tools you can have in learning how to make wise
decisions and in helping you overcome temptation.
When it comes to overcoming temptation, to choosing
what’s right instead of what’s wrong, we need all the
tools we can get. Because making good decisions,
especially when something is tempting us to do the
opposite, can be so very difficult.
Put down the fishing pole.
TENSION
Let’s just make sure we are all on the same page. How
many of you have ever been tempted to do something
you knew you shouldn’t do? Absolutely every hand
should be in the air right now. Of course, we have all been
tempted! All of us have been tempted to say things we
shouldn’t say, to look at things we shouldn’t look at, to go
somewhere we shouldn’t go.
TELL A PERSONAL STORY
Tell a story from your own life that illustrates the following
ideas...
•
•
•
Focus on a small or trivial temptation you gave in to,
or were tempted to give in to, preferably as a middle
schooler.
Keep it short and make it funny.
The goal here is to help your students connect with you
personally, not to make a point or illustrate a principle.
We’ve all been tempted to cheat, or to talk behind
someone’s back, to not listen to our parents, or to blame
our little brothers for something we did. In fact, you may
have been tempted with some of these things during your
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
TEACHING SCRIPT
2
car ride here. We all know what it’s like to be tempted to do
something we know we shouldn’t do. Sometimes we make
the wise choice. But sometimes we give in.
5 MINUTES
Let me ask you this question, and don’t answer it
out loud: Have you ever been glad you gave in to
temptation?
with our friends and family, too.
Have you ever given in to whatever it was that was tempting
you, and thought, “That was such a good decision! I feel
like a better person! My relationships are so much better,
and my health is improving! I feel shame free and guilt free,
and I’ve never slept this well!” We laugh because that’s not
typically how we feel at all after giving in to temptation.
Giving in to temptation always seems to make us feel
worse. And, in the long run, it can hurt our relationships
But even though we know that is true, we still give in
sometimes. When that moment of temptation comes, we
sometimes feel powerless to say no. Why is that?
I think the reason is because very few of us have ever
understood how this fishing pole works. If you can
understand and remember how this thing works, I think
you will get so much better at overcoming and resisting
temptation.
TRUTH
First, let me read you a quick passage of scripture, and then
I’ll explain what a fishing pole has to do with temptation.
This passage of scripture comes from the book of James.
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.”
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt
anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged
away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after
desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is
full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15 NIV)
Now, what does James mean? He tells us that when
we make the decision to give in to temptation, we get
something in return, but it’s not a good thing. James tells
us that when we give in to temptation, we get death.
Now, cheating on a math test or talking bad about a friend
probably won’t actually kill you, so what does James mean?
Another way to define that word “death” is misery. Giving
in to temptation will make you miserable. Maybe not
immediately. But, eventually, the consequences of our bad
choices will catch up with us. We’ll feel guilty. We’ll hurt our
relationships with other people. We’ll develop bad habits
that keep us from being everything God created us to be.
James is telling us that, just like a baby takes months to be
born, giving in to temptation will eventually lead to our own
misery.
And even though we know this to be true, it is still difficult
to say “No!” Even though you know there is a big chance
that you will feel miserable, it’s still hard to resist temptation
sometimes.
10 MINUTES
APPLICATION
This is where the fishing pole comes in. The whole
point of a fishing pole is to catch a fish. However,
catching a fish isn’t very easy. This may come as a
surprise, but fish don’t want to be caught. So the job
of the fisherman is to make the bait he throws in the
water as appealing as possible.
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
TEACHING SCRIPT
3
You can see that I put a gummy worm on the hook.
To catch a fish, you have to make this worm look
so delicious and so tasty that the fish can’t help
themselves… and eventually take a bite. But what
the fish don’t know is that, beneath that tasty looking
worm, there is a sharp little hook. If you don’t hide the
hook, the fish won’t bite. But if you bait it right, and
hide the hook, you are going to reel in a nice catch.
It is the same thing when we are tempted. The bait
is thrown out in front of us, and it looks so tasty! But
you’ve got to remember that just inside that tasty
What does the bait look like for you? Maybe it’s looking at
something on the Internet that you know you shouldn’t look
at, talking bad about someone to gain approval, cheating on
a test, lying to your parents.... It all looks so good! But it’s
looking bait is a hook. There is a hook in every
temptation.
Would any of you ever bite this gummy worm? No!
Why? Because you know there is a hook in it! You
know that biting this worm will lead to misery, so you
stay far away from it. In this passage we just read,
James is reminding us that in every single temptation,
there is a hook - something that will cause misery in
your life. When you can remember that there is a hook
in every temptation, you’ll be far less likely to give in
to whatever it is that is tempting you.
the bait. And the bait disguises the hook. So the next time
you’re confronted with that bait that looks so good, remember that there is a hook in every temptation. Then make the
wise choice.
LANDING
Next week, we are going to talk about some things that
will help you stay away from temptation. But before we get
there, I want all of you to know this. Right now, a lot of you
might be in the middle of a temptation that you can’t seem
to resist. Maybe you took the bait, and now you feel bad
about yourself and carry a lot of guilt. I want you to know that
even though you may feel badly about yourself, God does
not. It doesn’t change how God feels about you. God is not
mad at you. God is not angry with you. He is not far from you.
not mad at you, but I do believe he is sad for you. Misery is
the last thing He wants you to feel. He wants you to feel the
opposite of misery, which is why we want you to remember
that there is a hook in every temptation. And that God has
a better story for you.
Some of us really need to hear that, because some of us may
have done things that have led us to think, “How in the world
could God love me right now?” But the head-shaking truth
of what we believe is that God will never stop loving you.
As you head to your small groups, I want you to think about
this question: What is the temptation that is just so
difficult for you to resist? And what is the hook hidden
inside of it?
And to help you remember that, you’re going to get a little
something in your small group that you can take home with
you.
Now, is God sad about your sin? Of course! It makes Him sad
because He knows that it will lead to misery in your life. He’s
15 MINUTES
STOP
TRANSITION INTO SMALL GROUPS
©2015 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.