Encouraging topics for youth

By Doug Franklin April 13, 2021

We’ve compiled five 10 minute sermons for you to use with your youth ministry! These sermons are filled with strong main points, interactive experiences, and powerful illustrations.

These sermons will encourage your students to develop a real burden for those who don’t know Christ, understand that worship is a lifestyle, stand firm in God’s armor, experience the loving God who created them for a purpose, and learn how they are image-bearers of Christ. Overall these interactive sermons will take your students deeper into their relationship with Christ.

When you download this resource, you will receive the sermon outline for all 5 sermons to guide your teaching experience. Discover more sermons like these included in Deep Discipleship and DNow Studies.

10 minute sermons for youth

Free Study #1: Burden for the Lost

This 10 minute sermon for youth is a part of our Year-Long The Core Deep Discipleship Curriculum in our Outreach sequence.

10 MINUTE SERMON Topic:

Burden for the Lost

Key Objectives:

This lesson introduces students to what it means to develop a genuine burden for those who don’t know Christ.

Scripture:

Romans 9:1-5

Main Points

• Discovering a burden for the lost.
  • Seeing people as God sees them encourages students to find something in common with others that will develop the burden for the lost.
• What stops you from sharing the gospel?
  • I’m scared of rejection, I don’t know enough, haven’t thought about the consequences — these are common reasons that stop students from sharing the gospel.
• So Now What?
  • Pray for the lost.
  • Ask God for a burden.
  • Show that you care.

Sample Illustration

Your church is full of people who know Christ because someone saw them as God did. Someone reached out, took a risk, and shared the story of Christ with them. Have a person share a short testimony of their faith and talk about who it was that reached out to them and saw them from God’s perspective. This would be a great encouragement/challenge to have a student share in this way. Keep in mind, you may have to plan ahead to do this. If you can’t schedule someone to share, consider sharing your own story, or even searching on the internet for a short video testimony [there are tons!].

Free Study #2: Beyond singing

This 10 minute sermon for youth is a part of our Year-Long The Core Deep Discipleship Curriculum in the Worship sequence.

10 MINUTE SERMON Topic:

Beyond Singing

Key Objectives:

This lesson will help students begin to understand that worship is a lifestyle, not just an event. They will see that worship comes from understanding who Christ is to us.

Scripture:

Romans 8:31–38

Main Points

• The “what” and “why” of worship 
  • Worship is why we spend time focused on God, telling him what we think about him in love and adoration. Worship is an act of the heart and it connects us to God. 
• What does worship mean for me?
  • There are so many ways to pour out our hearts to God, marveling at his glory and reveling in his mercy. Worship is any time we stop and honor God, showing our total devotion to who he is.
• So now what?
  • Start with the heart.
  • Who is Jesus to you?
  • Worship happens daily.
  • We all worship differently.

Sample Illustration

Either buy or make three valentines. Make the first one goofy, as if to a friend: for example, “What did the boy mushroom say to the girl mushroom? Give me a chance! I’m a fungi.” Make the second one gushy, with sappy love sayings you might write to a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. Finally, write the third one to the Lord. [Note: Try to stay away from things he has done for you, and stick to why you love him.] Be sure to keep the recipient of each valentine ambiguous. Read each of the three to the group. Ask students who they think each valentine was written for. Did they guess correctly? If so, how did they know which one was written to God? If not, what does this say about how we express our love to God and to other human beings?

FREE STUDY #3: Stand Firm

This 10 minute sermon for youth is from our DNow Studies Curriculum, Stand.

10 MINUTE SERMON Topic:

Stand Firm

Key Objectives:

There is a real spiritual war happening, and we are all a part of it. When life gets uncertain, our faith can become shaky. But God wants us to stand firm in him and his strength, so he has given us his armor to help us in this battle. When we fully rely on God’s power, fully dressed in his armor, we are able to stand and fight.

Scripture:

Ephesians 6:10–18

Main Points

• The Need to Fight
  • Sometimes, actively following Jesus isn’t our natural inclination or clashes with what the world does. It’s tough and we might raise eyebrows or lose popularity with peers—but it’s possible with the help of the armor of God.
• Fight with the Proper Armor
  • Christ-followers are also expected to put on the right gear for fighting off spiritual attacks. The more alert and ready we are to fight and the more gear we wear, the better chance we have at winning spiritual battles.
• Rely on God’s Power
  • We’ll give in to temptation and disobedience much easier. But with his strength working through us, like spiritual caffeine, we can be alert and ready to fight.

Sample Illustration

As we have seen in Ephesians 6:10-18, believers are in the midst of a spiritual war, whether we like it or not. By following Christ, we have enlisted in God’s army, and as a part of that army, we are commanded to be alert and prepared to fight against evil powers and forces—specifically, the Devil and his demons [vv. 11–12]. God doesn’t want us getting caught unaware, so he urges his children to stay alert and to put on his armor so we are effectively protected as we fight. Notice that the whole armor of God—not just a couple of pieces—is meant to be put on. And putting on this armor is an active, not passive, task. Simply knowing the armor is available won’t help us—we have to actually put it on.

You can’t go paintballing with your friends unless you have the very basics [a paintball gun and ammo]. But there’s a lot of other gear available, like helmets, face shields, padded armor, gloves, camouflaged clothing, extra ammo, etc. Using more gear probably means less bruises for you and more hits for your opponents. Christ-followers are also expected to put on the right gear for fighting off spiritual attacks. The more alert and ready we are to fight and the more gear we wear, the better chance we have at winning spiritual battles.

FREE STUDY #4: Loved

This 10 minute sermon for youth is from our DNow Studies Curriculum, Everlasting.

10 MINUTE SERMON Topic:

Loved

Key Objectives:

What do your students envision when they think about God? Do they picture an old man with a white beard, uninterested in their problems and far away from their day-to-day lives? Do they imagine a vengeful God, hypercritical and waiting for any opportunity to strike them with a lightning bolt? Or do they imagine a God that’s so in love with them, he would sacrifice his own Son on their behalf. In this lesson, students will be introduced to the loving God who created them. They’ll discover that they were made in his image to do important things. And they’ll see that he’s to one who fulfills their physical and relational needs.

Scripture:

Genesis 1:26–31

Main Points

• Created in God’s Image
  • The fact that you bear God’s image means that something woven into your very being reflects God, like an artist’s signature incorporated into a painting. You show the world a picture of God’s love that you couldn’t erase, even if you wanted to.
• Created for a Purpose
  • Any time you fix something that was broken or bring order to something that was a mess [even a messed-up relationship], as long as you do it to God’s glory, you are doing something holy.
• Provided for by God
  • Have you ever thought about the fact that God put specific people in your life? Your best friend is a gift from God. Your family was God’s idea. Your teammates, cousins, neighbors, and co-workers are God’s provision for your life.

Sample Illustration

What have you made [a work of art, craft, science fair project, etc.] that you are most proud of? Have a few students share. Encourage them to tell the story behind their creation. Why did they make it? Where is it now? What does it do? If students are reluctant to respond, you might share a story like this one:

When I was a kid, in art my fellow students and I made things out of clay. We pounded, wet, shaped, and molded our sculptures before putting them into a kiln. After the kiln hardened our creations, we painted glaze on them. It was a pretty cool process, but most of us made the same things: lopsided bowls or pencil holders. These pieces of art weren’t anything special, but our parents displayed them proudly even if they couldn’t actually hold anything.

Did you know we get our creativity from God? Any desire you have to build a website, make something worth posting on Pinterest, or take the perfect photograph for Instagram comes from your Creator. And of all the things he’s created—octopus, galaxies, bacteria, rivers, planets, and porcupines—you are his most valued creation.

FREE STUDY #5: Seeing god clearly

This 10 minute sermon for youth is from our DNow Studies Curriculum, No Filter.

10 Minute Sermon Topic:

Seeing God Clearly

Key Objectives:

Seeing God clearly is the first step to seeing ourselves, others, and everything else clearly. Instead of making assumptions about who he is, we can look to the truth of Scripture. As we learn more about God’s character, we learn more about ourselves as his image-bearers. God wants to help us know him more so that we can live unfiltered lives for him.

Scripture:

Psalm 103:1–19

Main Points

• Distorted Views
  • A healthy view of God takes time to acquire but figuring out who God is through his Word is extremely important.
• Who is God?
  • God reveals himself in his Word, so we are able to understand much of who he is. Whatever he has revealed in the Bible, he wants us to discover and know. As God’s children, we have the privilege of continually growing in our understanding of his character.
• Image-Bearers
  • Every single one of us bears the image of God. Our physical appearance won’t change when we become Christ-followers, but we will be spiritually transformed and begin to look more and more like Christ based on our character and behavior.

Sample Illustration

In order to understand ourselves, it’s crucial that we understand more fully who God is. Why? Because you and I are image-bearers of God. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Many things we see in God [e.g., emotion and need for relationship] are reflected in us as well. Other things in God’s character allow us to see his perfection and our need for him [e.g., he is holy and sinless—we are not; he is able to grant salvation—we are not]. When we understand God’s character more fully, we are able to respond with humble repentance and praise.

Every single one of us bears the image of God. Our physical appearance won’t change when we become Christ-followers, but we will be spiritually transformed and begin to look more and more like Christ based on our character and behavior.