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Music Resources

Artist: Phil Wickham
Song: It's Always Been You
Album: Hymn of Heaven
Featured In: MVL 112

Resources for YLO Members

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Phil Wickham

Leader Guide

Artist: Phil Wickham
Album: Hymn of Heaven
Label: Fair Trade Services
Song: It's Always Been You
From: MVL 112
Writer: Ken McCoy | JumpStart Ministries | Charlotte, North Carolina

Theme(s): God's: Pursuit God's: Protection God's: Faithfulness

Objective
Students will see how God has always been with them and has helped them during difficult times.

Warm Up
Among Us – You’ve probably heard of this game. In the last few months, the murder mystery game, available on mobile and PC, has been a huge hit.

Here’s a quick synopsis from CNN: The players are randomly assigned roles of either a crewmate or imposter [on a spaceship]. Throughout the game, crewmates try to complete their tasks while the imposter tries to murder the crew and sabotage the spaceship without getting caught. If a dead crewmate is found or an emergency meeting is called, players try to deduce who the imposter is while the imposter tries to convince everyone they aren’t a murderer. Most rounds last a few minutes.

Do an online search for “Play Among Us IRL,” and you’ll find lots of resources to help you get the game set up.

Here’s the catch for YOUR version of the game: the same person is the imposter in every round. Make sure the person you choose for this role is the sneaky, unassuming, quiet, and harmless type.

Transition
Once you’ve played enough rounds that the players have become aware that the same person is always an imposter, bring the group back together and discuss:

How many rounds did you play before you realized that the same person was an imposter each time?
How did you react when you found out?

The Video
Hand out the Student Guides. Phil Wickham has a song whose title could be the title of our “Among Us” game: It’s Always Been You! Except, he’s not singing about an imposter.

Encourage your students to fill in the missing lyrics as they watch the video. Show the video It’s Always Been You by Phil Wickham.

Transition
Go back over the lyrics and make sure everyone has the correct missing words.
They are: first, worst, moment, calms, guardian, light, tomorrow, love, northern, compass, fire, water, carried.

Bible Study
Use these Bible passages to point out just some of the truth in Phil’s song.

Read Psalm 46:1-2
Notice the phrase “ever-present”? When we experience trouble, we feel as though God is not close. He’s far away, and we are on our own to figure out how to get out of our mess. But, He is NOT far away. He is “ever-present”! And THAT is why we don’t have to fear.

Read Daniel 3:19-27
Phil sings, “Who stood with me in the fire? It was You.” Up until the soldiers tossed the three friends into the furnace, they were faithful. God rewarded their faith and kept them from feeling the effects of the fire. Some people think that the additional person in the furnace was a “pre-incarnate” appearance of Jesus. What an amazing experience!

God did not save the three friends from the fire but was with them in it and saved them through it.

Read Matthew 14:22-33
This incident relates to these lyrics: “Who pulled me out of the water? It was You.”
Peter was experiencing the miraculous: he was actually walking on water! But he took his eyes off of Jesus and started paying attention to the storm. As he sank, Jesus zoomed over to him and pulled Peter out. Another miracle!

We often think that God is very distant when things aren’t going well, but He is right there. He can and will pull you out!

Wrap Up
Encourage your group to close their eyes as you play the video again. Have them imagine that Jesus is sitting next to them as they listen closely to the words and the music.

When the video has finished, close in a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s presence and help in all times and situations.

Playlist
This song is featured on “The Linc: God’s Protection” Spotify playlist – which is the perfect way to remind your students what you’ve taught them in this session. To share it with them, click the live link on the web version of this study.