4 weeks through Romans 5 helping students understand why God makes us wait.
$60.00
Nobody likes waiting. Whether it’s standing in line at the DMV, waiting for your order at a busy restaurant, or sitting through the pain of circumstances you can’t control, waiting usually feels like wasted time. For teenagers, waiting on God can be even harder. They wonder why an all-powerful, all-loving God seems to make them take a number and sit in the lobby of life while their prayers go unanswered.
Take A Number is a 4-week youth ministry curriculum through Romans 5 that helps students discover the purpose behind waiting. Instead of seeing waiting as punishment or silence, teens will learn how God uses waiting to shape character, renew hope, and point them to eternity. By walking with Paul through Romans, students will understand why waiting hurts, how it makes us new, and why our hope is secure no matter what we face.
Includes Video Messages, Teaching Guides, Small Group Questions, and Graphics.
Waiting is not wasted time in God’s kingdom. In Week 1, students face the reality that sin broke the world, which means waiting often comes with pain. In Week 2, they’ll discover that God uses waiting to transform them, building endurance and character through the Spirit’s work. Week 3 confronts the lie that God makes us wait as punishment, pointing to the truth that Jesus died for us long before we could deserve it. And in Week 4, the series closes with hope — even if waiting lasts a lifetime, eternity holds everything our hearts long for in Christ.
This series doesn’t promise quick fixes or easy answers. Instead, it offers students a gospel lens for one of life’s hardest experiences. By the end, they’ll be equipped to wait with patience, faith, and hope in God’s bigger story.
Week 1 – When Waiting Hurts (Romans 5:11-12)
Intro: Waiting is painful, and it raises hard questions about God’s love and power.
Truth: Paul reminds us that Adam’s sin brought pain and death to all of humanity. We live in a broken world where waiting hurts.
Takeaway: You take a number because Adam took the apple.
Week 2 – Waiting Makes Us New (Romans 5:2-5)
Intro: Why does God ask us to rely on Him only to make us wait?
Truth: Paul explains that while waiting doesn’t feel like privilege, God uses it to build endurance, strength, and hope through the Spirit’s work.
Takeaway: You take a number because Jesus is making you new.
Week 3 – Waiting Isn’t Punishment (Romans 5:6-9)
Intro: We assume God makes us wait because we’ve been bad.
Truth: Paul assures us that Christ died for us before we could ever earn it. Waiting is not punishment — all sinners who are saved are equal.
Takeaway: There are no numbers.
Week 4 – Eternal Hope (Romans 5:21)
Intro: The hardest part of unanswered prayer is losing hope that life can ever be good again.
Truth: Paul points us to eternity, where pain and death will be gone and every longing will be fulfilled in Christ.
Takeaway: Eternity is bigger than the number you’re holding.
Speaks to a universal struggle: Every student knows the frustration of waiting, and this series shows them God’s perspective.
Deeply biblical: Rooted in Romans 5, one of Paul’s most hope-filled passages.
Encourages perseverance: Teaches teens that waiting is part of God’s process of shaping their lives.
Offers lasting hope: Reminds students that eternity is secure, even when answers on earth don’t come.
