2 weeks ago we started talking about our second vow of Confirmation-
"Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"
What are some of the things that you remember from our discussion?
-We talked about freedom and what that means
-How freedom without rules or discipline can be chaotic or may even limit your freedom
-That Christ set us free from sin and death
-What the law was powerless to do, Christ's sacrifice was able to do - Romans 8: 1-5
Today let's discuss what power is. Not only does God give us the freedom to resist evil, injustice and oppression, but God also gives us the power we need to make faithful choices. Acts 1:8- "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth." So what is this power? The Holy Spirit.
In this scripture, Luke is telling how Jesus told the Disciples that John baptized with water, but they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Turn to 1 Thessolonians 5: 16-19. What instruction is Paul giving in this letter to the church in Thessolonica? He tells them to practice their faith by always praying, being happy/joyful, and being thankful, but also reminds them that they shouldn't put out the power-- the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit living in us gives us the power to resist evil, injustice, and oppression.
What does it mean to resist something? Is it a passive act? To resist means that one is withstanding some sort of force or pressure so it's an action. Resisting is something we train ourselves to do. Through our arm wrestling demonstration you can see that each participant is not only using their strength to push another participant's arm down but also resisting that person's strength to keep their arm from being forced down. If you train and practice arm wrestling, you can get better at it. So just like accepting freedom means accepting discipline, resisting evil, injustice and oppression takes practice and discipline. As members of the body of Christ, we vow to resist evil, injustice and oppression. Being faithful to this vow requires regular exercises or spiritual discipline like... reading our Bible, going to Bible study and small group, praying, coming to church, and participating in communion.
Discussion questions in Table Groups:
1. What are some forms of evil, injustice and oppression?
2. How do these examples of evil, injustice and oppression put pressure on you or tempt you?
3. What are some ways that you can resist this pressure?
**Before going into small groups, we discussed different forms of evil as a group. One student said that Human Trafficking was an injustice. We then started discussing how we resist this injustice of human trafficking, what steps can we take. In this discussion I pointed out that one thing that can lead to the bigger problem of human trafficking is supporting the industry of pornography and that to help the bigger problem of human trafficking, specifically sex trafficking, we can take the small steps of resisting the urge to engage in the act of looking at pornography. Students have easier access to pornography with the advances in our technology, and younger and younger students are seeking it out. Looking at pornography can become a very addictive behavior and lead to other inappropriate behaviors, behaviors that we should resist. For statistics on how the pornography industry and sex trafficking are linked, please email me.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Accept - March 3, 2013
"Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"
What thoughts, feelings or images come to mind when you hear the word FREEDOM?
Let's play a game that you never played before. I know that you haven't played it before because it hasn't been created yet. I'm giving you a few minutes to design a game using a ball. There is one stipulation... your game may not have any rules. It must be a freestyle game, because this session is about freedom.
What did you think or feel when I told you no rules?
What was it like to design a game with no rules?
Consider the game of football. What are some of the rules of the game? Could you play football without rules?
What are some of the rules you have to follow at home? at school? among your friends?
Why are rules helpful and important in life?
We're talking about freedom because it is part of the second confirmation vow. "Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"
Freedom is a gift from God. Our free will allows us to use this freedom to accept God's grace or resist it. But as we could see from our game experiment, freedom without rules or discipline is a disaster.
What things are you free to do but will not be able to do if you aren't disciplined? Examples might be that you are free to become musicians, athletes, surgeons, etc. but you will not achieve these skills without extraordinary discipline. Lack of discipline can place limits on what we can do and actually makes us less free. Too often we think of discipline as something that constrains or limits us; it usually not something that we think of when we think of freedom. But discipline is more like training. As Christians who accept God's gift of freedom, we need to understand that the more disciplined we are, the better equipped we are to do the work that God calls us to do and to live the abundant life that God desires for us. Using one's free will without training, practice, and accountability that come from spiritual disciplines and a Christian community, often results in self-centered pursuits that do not bear fruit. Accepting God's freedom also means accepting Christian discipline and accountability.
Romans 8: 1-5 - What is this scripture telling us? Christ sets us free from sin and death, and what the law was powerless to do, Christ's sacrifice was able to do. If we let the Spirit live in us, and yield to life in the Spirit, you obey His law. The law becomes easier to follow when we are living with the Spirit.
What thoughts, feelings or images come to mind when you hear the word FREEDOM?
Let's play a game that you never played before. I know that you haven't played it before because it hasn't been created yet. I'm giving you a few minutes to design a game using a ball. There is one stipulation... your game may not have any rules. It must be a freestyle game, because this session is about freedom.
What did you think or feel when I told you no rules?
What was it like to design a game with no rules?
Consider the game of football. What are some of the rules of the game? Could you play football without rules?
What are some of the rules you have to follow at home? at school? among your friends?
Why are rules helpful and important in life?
We're talking about freedom because it is part of the second confirmation vow. "Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"
Freedom is a gift from God. Our free will allows us to use this freedom to accept God's grace or resist it. But as we could see from our game experiment, freedom without rules or discipline is a disaster.
What things are you free to do but will not be able to do if you aren't disciplined? Examples might be that you are free to become musicians, athletes, surgeons, etc. but you will not achieve these skills without extraordinary discipline. Lack of discipline can place limits on what we can do and actually makes us less free. Too often we think of discipline as something that constrains or limits us; it usually not something that we think of when we think of freedom. But discipline is more like training. As Christians who accept God's gift of freedom, we need to understand that the more disciplined we are, the better equipped we are to do the work that God calls us to do and to live the abundant life that God desires for us. Using one's free will without training, practice, and accountability that come from spiritual disciplines and a Christian community, often results in self-centered pursuits that do not bear fruit. Accepting God's freedom also means accepting Christian discipline and accountability.
Romans 8: 1-5 - What is this scripture telling us? Christ sets us free from sin and death, and what the law was powerless to do, Christ's sacrifice was able to do. If we let the Spirit live in us, and yield to life in the Spirit, you obey His law. The law becomes easier to follow when we are living with the Spirit.
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