Accept, Part 2 - March 17, 2013

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.