Stand Your Ground (Week 3)

Stress Stress Stress!!!

·         How many of you successfully completed the challenge I gave you last week?

·         If you didn’t that is okay, I just wanted to make sure you tried to honor your father and mother.

·         Today we are going to be talking about an infection that plagues everyone in the world, and that would be stress.

1.      What do you think of when you hear the word stress?

2.      What stresses do you have as a teenager?

3.      What causes you to have the most stress?

4.      Does anyone cause you to have stress in your life? If yes, who causes your stress?

5.      Who do you talk to about your pressures and stresses?

6.      Do you have a way to relieve your stress?

Psalms 34:15-22

Verse 15: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry. Verse 16: The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Verse 17: The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. Verse 18: The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Verse 19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. Verse 20: He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken. Verse 21: Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. Verse 22: The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.”

·         Stress can be a killer or a crippler of the emotional senses.

7.      Have you ever felt physically and emotionally drained when you are stressed?

·         If you are like me I’m consistently tired whenever I’m stressed, and any work I have to do tends to not be my best work.

·         These little battles or stresses take a toll on us physically, mentally, and spiritually. We need to find a way to deal with our stress.

·         There is a miraculous cure to the infection called stress, and the cure is God.

·         Look back at Psalms 34:19, this promise is stated again in another book of the Bible.

Nahum 1:7

Verse 7: “The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble: And he knows those who trust in Him.”

·         This promise often gets forgotten in between the term papers, relationships, gossip, heartbreak and other hardships that plague teens.

8.      How many of you spend several nights tossing and turning and worrying about all of your stresses?

·         What we often don’t realize is that God will take those troubles out of our hands and into his own so we don’t have to worry about them anymore

·         All it takes is a few moments spent in quiet prayer

·         God promises to care for you forever, to help you carry the overwhelming burdens of life, to love you and to give you eternal life.

1 Kings 19:4-8

Verse 4: “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “it is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” Verse 5: Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Verse 6: Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. Verse 7: And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” Verse 8: So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.”

·         In this passage Elijah is dealing with stress and the pain of doing God’s work. Elijah was fed up, and tired of the work he had to do, and stressed out because he feared for his life. He wished he was dead, he fell asleep in the desert and was woken up by and angel who gave him food and water. He ate and was full then he went back to sleep. The angel returned and gave him more food and water. He walked 40 days and nights in the desert on just those two meals. God sustained him because he relied on God.

9.      Isn’t it amazing how God gives us everything we need?

·         He sent his only son and gave us forgiveness and hope to all believers.

·         Christ became sin for us and was the sacrifice for our sin.

·         We can trust and rely on God whenever we get stressed, and he can get us through.

·         When you spend less time worrying and stressing you have more time to spend enjoying the gift of life God gave us.

·         Also, make sure you thank him for relieving your burdens

Let us reflect:                                                                                                     

10.  What stresses in your life can be avoided or prevented by planning ahead and praying?

11.  Look back at your answer for question five, Has your answer changed any? If yes, how has it changed?

·         I have a different challenge for you this week, come up with a plan to help avoid stress.

·         Or if you can’t, come up with a plan to help relieve your stress.

·         For next week, start thinking of things that cause you to be afraid.

Let God take on your stress!!! He can handle it!!!

Stand Your Ground Week 2

Temptation

1.      What does the word temptation mean to you?

Dictionary definition: A desire to do something wrong or unwise. A thing or course of action that attracts or tempts someone.

2.      What are some of the temptations you have in your own life? Who tempts you to do these things?

3.      Have you ever had problems avoiding your temptations? Do you believe we should avoid temptation? Why or Why not?

4.      What does the word honor mean to you?

5.      What does it mean to honor your father and mother? Do you have problems doing this all the time?

1 Peter 5:8-11

Verse 8: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Verse 9: Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Verse 10: And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Verse 11: To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen”

·      Every day we are confronted by the temptations of this world, because we are surrounded by a world who continually sins.

·      As Christians we need to live for God alone and not in the temptations of this world.

Matthew 26:41

Verse 41: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

1 Corinthians 10:13

Verse 13: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

·      With God’s help we can resist the devil and keep our eyes on Christ, who saved us from all sin.

·      Job in the Old Testament was a Godly man who followed God’s commands, and God blessed him.

Job 1:11

Verse 11: “ But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to his face.”

6.      What is Satan trying to prove in this passage?

·      Strengthened by his faith, Job never cursed God. God blessed him and he regained all that he had lost and even more.

7.      Have you ever felt like God abandoned you? What happened to make you feel this way?

·      Sometimes things might not go our way or something terrible might happen, but our faith in God reminds us that He will never leave us or forsake us.

·      God uses these times of testing to “perfect, establish, and strengthen” us so when we overcome temptation we are restored, made strong and firm in Christ

·      As Children of God, we are called to put away temptations and be holy before Him.

·      As we put our focus on Christ, we have great rewards in heaven

8.      What are some tough temptations a teenager can face?

·      A few of the toughest temptations a person can face are drinking and using drugs.

·      Your parents and other authority figures don’t want you to drink and do drugs because they care about you and they don’t want anything bad happening to you.

Ephesians 6:1-4

Verse 1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Verse 2: “Honor your father and mother” which is the first commandment with a promise: Verse 3: “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Verse 4: Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Romans 13:2

Verse 2: “Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

·      As God’s Spirit guides us to obey our parents and make the right choices, we enjoy the blessings of new life in Christ.

·      When we sin, His love and mercy reaches out to us and we receive His forgiveness and the promise of eternal life with Him.

·      Avoiding temptation doesn’t just help your relationship with God, but it also helps you honor your father and mother.

·      In Christ we are guided in love and directed by His Word.

9.      How hard is it to always honor your father and mother?

·      The challenge: This week try honoring your parents. This means trying to do what they tell you, and not arguing with them. Also try avoiding your biggest temptation.

Holy & Acceptable (Moment of Clarity: Part 2)

This is the second part to our bible study about building a holy temple for God to live within us. This session is entitled "A Moment of Clarity."

Standing Your Ground Week 1

Reaching Higher Ground/ Where’s Your Treasure

1.      What is your definition of perfection?

2.      Do you ever feel like you need be perfect? What situations make you feel this way?

3.      Have you ever wanted something, so much that once you had it, you never wanted to give it up?

4.      If you had everything you ever wanted could you give it all away if someone asked you to?

5.      What is the most important thing in your life (right now)?

Read: Matthew 19: 21-26

·         When Jesus said “perfection” he wasn’t speaking in the human temporal sense of the word.

·         He was saying that the young man needed to remove some of the distractions from his life.

6.      Does that mean that believers should give up everything they own?

·         We still have the responsibility to care for ourselves and our families

·         The point: NOTHING should come between us and God. However, with his help we can give up anything at any time so we can serve him and his people better.

·         Our focus should be on the life God intended for us, not on what possessions we have.

7.      Think of the one thing you love the most in your life. Would you be willing to give it up if God asked you to do so?

·         God has already given us the greatest treasure. He wants us to share this treasure with everyone.

Read: Matthew 6:19-21

·         In this passage Jesus reminds us of what is really important. All worldly goods and advantages are meaningless.

·         The gift given to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection will never pass away.

·         God would have us look toward our heavenly goal with Christ, our priceless treasure, leading us there.

·         Even if you feel unable to help someone in any other way….

8.      What does Jesus ALWAYS want us to share with others?

Holy & Acceptable (Moment of Clarity)

This is the beginning of our series in Holy and Acceptable, in which we are learning how to build up a pure and holy temple for God.

My Identity in Christ (Week 6)