NOTE TO YOUTH WORKERS:
We have a host of youth babysitting for the 101, 201, 301, 401 classes tomorrow so our numbers may be a bit lower heading into Dream Weekend. At first I thought we would do a group sporting event like football or kickball or something until 500, then praise songs, then have small groups. But I am open to other things in place of that. Then I plan to make a bunch of contacts for the weekend.
Youth workers, let’s get our contact info for the events we are running. Last time I checked:
Risk: Benji
Shooting: John
Slumber Party: Brigitte (grab card from me for expenses)
Pointer’s Pizza: Jordan
Sunday Night Live: Let’s Make It Awesome
I will assist in contacting people for both Risk & Pointer’s Pizza. John & Brigitte let me know how I can best help you for your activities.
HOW TO GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
Series: Ephesians 6
BIBLE VERSE: Ephesians 6:10-17 (Emphasis on verses 15-16)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
QUESTION #1: What does it mean “and your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
Well, obviously it applies to footwear. Leaders, to be honest, I have never really studied the Roman soldiers footwear until this lesson (one of the reason breaking down the scriptures in an expository way is fantastic because it does not allow me to skip something that may be tough).
But here is what I discovered…Roman shoes were composed of the greave and the shoe itself. What is a greave? A greave was a piece of tooled metal that starts at the knee that went down past the lower leg resting on top of the foot. In a nutshell, it’s a vicious shin guard that was made out of brass. Wow!
The shoe itself was two pieces of metal, covered in small pieces of brass, it was held together by leather. Get this, the bottom had three inch spikes. I had previously heard they were cleats, but in my mind they were more like muddied football lineman cleats. Instead, these are sick, long, sharpened baseball cleats that could really do a job on a second basemen while trying to break up a double play.
I think these shoes just rock, and I had no idea. I used to say that the only weapon on the Armor of God was the sword of the spirit. But now I feel like I have to say that the MAIN weapon is the sword of the spirit, because we have to admit a three inch spiked shoe with a brass shin guard is absolutely a weapon. Don’t you agree?
Now, how does that apply to our lives now that we know?
Well, according to my understand now, peace can be used as a weapon.
Questions #2: How can peace be used as a weapon?
First shot here, peace as a weapon is still arbitrary. Peace is still one of the greatest defense mechanisms ever. If Mom and Dad want to yell at us for something, being honestly apologetic with a sincere heart stops a fight. If a boyfriend is yelling at his girlfriend (which shouldn’t really happen if at all possible) or vise versa, how about finding agreement in a calm soothing voice to halt the fight.
THE ESCALATOR EFFECT: Leaders here is a great example that I have used for ages. If youth grasp this concept, it will lead to a lifetime of solid problem solving equations. Imagine an escalator. A person hops on and it goes up, up, and up. Well, if a person is next to them they are able to have a conversation as they are together both going up the escalator. But since arguing is a never-ending escalator, have one person, get on the DOWN escalator. Meaning, a person can halt the volume of a heated conversation by dropping a level on the escalator. The other person cannot continue to rise while the other person is declining. Leaders, I know its not a perfect concept, but it does work and is simple enough for youth to use while keeping the peace.
But how can peace be used as a weapon. Well, the soldiers had their foot apparel tightly attached to their feet. It was not loosely place on. I know the current fashion involves not always tying our shoes, I mean the starting QB for the University of Michigan plays with untied shoelaces.
BUT WHEN WE HAVE PEACE FIRMLY FITTED IN OUR LIVES, WE ARE READY FOR ACTION. Essentially, the peaceful word, the peaceful phrase, the peaceful life ends battles. I don’t know if that is technically a battle or not, but it does win because it’s the right thing to do often.
*Note, raising one’s voice or even getting angry is technically not sin if what we get angry at or the speed of our anger rising matches that of our saviors. I don’t want to teach a lesson on peace without wanting to mention that Jesus himself got mad at moneychangers whom he believed was leading people into sin.
Question 3: How does one have peace?
Well, technically there are many different kinds of peace. One kind of peace is peace with God and the other peace is peace of God.
PEACE WITH GOD: Peace with God is the most important peace in the history of the world. It’s the peace of salvation—knowing that Jesus resides in a person’s life and that when that person dies they are going to go to heaven in the future (leaders, let’s always be keenly aware of someone in our group that may not know the Lord. Two weeks ago, this became apparent in the boy’s HS study and Jon went right into the way of salvation).
PEACE OF GOD: Peace of God is different than Peace with God. Peace with God is the birthright of all saved believers. But, there are saved people who walk in turmoil, worry, frustration, fright, some would say depression. Those people, though saved, are not experiencing peace of God. Remember, worry is a sin. Like gluttony, worry is sometimes glorified in our culture including the lives of those who reside in the church. Sometimes the Mom that worries the most is seen as the most loving by other Moms (at least in the minds of the worry warts).
BIBLE VERSE: Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
REMEMBER, THE SOLDIERS OFTEN TIMES HAD TO WALK THROUGH ROCKY TERRAIN, MOUNTAINOUS LANDSCAPES…HOW DID THEY AVOID CUTS, SCRAPES, PAIN…THEIR FOOTWEAR. OURS AS A CHRISTIAN IS PEACE.
Additionals for Small Group Learning:
Following are some stories on peace that I found really interesting or inspirational from sermonillustrations.com on peace. Feel free to use them if they come up, thank you for serving the Lord with our youth.
Society of International Law, in London, states that during the last 4,000 years there have been only 268 years of peace in spite of good peace treaties. In the last 3 centuries there have been 286 wars on the continent of Europe alone.
J.K. Laney, Marching Orders, p 50.
Duke University did a study on "peace of mind." Factors found to contribute greatly to emotional and mental stability are: 1) the absence of suspicion and resentment. Nursing a grudge was a major factor in unhappiness. 2) Not living in the past. An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression. 3) Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change. Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it. 4) Force yourself to stay involved with the living world. Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress. 5) Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune. 6) Cultivate the old-fashioned virtues--love, humor, compassion and loyalty. 7) Do not expect too much of yourself. When there is too wide a gap between self-expectation and your ability to meet the goals you have set, feelings of inadequacy are inevitable. 8) Find something bigger than yourself to believe in. Self-centered egotistical people score lowest in any test for measuring happiness.
Source Unknown.
The Personnel Journal reported this incredible statistic: since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time! In its study, the periodical discovered that of 3530 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace. Moreover, in excess of 8000 peace treaties were made--and broken.
Moody Bible Institute, Today In The Word, June, 1988, p.33.
Sources:
Morgan, Dean. Shoes of Peace. South Carolina Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1998.
Sermonillustrations.com. Keyword: Peace.