CrossFire Student Ministries

Blacklight Volleyball is this Saturday Night!  Use this #blacklight on Instagram to get on the big screen.  Going to be amazing…invite a friend

GLADIATORS, ALIENS, AND YOU.

You’re about to appear on an episode of American Gladiators. The show’s producer explains that you’re going to get into a ring with two iron-pumping, steroid-gulping athletes named “Sheer” and “Dicer.” Your task is to carry a ball the size of your head, dash by Slicer and Dicer, and drop the ball into a barrel. Oh, yeah, Slicer and Dicer will be swinging twenty-pound mallets at you. And you have to do it six times. The proÂducer asks, “Oh, by the way, do you want to wear any protective gear?” Duh!

Or let’s say you’re the new captain of the starship Enterprise. You command your navigator, VoCal Solo, to steer toward the planet Blendor. Suddenly the ship starts to pitch violently back and forth, tossing crew members around like croutons in a salad. Suddenly your first mate, Vanna, shouts, “We’re under attack, Cap’n!” You look at the giant screen before you, and a bazillion enemy ships and missiles are speeding toward your craft. Over the deafening screams and explosions occurring all around you, Vanna cries, “Should we turn on the defensive force field, Cap’n?”

Duh!

OK, then, say you’re a Christian kid who wants to please God but who also wants to squeeze the greatest possible enjoyment and satisfaction out of life. You know God loves you, and you love him, too. But it’s not always easy. Your parents expect so much. Your friends put pressure on you to do certain things. You even feel like giving up sometimes. In the midst of all that, the Bible says, “Be self-controlled.”

Huh?

Actually, those three cases aren’t so different from each other. If you’re under attack from a couple of American Gladiators, you need some protective gear. If you’re under attack from alien ships and missiles, you need a defensive force field. And if you’re under attack from the temptations and traps of the world, you need self-control.

The Bible says, “A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls” (Proverbs 25:28). In other words, self-control protects you, just like a tall stone wall encircling an ancient city or a safety belt that can hold you back at just the right time. It can protect you from saying the wrong thing. It can prevent you from doing something you’ll regret later. Like all godly virtues, it can protect and provide for you. So don’t leave home without it!

REFLECT: How is self-control like each of the “defenses” in the above reading? Are there any areas of your life where you seem to have good self-control? Are there any areas in which you need to show more self-control?

PRAY: “God, I need the defense of your armor, especially when…”

Great I Am by New Life Worship

⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  2 Timothy 1:7

There are three fears that hold us back from TAKING THE PLUNGE with God.

FEAR OF FAILURE

… it causes us to stay where we are at NOW because trying new things might not work out

FEAR OF THE PAST

… it causes us to always look back and relive our hurts, pains, and failures

FEAR OF FUTURE

… it causes us to not hope for something better and follow God in the next steps in life

Out of these three fears, which one do you have the most problems with and why?

These fears are not from God!  “For God did not give us a spirit of timidiy (or fear)”  So what does He give us?

POWER from God

… to overcome the past mistakes and failures and go after what He wants for you in the future

LOVE from God

… that covers over ALL the past and future mistakes

SELF-DISCIPLINE from God

… that helps us say NO to the way we used to be and say YES to the way God wants us to be through Jesus

Out of these three things that God wants to give us, which one do you need the most of right now and why?