Stretch me God - Part 2 - Teens

Conceptual Framework

How does God Stretch us?

• challenges us to draw near to Him

• Jam 4:7-8 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
• Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
  

How do we draw near?

• Spend time with Him.

• Prayer
• Worship
• Reading the Bible
• Showing up at church

• • challenges us to be sick of the averageness of our life.

• Jam 4:9 - Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness

How do we get sick of our averageness?

• Expose yourself to something greater.
• Become self aware of what we are already doing
• Pray for a higher standard.
  

• Get over yourself.

• Jam 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

• How do you get over yourself?

• Serving others.
• Doing the little things that aren’t about how great you are.

• Act like Jesus.

• Jam 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

How do you DWJD?

• First be aware of Him in you.
• Second, be aware of others around you.
• Third, step out on what He’s given you.

This is the process of God “Stretching” us. James walks through the steps to seeing it happen. First, resist the devil. Then Draw nigh unto God. Then Get sick and tired of being sick and tired. Then humble yourself. Then walk in love.


How do we stretch without ending up sounding like Alvin? (from Alvin and chipmunks)

• Stretching isn’t just intensifying a previous sound
• We must find a new sound.
• The new sound we find in our relationship with God.

• In serving others
• In something different from what we’ve always done.

Summarizing - 5 main areas God wants to stretch us.

1. Resist the Devil
2. Relationship with God. DRAW NIGH!
3. Let God give you a divine “Sickness”
4. Get over yourself … your past, present, strength, and weakness
5. Act like Jesus.

Actual Plan

Open with Announcements.

Quick review of last week.


Aerobics man: (roughly 5-8 minutes)
Aerobics warm up. Aerobicizer. Quick silly skit with Jay. He’s our “aerobics man” who takes us through some stretching. Be as silly as he can be. Shorts over his jeans, headband, etc etc.

Key purpose… to fundamentally introduce the concept of stretching in a fun way.
To break the traditional mindset of stretching being this weird thing that we can’t wrap words around.



How Potential Energy Works: ILLUSTRATED MESSAGE

• JAMES 4:-7-9 Requires Resistance. Without potential energy you will never have kinetic energy.

God wants to stretch you before He can let you go. He can’t use you effectively until first he can stretch you! Stretching is about creating potential in your own life.
It’s at the place of brokenness that God begins to release the potential that is inside of us.
But before the brokenness there is always the stretching.

1. RESIST
Resistance is key.
ROPE ACTIVITY. This will cover both Resistance and Tension.

Pull out Rope and show it. How much energy is there in this rope right now?
Very little, it’s just laying there.

The first thing God has us do is Resist the devil. Get a crew up to be our place of resistance. They just hold the rope.

How much energy is there in the rope now?
Still very little. It’s just got an anchor which it didn’t have before.


2. Next Step… Draw Near unto God.
Begin to walk away from the rope. Pull up someone to “draw near” to God.


Start walking the other way. DRAW NEAR TO GOD. The stake in the ground is the first piece to creating potential in your life.

The second is to start moving the opposite way! DRAW NEAR.

Now how much tension is there in the rope?
What is the tension in your life?

3. Tension is where the energy comes from.
That uncomfortable tension invades every part of your life.
What are things in your life that should make you uncomfortable? Give papers to every kid to write down the top 2 things that God is making them sick and tired of in their life.

Softly play some music in the background while they think about this.

The closer we get to God the more tension it will create in our lives if we resist the devil.
Tension is just energy waiting to be let go.

Review how do we create potential energy in your life.

• #1. Resist the Devil
• #2. Draw near to God.
• #3. The tension of the movement is the Potential energy. This creates a “uncomfortable tension”.

Kinetic Energy – Unlocking the potential that you build through brokenness.

• James 4: 10-11 Kinetics is based off of movement. With the potential energy, then the kinetics is in the movement.

Dance for the teens. Alvin Music (Apologize - Alvin and the Chipmunks Version).
All movement is created by tension. Our muscles are attached to our bones by ligaments. Those ligaments resist. The muscles then act like Velcro and create tension against each other. Then to move we break the bonds of those muscles and as they break energy is released and we begin to move.

BUILDING MUSCLE IS ABOUT RIPPING THEM APART…. BREAKING THEM!

There are 2 main areas God BREAKS US!

2 areas we move.

1. How we serve.

• Jhn 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

• a. Talk about service opportunities at the church.
• b. Talk about service opportunities in their schools
• c. Talk about service opportunities in their HOME.

You can change your world. Talk about Hoops of Hope. Talk about To Write Love on her Arms. Ask them about orgs. that they know of.

Pose a few ideas that they could do (running for money)… start a blog…. INVITE PEOPLE TO CHURCH! INTRODUCE PEOPLE TO JESUS!

2. We LIVE LIKE JESUS –

• 1 Timothy 4:12 – Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity!!!

• a. In our character.
• b. In our attitude.
• c. In our hearts.
• d. In our purity
• e. IN OUR ACTIONS.

Address being hooked up in services. Address consistent attendance.


Altar Call –
3 Parts

1. If you have never been born again, it starts by resisting the devil and moving toward Jesus and the first step is to be born again.
   
2. Lay down the 2 things that God is pointing out with the tension in your life. Repent. Start by resisting the devil in those areas. Second RUN TOWARDS GOD.
3. If you say I commit to the first two and I’ve tried to begin to move towards God, but every time I try it seems as if I just fall out and can’t stick with it. God has a grace that is available for you as well. Grace is His ability and desire to help you through whatever challenge He is exposing you to!