Sr. High, this week...

Here was the ending of the theme for September, which was: Releasing Your Burdens. Marko was the man in charge of games for the evening and he put together an amazing game which was like scrabble, but different. What you did was take letters, cut them out and roll them into balloons which then you'd blow up. The two teams had to go, get the balloon, pop it, take the letters out and try to spell something on their "board". The team with the most words, with the most letters used won.
Sad to say my team did not win :(. However, after the game, we went right into the talk. As never before, I will put my talk "outline" here on the blog, because I think it's important for those who read this to know exactly what was discussed, so here it is:

Releasing the Burden of Shame:

When I was a kid, I didn’t always think through my decisions. You’ve heard me tell many embarrassing stories, but this one takes the cake. I was around 4 or 5 and I got a Mickey Mouse drum set for Christmas. I was so excited about it and would play all the time. Well, the drum set came with a WHOLE lot of plastic wrap and shortly after Christmas, my friend and I came up with a GREAT idea, or so we thought. We placed all the plastic on the floor and decided that it was OK to pee on. I am NOT kidding when I say we said in our heads: this is just like a bathroom urinal, let’s go pee. So we peed on the floor. My dad came in FURIOUS. I was so ashamed of what I did, then he spanked me in front of my friend and the shame was enormous. (SHAME, pre-repentance, post-repentance)
You’re probably asking why I told you such a crazy, weird story and the reason is because of Shame. I felt a lot of shame after this day with my friend. I did something really stupid and was punished in front of my friend. And I know all of us have been burdened with shame. Maybe not the same kind, but we’ve felt like unworthy, ugly, horrible people. We’ve felt the hot breath of shame calling us no-good, saying that I can’t believe you did that and wrecking our lives with shame. Peter felt it when he betrayed Christ after saying he wouldn’t. David felt it when he allowed his body to rule over his head when he had sex with Bathsheba a married woman. We do wrong things and we feel shameful after they are done and our shame causes us to cover up our sin. God will forgive us our sins, we HAVE to bring them to him. Don’t allow your shame to block you from the Grace of God.
After Christ rose from the dead, Peter was still ashamed and he decided to go fishing, something he hadn’t done in a long time. So he and the guys go for some fish, when they are interrupted by Jesus. Jesus doesn’t scold Peter for being a lousy cuss who needs to get over it, no he welcomed him over for a hot meal of flame broiled fish. He sat Peter down and asked him 3 times if he loved him. Peter answered yes all three times and Jesus in that moment allowed him to leave his shame behind and embrace Christ once again. Peter was a transformed person from that moment on. Psalm 23:5 says: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. What does that have to do with shame you ask? Well, he is setting you there at that table and they can’t touch you!
When a shepherd prepares the field for his sheep, he scours the area for predators. (snake and oil). He covers his sheep with protection. We don’t have to fear those lies, because once we repent, the shame of our sin goes away. When Christ made that meal for Peter, he wiped away the shame. It’s a burden we’re not meant to bear, a tool of Satan to beat us down and make us feel like trash, something God doesn’t want…but guess what…He wants to dine with you! He’s got a plate of your favorite dish, waiting to prepare a table for you! Nothing can touch you with him here! NOTHING!

We then broke off into small groups to discuss, and God brought a freshman to me, who wanted to get rid of his shame and confess what was going on! It was a powerful night and I know God used the story of David (Pre-repentant shame) and the story of Peter (Post-repentant shame) to touch their lives!!