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Main Point: When we lose self-control, we always pay a price. The Movie Clip: 10 Seconds Saving God is a great movie about an ex-con named Armstrong Cane who returns to his old neighborhood after spending fifteen years in prison. He's a changed man, and wants to make a difference in the community he grew up in. Though the neighborhood is still full of drugs and gangs, Cane tries to make a difference by taking over his father's old church. The movie follows Cane’s difficult task of helping the people in his hood, while fighting off drug dealers, gang leaders, and even silver-tongued preachers. One of the people Pastor Cane grows close to is a young man named Norris who is constantly making bad decisions in his life. Cane won’t let anything deter him from helping Norris, and as the two of them form a close bond, Cane tries to help Norris avoid making the same mistakes he made. Introducing the Clip: Saving God was not a blockbuster, but it was still an incredible movie! It tells the story of how an ex-con becomes a pastor in order to help the people living in the dangerous hood he grew up in. Though Pastor Cane has to take care of an entire congregation, his focus is on helping a young man named Norris who is headed down the same disastrous road he was once on. Let's take a moment to listen in on some important counsel that Pastor Cane gives Norris. Scene Script:
Norris: Thanks. Pastor Cane: You know, she's too old to be running around frettin' about you. Norris: I know man. Look, she worries about me every time I leave the house, OK? Pastor Cane: Well, she has good reason to worry. One, you're a drug dealer. And two, you're not even good at it. Norris: Look. I'm tired of you beatin' up on me, tellin' me I'm stupid, alright? You keep forgetting that you were the one who went to prison for fifteen years, not me. Pastor Cane: Hmm. You wanna know why I went to jail? Norris: Why Pastor Cane? Pastor Cane: Cause I was a knucklehead like you. Yeah. I got into a beef with my best friend, and I thought the beef was squashed, so later that night, we take these two young ladies out to dinner. My friend reaches across the table, and slaps me. Yeah! Right in front of the young ladies. And before the sting of that slap could wear off, I'm all over him. We start wrestling, and he pulls out a knife. And, I grabbed his hand...next thing you know, I'm wearing an orange jumpsuit in court. Ten seconds. If I'd have taken just ten seconds to let the sting of that slap wear off.... Ten seconds cost me fifteen years in prison. In this clip, Pastor Cane relives a moment from his past where he lost his self-control. He tells Norris that those ten seconds of chaos cost him fifteen years in prison. Just like Pastor Cane, you and I will have to pay a price for losing our self-control. Let's spend a few moments searching God's Word for some instruction on how to properly deal with those times in our lives when we risk losing our self-control. Divide into Small Groups: Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups and talk about this, then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word. CLICK HERE for a quick training article on how to maximize your small groups using our small group format—a great resource to equip your small group leaders. Discussion Questions:
Read the following passage: Proverbs 25:28 (NIV) Like a city whose walls are broken down is a person who lacks self-control. Read the following passage: Ephesians 4:31-5:2 (NIV) 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Wrap Up Tonight we watched a stirring clip about a guy who lost his self-control and killed his best friend. But we all know that was just a scene from a movie. However, we also talked about our “real life” stories of losing self-control and the price we pay on those occasions. If we learned nothing else tonight, we learned that there are always consequences for our loss of self-control. Sometimes we pay the price for our loss of self-control, and sometimes others pay the price for our loss of self-control. Sometimes, everybody has to pay a price for our loss of self-control. I think it’s fair to say that all of us, at one point or another, have lost our self-control. Sometimes the price we pay is small; sometimes it is large. Sometimes the price we pay is immediate; sometimes it’s a long ways down the road. For example, if we get angry and lose our self-control with a friend, we may say something that hurts their feelings, and we risk losing a friend. That’s certainly not a small price to pay, but it pales in comparison to other consequences. What if we lose our self-control with our boyfriend or girlfriend and go too far, maybe even to the point of having sex? Some of the prices associated with that loss of self-control are HUGE! We risk STD’s, pregnancy, shame and guilt…the list goes on and on. Each of us regularly faces opportunities that could cause us to lose our self-control. My question is, “What if we were to take the time to ask God how to respond to our situations?” I gotta think we would lose our self-control far less often, because God is NEVER going to suggest to you, “Just go off on that person!” or “It’s OK to forfeit your self-control this time.” In every situation we face, from anger to lust to fear to bad habits, one thing is for sure: God is never going to be OK with you losing your self-control. As a matter of fact, He has given us a tremendous resource to call on in the midst of difficult times: the grace of Jesus. In 1 Peter 1:13 the Bible says: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Even though God tells us to be “prepared” and “self-controlled,” our hope is to be FULLY set on the grace that comes from Jesus. He promises to be with us in every situation, and will help us in our times of need so that we never lose our self-control and pay the price as a result. The next time you are tempted with losing your self-control, spend ten seconds asking Jesus for some grace to handle the situation. As we close tonight, if any of you want to talk about this some more, just pull one of us adult leaders aside for a private conversation. This is important and we’re here for you. Let’s pray. Close in Prayer Written by David R. Smith |
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