Good Bye School Drama

Hymns

Stand Up! Stand Up for Jesus!  SDA Hymnal #618

’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus  SDA Hymnal #524

Trust and Obey  SDA Hymnal #590

Scripture Invitation:

As we open our hearts to receive God’s Word today, I invite your prayerful consideration to the book of Romans, chapter 13, verses 1 through 7, where the Holy Spirit has highlighted the context for our sermonic time together.

Bible Passage:

Romans 13:1–7 CSB

Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience. And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.

Prayer:

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord, By the pow’r of grace divine; Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, And my will be lost in Thine.

Introduction:

Church, let me open your eyes and your hearts for just a moment!

Picture this—not just a hallway, but a battleground!

Not the sweet sound of learning, but a storm of noise—disrespect shouting loud, anger stomping through, fear whispering in the corners.

Take a look at our teachers—standing tall, but tired, carrying a weight you can’t see and a pain you can’t measure.

And our children, our sons and our daughters—walking with heavy hearts, dodging drama, wrestling with peer pressure, fighting battles no child should ever have to face.

Test scores dropping, dreams slipping, hope fading.

Look at the numbers!

They don’t just speak—they cry out!

According to the news headlines, test scores are at an all-time low nationwide in America

This is not just statistics, church—this is the soul of our community crying out for help!

Now, I know I’m talking to some people who have walked through drama

Some people who have felt the sting of disrespect, the ache of fear, the squeeze of pressure.

It’s real, and it hurts, and it visits every age, every home, every heart.

But hear me, family—today is a new day!

Today, we stand up and say, “Goodbye, school drama!”

We’re done letting chaos write our story.

1. The Crisis of Disrespect: Honoring Authority as Honoring God

Church, the first storm we gotta face is the storm of disrespect!

Disrespect for teachers.

Disrespect for elders.

Disrespect for the ones God Himself has set in place to guide us.

The Word says it loud and clear: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no authority except from God” (Romans 13:1).

When a student talks back, when a teacher’s words fall on deaf ears, when authority gets tossed aside like yesterday’s news—hear me, it’s deeper than a school issue!

This ain’t just a classroom crisis—it’s a spiritual rebellion!

Disrespect is not just breaking the rules—it’s breaking God’s order.

And let me tell you, the consequences are real and they are heavy.

Nearly three out of four teachers are crying out, saying, “It’s worse than ever before!”

Verbal abuse, Threats, Fights & Fear, walking the halls where learning is supposed to live.

But hear me my brothers & sisters, respect is not a suggestion, it’s a command!

Respect is not extra credit, it’s required reading in God’s classroom!

When we honor those in authority, we are honoring the God who ordained that authority!

When we lift up our teachers, we are lifting up God’s plan for peace and order!

Is there anybody here—young or old—ready to declare, “I will honor those God has placed over me!”

I will respect, I will listen, I will follow, because I want to be in step with God’s purpose!

The Bible backs me up!

Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

The word of God also says: Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise.”

When you honor, you unlock God’s promises.

When you respect, you invite God’s blessing.

Let’s be the generation that brings respect back—because when we honor authority, we honor our God!

2. Fighting in Schools: The Battle for Peace

Now, let me tell you something about fighting in our Schools.

Fighting isn’t just fists flying and tempers flaring.

Fighting is the sound of pain that never found its healing.

It’s anger left unchecked, peer pressure pushing, fear whispering, “You gotta prove yourself.”

It’s drama that doesn’t just mess up a classroom, it messes up a destiny!

Schools today are feeling the heat

Listen to this: There are nineteen violent incidents for every thousand students!

Fights and assaults have become the soundtrack in too many hallways.

And then there’s a darker cloud—the threat of school shootings, rising up and robbing our children of peace of mind.

Look at the shooting today of Charlie Kirk (forget your politics for a moment and lean into your humanity, nobody deserves to be shot down in cold blood)

But hear me now—God didn’t call us to be troublemakers, He called us to be peacemakers!

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

Peace ain’t weakness!

Peace is power!

Peace takes more strength than swinging a fist—it takes heart, it takes courage, it takes somebody willing to say, “Enough is enough!”

Anybody can start a fight, but it takes God’s child to stop one.

It takes a real one to walk away, to speak the truth in love, to stand up and say, “I won’t let anger write my story!”

We need to be a peacemaker, to bring calm to the chaos, and to let God’s light shine in dark places!

The Word backs it up:

Proverbs 15:18 declares, “A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.”

Be the one who calms the storm, not the one who starts it!

Let’s make it our mission

Where there’s fighting, let’s bring peace.

Where there’s hate, let’s sow love.

Where there’s fear, let’s plant hope.

Because when you choose peace, you show the world you’re a child of the Most High!

3. The Threat of School Shooters: Trusting God in the Midst of Fear

Now, church, let’s deal with a shadow that tries to creep into every classroom, every hallway, every parent’s heart—the fear of school shooters.

This ain’t just news, my brothers and sisters—this is real life.

From 2000 to 2022, over 300 lives lost or forever changed by violence in our schools.

In these last years—2024, 2025—the numbers have climbed higher, and our communities have been shaken like leaves in a storm.

But hear me, family—fear does NOT have the final say!

Fear might knock at your door, but it doesn’t get to move in!

Because the Word says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble!” (Psalm 46:1)

When the world shakes, God stands!

When hearts tremble, God holds us steady!

We gotta teach our young people that you don’t have to live locked up by fear!

Yes, seek safety.

Yes, look out for one another.

But above all—TRUST GOD!

Trust Him in the morning, trust Him at noon, trust Him when the news tries to steal your hope!

And church, we gotta PRAY without ceasing!

Pray for protection, pray for peace, pray until the fear flees and faith rises up!

Is there anybody here tonight who’s ready to stand in faith, to stare fear in the face and say, “You don’t live here no more!”?

The Bible says in Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God.”

If God is with us, who can be against us?

So tonight we can declare it together: We are not a people of fear, we are a people of faith!

We will walk in courage, we will lift each other up, and we will trust in the God who never fails!

4. Peer Pressure: The Invisible Drama That Shapes Us

Church, let’s talk about a battle you don’t always see, but you sure do feel—and thats peer pressure!

It’s that silent storm, that hidden tug-of-war, pulling on our young people’s hearts every single day.

It creeps in with a whisper: “Fit in or get left out.” “Do this, or you ain’t one of us.”

But let me tell you—peer pressure will push you places you never meant to go, have you saying things you never meant to say, and doing things you know you shouldn’t do!It’ll push you to disrespect, to fight, to lose hope.

And now, with social media, that pressure never sleeps—it follows you home, it follows you to bed, it follows you everywhere!

But hear me, child of God! God did not call you to blend in—He called you to STAND OUT!

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

In other words—don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold!

Don’t let people make you forget who God made you to be!

We gotta empower our young people to say NO to negativity and YES to their destiny!

Today i encourage each of us to Say no to the crowd, and yes to the calling!

Say no to the pressure, and yes to God’s promise!

The Word says—1 Corinthians 15:33: “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’”

If you want to soar like an eagle, you can’t hang with chickens!

So church, let’s raise up a generation that stands strong, stands tall, and stands for God—no matter what the crowd says!

Let’s teach our young people: You don’t have to fit in when you were born to stand out!

Closing

As I close, hear me, church!

God is the God who walks beside us down every hallway, sits with us in every classroom, and stands with us in every struggle—whether in the mind or in the spirit.

What does this mean for us today?

Let’s make it plain!

Parents, teach your children that when they respect authority, they’re showing respect for God Himself!

Young People, don’t let this world shape you into a fighter—rise up and be a peacemaker!

Saints, we need to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, holding on to faith, not fear; trusting in God’s protection, not the world’s empty promises.

Don’t you dare let the pressure of this world press you into a box you don’t belong in!

Be bold in your identity, knowing you are chosen by Christ!

Young people, whatever you’re facing in your studies, bring it all to God in prayer.

He’s got the wisdom you need and the strength you’re looking for!

So young people, ask yourself tonight:

Am I honoring those God has placed over me?

Am I a peacemaker in my school and my community?

Do I trust God when fear tries to grab hold of my heart?

Am I standing strong when peer pressure comes knocking?

Am I seeking God’s help, even in my studies?

Just know tonight, You might be in the school, but you don’t have to be of the drama!

Remember, church:

Right in the middle of school drama, there is peace to be found, purpose to be fulfilled, and power to be claimed!

God’s hand is on our schools, His eyes are on our children, and His Spirit is ready to move!

So tonight we can declare:

Goodbye, school drama!

Goodbye, disrespect!

Goodbye, fighting!

Goodbye, fear!

Goodbye, peer pressure!

Goodbye, academic struggles!

And HELLO to peace, purpose, and power in Jesus’ name!