Embrace the One Thing

God is so good. This week we were really stumped as to how to teach the kids Sunday's lesson. We've emphasized to them time and again the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus and how vital it is to their lives. We really wanted to focus on hearing God's voice this week. Missionary, Luther Meier gave us a great visual to end with on Sunday when he spoke of the five or so crossroads we come to as Christians and how it is then we have choices to make. We can choose the paths we feel secure with and comfortable with....paths towards family, friends, the American dream, our careers. Or we can choose the unmarked path that we may not feel so secure with taking at first because we don't know where it will lead us. The only thing we know for sure about that path is that God will be on it with us, making it the only sure and clear path we should choose.

Well that sounded good, but how do you teach that truth to 10-12 year-olds in a way that they can grasp and understand? We prayed about it Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then just last night God gave us the idea. Letterboxing! Letterboxing is a fun, free, family friendly hobby. Each family member has a different rubber stamp and notebook. You print one of the hundreds of letterbox clues from the letterboxing website and the search is on. The clues are sometimes very evasive, full of riddles, and usually require a good sense of direction and a compass. But once you find where the box is hidden, you open it to reveal the box owner's own unique stamp, inkpad, and notebook. You then put the date and their stamp inside your notebook to record its find and you also leave each of your stamp's imprints and the date in theirs. It's like treasure hunting, only you re-hide the treasure for others to find again and again!

So we decided to take the kids to a letterbox we'd found as a family in the past. It's at Woodmont Clubhouse in Temple Terrace. The kids had no idea where we were going, it was getting dark and a little creepy in the park at night, and we had nothing but a set of clues to go by as we searched for something they had no idea or certainty even existed. We followed landmarks, counted steps, used our compass, searched for sign posts, and deciphered the clues one by one. The end result? We found the letterbox! Since the kids didn't have notebooks, we stamped their hands instead to mark their success.

Then we discussed how following God and listening for His voice can sometimes be just as uncertain as searching for that box was. They may not know where they're going or what's going to be at the end of their journey. They may not have the best of clues as to how to get there. But if they stay the course and follow the path God has them on step by step, they will be rewarded for their obedience and faithfulness in the end. We also talked about how there will be times when they will stumble and fall and even wander from the path, but that God will always be there to lead them back towards His will when they seek Him.

We talked about some Biblical examples of these truths. Abraham was called to leave his home and security in obedience to the Lord and just walk with no clear destination, knowing only that he was being led by God. Later he walked another road on his way to sacrifice his only son Isaac in obedience to the Lord's command. Noah, who had never seen rain before and had no idea what a boat was, followed God down a 120-year path of obedience and following clear directions and instructions that would ultimately save his family and two of every living creature God had created. Joseph, being sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, trusted the course God had him on and simply and humbly obeyed Him down every path God led him on, even one to prison! And were any of these men perfect, sinless? No! They were sinners who made mistakes and disobeyed at times in their lives just like we do.

It turned out to be a great lesson and hopefully one the kids will not soon forget....us adults either! God is so good. Did I mention that when we first walked up to the park we were faced with a crossroads of about 4 sidewalks.....fit right in with what Luther taught us. Only God could have given us this lesson.

Contentment & Generosity

Philippians 4:10-13 - ¹⁰I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

We discussed Paul's contentment tonight and how we can become a more contented people and how it's all about being strong in the Lord (Isa. 40:29-31).

We talked about what discontentment can lead to by watching a clip from Dreamworks' Over the Hedge, the 2006 animated motion picture about a very discontented and greedy raccoon named RJ. Because of RJ's greed for more food than he needs, he stirs the angers of a killer bear named Vincent and jeopardizes the lives of a host of other forest animal friends as well...friends who, in the past, were very content on the provisions their forest home had to offer them daily. This tied in nicely with 1 Timothy 6:6-10.

We also looked at a real-life example in Achan from Joshua 7:13-26 and how his greed (and disobedience) in stealing things meant to be devoted to God from one of the cities they overthrew cost innocent Israelites their lives, as well as his and his children's lives. Greed is costly and has consequences!

Luke 6:38 - ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Then we moved on to generosity and talked about how it is impossible for us to out-give God. We discussed Luke 6:38 and passed around some object items to get the point across. We had measuring spoons, measuring cups, rulers, and measuring tape. We talked about how we could never use one of these instruments to measure the blessings God has for His children who are generous with what they have. We talked about how, since everything we have is a gift from God anyway (time, talents, spiritual gifts, money), we should be willing to give it away daily.

Based on Billy's challenge from his message this last week, Zero Gravity will also begin collecting tithes and offerings from its kids starting next week. A portion of what we collect will go into the church's general offering account towards the budget. The rest will go into the homeless food pantry ministry to help restock the brown bags items Zero Gravity prepares for the congregation each month.

We encouraged the kids to take this money from their own resources and not their parents. They can use a portion of their chore money or perform some extra chores around the house to earn the extra to bring in. This will be a great way to begin practicing contentment and generosity with what they have, as well as teach them to be good and faithful stewards.

How Great Is Our God!

We watched once again the clip from Louie Giglio's DVD where he speaks about Laminin, the cell adhesion protein molecule that's present throughout our bodies and acts as the "glue" that holds us together. We just spent time reflecting on how great our God is, how evidence of Him is everywhere and in everything, and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. We made visuals to help us remember these truths as well. It was also brown bag night and so we put more brown bags together for our mission.

A Beautiful Mind

We talked tonight about the fact that, as Christians, we have the ability to think in a whole new way because we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:11-16). We also talked about how we must work at thinking right every single day. It's not just something we do naturally (Romans 12:2). Our thoughts can run away from us and go crazy making us think all sorts of untrue things about ourselves, others, God, and the things that we are going through. We need to capture those thoughts and hold them up to God's truths to see how they compare (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Then we looked at our Scripture for this week, which is also our Scripture memory for the month of September:

Philippians 4:8 - ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

We discussed what each of these words means:

• True - Since God's Word is true, do our thoughts measure up to what God's Word tells us?
• Noble - worthy of respect, not trashy or filthy
• Right - righteous, in sync with the Scriptures
• Pure - morally clean
• Lovely - just what it says
• Admirable - having a good report
• Excellent - just that
• Praiseworthy - just that

We talked about how we need to measure every thought we have about God, ourselves, others, and the things we are going through by this Scripture. We used a coffee filter as an object lesson and discussed how it filters out the coffee grounds which would ruin the taste of the coffee and only allows the tasty coffee itself to make it through to our cups. We talked about other filters we know of too...air conditioning, water, pool, aquarium, oil (cars)...and how its also their jobs to filter out the bad.

We also used a colander to get our point across. We set the colander on top of a clear bowl. Each of us threw some rocks into the colander for each bad thought we have about ourselves, sometimes God (He doesn't care what happens to me.), others, and the things that happen to us (It's not fair! I'll never be able to handle this!). Then we poured the clear, pure truth of God's Word (water) over our "bad thoughts" and watched to see what, if we filter our thoughts by Philippians 4:8, should be all that's left in our minds. We even refuted some of our negative thoughts with God's Word.

• Psalm 139:14 - I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
• Matthew 5:43-44 - ⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
• Jeremiah 29:11 - ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
• Matthew 5:21-22a - ²¹"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
• 1 John 4:20-21 - ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.