Gods of Our Own Choosing

We started off tonight by giving the kids their notebooks and asking them to write down "God Is" at the top of one page. We then asked them to make a list of everything they believed God to be, all of His attributes.

Once everyone was done, we asked them to one by one read their lists out loud. Each of the kids was asked to cross off any attributes they had on their lists that were the same as the ones being read. I have to say, we were quite impressed with the kids' answers. They were not "Sunday School" answers. We heard Alpha and Omega, unchangeable, forgiving, eternal, holy, and nearly 40 other descriptions of who these guys believe God is.

We discussed with the kids then how each list they came up with was not complete in and of itself. Most answers revolved around God being loving and kind and giving, you see. We told the kids how, believing that these things were all God was, was in reality creating their own God that made them feel comfortable and fit their way of life. We told them that there was much more to God than what they'd listed.

Each of them then received a homemade scroll and was asked to write down attributes of God on their scrolls as we discussed them one by one. Some of the attributes we covered were:

• Eternal - Psalm 90:2, 1 Timothy 1:17, Rev. 4:8
• Holy
• Unchanging - Jer. 23:24, Psalm 139:7-10, 1 Kings 8:27
• Infinite
• Omnipotent - All-Powerful
• Omnipresent - Everywhere All the Time
• All-Wise
• Omniscient - All-Knowing - 1 John 3:20, Psalm 147:5, Hebrews 4:13, Romans 11:34
• Self-Existent - He does not need us or the rest of creation for anything.
• Self-Sufficient - He does not need what we need in order to survive.
• Good
• Loving - 1 John 4:8
• Gracious
• Merciful
• Sovereign - Has a plan and purpose for everything and is the reason behind everything that happens.
• Jealous
• Just Judge

Again, we told the kids that this list was not exhaustive and that God had many other attributes, but to pick out only the ones that we feel good about or make us feel like better people or more comfortable to believe about God, was to create our own God-like idol to believe in....and this is a sin!

For application, I read some statements and, based on the list of God's attributes they now had, the kids told me whether or not each statement was true about God and why or why not.

• "I know lying is wrong, but it's just a small lie and it's really so no one's feelings will get hurt that I'm telling it so God won't mind." (False - Just)
• "It's not a big deal if I do this just once. Besides, no one is around and so no one will know." (False - Omnipresent)
• " Sure I didn't clean my room like my mom told me to, but hey, no one's perfect. I mean, even Jesus was just a kid once right? I bet He didn't always do everything His parents told Him to do." (False - Holy)
• "I feel so very sad that my grandpa was killed in that car accident, but I know that God was in control. He had a plan and a purpose for what happened." (True - Good, Sovereign, All-Wise)
• "I just don't know what to do about that kid at school who keeps bullying me. No one will understand. No one will be able to tell or show me what I can do about the situation." (False - All-Wise, Loving)
• "It's a good thing I was praying for that missionary all that time. Otherwise, he never would have survived that earthquake." (False - All-Powerful)
• "I just know that losing my bracelet was punishment for talking back to my dad the other day even though I repented and asked my dad to forgive me. It was God's way of disciplining me." (False - Merciful)
• "I am so torn. I want to go to that concert so badly. That band is my favorite! But I feel bad for my friend Cary. Her dad is out of work and her parents have no money to buy her a new pair of sneakers. I feel like I should give her the money I've been saving for the concert and I know it's what God would probably want me to do, but I LOVE music and going to concerts whenever I get the chance. And since God wants me to be happy, I think I should go to the concert." (False - Jealous)
• "God won't mind if I do this just once. Besides, afterwards I'll tell him how sorry I am and He'll forgive me because that's what He does when we apologize for our sins, right?" (False - Just)

In closing, we encouraged the kids to keep their scrolls somewhere they could reference them often and to use them when trying to decide if something they're thinking or saying or doing lines up with God's will for their lives and what is says about who they believe God to be as compared to who He really is.

Broken Cisterns

Cistern

Cistern

Still thinking about idols tonight, we shifted our focus just a little to the foolishness of having idols. First we played a little memory game. We had about 50 or so random items spread on the table in the foyer and under a towel. Any one of these items could potentially become an idol, but most were just miscellaneous material things. We gave the kids one full minute to memorize as many of the items under the towel as they could before we covered them up again.

We wanted to put some time between the kids seeing the items and asking them to recall them and so we broke the kids up into groups of three. We spoke to them all about what cisterns are and what they are used for. Cisterns are waterproof containers used for holding liquids, mainly water. They have waterproof linings and are usually built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are generally used where water is scarce so that the rainwater can then be used for cooking, washing, watering crops, and evening drinking. We looked at some pictures of examples of cisterns as well.

Then we gave each group "building" materials (hand towels, napkins, tape, coffee filters, colanders, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, rubber bands, etc...). We gave the groups fifteen minutes to brainstorm and build their own cisterns for holding water. When time was up we took our homemade cisterns into the kitchen to test their "waterproofness". Obviously, since none of the materials the kids were given were waterproof (except the tape maybe), no group's cistern withstood the water test.

Now it was time to test how good their memories were. Each youth was given their notebooks and asked to recall as many of the items under the towel on the table as they could remember and write them down. By now, very few items could be remembered, which was the point.

We talked about how, if the things on that table are here today and gone tomorrow in our memories, like some of the fads that are popular today (Silly Bandz and Webkinz for example), then how foolish is it to spend so much of our time, money, thoughts, and energy on them. It's as foolish as trying to build our own waterproof containers out of materials that aren't waterproof!

Jeremiah 2:9-13 - ⁹ Therefore, I will bring my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will even bring charges against your children’s children in the years to come. ¹⁰ “Go west and look in the land of Cyprus; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this? ¹¹ Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God^b for worthless idols! 12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the Lord. 13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

We reminded the kids that cisterns were used where water was scarce. Then we asked the kids if they knew of a fountain of water that never stopped flowing and was so plentiful that the residents of that city would never have to fear being thirsty. While they thought about it, we read them John 4:4-15 about the Samaritan woman at the well. Finally, we concluded that only believers in Jesus Christ and residents of the kingdom of God have access to that endless flow of living water.

John 7:38 - ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

With John 7:38, we realized that, if we are followers of the one true living God, our hearts are the waterproof cisterns that God has prepared for His Holy Spirit to occupy. And the supply of the Holy Spirit in our lives is endless. We never have to ask for more. It flows freely and therefore, why would we ever need to foolishly attempt to make new cisterns out of "stuff", idols when they can never satisfy our thirst or our souls.

American Idols

Hebrews 12:1 - ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

We continued our talk about idols tonight and how to practice idolatry is to actually hate God. We talked about jealousy and its meaning and how God is jealous when we have idols in our lives because He loves us so much and knows that we become like what we worship. If we worship God, we become like God. If we worship anything else, idols, we become like them.....nothing!

Then we went outside and decided to see if we could list as many idols between all of us as possible. We brainstormed about idols in Entertainment (sports, movies, music, TV, video games, hobbies, entertainment celebrities and personalities). Then we listed idols in technology (cell phones, Ipods, the computer, Facebook, games and apps). Next came physical health and fitness (diet and food worship, exercising or lifting weights too much to have a certain body, make-up, name-brand and expensive clothes, jewelry, spending a lot of time on our hair and looks).

For each idol we listed, we put a rock in a book bag. Our bag was pretty full by the time we were finished! Then we discussed Hebrews 12:1 and remembered from our Philippians study how Paul told us life was like a race and we were the runners Philippians 3:13-14, 2 Timothy 4:7). I asked each youth to then run around the educational building. Then each of them took a turn strapping the book bag full of "idols" to their backs and running around the educational building again. We talked about the difference in how it felt to run free from that weight of "sin" and how much easier it would be to win a race were we not weighted down by it.

For one final point, we attempted to fit all of our idol examples from last week's table into a small basket with the word Jesus on it. We had trouble enough getting all of the "stuff" to fit, let alone finding room for Jesus as well. Again, we reiterated that these "things" are not bad persay in and of themselves, but they become bad as idols in our lives when we allow them to take the place of Jesus....when they become more important to spend our time and money and efforts on them than spending those things on Jesus and what we can do in and for His kingdom.

Matthew 6:24 - ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (things).

Pool Party & BBQ

We had an awesome late end of summer pool party at Bridghid's house today. The weather was perfect and the food and fellowship were awesome. There was a jump rope competition, which newcomer Mandi was crowned queen of, lots of swimming, and even a grape eating showdown....as in who could cram the most grapes in their mouth at once without requiring the Heimlich Maneuver! BTW, Ben won that contest hands down with a whopping 17 grapes. Shocking, right? Everyone had a blast!

The Table of the Lord vs. The Table of Demons

Tonight we started talking about idolatry and how it can be seen in the lives of everyone around us, even our own. We first talked about how everyone everywhere worships something or someone, whether or not they have ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We talked about the Bemba tribe and their belief in a god named Leza who lives in the sky and controls the thunder, as he is the source of all magical powers. We talked about the Kuikuru peoples who believe that the sun, the older twin brother of the moon, is who created them. They believe in animal and tree spirits and have a tribe with doctor who can speak to those spirits. They hold festivals to the dead with music, singing, and wrestling matches. They believe that when someone dies, they must overcome dangerous obstacles and hazards in order for their soul to reach the village of the dead in the sky.

Then there are the Yawalapiti who believe in many spirits, hold many festival rituals, and also rely on a witch doctor for healing, both physically and spiritually. The Aguaruna tribe focuses mainly on magic and uses charms and special songs to aid them in their hunting, gardening, and other activities. Similarly, the Chimila peoples hold religious ceremonies to, they believe, control the weather. Lastly, we talked about the Paresi people who believe the woods and rivers are full of spirits and that they originated from a rock where two serpents were who decided whether they would be boys or girls when they were formed.

Most importantly, we looked at pictures of people from each of these tribes and, in many cases, they looked just like we do. Nothing they wore or looked like indicated that they were any different than we as believers in Jesus Christ are. Yet the differences are ones that determine whether we will spend an eternity in heaven or an eternity in hell.

We discussed then what our rituals and beliefs as Christians are. We talked about communion and the sacraments. We talked about what they represent and how in taking them we are fellowshiping with Christ and nourishing ourselves with His blessings purchased on the cross for us by His shed blood. We also talked about the celebrations we have in our faith with Christmas and Easter. We talked about baptisms and baby dedications.....all religious ceremonies portraying our Christian faith and belief system.

To close things out for the week and just sort of give everyone something to think about, we had two tables set up before the kids got there. On one, we had a Bible, a devotions book, a communion cup and bread, a pack of Scripture memory cards, a Christian magazine, a tithes and offering basket, some missions newsletters, and a Christian music CD. On the other table we had some silly bands, a teen gossip magazine, a Disney movie, a car, money, a secular music CD, a Webkinz, sports memorabilia, a trophy, a bottle of wine, food/candy, a picture of our friends, nice clothes, a superhero action figure, and more.

We talked about how the one table represented the table of the Lord and all the things on it we could feast on. The other table represented the table of demons and all the things we so often choose to feast on instead. We made sure the kids understood that the majority of the things on the "demon's" table were not bad persay and were even ok to have and enjoy. The problem arises when we place the importance of those things above the importance of the things of God and we desire them more than we desire the things of God.

The kids were curious as to why there were so many more things on the table of demons than the table of the Lord and we discussed Matthew 7:13-14 - ¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We gave the kids a lot to think about tonight and just left them with the two tables as their visual to think about until we meet again next week. We did ask them to start thinking about what was most important to them and, if they had to, which table they would be able to place those things on, the Lord's or the demon's.