Welcome New ZG'ers!!!

Out with the old and in with the new was tonight's theme.  We will greatly miss Rachel, Tessa, Ben and Kirsten as they became STOMP'ers tonight.  In their places, we welcomed Zachary, Keanu, Jeremiah, Tahira, and Morgan.  It's going to be an exciting new year guys!!!  Can't wait!

Fools Part 3 - The Godless

Psalm 14:1 - The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

After hearing Stephen Krantz's testimony last Wednesday night, it was time to get back to studying fools this week.  This week's fool was the godless...and who better to talk about than the "most hated woman in America" as she was commonly referred to, Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

Merriam-Webster defines godless as without a god; not recognizing or obeying God.  I set a backpack out, along with enough items to fill the backpack to the top, leaving no room for anything else.  We could barely zip it up!  Then we told the youth that we'd forgotten to pack the most important item and challenged a few of them to fit it in the backpack.  It was a Bible.  After a few failed attempts, the kids agreed that there was no more room in the backpack for the Bible.  We told the kids that this illustration represented another kind of fool in the Bible.

Fools fill up their lives with so many other things that they "have no room for God" in their lives.  God is just not a part of their lives at all.  They never read the Bible.  They don't talk about God.  They don't even think to pray about a decision or consider what advice the Bible gives.  They are without God.  They are GODLESS.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair was one such fool.  She fought in the 1970's to have prayer taken out of the public schools...and she WON!  We gave one of the kids a quarter then and asked him to read the inscription on the coin.  O'Hair even tried to get the phrase "In God We Trust" taken off U.S. money!  She wanted the phrase "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance as well!  She wanted to remove all reminders of God.  She started an organization of atheists - people who don't believe God exists.  She once said, "Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer."

Here's a video of Madalyn on a 1970's talk show.  

Not all godless fools are atheists mind you.  Many say there is a God, but they have no room for Him in their lives...just like there wasn't room in the backpack for the Bible.

Walking in the way of the wise or walking in the way of fools is a heart thing.  It's not just about knowing something or saying something.  It's about having it in your heart.  The fool may proclaim there is a God with his mouth, but in his heart he says there is no God.  He doesn't love God, think about Him, or care about God.  There is no sign that God matters at all to him.

We read Luke 16:19-31 then about Lazarus and the rich man and discussed the events of the story in detail. In the end, even though the rich man begged Abraham to do so, Abraham refused to send Lazarus to the rich man's family to warn them of the realities of hell and tell them about God.  Why?  Abraham knew that the unbelief of the rich man's brothers was not a matter of hearing the truth.  They had already heard it before.  They would not believe even if a person came from the dead to tell them.  They were spiritually blind and had no interest in spiritual things.  They were fools...just like their rich brother.

Here's an illustration of the story from YouTube.

Godless fools treasure other things more than they treasure God in their hearts.  Does it work to fill your heart with other things and ignore God?  O'Hair's 1973 New Year's wish list "included a mink coat, a Cadillac, a cook, and a housekeeper".  But even if she got these things, would they ultimately make her happy?  After O'Hair died, her diaries were found.  In them, she talks about crying and crying, being a failure, and wanting someone to love her.  She died a bitter, unhappy woman who hated God and His people.  She spent her entire life trying to erase God, but ended up miserably unhappy without Him.  She also died a violent death, as she was murdered by an employer of hers.

What things in your life are pulling your attention away from God?  What are you crowding Him out of your life and heart with?  We got answers like TV, video games, laziness, texting, etc...  What can you do, or stop doing to focus all of your heart on God....to "make room" for Him?  Our goal is to be God-full...not God-less!

We ended on a happy note.  Madalyn's son William Murray, at the age of 33, after being taught as an atheist his entire life, renounced his atheism and proclaimed he was a born-again Christian.  It didn't matter what having the most hated woman in America for a mother meant growing up.  God had a different plan for William.  Amen!  Here is William in a 2012 interview with Mike Huckabee.

Fools Part 2 - The Rebel

Proverbs 10:1b - A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.

This week's fool was the rebel.  A rebel is defined as thickheaded, dull-witted, slow to change his ways, strong-willed, someone who disregards morals, rejects instruction, and is quick-tempered.  Ouch!  I don't know about you, but I could apply a few of those descriptions to me at times!

We started by acting out a little rebellion for the kids.  I had a peanut butter sandwich and, while the kids shared what they've been up to this last week, I tried to put my peanut butter sandwich into a snack-size baggie.  John realized what I was trying to do and offered me a sandwich-size baggie, but I refused, telling him my way was best and that I knew what I was doing and didn't need any help from him.  I got my sandwich in the baggie, but ended up with it squished and not very appetizing.  Pulling the sandwich back out of the small baggie, we asked the kids if they would want to get a sandwich like this in their lunch.  What's wrong with it?  Why is the sandwich like this?

We told the kids that the person who squeezed the sandwich into the small baggie was acting like another kind of fool the Bible talks about.  We asked the kids in what ways I acted foolishly.  I didn't listen to advice.  I was stubborn and insisted on doing things my way.  I didn't learn from my mistakes and kept repeating foolish acts over and over.  In short, I was acting like a rebel.

We talked about Hophni and Phinehas then, the two priests in 1 Samuel.  To show how they rebelled, I held a bowl of fruit.  I gave one of the youth a fork and told her to poke her fork into the bowl and that she could have only the fruit that came up on the fork.  Afterwards, we asked the kids if instead of following my directions, Cailin took the bowl, looked into it and picked out all of the big pieces with her hands, would she be a rebel.  Absolutely!  As were Hophni and Phinehas.  God's rule in the Old Testament was that the priests could poke a fork into a pot of boiling meat from the offerings and, whatever came up on the fork, they were allowed to eat.  Then we read 1 Samuel 2:12-17 and 22-26 to see what really happened.

Instead of following the rules, Hophni and Phinehas decided to do things their own way.  They took the best pieces of raw meat before it was boiled.  They didn't respect the offerings people were making to God.  In the end, their father Eli warned them about the consequences of their evil behavior, but they refused to listen to their dad and kept right on rebelling.  The prophet Samuel told Eli both his sons would die on the same day as punishment for their rebellious ways.  And they did!  They both died on the same day in a battle against the Philistines.

Proverbs 3:1-2 says, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity."  What does this verse tell us NOT to do?  What does it tell us TO DO?  That wisdom must be in our hearts, not just our heads!  Hophni and Phinehas didn't follow the wise advice of their father and died as a result of their foolishness.

Next we looked at King David's son Absalom.  He was also stubborn and rebellious.  He didn't honor his father or listen to his wise advice.  He killed his brother and tried to take his father's throne as King.  He gathered men to rebel against his father, but in a battle against his father's men, Absalom's long and thick hair got caught in a tree.  He dangled there while one of his father's soldiers pierced him through the heart with three spears!  David loved his son and grieved for him because Proverbs 17:21 tells us that to have a fool for a son brings grief and there is no joy for the father of a fool.

The Bible is FULL of examples of rebels!  So we asked the kids then if they could think of a Son in the Bible who did not bring grief to His Father...a Son who listened and obeyed, loved wisdom and what is right, and didn't insist on His own way, but followed the way of His Father, even when it was hard.

Matthew 3:17 - And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased."

Jesus brought much joy to His Father because He was wise.  He loved what is right and obeyed His Father...and again, even when it was hard!

Matthew 26:36-39, 42 - 36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”  39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Nothing we could ever go through in this life could compare to the unimaginable suffering Christ went through  leading up to and during his crucifixion.  And still, He obeyed and did not rebel!  How much more should we be able to obey our Father as well?!

I ended by showing the kids a picture of a passion plant.  It's a vine I actually have growing in my garden.  I like it because of how beautiful the flowers are when they bloom and what they represent.  Legend has it that the passion flower symbolizes Christ's passion.  The 10 flower petals of each bloom represent the 10 most faithful of Christ's 12 disciples.  The lacey fringe above the flower petals represents the crown of thorns, the 5 flower anthers represent Christ's 5 wounds, and the 3 flower stigmas represent the 3 nails that held Christ to the cross.  (Really, I love it because it is self-sustaining and I can ignore it and it will still grow and flourish!  My kind of plant!)

Though it's a beautiful flower, it's also a very rebellious plant.  You see, it has these tiny tendrils growing out from all over its vines.  Those tendrils attach themselves to everything and seem to have a mind of their own as to where they want to grow from there.  I put a trellis up for them, but they stubbornly attach themselves to other plants, our tree, the watering can, the hose, you name it!  It's so frustrating.  I keep redirecting them and they just keep right on attaching themselves to and growing where they please.

Eventually, I have to cut the vines back because they begin to wander and creep into my neighbor's yard and take over their things as well.  We are so like this plant sometimes...even as believers.  We have a mind of our own, want to do things our way, don't want to take the advice of others, attach ourselves to things of this world...even when the things of God provide life for us.  Eventually, our rebellion results in our being disconnected from God...cut off.

What does our rebellion look like?  How does it grow in the heart and begin to attach itself to other parts of our lives and spread?  What about stubbornness?  What can we do about rebellion and stubbornness?  We asked the youth, do you listen when your parents give you good teaching?  Does rebellion rise in your heart, or are you happy to receive their instruction?  Do you wander off in other directions seeking worldly "wisdom" to attach yourself to?  How can you grow in this area?  Do you want to bring joy or grief to your parents?  Do you want to bring joy or grief to your heavenly Father?

Under the Wings of His Protection

Kerissa taught the kids tonight about what it means to be under God's wings of protection and find in Him a place of refuge from our fears.  The kids were asked to write all of their fears above an umbrella and then draw themselves under that same umbrella holding a sword and shield.

Psalm 18:1-2 - I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

We talked about the armor we can put on when the battle rages around us and tempts us to have fear.