Chose You This Day

CHOSE YOU THIS DAY...

You know the greatest part about being a human being is that God gave us the power of choice. The freedom of making decisions that effect us individually. We (all of us) make choices every single day. We choose what to wear that day. How we want to fix our hair. What to eat. Who to talk to and make friends with and who not. Sometimes we make good choices and sometimes not so good choices, but whatever the outcome, good or bad, it was our choice.

Many of the choices we make, like what kind of toothpaste to use, is not important but there are many choices we face that are important and we must choose wisely, lest the "bad" happen because of a poor choice. There is one choice we make every single day; however, and most of us make the choice without even thinking about it, and yet it is the single most important choice you will ever make, so tonight we are going to highlight this choice and try to help you make the right choice.

Lets turn to Joshua chapters 23 & 24

First I have a question, are any of you familiar with Joshua’s famous last words? I bet you are...they are posted on plaques and pictures everywhere....

Finish this scripture for me...but as for me and my house,                                 . See I knew you knew Joshua’s famous last words. However, there is more to what Joshua said in that scripture than that...and it’s the more that we are going to focus on tonight.

Joshua 23:1-3 & 24:1-15

Here we see Joshua (remember I taught a few weeks ago about Joshua and Caleb, this is that Joshua) He become the leader of the Israelites when Moses died. He led the Israelites under God’s direction into the promised land. They had to fight a lot of battles in order to "get" this land they were promised, not only the battle of Jericho but many more, and only with God’s help were they able to win these battles. Either way we see in the last few chapters of Joshua that, Joshua is old and getting ready to die so he calls all the people of Israel to a meeting and reminded them of all the great things that God had done before their very eyes. All the times that God helped them when they were in trouble, and then he said, but you have forsaken your God. Every since you have come into this land you have corrupted yourselves to serve the gods of the other nations, and; finally he told them, today you have a choice to make.

He said...you need to fear "the Lord", and serve him in sincerity and in truth...quit being wishy washy,

Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord...

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: BUT AS FOR ME, AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.

Of course, just as Joshua thought they would. The Israelites said: God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods, for the Lord he is our God. (Joshua 24:16)

Let’s just dissect the word serve...

What does the word serve mean...they said they would serve the Lord...what does serve mean...

(Note to teacher:  Do a little object lesson on service...act as if you are someone’s servant...ask them what they would like for me to bring them and then give them something else.)

How about when you go to a restaurant and order steak...does the server bring you chicken...probably not if he/she wants a tip (or reward) later for good service.

You see in order to serve you must follow the words of or instructions of the one you are serving, and this is what Joshua was saying. You want to say you will serve the Lord but you refuse to follow his instructions. You are not living as if you are a servant of the Lord. You are not keeping his commandments but you are follow other gods and living like those who are not God’s people.

The bible says...you cannot serve two masters, you will love the one and hate the other or cling to the one and despise the other....Matt 6:24

There is a choice we make every single day without even realizing it...and yes it is a daily choice...when you get up in the morning and choose your actions for the day...you are choosing whether to live like the world and enjoy the sinful pleasures of the world...or you are hopefully choosing to be a Christian and live according to God’s word, but you can’t do both. You are either a Christian and following God’s word or you are not. There is no in between!!!

You see, there are consequences with every decision we make...good or bad...yes, it is your choice to forsake God and to run after the things (gods) of this world and to live any ol’ way you want, that your freedom of choice. Yes, it’s your choice to forsake the one who created you and gave you life, the one who loved you enough to shed blood for your sins...the one who makes sure you are well cared for in this life...but there are consequences...

Joshua told the people...God is a jealous God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

My friend...hell is the consequence of folks who make the wrong choice on who to serve.

You have the opportunity at this very moment to make up your mind...the scripture says...

Behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corin. 6:2)

You know, you guys are reaching the age that you can’t depend on mom and dad or someone else to make the right choices for you. Some of you perhaps right now, have moms and dads right now who don’t make the right decision regarding this issue so you have to make the choice for you.

As Joshua said ...AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD...what are you going to do?

Memory Verse:  Joshua 24:15--And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

(This is quite a lengthy verse.  If you wish and your children are somewhat young, pick a portion of the verse as a memory verse).

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Supplies Needed:

• 1 black posterboard
• 1 red posterboard
• Several Sheets white paper

Did you know that when you are born into God's family that you become a prince/princess.  Yes, that's right we become royalty, and because we are royalty we have a reputation to uphold. We are a member of the family of God and everything we do reflects back to God’s kingdom. Everyone knows who we belong to and so if our actions are bad it doesn’t look very good on God or the rest of the family.

We are going to spend the next few weeks talking about what it means to "be" a princess, and learning how to "be" a princess. Of course we all know this process takes more than just a few weeks but we can learn a few of the basics and start putting them into practice.

There are 3 "A’s" of prince/princesshood. Actions, Attitude and Appearance.

In everything we do (which is the action), we have an attitude to go along with it and there is also an image (appearance) that we portray to those who see the action. So these 3 A’s all go together. They are all wrapped up in one.

(Note to teacher:  This particular lesson is about actions and words.  Over the next few weeks you might do a lesson on Attitude and one on Appearance).

Have you ever heard the saying "actions speak louder than words"? Well this is very true but the attitude we have when doing anything speaks volumes above the action itself and it gives the appearance to all who see us of just who and what we are.  Our words speak volumes about us, and they must be kept in check at all times.

Speaking or talking is an action. You know from school that talk and speak are verbs (action words) so talking/speaking is an action and the words we choose to let come out of our mouths speak volumes of who and what we are. Even those who aren’t Christians know the power of words. Our lives revolve around words, spoken or written so...

The very first thing we need to learn about is our words (our tongue) because it is what usually causes the most trouble.

James 3:2-12—

James says that no man can tame the tongue and that it’s full of deadly poison. But God is able to tame the tongue and those of us who have the Holy Ghost should not use our tongue to bless God and then curse men.

Ever heard of the saying "think before you speak"? Well there is a verse in the bible that supports this saying also.

James 1:19—Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath:
Know what that verse means? When it says be swift to hear, it mean be quick to listen. Listening requires thinking in order to understand what you were hearing. However, most of us, I’m guilty too, tend to spout off at the mouth before we listen to what is being said. Not only do we need to listen to what other people are saying to us first before we respond, we also need to listen to God before we speak. We must also listen to the words forming in our own minds to see whether they are good or bad before we burst out with whatever is on the tip of our tongues. We need to be conscious of and pay attention to what words are forming in our heads before they come out of our mouths especially in angry situations. If we stop to think first before we speak, even though someone may have said something that hurt us, we can prevent ourselves from saying something that we would later regret. We need to make sure than we only allow good words and thoughts to come out. Maybe the person you spouted off at is a sinner and you really offended them. They might have wanted to be like us but in that one moment you destroyed that from happening. Words hurt and people have a hard time forgiving.

Of course I know you guys are really good kids and you usually don’t blow up and spout off at the mouth, but lets talk about something we all do, especially kids. This seems harmless but it really is very damaging even if we mean it jokingly. It’s name calling.

We have had some concerns lately with AJ calling people silly names. AJ and Andy tease all the time calling each other cute little names, like cheeto head or cheeseburger face, but then recently he called someone a "butthead", and AJ thinks it’s cute because it’s a game that he and dad plays, dad has taught him to be a name caller which is not good. Now we are having to each AJ that name calling is a no, no. Andy thought to make up for the bad word he said that we should teach him to say "glutteous maximus head" instead of "butthead", but that is not good either. Name calling is just not a good thing even though at times it seems cute or harmless.

Sometimes name calling is out of playfulness but truthfully when do we usually call someone a name? Most of the times we call someone a name is when you are mad at them. Maybe a sibling, friend or parent has done something to hurt you or make you angry and you spout off and call them an "ugly head". Did you know you are really cussing at them. Yes, that’s right, cussing. You may not be using foul language but you are cursing at them, just without using curse words.

What about when you see someone walking down the street or in the hallway at school that is a little different from you. Perhaps you call them a "nerd" or a "loser". Even though you really don’t think anything about it and it seems as if you aren’t doing anything wrong, it is wrong. You are judging that person based on appearance of an action of some kind when you really don’t know them.

The bible says in Matt. 5:22 that anyone who in anger or wrong judgment, calls his brother (or anyone) "thou fool" is in danger of hell fire. That’s serious punishment for calling someone "a loser" isn’t it? The fact is, is that name calling is just not cute and God does not like it. It is very damaging and very hurtful and, it is not God like at all. Now it’s okay to have sweet, loving nicknames for friends and family members, but It’s really just best to call a person by their name or title. My mom, she’s a wise woman. She used to say "if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all". I think that’s well said don’t you.

Our tongues get us in all kinds of trouble. We should watch to make sure we aren’t caught up in gossiping, lying or speaking profanities.

It’s imperative that as a child of God we do our best to keep our tongues in control. This is the first and foremost rule of princesshood. We could do a million and one terrific things for God but just one word can destroy all our efforts if it causes a soul to be lost. So we must be careful. That’s not to say we won’t slip up from time to time but like David asked in Psalm 141:3, let us ask God right now to—

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

I challenge all of us to be swift to listen, slow to speak and slow to wrath. Let’s stop and think before we speak this week. We’ve asked to lord to help us with this so let’s challenge ourselves this week and in weeks to come to make sure only good things come out of our mouths. The next time someone makes you mad, or the next time you have the urge to name call. Stop and think about it first and make the right choice of words.

Memory verse scramble— Cut a large pair of lips (mouth) out of red posterboard.  Paste your mouth to black posterboard.  Cut "teeth" from plain white paper.  On each tooth write a word or two from the memory verse above (Psalm 141:3).  Hang the poster on the wall.

Note:  Before class time, test to make sure all the "teeth" will fit inside the mouth.  You may need to make adjustments. 

For the memory verse scramble, lay out all the teeth in no particular order (scrambled) and have the children put them inside the mouth in the right order.  Have them repeat the verse several times to memorize it. 

Burrrr, It's Cold Outside

Burrrrr, it’s cold outside: so don’t let your Holy Ghost Fire Go Out!

 

Burrrrr, it’s cold outside. This world is a cold, dark place, but God has brought us out of the world into a dry, warm, place and has given us the internal warmth of the Holy Ghost as a comforter.

Remember how we talked last week about how the Devil is trying to keep us too occupied (busy) to gain a deep personal relationship with God? He has put things in our way, and in our lives, to keep us from staying close to the Lord. Which means it really is going to take some time and a lot of effort to gain the good, solid relationship that we need with Jesus. The devil is not just going to let us get there. He is going to fight us every step of the way. He just keeps throwing snowballs at us everyday in an attempt to get our relationship with God to grow cold.

Our memory verse last week said "Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). That is an "action" verse meaning in order for us to accomplish this, it’s going to take some action on our part. Being in school you are familiar with action words known as verbs. What are the verbs in this scripture? Submit and Resist, right. The acts of submitting and resisting take a lot of effort. It’s work, hard work!

That’s kind of what we are going to talk about today. Working at getting and keeping a good, solid relationship with God. We are going to talk about ways to keep our relationship with God new, fresh and lasting. Not letting our Holy Ghost fire go out, so to speak. Stoking the fire of the Holy Ghost to keep the embers burning in our lives which is going to keep us close or get us closer to God.

Submitting ourselves to God means committing ourselves to doing the things God wants us to do daily in order stay or get near to him. Resistance to the devil is only possible when we are submitted to God. We must stay full of the Holy Ghost. We must fill up on the things of God, on communication with God through prayer and bible study; through the hearing of the word, through fasting and Godly fellowship with Godly people.

Scripture text: Matt. 25:1-13 (10 virgins)

At first it seems that this passage of scripture is unrelated to reaching and maintaining a close relationship with our savior, but it really fits. You see there were 10 virgins altogether. All had lamps burning while waiting for the bridegroom (Christ) to call to them. However, 5 took extra oil (fuel) with them just in case his return was prolonged seeing as how they didn’t know when he would come, but the other 5 did not take any extra. They only had what was already in their lamp. They made no provision for the future. They ran out of oil just as their groom called and missed their own wedding. How awful!

Let’s compare their oil to the Holy Ghost. When we get the Holy Ghost we are all on fire for God because as the Bible says we were baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. However, over time if we don’t tend to the fire it tends to go out or get weak, just like the foolish virgins’ lamps did. Why do you think that is? Well, one reason is that we allow the things of this world to dampen and water down our spirit and our enthusiasm for God. Occupying ourselves too much in worldly affairs can put our fire out just like water puts out a natural fire, but the #1 reason our fire dies down or goes out is because a fire needs fuel to stay burning.

Note to Teacher: (Light a fire in a pan with a match and watch it go out, then light another fire but keep adding paper to keep it going)

Just like a log is fuel for a campfire, oil was the fuel to keep the fire going in the virgins’ lamps. We also need fuel to keep our Holy Ghost fire going. What do you suppose might be fuel to keep the Holy Ghost fire burning in our lives?

Let’s see—Jere. 20:9 says—...but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones...

Jude 1:3, 21—talks about earnestly contending for the faith and building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost (meaning speaking in tongues).

So we need to read and apply God’s Word to our lives and we need to pray. That’s the fuel that keeps our Holy Ghost fire from going out and keeps our relationship with God healthy. Well that makes since. First off the Word is ammunition against the devil. Also, in any relationship, for the relationship to be strong and healthy, there needs to be communication. Prayer is us communicating (talking) to God and reading his Word is him communicating (talking) to us. 

In relationships there needs to be time spent together. The more time you spend together the more you know about each other and a stronger bond begins to form between you. The less time you spend together the less you know about that person and the bond between you becomes weak.

For example, my best friend LaDonna and I were BFF’s. We did everything together. We knew everything there was to know about each other. We were as close as two people could be. We even had the same likes and dislikes. We were like twins. Then one day, I graduated high school and went off to college and back then there was no such thing as email, IM or cell phones, so we didn’t get to communicate much. By the time I came home from college, she was at college. We had no communication. Then I got married and moved away to Missouri. Then she got married and moved away too. I know she lives in Ohio now with her husband and two kids, but because we went so long without communication and spending time together hanging out, our relationship is just not very close. I still love her and she still loves me, but we just aren’t that much alike anymore. We are two completely different people now. Not very much alike at all in fact.

That’s what happens in our relationship with God too. The more time we spend together the closer and more like him we become, but the more time we spend apart the farther apart and less like him we become. When we spend more time with worldly people and doing worldly things we become more like the world and less like God forfeiting our relationship with him. He is always there for us, but we have to make the effort to spend time with him. Relationships of any sort take work and time. Relationships need "fuel" to stay alive. That fuel is communication. LaDonna and I could probably have stayed BFF’s but we both let ourselves become too busy to stay in touch with one another. Our relationship with God works the same way. We can have a relationship with him if we put in the effort and not let ourselves become too busy with other things. He is always there just waiting for us to spend time with him, but He is not pushy. He’s not going to make us spend time with him. He wants us to want him. He wants us to love him like he loves us.

Memory verse: James 4:8—draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.

Isn’t it funny that our memory verse this week is the next verse after the one from last week. Maybe God is trying to tell us something here. That to submit ourselves to God and to resist the devil, we need to draw nigh unto him and he then will draw nigh unto us. Funny!

I have a challenge for us. I want us to read the bible and pray some everyday for one month (hopefully longer). Of course, I’m sure you guys already do that and I try too also, but let’s seriously try to build a deeper relationship with God this year. If you already have a prayer and reading schedule than just do a little extra. Read an extra chapter. Pray a few more minutes or add an extra prayer time in your day. If not, then let’s start now.

Suggestion:

Print off the following beginners 30 day bible reading plan and prayer wheel.  Give a copy to each child to help them to build their prayer and bible reading skills.

Beginning Bible Reading Plan