Kid's Video Devotion - Judging Others

1. Watch the above Doug video
2. Doug trivia - What is Bebe's last name?
3. How did Doug judge Bebe wrongly?
4. How did Bebe's mom judge Doug wrongly?
5. How did Doug judge Roger wrongly?
6. Read 2 Sam. 10.  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20sam%2010&version=NLT  .
  How did the Ammonites judge David wrongly? What was the result?
7. Have you ever judged someone wrongly? Recount the episode.
8. Discuss 1Cor. 4:5  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Corinthians+4:5&version=MSG


Note  to parents/teachers.

In this episode, there is a lot of judging going on. To a certain degree we are told to judge in the Bible. Kids especially need to look at other kids behaviors and decide how close of a friend they should be to someone if they are behaving poorly. That is a form of judging called discerning. However, in this passage, peoples motives were being judged for their behavior. 1Cor.4:5 says only God knows motives. Doug judges Bebe Bluff on the basis of her rich mom while Bebe was really a very kind and humble person in this episode. Her mom thinks Doug made her look bad so she would lose and this was totally wrong. Doug thought Roger would make fun of him, while Roger also was trying out. David was being kind to the Ammonites and they thought he was spying them out which ended in their destruction. Be very careful when you say, "(S)he is only doing this because..." God is the only one that knows motives because He knows the heart. Therefore, always think the best of people. If their motives are wrong, they will be exposed.

Growing in Christ Bible Study Genesis to Revelation Week 21

Read 1Samuel 17- 2Samuel 10

  Here are some video clips that remind me of some of the stories. See if you can guess which ones I'm thinking of and summarize the account in 100 words or less.

1

2

3

4

5

6

1.  David was considered to be a man after God's own heart. (1Sam 13:14). Obviously, we would all liked to be described in this way (or woman). Look at the following verses/accounts, and describe qualities found in a person after God's heart.

   1Sam 17:36,37 and 45-47


   1Sam. 18:17,18,23


   1Sam. 21:5


   1 Sam 23:1-5, 11-13 & 25:14-16


   1 Sam. 24:5-7 & 26:9-11


   1Sam. 30:3,7,8


   1Sam 30:18-29


   2Sam 1:23,24


   2Sam 5:10-12


   2Sam 6:13,14,21,22


   2Sam 7:18-26


   2Sam 8:11


   2 Sam 9:1,11


  1 Chron. 14:12



2. Look at 1Sam 14:6 and 1Sam 17:37. Then look at 18:1. Why do you think David and Jonathan became so close?


   Now look at 20:31. Was Saul correct?

    Look at 20:13-17. Did Jonathan know that?              Did he care?                     Why not?



    Look at 23:16. What does this say about friendship?


   Putting all this together, describe what you should be looking for in a true friend.



 3. Read 1Sam 25. Abigail spares David from commiting the biggest mistake/sin of his life up until this point. What sin was that?


     What drove David to almost doing this? (consider many factors)



      Obviously, picking spouses was much different in those days but what can girls learn from this account about picking a husband?



      Notice her plea to David. What principles can you learn about how to negotiate and diffuse a bad situation?



     Read Rom. 12:19. How does the account of Nabal testify to this?




Notes to students/teachers

     The video clips remind me of David pretending to be in Michal's bed by placing an idol in there, David trying to wear Saul's armor, David and Jonathan planning out a code (that they never really needed), a band of misfits joining David, Saul consulting a witch, and Joab hugging Abner and stabbing him.
     David, in these chapters is amazing. Unfortunately we are about to hit chapter 11, where although he still remains loved by God and has an incredible relationship and faith in Him, his life starts unravelling. How great to live a life in love with God, worshipping Him daily, submitted in humility before Him and thus realizing our equality with mankind and loving them as ourselves. The blessings and benefits are profound. David realized that God is above all other Gods and simply represented Him in battles, yet always consulted Him first, even in the no-brainers like "should I rescue my family"? Because of going to the Lord in prayer God, not David or his men, got the glory for victories. The plunder was not his but the Lords thus he could give it away and not hoard and be greedy. He listened to rebuke (even from a woman which was big in that day) and allowed God to put Saul to death and Nabal rather than make thing happen thru his own scheming. Even while on the run he was helping people. They were like a gang of Christians. Not the Hell's Angels but the Heaven's Angels. They were risking their lives delivering people (who would in a heartbeat turn him over to Saul) from Phillistines and helping people take care of their flocks keeping wild animals and predators away and getting nothing but scorn in return. No wonder David snapped against Nabal. God had promised him to be king and it seemed to be taking forever. He was running for his life thru no fault of his own, so poor he had to beg, hiding his family from Saul for fear of retribution, no home, a band of misfits, going around doing good and getting insulted in return. This was the last straw! "Who's David?"" I'll show him who David is..." We all need to be careful because in a moment of weakness we can retaliate and our pride rear it's ugly head and ruin our testimony and bring consequences on ourselves that will affect us our whole lives.
       Abigail was in an unfortunate position - unequally yoked with an unbeliever. Marriages back then were often arranged so she probably had no say but today women do have a say and they still marry unbelieving fools. Do you want to be in that situation some day? Look for a man after God's own heart even if he is broke and scorned. If he loves Jesus you will have a great future. Notice how she diffuses the situation. She brings a gift, tells him how great he is, appeals to his sense of right and wrong, says the party he is at odds against is wrong, and mentions the Lord 7 times. She says he is so far above this party it's not even worth fighting. David leaves relieved he didn't sin by doing this, letting God take revenge (which He did quickly) and gaining a wife.
     Lastly, look at what true friendship should look like. Find someone who loves the Lord like you do and bond with them. Serve the Lord with them and fight God's fights with them. Look for someone who won't use you to get ahead and dump you when the chips are down or hang you out to dry. Jonathan was willing to give his life and heir to the throne to David. And when David was at his lowest, Jonathan came and helped him find strength in the Lord. What kind of friends do you have. Nowadays we don't deliberately seek out quality friends we tend to gravitate toward acceptance. Look for these qualities in a person and actively seek friendship with them.

  

Growing in Christ Bible Study Genesis to Revelation Week 20

Read 1Samuel 1-16

1. Lets start by looking at Eli. Observe his interaction with Hannah in 1:12-17. What does this show you about his demeanor as a priest?



   In 1:11 we are introduced to a new name of God. What does it mean?

              Notice how Christ fulfilled it in Eph. 2:12,13.


               Why might Hanna have appealed to God with this name?





         Is there anything in your life going on where you need Jehovah Sabaoth?




     What were Eli's sons doing? (2:12-17, 22)


      What was Eli guilty of? (3:13 and 2:29)
       Notice how he tried to address it in 2:22-25. Why was that not good enough?


     Look at 2:29, 4:18. What does this imply about Eli?



2. Read 1Sam. 4:1-3. Why did the Israelites bring the ark to the battle?

          Did it work?


         Have you ever done some religious ritual, etc. thinking that it would gain favor with God?
         Recount the episode and result;



3.  Name 2 things that happened while the ark was in Philistine land?


     What does this tell you about idols?


     What does this tell you about lost people?


     
     Read 6:14. What did God want instead of gold tumors and rats?



     Read 6:19. Why were these people struck down?

4. Read 1Sam 8:19,20. What were the 3 reasons the Israelites wanted a king?



     Why did God not want them to have a king? (See also Deut. 4:7,8)



     
 Watch the following Andy Stanley clip. What were some of his thoughts about not having a king?

Read 1Sam. 8:7. What principle is God giving when we are rejected by the world? (See Luke 10:16, Acts 13:45,46 and 1Thes. 4:8)

Read 1Sam. 16:7. Compare this to 1Sam. 9:1,2. Then read 1Sam. 11:8 and compare to Judges 7:1-7. Why, with Saul, do you think God was doing things differently than He normally did?

Read 1Sam. 13:5-15. What was so bad about what Saul did?

Read 1Sam 15:12-28. What was so bad about what Saul did?

            Read 1Sam. 22:16-19 and 1 Sam. 27:7. Then read Heb. 3:12-14. Do you anticipate seeing Saul in heaven someday? Why or why not? (See also 1Sam.18:12 and 2Sam 7:15)

5. Read 1Sam. 9:19,20. What does this teach you about prayer?                                      

Read 1Sam. 12:23. What does this teach you about prayer?                                           

6. Read 1Sam. 14. What statement by Jonathan reveals he is a young man of faith?

Who does this remind you of?   

Numbers 14:5-9, Josh. 14:12                                                                                    

Deut. 32:30                                                                                               

1Sam. 17:36                                                                                                 

Note to teachers/students

1Samuel starts out with the birth of Samuel to a woman struggling with infertility. This is a recurring theme in the Bible. The name she calls God, Jehovah Sabaoth, gives some insight into why God uses this condition because Jehovah Sabaoth is who you call on when all else fails. He is our only hope. That way God gets all the credit as He did in the Gideon incident. They demonstrate what it takes to raise a Godly child, and that is surrendering the child to the Lord even prior to conception. Then keep your child in the Lord's presence continually (make your home a sanctuary) and teach your child the value of God's word. (never let one word drop) The opposite happened with Eli. He saw serving God as a burden or a job (as evidenced by his treatment of Hannah) His kids would have picked up on this and treated it the same way. When people would bring the fellowship offerings where the fat was offered to the Lord, they wanted their portion before the fat was offered making themselves more important than God and not worrying about other people's fellowship being thwarted. Due to Eli's obesity, I assume he took what his sons gave him and became complicit. His sons should have been stoned or the least, removed, but Eli chose not to address it head on.

Next we see a whole lot of religious activity. When the battle was being lost, they brought out the ark. Don't we do the same thing when we want God to act on our behalf? We go to church more, we give more, wear our cross, etc. in hopes to make God act in our favor. This religious icon did not work and it was taken into Philistine land and placed next to their god Dagon. Dagon proceeded to keep falling over and its "hands" even broke. You would think they would see that idols can't stand before the true God and anything that needs to be set in place by human hands probably isn't worth worshipping. And then, the result of this was that the worshippers of Dagon could never again touch the threshold because that was holy from Dagon falling on it. It just goes to show you how blinded peoples minds are made by the devil. (view my blog on Mormonism) Then to appease God they offer Him gold tumors and gold rats. Man's best efforts the Bible says are filthy rags and this exemplifies it. What God wants is the shedding of blood for sin which the Israelites realized as they sacrificed the oxen pulling the cart.

Where Eli erred in raising godly children, Samuel also did. His children didn't sin in the priestly duty but certainly sinned against their fellow man . We don't know what Samuel did or didn't to if anything, all we know is his kids didn't follow the Lord, precipitating the call for a king. God designed the Israelites to be governed by Himself  which meant everyone was equal (1Sam 12:3 - see Samuel's claims) but now a king would rule over them. This would establish a heirarchy among people which God didn't intend. Plus they were to be different from other nations to show how great God is, but they didn't want that. Samuel took it personally but God reassured him saying "They are rejecting Me, not you". We need to remember that when we feel rejected by the world because of following Christ.

Saul was picked by God, in a relatively "human" way, I suppose just to show the people - this is what you want, this is what you will get. Saul started out relatively well but turned out to follow God partially- when it was convenient or made human sense. He ended his life trying to kill God's annointed, killing priests of God, and consulting a medium. I don't expect to see Saul in Heaven because it is not how you start but how you finish that matters. (Joash and Manasseh- Hezekiah's son- will be good illustrations of that in the future) Also, he came to God, like Cain, on his own terms offering a sacrifice his own way. God says there is one way to come to him, thru a mediator. In the old testament this was a priest. In the New Testament it is Christ. Saul violated a divine principle of salvation.

Growing in Christ Bible Study Genesis to Revelation Week 19

Read the books of Judges and Ruth

 1. Read Judges 2:10. What surprises you about this verse?

2. Read Judges 2:12-19. Judges is a book of cycles, approximately 10 in all. Go through the book of Judges and list all the judges.

     a.

     b.

     c.

    d.

    e.

    f.

    g.

    h.

    i.

    j.

    k.

    l.

   Who do you think was the best judge and why?



    Who do you think was the worst judge and why?



 3. Read Judges 6:7-10,13. When tragedy strikes our nation, we, like Gideon blame who?

        According to the prophet in verses 7-10, what would God's answer be?



  4. Look again at verse 6:13,31,32. What does that say good about Gideon's parents?


       Now look at 6:25. What does that tell you bad about them?



      Now read 13:8-12. What does that say good about Samson's parents?



      Now read 14:1-5a. What does that tell you bad about them?



     Now read Judges 18:18-20, 30. Together with the illustrations of Gideon and Samson's parents, what is going on with the people of Israel in regard to worship?



    Read Luke 16:13. How are we guilty of this today?



  5. Watch the following video clips and write next to them what episode in Judges they remind you of?

6. Read Judges 11:30-40, Judges 21:1-23, 1Sam 14:24-45 and 1Sam 1:11. What 4 oaths were made?

How did they get around them? (if they did)                                        

Read Matt. 23:16-22. What were the Pharisees doing with oaths?

Read Matt. 5:33-37. What did Jesus say about oaths?

7. Religion is man working his way to try to get to God. Read about the Danites in Judges 18. What did they do to earn God's "favor"?

Christianity is God reaching down to man. Read the story of Boaz in Ruth and explain the symbolism of the kinsmen redeemer and how we get saved.

Notes to students/teachers.

Judges is about a book of cycles. The people rebel against God (they didn't have faith to drive the caananites out like God commanded so they intermarried, intermingled, combined their faiths and become evil), they are oppressed, they cry out to God, He has mercy on them, He sends a deliverer (judge), they are freed, they worship the Lord, the judge dies, they rebel... This happens 10 times but each cycle gets worse and the judge gets worse. Finally with Samson, the people were accepting their oppression and God had to pick a fight. (note the Israelites saying to Samson, "What are you doing?" and binding him and handing him over.)

Judges shows the evil that is inside all of us. That is why it is so important to train up our children in Godliness. It is amazing to me how many times Moses and Joshua instructed them to teach these things to their children, and 2 or 3 generations later the kids knew nothing about the great things God had done. In chapter 19 we see the depravity that exactly mirrored Sodom and Gomorrah, the main difference being the Benjaminites had a Godly heritage and S&G was pagan. If we get smug thinking there is anything good inside us besides Christ we only need to read Judges. God continually tries to make that point with Gideons army of 300, Samson's strength coming only because of his vow with God, and Abimelach and Sisera being killed by women.                   

There are many rabbit trails in these passages to follow, like Gideon's soft answer to the Ephraimites to turn away wrath as opposed to Jepthah's, Samson and dating/marrying non christians, putting out fleeces, oaths, etc. all of which are worth exploring further.

Lastly, the whole concept of religion vs. Christianity keeps showing up even into 1Samuel. People kept trying to win Gods favor by doing things - making vows, having your own personal priest, having religious relics/idols, etc but what God wants is admitting we are sinful and in desperate need of a savior. He sends us, like Boaz, a kinsmen redeemer. Notice Boaz, a man of power, wealth, respect , authority, comes into his field and takes on a gentile bride who has nothing but poverty and baggage to offer. He gives up evertyhting to marry her and then she is included in the line of Christ. That is Christianity. Ruth, knowing she was poor, submitted herself to the mercy of Boaz who redeemed her and married her and loved her.

Kid's Devotion - Being a Friend

Watch the Doug video called "Doug Rocks"

1. Doug Trivia - name Doug's favorite band and one member of that band?
2. How did Doug get tickets to the concert?
3. Why couldn't Skeeter go?
4. Why didn't Doug go?
5. What was the end result?
6. Read 1Sam. 20 and summarize what happened in the chapter. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Samuel+20&version=NIV1984
  What was Jonathan willing to give up to be David's friend?
7. Read John 15:13  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15:13&version=NIV1984
  What was Jesus willing to give up for us, his friends?
8. Read Prov. 17:17  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2017:17&version=NLT  How does this help explain the Doug episode?
9. Where would you like to go with your best friend more than anything? Would you give it up if your friend couldn't go?

Note to parents/teachers;
    In this episode we see Doug giving up an incredible opportunity to be a good friend to Skeeter even though he had every right to go. This is true friendship, giving up your rights for others. Jonathan was willing to give up his right to the throne for David. Jesus gave up his own life to save us even though we desperately deserved our punishment. Encourage your kids to be this kind of friend and to seek friends like this. ( A whole other take on this would be fanatacism. They were nuts over the Beets! What are we fanatic over? Is it silly stuff like this or are we Jesus Freaks?)

Mormonism

  Mormonism is a cult as it meets all the criteria
      1) Doesn't believe Jesus is God (He is a god brother of lucifer. There is no trinity)
      2) Believes salvation is by faith plus works
      3) Has extra writing(s) on par with the scriptures
     
It's beginnings are very suspect and I feel the major way to refute/discuss the validity of this religion with a mormon. These beginnings are dealt with in a humorous but factual way by - believe it or not - South Park. There is one brief episode of cussing in the last segment (just to warn you - I tried to cut it all out) but watch these in order. The story line is - Stan is told by his friends to go beat up this new kid in town, a Mormon, because he is weird. Stanley goes over to do it but instead ends up going to his house. He comes home, tells his dad what he learned and his dad goes over to their house to beat him up and ends up becoming a Mormon.

Here are a few bullet points on Mormonism

• The Mormons believe in many gods - these gods procreate spirit children
• Latter day Saints believe that God the Father was and is a man of flesh and bone who once lived on another planet and who progressed to become the God of this world
• Mormons say Jesus was not begotten by the Holy Spirit, they say that Father God had physical sex with Mary to produce Jesus (early teaching)
• The Mormon god is eternally progressing and learning new things
• The Mormon Jesus is progressing and may become god of another planet
• Brigham Young (who cannot error according to their doctrine) said that, "Adam is our father and God. Adam is the Ancient of Days and also Michael the Archangel" (Later other prophets of the Mormon Church claimed that this inerrant doctrine of Brigham Young is false)
• The Latter Day Saints doctrine of the trinity is perverted and is nothing like the trinity of orthodox Christianity. They teach that there are three Gods (or four - some say the Holy Ghost is different from the Holy Spirit)
• Mormons believe that we were preexistent souls before we were born in the flesh
• The Latter Day Saints have corrected obvious errors in books that they say are inspired inerrant holy books. There have been 4000 documented word changes in the book of Mormon alone since 1830.
• The Latter Day Saints rewrote their history to be more credible
• Mormons believe that Jesus and Lucifer are spirit brothers
• The Latter Day Saints teach the doctrine of universal salvation and that there is no eternal hell except for those who will not progress. Hell only applies to those who leave Mormonism or will not become Mormon in the next life
• Mormons have conflicting theology about the Holy Spirit in their own writings and some refer to the Holy Spirit as an "It"
• Much of the original book of Mormon that they say was given to their founder by an angel - letter by letter - was plagiarized from the King James Bible errors and all. Since much of the book of Mormon is quoted from the King James Bible, the book of Mormon itself can be used to refute most of the practices and beliefs of Mormonism today
• The Latter Day Saints say that their church prophets are on the same level as the old testament prophets and that their doctrine cannot be in error
• The Latter Day Saints believe that each head of the Mormon Church wears the mantle of a prophet and that their church doctrine cannot be in error
• The Latter Day Saints doctrine of salvation is not by faith in Jesus alone. To be saved one must have faith, be baptized by immersion, keep the teachings of the Mormon Church, do good works and keep the commandments.
• The Latter Day Saints have said that God was predestined to sin which they equate with the fall into mortality. The fall happened so that more potential gods could come into being and reach god hood
• Mormons have said that Jesus married both Mary and Martha and had children
• LDS teaches a limited atonement; Brigham Young said "the blood of Jesus was ineffective for the cleansing of some sins. Those that believe it will lose their salvation"
• The Latter Day Saints idea of needing God's grace is that grace is needed so we may have power to progress and become like God. All Mormons must strive for perfection, sanctification and god hood
• Mormons believe that the family unit will endure unto eternity and some go through baptism rituals in the temple to save unbaptised dead.
• They say when Jesus returns that the Mormons will be gathered together in new Jerusalem in Missouri before the judgment
• The Latter Day Saints have three heavens - one for the heathen, one for the Christians and one for good Mormons. When Mormons progress enough to be gods they will get a planet of their own to rule
• The Mormons have added to the word of God by adding to the canon their Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price and the Book of Mormon. The books have contradictions with each other and with the Bible
• There is no archeological evidence to support the claims of the book of Mormon and there is much to refute it
• The book of Mormon shows lack of knowledge about world history
• The book of Mormon contains words that were not in existence at the time it was said to have been written (500 - 600 BC) - words such as Church, Christ, BIBLE etc.
• Some of the book of Mormon may have come from a work of fiction on the American Indians by Solomon Spaulding but the theology seems to be that of Sidney Rigdon
• The book of Mormon contains a quote from Shakespeare - 1 Nephi 1:14b
• The Latter Day Saints teach as man is, God once was; as God is, man may become
• The prophet Joseph Smith of Mormonism has documented false prophecies
• The Latter Day Saints say that all Christian sects are wrong and that all their creeds are an abomination
• LDS claims to be the priesthood of Aaron and Melchizedek
• The Latter Day Saints have had a history of white supremacy and until recently did not let blacks into the priesthood
• The Mormons teach that the American Indian is a decedent of Israel and Semitic, yet scientific genetics teaches that the American Indian is of the Mongoloid race and from Asia
• Mormons are told to wear holy underwear with mystical Masonic markings to protect them from harm

   Summarizing the bullet points, besides the intellectually dumbfounding origins of Mormonism, here are some other problems.

   1. Archaeology - there have been no archaeological findings to coroborate the book of Mormon

   2. New revelations - When society and culture progresses, the book of Mormon or other writings change along with it. For example, Blacks were deemed inferior as the spirit that inhabited their bodies were inferior spirits. Polygamy was approved and encouraged. New Revelation - Blacks are equal and can not only become Mormons but may become priests. Polygamy is now wrong also. The Bible never changes. Truth never changes. Culture must come to grips with God's word, not the other way around.

   3. Although the tablets were supposedly buried B.C., there are quotes from the King James Bible, Shakespeare  and the Indian lore and theology sound eerily similar to  Solomon Spaulding  and Sidney Rigdon. Also there are terms such as Church, Christ, Bible, etc. that wouldn't have been around B.C. Also, if he is translating a book in the 1900's written in 500BC, why would it be in King James english?

  Mormonism is attractive because it produces good people and good families. It should - it is based on Biblical ethics. The Bible produces good people if you do everything it says to do. However, good people trusting a different gospel are lost just like the people that said Lord, Lord didn't we do this and that for you and He said depart from me I never knew you. Or the prodigal sons brother who worked his whole life but didn't go to the feast with his father.

    Be very careful of this not so clever lie!!