January 2020
January 4, 2020 - [God’s house is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20 What Is Your Foundation?
January 18, 2020 - . . . he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 2 Kings 6:6b Only God Can Do Miracles
January 25, 2020 - Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” . . . 2 Kings 6:17a
Open Our Eyes
February 2020
Sabbath, February 1st - But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16 Displaying God's Power In Your Life
Sabbath, February 8th - if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3 The Sure Foundation
Sabbath, February 15th - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, Colossians 3:23 Work With All Your Heart
Sabbath, February 29th - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:3 The Lord is Good
March 2020
Sabbath, March 7th - Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Romans 12:6a Use Your Gift
Sabbath, March 14th - . . . when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life . . . James 1:12 Withstand the Test
Sabbath, March 21st - no scheduled services due to COVID-19
Thursday, March 26th - New Year’s Day
Sabbath, March 28th - no scheduled services due to COVID-19
June
Pentecost, Sunday, May 31st, - Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
Sabbath, June 6th - But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14 The Aroma of the Knowledge of Christ
Sabbath, June 13th - I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 What Floats Your Boat?
Sabbath, June 20th - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 A New Creation
Sabbath, June 27th - . . . Pay attention to what you hear: . . . Mark 4:24 Pay Attention to What You Hear
July
Sabbath, July 4th - As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. Prov. 26:21 An Explosive Situation
Sabbath, July 11th - As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 What's Inside
Sabbath, July 18th - Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21 Useful to God
Sabbath, July 25th - No sabbath school
August
Sabbath, August 1st - For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34 What's in Your Heart?
Sabbath, August 8th - For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:36 - Keep On Keeping On
Sabbath, August 15th - No sabbath school
Sabbath, August 22nd - Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10 Tried in the Fire
Sabbath, August 29th - Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. Exodus 23:30 - Drive Them Out
September
Sabbath, September 5th - for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Proverbs 24:16 - When You're Under Pressure
Sabbath, September 12th - The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
Proverbs 22:3 - Bursting the Balloon
Sabbath, September 19th - Trumpets - We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a Changed!!
Sabbath, September 26th - . . . And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, . . . Revelation 2:23 What's Inside
Atonement, Monday, September 28th Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10 Whiter Than Snow
October
Sabbath, October 24th - My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18 - Peaceful, Secure, Quiet
Sabbath, October 31st - The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. Ecclesiastes 12:11 Like Nails Firmly Fixed
November
Sabbath, November 7th - but wisdom helps one to succeed. Ecclesiastes 10:10 A Stitch in Time
Sabbath, November 14th - Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two Are Better Than One
Sabbath, November 21st - Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: Proverbs 24:14 Sweet Like Honey
Sabbath, November 28th - Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Ephesians 5:1 Imitate God
December
Sabbath, December 5th - “The Lord knows those who are his,” 2 Timothy 2:19 - Whom Do You Belong To?
Sabbath, December 12th - Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; Ezekiel 34:18 - A Good Steward
Sabbath, December 19th - Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; Ecclesiastes 10:1 That Stinks!!
Sabbath, December 26th - For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14 But a Mist
Sabbath, January 4, 2020
What’s Your Foundation?
[God’s house is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20
Materials: dominoes, building blocks, etc.
If you were stacking blocks, with just a little hanging over the edge, how many would it take before the top one was no longer over the first one at all? The fourth one!! Because of the center of gravity, if you stack the blocks with just the right overhang, the fourth one will be completely clear. (This is very dramatic on the edge of a table.)
Place the first domino (or building block) just an eighth over the edge. The next block is one-sixth past the block beneath it. The third block is one-fourth past the block beneath it. The fourth block is placed halfway off the block beneath it. That makes it completely off the table.
If you could stack 227 blocks, the overhang would be three full blocks!!
The very cool thing about this is that cantilever bridges are built in this fashion. Their benefit is in not having to have a center support.
But what does this stacking of blocks, and the overhang, have to do with being a Christian and our walk with Jesus Christ?
Sometimes this world makes us feel like we are out there - way out there. Crazy. But our faith is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus being the chief cornerstone. So we can feel like we hanging over a precipice. We can feel like there’s nothing beneath us, but as long as we center our lives on the foundation, we won’t fall.
Resource: 77 Science Activities for Illustrating Bible Lessons, Donald B. DeYoung, pgs. 50-52, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-8010-1537-3
Sabbath, January 18th
Only God Can Do Miracles
. . . he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 2 Kings 6:6b
Materials needed: Various liquids (corn syrup, dish soap, water, oil, rubbing alcohol) and various tiny items (cork, paperclip, penny, raisin, eraser, eraser tip, piece of apple)
There’s a very interesting story in 2 Kings 6. Elisha was with a group of prophets. They had outgrown their meeting place and decided to go to the Jordan, cut down some wood and build a dwelling place there. As one of them was chopping down a tree, the head of the ax flew off and fell into the Jordan. The man immediately told Elisha that the ax had been borrowed. Elisha threw a stick into the water where the ax head had gone in and it floated. The man was able to get the ax head back.
We can experiment with all kinds of liquids and substances. Some of them will float in all of the liquids. Some of them will float in none of the liquids. And some of them will float in some of the liquids. But iron - the metal out of which the ax head was made - will not float in water. The iron is much too dense. And we know it wasn’t a thin piece of metal; the man had been using it to chop down a tree!!
The only explanation is that God performed a miracle through Elisha.
Will God always give you a miracle when you need it? Probably not. But you should never doubt that He could if it were the best thing for you. There is nothing that is too hard for God.
It’s also interesting that this was a lost tool. On the continuum of importance, it doesn’t seem very important to us that God perform this miracle. But maybe that’s the point. No matter how big or how small your problem is, you can always take it to God. Sometimes He will perform a miracle because He wants the very best for you. And sometimes the answer is no because He wants the very best for you.
So what is it that we take away from this lesson? 1) God is able to do things that no one else can do. He can perform miracles! and 2) Take your concerns to God. He loves you and He’s interested in all the big and the small problems in your life.
Sabbath, January 25th
Open Our Eyes
Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” . . . 2 Kings 6:17a
Materials needed: magnets
There are invisible forces at work all around us. Two of them come immediately to mind: gravity and magnets. We are so very glad that gravity exists; it’s what keeps us from floating off into space - which is a very good thing. Magnets are likewise a significant invisible force. Who doesn’t like playing with magnets?
If I place two magnets together and they repel each other, we say that we two ends were of the same polarity. The converse is also true. If I place two magnets together, they will be attracted and come together - as in opposites attract. If we had iron fillings we could show the lines of polarity coming off each magnet. (We could also make a big mess.) But in normal, every day life, those lines of polarity are invisible; we just feel their effects on the magnets.
There are other invisible forces around us. Think about the story in 2 Kings 6:8-23. The Syrians had been raiding Israel, or at least, they had been trying to. But every time they planned something, Elisha told the king of Israel those plans, warning him and keeping him out of harm’s way. It became so prevalent that the king of Syria was certain there was a spy in his own army who was warning Israel and frustrating the Syrians’ plans. One of his servants told him what was happening, that Elisha was warning the king of Israel. So the king of Syria decided to capture Elisha who was in Dothan. During the night, the Syrians surrounded the city so that when Elisha’s servant looked out the next morning, the city was completely surrounded by enemy soldiers. He cried out to Elisha. Elisha told him not to be afraid; that those who were with Elisha were greater than those with the Syrians. And the servant’s eyes were opened to see horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Then Elisha prayed that the soldiers would be struck with blindness. He led the blind soldiers into the city of Samaria. The king of Israel wanted to know if he should kill all of them. Elisha told him to feed them (It was a great feast!!) and send them home. And Syria quit bothering Israel.
Sometimes we see difficulties and problems in our lives and we cry out to God, much like Elisha’s servant did, “Ah, my Master! What shall we do?” We should never forget that God is greater than all of the difficulties and problems surrounding us. Pray that God will give you the eyes to see His will for your life, the path you should take for His glory and honor. That doesn’t mean you will always escape the difficulties and problems, but you know God can use them for your good. He is still sovereign. He is always good.
Sabbath, February 1st
Displaying God's Power In Your Life
But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16
Materials needed: battery, wire, light bulb
When you connect a bulb to a battery, what happens? The power (stored energy) from the battery cause the filament in the bulb to glow, giving off light.
In a similar way, when God works in your life - and you know that it is God who is responsible - you are a witness to the people around you of the greatness of God. You know that whatever happened wasn’t through your efforts any more than the light bulb can cause itself to glow and produce light. You know that it is all God and it’s your responsibility to give Him the glory and honor.
But there’s a couple more things you can learn from the battery and bulb. It makes a difference which direction you connect the wire to the battery. The power flows from the battery to the bulb. Power doesn’t not flow from the bulb to the battery. Similarly, we don’t make God do anything. It is not our will, but His will that is accomplished. He is the Source of power, not us. We exist to do His bidding; He is not like a genie in a bottle waiting to do our bidding.
It sounds silly to say that, but sometimes we go to God with a grocery list of requests for Him to fulfill. We are told to ask. But we really, truly want God’s will to be done because He always knows what’s best for us. He knows what we need to grow us, to make us profitable servants for His kingdom. We don’t know what we need; we only know what we want in this moment. And, in hindsight, sometimes we are very glad God didn’t give us what we thought we wanted at a particular moment in time.
The other very cool thing about a battery, a bulb, and a wire with a switch is that the switch can be turned off. What interrupts the flow of power from God through us - shining His light to people around us?
*Sin. Sin, godlessness, unrighteousness, lawlessness, transgressing God’s law - sin separates us from God. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that our sinfulness separates us from God so that He cannot hear our prayers. Our sinfulness separates us from God’s power.
*Selfishness - wanting our will, instead of His, or wanting the glory for ourselves rather than giving God the glory. James 4:3 says that we don’t have what we ask for because we ask amiss, seeking to satisfy ourselves. Selfishness is just sin - the breaking of the first commandment because we put ourselves in the place of God, thinking that we are more important than He is.
I’m sure we could think of many other things which interrupt the flow of God’s power working in our lives, but they all come back to the lack of connection and relationship with Him. Keep your eyes focused on God and on His ways. Guard your feet from straying away into the world. Watch yourself, making sure that your heart is set on God. Read the Bible. Be constant in prayer. Go to church and fellowship with believers to exhort and encourage you.
There’s a popular song right now that could be our motto: light shine bright everywhere we go!!
Sabbath, February 8th
The Sure Foundation
if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3
Materials: 8 sugar cubes (or bouillon cubes); 4 one-inch pieces of candle; 4 marbles; 4 square, flat rocks, 3 -4 books
Whenever you build something (a bridge, a road, a building), if you want it to last, you have to make sure you have a solid foundation on which to build. So obviously, we know that we can’t build on sand; it shifts and moves easily. It’s not a good foundation. So what is a good foundation?
*Could we use sugar cubes? They’re square and solid. No. At the first sign of water, they’d melt away.
*Could we use candle stubs? They’re solid and wouldn’t be affected by water. But they don’t stand up under fire very well.
*Could we use marbles? They’re solid. They don’t melt when exposed to water or to fire. But at the first sign of wind or earthquake, they would be all over the place.
We need a solid rock upon which to build.
We’re not just talking about building bridges, roads, or buildings, are we? We’re talking about what you build your life upon?
*Sometimes people try to build their lives on something that tastes good (like the sugar). It makes them happy at the time. But when the flood comes (like a flood of adversity), their lives crumble. You can’t build your life on something just because it seems good at the time.
*Sometimes people try to build their lives on something more solid - maybe something that people around them think is good. But God says He’ll purify everyone’s work with fire. And the things that society thinks are foundational are not going to survive the fire any more than the candle does.
*Sometimes people try to build their lives on something they think is rock solid - maybe they believe it has reason, common sense, or science behind it. But if it doesn’t agree with Godly principles, then there is something drastically wrong with it. Pseudoscience, secular humanism, relativism - all of those religions that people substitute for the way God wants us to live, all of these are a foundation that will not last.
You know that you have to build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, one the laws of God, and on a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Society, Satan, and our carnal nature doesn’t like that foundation. And we see our society trying to force God and Christians out of the world. That’s what Psalm 11:3 is talking about: the time when society is so ungodly that those who truly love God and follow His ways are persecuted. What do we do?
Psalm 11:4 tells us that God is watching from His throne. He knows what’s going on. He expects us to continue to seek Him, to do what is right, to fight the good fight, to persevere. Don’t give in to the pressure around us to build your life on something that won’t last. Build your life, every choice you make, to the best of your ability, on what pleases God.
Sabbath, February 15th
Work With All Your Heart
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
Materials: markers and paper, marbles, rocks, coins
Supposed you were instructed to separate all the magnets and put them into a circle and at the same time put 20 pennies, one at a time, into a bank. How would you do it. Would you separate out one magnet and set it down and then take one penny and put it into the bank, and then go back to the magnets? No, likely you’d finish one task and then start work on the other task.
What if your mom tells you to clean your room? Do you pick up all the toys and put them away and then pick up all the dirty clothes? Or do you pick up what’s in front of you and put it away and then pick up something else and put it away? What is going to make the best use of your time?
What if I was going to separate pennies and dimes? Would you pick out a dime and then a penny? Or would you pick out all of one kind first and then scoop up what was left?
What if I asked you to fill one page with As and one page with Bs? Would you write an A on one page and then move to the second page to write a B? Or would you do an entire page of one thing before you moved on to another?
Sometimes when we get so busy with stuff or when we really don’t care how well the task is done, we waste time jumping back and forth between tasks. We’re not as productive, and sometimes, doing it that way causes mistakes. We need to completely focus on what we’re doing, giving it all our attention, so that we can do it quickly and do it well. That’s how to work with all your heart - giving a task your best effort.
The second part of the verse talks about our attitude towards a task. If you don’t think that separating coins is important, you couldn’t care less whether you use your time well or not. But when you have a task to do, the apostle Paul says that you need to work as if you were working for God. He’s the King of the Universe. He’s the Almighty. He is Sovereign. It’s scary to think that you’d do a crummy job for Him.
Next time you have a job to do, whatever it is: big or small, hard or easy, fun or stinky; remember that you need to do it with all of your heart, working as if you were doing the task for God.
Sabbath, February 29th
The Lord is Good
if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:3
Materials needed: orange pieces, baking soda
Can you think of something that God has done in your life? Perhaps it was healing. Perhaps it was protection. Perhaps it was guidance so that you’d know which direction you should go.
My mom was driving on icy streets in Casper one winter. As she approached an intersection, she saw a pickup coming on the cross street. She stepped on the brakes and started sliding. She saw that he stepped on the brakes, but he was also sliding. The collision was inevitable. She closed her eyes, said a prayer, and when she opened her eyes, both cars were through the intersection without a collision.
If you can think of something that God did for you, did it happen the way you thought it would?
In my mom’s case, her prayer was for God’s help. And if you’d asked her, she probably would have said that she wanted both cars to stop short of the impact. What God gave her, however, was no stop and no collision - and an indelible memory of God’s rescue.
It’s kind of like eating an orange piece. You expect it to taste a certain way. But if you dip it into baking soda, you get something different. The acid from the orange and the baking soda combine to make an orange fizz in your mouth. It’s totally unexpected. That is, you don’t get that reaction from the orange by itself or the baking soda by itself. But when you put them together, an amazing thing happens.
God’s provision, His protection, the way He answers our prayers is often unexpected. It’s often different from what we thought it would look like. But that doesn’t make it bad. It actually, in the end, turns out better than we could have imagined - not so much because we got what we wanted, but because we did what we should always do: put our trust in God and know that He hears our prayers. Even if the answer is no, we have exercised our faith, and that’s a very good thing.
The next time you eat an orange, try dipping it in baking soda first. The orange fizz can remind you of the unexpected blessings we can receive from our Father.
Resource: www.sciencefun.org
Sabbath, March 7th
Use Your Gift
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Romans 12:6a
Materials: hammer, pliers, screwdriver, measuring tape, hole punch, scissors, paint can opener
Did you know that there are lots and lots of different tools in our world? And sometimes it’s very fun to try to figure out what some old tools were actually used for. Sometimes it very fun to try to figure out what present day tools are used for! Each tool has its purpose. It was designed to do a certain job.
In the same way, God designed each of us for a purpose. We each have a certain job to do or role to play. And just like looking at some tools, sometimes it takes a little bit of work to figure out just exactly what gift God has given to each of us so that we can do our job.
Imagine never having seen a screwdriver before. What job might you do with it. You could use it pry open a paint can. You could use the top of it to hammer a nail. You could use it as a chisel. You could even hammer it into the wall and use it to hang your coat on. But once you see how well it can be used for screwing, you understand what a brilliant person the inventor was - to create such a useful tool for putting screws in the right place.
We could have the same conversation about hammers and pliers and scissors or any of the tools we have around us. Or we could have the conversation about each of us. God has given us gifts to use in whatever task He’s set before us. And we praise God for His majesty and awesomeness to have created us with such gifts - like Mozart writing music or Frank Lloyd Wright designing buildings or Alexander Graham Bell creating the telephone. What a shame it would have been if Mozart had spent his entire life building houses, instead of writing wonderful music. And so it is with us: we need to figure out what gift God has given to each of us. Then we need to use that gift. We don’t need to look at the gifts of other people and wish that we’d been gifted in that way. We just need to figure out what God has designed for us to do. And then we need to do it with all of our hearts and minds and souls and strength - for the glory of God.
You have a gift. Do you know what it is? And do you use it?
Sabbath, March 14th
Withstand the Test
. . . when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life . . . James 1:12
Materials: stickers, balls, “rewards”
What is the first commandment with a promise? To honor your father and your mother. And what was the promise? That your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. How do you honor your parents? You demonstrate how much you love and honor them by being respectful and obedient. Why do you love them? Because they first loved you enough to bring you into the world and to provide everything you need.
Don’t you find the parallel between our earthly parents and our Heavenly Parent interesting?! God first loved us, creating us and then redeeming us from our sins through the death of Jesus Christ. Do we appreciate that? Do we love God for what He’s already done for us? If we love Him, He tells us how to demonstrate our love for Him: keep His commandments.
Our obedience demonstrates that we love God, that we want to please Him. That’s much like the fifth commandment language: Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12, ESV). God gave them the land. God chose them out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be His (Deuteronomy 14:2)! He rescued them from slavery, He gave them the Promised Land, and He blessed them with His presence. They, in turn, demonstrated their devotion to Him by obeying His commandments - commandments which were given for their good.
In the same way, God chose each of us. He rescued us from slavery to sin. He brings us into fellowship with Him through the death and resurrection of His Son. We, in turn, demonstrate our devotion to Him by obeying His commandments - commandments which are given for our good.
But this is not just one and done. We persevere in keeping His commandments until they become our way of life. We keep them automatically because they are increasingly part of who we are. There is a reward at the end of persevering and overcoming: we are given eternal life with God. Eternal life is a free gift from God. Our obedience to Him in this life demonstrates that we are honoring our Father, the King of the Universe. We can’t earn eternal life, but we demonstrate in our actions that it has been given to us through Jesus Christ.
Pentecost, Sunday, May 31st
Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Materials needed: large wine glass, oil, water, effervescent tablet, food coloring (Set up the demonstration while presenting the lesson: Fill the glass 85% with oil. Then pour in water - which will sink to the bottom of the glass. Put in a couple of drops of food coloring. Drop in a tablet. The effervescent tablet will bubble in the water, rise to the surface, and then sink again. The Holy Spirit works inside each of us. The outward actions that everyone sees can be genuinely motivated by the Spirit inside or they can be just an outward show without the inward reality. But God knows. And over time, the consistency of our actions will demonstrate the authenticity of our Christianity and the indwelling of God’s Spirit.)
The holy day, Pentecost, brings to mind the giving of the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit was given only to a select few, now God’s Spirit was poured out abundantly on His people (Acts 2; Titus 3:4-6). What an incredible gift!
The apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the downpayment, the pledge, of what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:16-17). It is a guarantee of our inheritance, our adoption into the family of God.
For those who belong to God, who are His people, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us causes a change from the inside out. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:7-8). As we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we who love God turn away from sin, choosing God and God’s ways.
As we seek God’s ways more earnestly, the Holy Spirit within is the source of wisdom, revelation, and power (1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 1:17-20). We are empowered to speak God’s words to others, to show His ways in our lives, and to understand more fully His ways and His plan.
The Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak and struggling with a temptation to sin. And the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know the words to pray to our Father (Romans 8:26-27).
The Holy Spirit working in our lives is the means by which we become holy and sanctified and able to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Knowing how very important the Holy Spirit is in our lives as followers of Christ who are pursuing holiness, it would behoove us to realize that we can quench the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Otherwise, the apostle Paul would not have felt a need to warn us!
Here’s the gift of God, guiding us, empowering us, teaching us, giving us wisdom, helping and comforting us - and we can choose to turn away from the leading. We can choose to ignore the convicting within. We can give in to fear or doubt. We allow our wants and desires to dominate over God’s will and plan in our lives. We can choose not to get as close to God as we possibly can be. And that would be such a shame! God has given us such a gift, such an opportunity through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
On this day of Pentecost, I pray that each of us will allow the Holy Spirit to work fully in our lives, that we would stir up the Spirit within (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
Sabbath, June 6th
The Aroma of the Knowledge of Christ
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14
Materials: cedar blocks
What are some of your most favorite scents? Cinnamon, dill, bacon, BBQ, fried onions, spaghetti sauce, tacos. How about the freshness of the air after a spring rain storm? There are scents which bring memories immediately to mind. Sitting here, I can almost smell walking into Grandma’s house. Or the barn!
We in our society tend to emphasize visual and indeed, we do have lots of images and video clips running through our heads. But that’s only one of our senses. Isn’t it interesting then, that the apostle Paul gives thanks to God for leading us, in Christ, and spreading the fragrance of Christ everywhere?
O.K. So what does Christ smell like?
I don’t know that I can give you a definitive answer. But I do know that in order to smell something, you have to get close to it. And you have to not hold your breath. That sounds silly to say, but if you don’t want to smell something, you hold your breath. So in order to smell something, you have to want to smell it. And the scent has to be strong enough. Have you ever caught just a whiff of something, but couldn’t quite figure out what it was because it wasn’t strong enough? But at the same time, you don’t want to walk into an overpowering smell. I usually turn around and escape those as soon as possible.
So if you’re going to spread the aroma, the fragrance, of the knowledge of Christ, it’s going to be to someone close to you. It’s going to be someone who wants to smell that scent. It has to be strong enough, but not a sledge hammer of a smell.
Are your actions like that? Do the people closest to you “smell” the knowledge of Christ in your life? Are you aware of when they are hungry for the things of God? Are you strong and confident without being overpowering?
Sometimes people get used to us as Christians. In effect, our fragrance isn’t as obvious. But life has a way of revealing what’s truly inside a person. If the scent on the cedar grows faint, you can always scuff it with a piece of sandpaper to renew the scent. So when life throws trouble at you, do people smell the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ more clearly again? That is, when you experience trouble, do people see you relying on God?
I pray that as we each are scuffed by life, people are able to smell Jesus in our lives more clearly.
Sabbath, June 13th
What Floats Your Boat
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Container large enough to float a lid, small boat, small container, water, towels
Suppose I float a lid, small boat, or container in water. Does it matter whether there’s lot of water or a little water? Not really. It floats the same in two inches and in four inches.
Suppose I make some waves, does it matter whether it’s a big boat or a small boat. Not really.
What causes the boat to sink? It only sinks when water gets in the boat. It really doesn’t matter how crazy the waves get as long as the water stays out of the boat.
So, let’s say that you are the boat. The water is the world around you. Sometimes the water is calm and peaceful. It’s not hard to keep the water out of the boat and stay afloat - aka when nothing bad is happening in your world, it’s easy to get along with your family and friends, work seems easier, you are pretty happy and calm.
But when the world around you is crazy - a hurricane, a locust plague, a world pandemic, a flood, a tornado, a hail storm - when the world around you is crazy, it’s harder to keep the trouble from the world from weighing you down - aka getting water in your boat and sinking.
How do you keep the water out of your boat?
Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
When the waves in your world get high and you’re thinking it might be enough to sink your boat (aka upset the peace and joy you have), remember to look to Jesus. He can save you from the waves and keep your boat from sinking. He is the One who will float your boat.
Sabbath, June 20th
A New Creation
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Materials: conditioner, corn starch, plastic sandwich bags, measuring cup, spoon.
There’s a huge change from before you were a Christian to after you become a Christian. It is a change of heart, of attitude, of agenda, of allegiance. It is a change of nature. It is imperative to each of us who would see God’s kingdom and eternal life. (1 Corinthians 15:50)
If I mix a cup of corn starch with a cup of conditioner, the result is play dough. Now I can extend the analogy a little more clearly. The dough is not the same nature as the corn starch. The corn starch can be used in many ways, like making gravy or meatballs, but it’s a powder. It can be blown away. It cannot stand. The dough, on the other hand, can be molded into any shape.
Think of the aptness of the analogy in a Christian sense: I can be useful in many ways before I become a Christian. I can do what people think of as good things. But I have no real strength on my own. I can be blown around by thoughts and events. I cannot stand. But once I accept Jesus as my Savior and the Holy Spirit comes into my life, I become a new creation. I become a moldable person to be used by my God to fulfill His purposes. The potential of how I can be used of God is limitless. Thus, in becoming a servant of the Most High, He gives solidity and purpose to my life even as He molds me and changes me into a useful vessel for His glory.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Sabbath, June 27th
Pay Attention to What You Hear
Pay attention to what you hear: . . . Mark 4:24
Materials: ear muffs, ear plugs, whistles, bells, alarms, good/bad books
Why should you pay attention to what you hear?
* It could be harmful.
Protect yourself from loud noises that can damage your ear drum. Use ear protection whenever you’re going to encounter loud noises. The alarm clock and Mom’s voice do NOT fall into this category.
Protect yourself from ungodly sounds, noises, messages which can
damage you emotionally and spiritually. Carefully consider what you watch on tv, what music you listen to, what friends you choose to be around, people who habitually swear and take God’s name in vain . . .
Protect yourself from liars and mischief-makers by carefully considering and verifying what someone tells you. You can’t always believe what other people say. If you believe a false report, you can ruin a friendship. You can find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. You could find yourself out of God’s will.
It could be very important to your life and prosperity.
Listen to the warnings that people give you (but check them out thoroughly). If you don’t believe the road is out ahead, you can find yourself in the crick without a paddle.
Listen to fire alarms, alarm clocks, and oven timers. Those sounds are there for your good.
*Whether you hear to avoid something bad or to get a blessing, it’s not enough to just hear! The wise person acts on what he has heard! Think about it! If the alarm goes off, it’s a sound that means you need to do something - like get out of bed. If you hear a tornado siren going off, you should take cover. If you hear God’s word telling you to act in a certain way, you must adjust your actions accordingly.
To recap: Choose carefully what you listen to - eschew the harmful and choose the good. Once you’ve determined which it is, do something about it. Don’t be foolish; pay attention to what you hear.
Sabbath, July 4th
An Explosive Situation
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. Proverbs 26:21
Materials: film canister with lid, water, and effervescent tablets
What happens if you have hot embers and you add charcoal to them? The charcoal quickly catches on fire and you have more heat.
What happens if you have a fire and you add dry wood to it? The wood catches on fire and creates a bigger fire.
This proverb compares these two situations to a quarrelsome man kindling strife. There’s already some sort of conflict going on. If you add someone who likes to argue, what happens? The quarrel doesn’t go away. It doesn’t die down. A person who likes to argue, who is often looking for a fight, only causes the conflict to get more heated.
Here’s what that looks like: Put a small amount of water into a film canister. Drop in half of an effervescent tablet (like Alka-Seltzer). Put the lid on. Within minutes, the top blows off.
There’s a couple of similarities between this demonstration and a quarrelsome person in an argument. First, you don’t know when the blow up is coming, but you know it’s inevitable. Secondly, just as the explosions makes a big mess, a quarrel that gets out of hand makes a big mess - damaging relationships, sometimes irrevocably. Third, once the explosion happens, you can’t get it back in the container again - not all of it. In a similar way, once a quarrel grows into a blazing confrontation, it’s very hard to get it contained. There will be lasting consequences.
So. What should you do? When you have a conflict, try to resolve it before a quarrelsome person gets involved. If that’s not possible, don’t engage. If the effervescent tablet is the quarrelsome person, and the water is the quarrel, don’t put them together into the container. That is, if you can, remove yourself from the situation. What good can possibly be gained from engaging in a discussion/argument/conflict with someone who just wants to argue?
There are going to be times when you can’t avoid a conflict. There will be times when you just can’t get away. So let’s compare the lid of the container to emotions. If you don’t cap the situation with emotions, you’re less likely to have a big explosion. It may bubble over and still make a big mess, but an overflow is better than an explosion any day.
We’re going to find people in this world who just want to argue. Use Godly wisdom to avoid unnecessary big explosions.
Sabbath, July 11th
What’s Inside
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19
Materials: cup, water, tube of cream/toothpaste
I was sitting on the porch this morning, drinking a cup of hot tea. The cat was very interested in what I had inside that cup, so interested as to become quite insistent that I let her see what was inside. If I had spilled some on the porch, she certainly would have known what I was drinking.
What causes you to spill what you’re drinking? If the cup is too full or your arm gets jostled, the liquid will slosh out. Isn’t that why travel mugs have lids? The unsettledness of a trip almost certainly will cause your drink to spill! When you have to clean up the mess, it becomes very apparent what was in the cup!!
We are very much like a cup of liquid. People don’t know what is inside unless we let them see. But even seeing doesn’t always give an accurate determination of the contents because people often allow others to see only what they want them to see. . . . unless something unexpected happens. If your life hits some turbulence and causes you to be shaken, what is inside spills out. It’s another way of saying that when you’re under pressure, when you’re squeezed, whatever is inside will come out. You show your true colors.
So perhaps you’re thinking the remedy is not to allow yourself to be ruffled, to be placed in a position of turbulence. In this life, Jesus told us, we are going to have trouble. We’re going to be under pressure and experience stress. Someone is going to hit our cup and what is inside is going to spill out.
Make it your goal to become like Jesus Christ, to be transformed into the image of the Son of God, so that when your life is shaken, people see godliness. Isn’t that what they’d expect to see from a true follower of Messiah, an ambassador of Christ, a child of God? You bet.
Sabbath, July 18th
Useful to God
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21
Materials: assortment of brushes
Having the right tool makes a job a whole lot easier. You wouldn’t scrub the kitchen floor with a pipe cleaner. You wouldn’t brush your hair with the floor scrub brush. Each brush is designed to do a certain job well. It would be foolish to try to use the wrong brush for a task.
Not only do you have to have the right tool, there’s a certain amount of cleanliness required for particular jobs. You wouldn’t scrub the garden vegetables with the toilet brush. And after a period of time, you get a new toothbrush.
We understand this when we’re talking about brushes. But sometimes we don’t get it as people of God. That is, God has designed each of us for a certain task. So first thing to remember is that
*God has a plan, a purpose, and a place for each one of His people. Figure out what your gift is, what your talent is, and use it for the glory of God.
Additionally, no one person is given every gift. It would be foolish to try to use your toothbrush to clean your teeth, brush you hair, scrub the vegetables, clean the floor, and scrub the toilet. Similarly, each person in a church family has a job to do to make the church family function at the very best level. So the second thing to remember is
*a church family and your physical family works best if each person contributes their talents to the benefit of the family.
It’s really disgusting to think of using a toothbrush to scrub the tile grout around the tub - and then use it to brush your teeth. It’s also yucky to think about brushing the dog’s coat with your own hair brush. I set aside my brushes for a specific purpose. When God sets a person aside for a specific purpose as a child of God, that person becomes holy. It’s our job to make sure that we cleanse ourselves from anything dishonorable so that we will continue to be holy, usable by God, set apart for His purposes.
*live in a way that pleases God, so that He can use you for His glory.
You have a job. Figure out what it is. Then be holy.
Sabbath, August 1st
What’s in Your Heart
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34
Materials: balloons, metal nuts of various sizes
Do you know what happens when you put a nut into a balloon and get it rapidly moving around the inside of the balloon? It’s the coolest thing: it starts humming. Now each nut makes a little bit different hum. And it’s kind of fun to guess which is which and why they do this.
The nut inside rubs against the balloon. The friction causes the sound. And that’s what happens with you too. Whatever is inside you is expressed through your facial expressions, your actions, and the words you speak. It’s what Jesus said in Matthew 12:34: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Jesus uses the very concrete example of fruit trees. If the tree is good, it will produce good fruit. If the tree is bad, it will produce bad fruit. In a similar way, what you genuinely are will be displayed for all to see by your words and deeds.
So could you pretend that you were something you’re not. Well, of course. We have actors in Hollywood that do that to earn a living! And there are some people who intentionally try to make you think that they are something they are not - for some evil purpose. But who you are, consistently, day after day is what people hear coming from your mouth and through your behaviors.
Like we’ve talked about before, it isn’t so much that you want to hide what’s inside. It is that you want God to change what is inside so that what is expressed is Godly and good.
Seek God. Seek His ways. Submit yourself to the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. Then whatever hums in your heart will be pleasing to God and beneficial to those around you who hear.
Sabbath, August 8th
Keep on Keeping On
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:36
Materials: cups, warm drink, ice, green tomato, red tomato
What is it that we have need of? According to the writer of Hebrews, we have need of endurance. But this is not endurance like who can walk up all the steps of the tallest building in St. Louis or ride your bicycle all the way from here to your home. The writer of Hebrews is talking about something else: doing the will of God until God tells you you’re done. That means keeping God’s commandments and doing what honors Him when it’s hard, when you’re tired, when no one else around you is worshiping God, even when you don’t particularly want to, you keep on doing what is right, according to God’s standards.
Some Bible translations say “you have need of endurance.” Others say that you must persevere. The KJV says that you “have need of patience.” It’s very similar to hearing your mom saying, “Just be patient. Dad will be home soon.” You know that means you have to finish the job she’s given you, but when Dad gets home, there will be a reward.
The concept of endurance makes me think of struggling to continue doing something. So I like the translations which use “patience” because that reminds me that sometimes enduring through having to wait can seem harder than struggling against something that requires physical effort. Is it harder to run three times around the house or to sit, without moving or talking, for the same amount of time?
We don’t like to be patient. We don’t like waiting. It’s hard to wait for the first tomato to turn red. It’s hard to wait for the watermelon to get ripe so that we can eat it. It’s hard to wait for the ice cubes in a glass of warm juice to melt enough to cool off the drink. But who likes warm juice? Who likes eating a green tomato? Who likes ruining a perfectly good watermelon because you cut it before it was completely ripe? No one does. You have to wait, patiently. And if you do, there’s a reward at the end.
The writer of Hebrews tells us to persevere through difficulties, to patiently continue obeying God, to keep on doing what is right in His sight. There is a reward coming - and it’s going to be worth everything we’re going through to get it - even waiting patiently.
Sabbath, August 22nd
Tried in the Fire
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10
Materials: cold water, hot water, cups, tea bags
(Pour the cold water over the tea bag in the cup. Then pour the hot water over the tea bag. Then, when you’re talking about relying on yourself vs. relying on God, pour the hot water over an herbal tea bag in one cup and then over a black tea in another cup.)
If you want to brew a cup of tea, what do you have to do? You have to place a tea bag in a cup of hot water. Why? What happens when you put a tea bag in cold water? It may brew, but you really haven’t maximized what you can get out of your tea bag. To release the most tea, you have to use hot water.
So, you can’t just look at a tea bag and know the strength of the tea possible. There’s a big difference between herbal tea, white tea, green tea, and back tea.
It is much the same with God’s people. You don’t really know what you are made of, how much you rely on God for strength and endurance, until you are put in a situation to show your strength or weakness; it’s not obvious by just looking at you. It requires a difficult or stressful situation, aka hot water, to reveal where your strength comes from.
God tells us that He refines us, trying us in the furnace of affliction. The word furnace doesn’t bring to mind a cold room; rather, it makes us think of heat and stress and the necessity of reacting right away. Why would God do that to His people? Wouldn’t it be more loving just to take all of our troubles away from us and make life smooth and easy? No, actually, that’s not more loving.
Those trials by fire remind us of a couple of things: 1) we live in a world corrupted by sin; 2) we don’t want to focus on this world as if it were the goal. God has a better place for us where there will be no more pain or sorrow or death; 3) we cannot overcome the difficulties through our own strength. God is our strength. He is our Rock and our Salvation; and therefore 4) we need Jesus Christ. And if we need Him, we need to focus our attention on our relationship with the only One who can save us, the One who loves us and can strength us in the midst of any trouble.
Sometimes we don’t know how strong we are - or, more accurately, how much we rely on God for strength - until we face trouble, the furnace of affliction. We can come out the other side of the trial knowing with more certainty that we serve the Mighty God, the King of the Universe, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior and that He is the One who gives us strength.
And that’s a good thing!
Sabbath, August 29th
Drive Them Out
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. Exodus 23:30
Materials Needed: two balloons, two small plastic bottles - one with holes poked in the end
If you place a balloon inside a plastic bottle, with the lip over the mouth of the bottle, how easy is it to blow up the balloon inside the bottle? It’s not easy, is it? The balloon will inflate a little, but pretty soon the air pressure inside the bottle is greater than the air pressure of you blowing into the balloon. However, if you have poked a couple of holes in the bottom of the bottle before putting the balloon in the bottle, you can blow up the balloon. Why is this? Because you’ve provided a way for the air to escape from the bottle.
It’s a good demonstration for the verse in Exodus 23:30. God did not drive out, all at once, the people of the land He was giving to the Israelites. He did it a little bit at a time. The Israelites were not numerous enough to fill the land and without people there, wild animals would have come in and caused more problems for the people of God. So, little by little the pagan inhabitants of the land were driven out as the people of God needed more land.
How does this relate to the bottles and the air? When the balloon is inside the bottle, but is not inflated, the air pressure pushes back on the outside of the balloon. When you start to blow up the balloon, the air outside of the balloon (inside the bottle) has to go somewhere. If there’s not a way for the air to escape, the balloon can’t inflate. This is what happened in the land. There was only enough room for a certain number of people. When the Israelites increased in number, the other inhabitants of the land had to go somewhere!
Interestingly, as long as God’s people were faithful to Him, God would drive out the pagans before them. But if God’s people were unfaithful - they didn’t keep God’s laws and began worshipping idols - then God did not drive out the pagans before them.
So how does this relate to you? You are gradually being changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, if the Holy Spirit is at work in your life. As long as you listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and make Godly choices, you become more and more like Christ. But if you don’t do what God has said, if you make excuses for not obeying your parents and not obeying God, if you choose not to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, then you will not become more like Christ. You will continue to live your life in rebellion to God and His ways. There’s no middle ground: you are either becoming more like Christ or you’re moving away from the things of God.
Choose to live your life God’s way. Choose to become more like Christ. Then God will help you, through the power of the Holy Spirit, if you earnestly seek Him with all of your heart.
Sabbath, September 5th
When You're Under Pressure
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Proverbs 24:16
Materials: test tube, 2-liter clear soda bottle, water
Here’s a very cool site which explains what’s going on and how to set up the experiment: https://www.superchargedscience.com/opt/cartesian-driver-pc2-con2/?inf_contact_key=6efa472fbc74e68c91528aae54c8795bb7af0999dac2af6212784c39e05d2aef
Have you ever wondered how a submarine works? It can’t be that they get rid of all their oxygen because then the sailors wouldn’t be able to breathe. No, rather, the submarine takes water into storage tanks, compressing what air is in the submarine into a smaller space. This makes the density of the submarine greater than the density of the water around it. Consequently, the submarine sinks.
This is basically what is done with a test tube and soda bottle. Fill the bottle with water. Fill the test tube about 4/5 full of water, place your thumb over the end and invert into the soda bottle. The top of the test tube should be just a little above the soda bottle. (It might take a few times to get it just right.) Make sure the soda bottle is completely full of water and secure the top. Then when you squeeze the bottle, the air in the test tube is compressed and forced into a smaller space in the top of the test tube. This allows more water to fill the test tube, making it heavier and the test tube moves to the bottom of the bottle. When you release pressure on the bottle, the air is allowed to decompress, the test tube gets less dense, and it shoots back up to the top of the bottle. Pretty cool.
What happens when you’re under pressure? You lose a tooth and on the way to show your mom, you drop it, and now you can’t find it. Your cat gets lost. Your grandparent is very sick. The family car is in the shop and you can’t go on the field trip you were looking forward to. There are lots of things that go wrong in our world. It’s part of living in this world. Your reaction to the stressful things says a lot about who you are.
If you belong to God and know Him, or rather, you are known by God (as Paul told the Galatians), then you have hope. You have the support and encouragement of God. You rely on the promises of the Creator of the Universe. And you can get up again, every time life knocks you down.
But, if you don’t know God and are not interested in following Him, obeying Him, and having a relationship with Him, you’re still going to experience getting knocked down. But then you have to depend on yourself to pick yourself back up again. And sometimes that just doesn’t work.
If the test tube didn’t have any air in it, it would sink to the bottom of the bottle and there’d be nothing it could do to get to the top again. The test tube having air in it gives it the ability to absorb the pressure and then pop back up to the top again. It’s a cool reminder that if you love, obey, and seek God, He can help you to endure. If you don’t love, obey and seek God, you’re sunk.
Sabbath, September 12th
Bursting the Balloon
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3
Materials: balloons (Blow up a balloon until it bursts to start the lesson with a bang!)
When blowing up balloons around younger children, it’s obvious who has seen the balloon blown up too far - so that it bursts! The child will cringe or put his hands over his ears. He knows what is coming. He has become prudent when it comes to blowing up balloons.
There are many times in life when the prudent see danger coming and they take steps to avoid it. Perhaps it’s a fire on the verge of burning out of control. Perhaps it’s a car driving erratically on the highway. Perhaps it’s a slow leak on a tire. Perhaps it’s a snake or skunk or wasp nest. The prudent see the danger and do something to avoid this danger. The simple don’t - and they suffer for it.
Know anyone who has sprayed lighter fluid on a burning fire? Know anyone who has gotten too close to a skunk or a wasp nest or poison ivy? Know anyone who wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas?
So how do you become prudent? Sometimes we become prudent (aka gain wisdom) by our experiences. The young child who experienced a bursting balloon covers his ears. The person who meets a skunk and is sprayed subsequently keeps their distance from skunks. But experience can be a hard, painful teacher. So where else can you gain wisdom?
Your parents have had a few more experiences than you have. It’s a good idea to listen to them. Proverbs 4:1 says, “Children, listen to the instruction of a father, and be attentive in order to know insight.”
People who are experts have had a lot more experience in that particular area. They are a good resource. Proverbs 11:14 (WEB) says, “Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”
God is a great source of wisdom. In fact, the Bible tells us in James 1:5 (ESV), “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The Bible with the leading of the Holy Spirit is often how God gives us wisdom for our daily lives.
We don’t any of us (usually) intentionally choose courses of action which we know will cause us to suffer. But do you make it a priority to get wisdom so that you can be prudent?
Sabbath, September 12th
Bursting the Balloon
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3
Materials: balloons (Blow up a balloon until it bursts to start the lesson with a bang!)
When blowing up balloons around younger children, it’s obvious who has seen the balloon blown up too far - so that it bursts! The child will cringe or put his hands over his ears. He knows what is coming. He has become prudent when it comes to blowing up balloons.
There are many times in life when the prudent see danger coming and they take steps to avoid it. Perhaps it’s a fire on the verge of burning out of control. Perhaps it’s a car driving erratically on the highway. Perhaps it’s a slow leak on a tire. Perhaps it’s a snake or skunk or wasp nest. The prudent see the danger and do something to avoid this danger. The simple don’t - and they suffer for it.
Know anyone who has sprayed lighter fluid on a burning fire? Know anyone who has gotten too close to a skunk or a wasp nest or poison ivy? Know anyone who wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas?
So how do you become prudent? Sometimes we become prudent (aka gain wisdom) by our experiences. The young child who experienced a bursting balloon covers his ears. The person who meets a skunk and is sprayed subsequently keeps their distance from skunks. But experience can be a hard, painful teacher. So where else can you gain wisdom?
Your parents have had a few more experiences than you have. It’s a good idea to listen to them. Proverbs 4:1 says, “Children, listen to the instruction of a father, and be attentive in order to know insight.”
People who are experts have had a lot more experience in that particular area. They are a good resource. Proverbs 11:14 (WEB) says, “Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”
God is a great source of wisdom. In fact, the Bible tells us in James 1:5 (ESV), “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The Bible with the leading of the Holy Spirit is often how God gives us wisdom for our daily lives.
We don’t any of us (usually) intentionally choose courses of action which we know will cause us to suffer. But do you make it a priority to get wisdom so that you can be prudent?
Sabbath, Trumpets, September 19th
Changed!
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a
Materials: a jar of pickles and a cucumber; applesauce and an apple; a tomato and a packet of catsup
There’s a saying: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Although there’s some hyperbole in the statement, there is also the truth that things rarely stay the same for long. You can clean your room and the very next day, you have dust on your dresser, your bed needs to be made, there are toys to put away. You have to clean your room again! You can take a bath before going to bed one night and the next night you have to do it again. You didn’t stay clean! Sometimes we’d like things to stay the same!! But that’s not reality in this life.
One of the aspects of Trumpets that we are all very excited about is the change which is coming! 1 Corinthians 15 says that we are all going to be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
In the earlier examples, the changes I talked about were negative changes - neat rooms becoming messy, clean children getting dirty. The reality is that everything changes. But not all changes are bad. As you work hard in school, your ability to read and to do math changes; you read more fluently, you comprehend more easily, you figure out complex math problems more quickly. You are learning and expanding your brain’s ability to think. For awhile your bodies are growing and getting stronger. You’re more able to do things.
In a similar way, the return of Jesus means a very good change. At that time, we who belong to God will be changed from a physical being to a spiritual being. We will no longer be subject to the aches and pains of our physical bodies. We won’t grow old. We will have passed from death into life - life eternal with our God forever.
There is a great change coming - a great day coming. And we get to be part of a dress rehearsal on this day, Trumpets, as we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
Sabbath, September 26th
What’s Inside
And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, . . . Revelation 2:23
Materials: embroidery project
Have you ever watched someone embroider a tea towel or pillowcase? It’s actually pretty interesting to see the even stitches and intricacies they weave with just the embroidery floss!! But have you ever looked at the back of the project? It’s a mess! There are knots and threads going in all directions. It doesn’t look at all impressive from underneath.
Sometimes we forget that the people around us are much like that embroidery. People can look like they have it all together, are super intelligent, or are just intimidating to be around because they are so impressive - but the reality is that each person is a human being with faults and foibles and fears. Of course, we don’t see that - or actually we see only as much as that person allows us to see.
But there is One who sees the whole package. God sees the outside and He sees the heart. This verse in Revelation 2:23 says that God (Jesus Christ, the Son) not only sees the heart and what’s inside, He searches both the mind and the heart. He looks deeper to see what you’re thinking and why. He looks at your motives and your fears. He digs deeper to know you completely.
There’s a couple of results of knowing that God sees us, outside and in. First, there’s no sense in pretending with God. He sees right through to the truth. So if you’re angry with someone, you might as well tell God that you’re angry. He already knows. If you did something wrong, you might as well tell Him about it; He already knows. Secondly, since God knows where you are in your thinking, who you truly are, and what you are capable of, He can be trusted to take care of everything in your life. He will protect and guide you. He will intervene for your good (even if we don’t understand how it could possibly end up good). And thirdly, God sees all of you, inside and out, and He loves you enough to redeem you from sin and death with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He loves you that much! All of these facts should lead us to one conclusion: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Atonement, September 28th
[This is a lesson with a very visual object lesson/demonstration. You’ll need three clear glasses. One is half full of water - labeled “you;” one is half full of water with enough iodine to make the water stained - labeled “sin;” the third is half full of water with a good dose of chlorine in it - labeled “Jesus.”]
Whiter Than Snow!!
Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
Why, do you suppose, are the angels of God so joyful over a sinner who repents?
Have you ever been really dirty - I mean the roll-in-the-mud, change-your-hair-color kind of dirty? There have been a few times - staining the house, working on tractors - when I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be clean again, to say nothing of my clothes.
That’s what sin does. It makes us unclean, in the Biblical sense. God says in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 64:6 says that even our righteous acts are like filthy rags. But sin does more than make us unclean, it separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).
So, here’s how it works:
1. You were born a carnal human being, with carnal nature that is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). Because of the choice that Adam made in the Garden of Eden, all of humanity is born with a carnal, sinful nature (1 Cor. 15:21; Romans 5:12). [Pour some of the “sin” cup into the “you” cup, discoloring the “you” cup.]
2. There is nothing you can do to get the “sin” out of your cup; it’s thoroughly mixed with “you.” Similarly, there’s nothing you can do, by yourself, to get rid of your sin nature. You can’t clean yourself up enough to make you righteous in God’s eyes. But Jesus can cleanse you. We sing “Washed By the Blood of the Lamb” because of the verses in Revelation (7:14; 22:14) which talk about the saints washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. Psalm 51:7 says, “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” [Pour “Jesus” cup into “you” cup.]
3. But, while “sin” makes you unclean, stained scarlet, “sin” has no effect on “Jesus.” God cannot sin. He never becomes unclean. God is never even tempted by evil (James 1:13). [Pour some of the “sin” cup into the “Jesus” cup.]
4. Even more than that, there is coming a time when Jesus will deal with sin forever- the Day of Atonement!. Because the wages of sin is death, and death will be swallowed up in victory (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:54; Revelation 21:4-5), there will be no more sin. Jesus will conquer sin forever. [Pour “Jesus” cup into “sin” cup.]
When one sinner repents, there is joy before the angels of God. It’s not only one more person who will be in God’s kingdom, it’s also a harbinger of a time when sin is dealt with forever, for all of humanity. It will be a time of great joy and rejoicing because there is no more sin, no more death, no more crying or mourning. There will be peace and love and joy. The Sovereignty of our God and of His Christ will be manifest everywhere. Nowhere will it be more profound than those sin-stained garments which are washed whiter than snow.
[You can watch a youtube video of this demonstration at https://youtu.be/sc3-Vmnt9w0]
Sabbath, October 24th
Peaceful, Secure, Quiet
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18
Materials needed: lots of different containers, pouches, packaging
Just a quick survey of your house reveals your possessions and how you keep them. On my desk is a box of kleenexes, a bottle of eye glass cleaner, a zippered pouch with a car phone charger, a glass container for pens and pencils, a tape dispenser, a stapler, a box of note papers, a CD etc. Once I’ve used all the kleenexes, the box is thrown away. Once the tape is used up, the dispenser no longer has any value. Once the stapler is empty, it is not useful. Once the eye glass cleaner bottle is empty, I throw it away. In each case, it’s what’s inside that is valuable. And because it is valuable, I want to keep it safe.
In a similar way, God is has a place for His people. Isaiah 32:18 says, “My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” Peaceful, secure, and quiet - that sounds very nice. In John 14:2-3, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Just like I have prepared a place to put my tape, eye glass cleaner, kleenexes, etc. because they are valuable to me - I need them, I use them - Jesus is preparing a place for those who belong to Him because we are valuable to Him.
It’s also interesting to look at the places where my things are. It wouldn’t work to try to keep the tape in the eye glass cleaner bottle. It wouldn’t work to keep the eye glass solution in the CD case. It wouldn’t work to put the phone charger in my stapler. Each place has been specifically designed for the item it holds and protects. In a similar way, God is preparing a place for each of us in His kingdom, a place especially suited for our talents and abilities, a place that has my name on it or your name on it.
And Isaiah tells us that it will be peaceful and secure and quiet. That sounds heavenly right about now. 😉
Sabbath, October 31st
Like Nails Firmly Fixed
The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. Ecclesiastes 12:11
Materials: nails, hammers, small pieces of wood (When you let the little ones hammer nails into the wood, warn them about hitting their fingers!!!)
Have you ever decided you need to hang a picture on the wall? After finding the perfect picture, you have to figure out where to hang it and then go find the nail and hammer. I usually try my junk drawer first, to see if I can find a good nail. Hmmm. Well, sometimes I can’t find exactly what I had in mind, but I reason that the nail I find will be good enough. The next task is to put the nail in the wall. Have you ever noticed that the studs are not necessarily centered on the wall? Sometimes you’re just going to hang a small picture and the drywall will provide enough support. Other times, the picture (or mirror or shelf) is much too heavy for just a nail in drywall. You really need to find a stud in the wall to provide enough support.
That’s what God’s laws are like. All of God’s words, His decrees, His judgments, His ordinances, His laws - they are like nails firmly fixed into the stud. What a great mental image this gives us!! We, you and I who love God, who follow the Shepherd, are like that picture to be hung on the wall. We want the support. We want to be secure where we live. Solomon gives us a great mental image of just how secure we are, if we are resting our lives, everything we do and everything we are, on God’s words, His laws.
Think about what happens when the nail is not firmly fixed. At some point, that picture (or shelf, or mirror) is in a precarious position. If the house is shaken by a storm or earthquake, the picture will fall. If we try to rest our lives on something other than God’s law, we are in danger of being broken. Our anchor, our foundation will not hold when we encounter storms and difficulties, if we’re relying on anything other than God and His ways, His words, His laws.
How firm is your foundation? How secure is your anchor? How fixed is your nail?
Sabbath, November 7th
A Stitch in Time
but wisdom helps one to succeed. Ecclesiastes 10:10
Materials: a sock/jeans with a hole; a string, matches, a pile of flammable items; a songbook/three-ring binder and hole reinforcers (other items that can be fixed more easily if done sooner rather than later)
Living in Missouri near the Missouri River and Mississippi River bottoms, we have seen what happens when people see a problem coming, but fail to take care of the problem while it is still small. The levees along these two big rivers are a prime example. Inspectors knew that the levees needed repair and reinforcement. When the levees didn’t receive the attention they needed, they were breached during spring flooding, costing billions of dollars in damage to home, roads, and crops, etc. A similar thing occurred with the Taum Sauk Dam in southeastern MO. Inspectors knew it desperately needed repairs. The repairs would have been expensive, but the damage caused by the dam bursting was a whole lot more costly!
But you and I don’t have too much to do with levees and dams. That is, they are not our jurisdiction. No, I have things like my garden, my family’s clothing, and care of our property. I can apply the same idea of seeing something that needs to be done and the consequence of not doing it in my own life. If I know I need to go get the weeds out of the strawberry patch, and I neglect to do it when the weeds are small, I’m going to have a work a whole lot harder to get the weeds out. I may even lose my patch of strawberries and have to start all over again, building a new patch. Or, if one of my kids brings me a pair of socks to mend, I can either do it right then when the hole is small, or I can tell them to wear it again and I’ll fix it next time. Only . . . the next time, that sock can be a lot harder to fix because the hole is much larger! Or I can see that one of my pages is starting to come out of a songbook. If I don’t take the time to fix the page, I can end up losing that page. That’s not a good thing!!!
Benjamin Franklin’s adage was “A stitch in time saves nine.” If you see a problem developing, take care of it right then before it’s a big problem. If you don’t take care of it while it’s small, it will be a lot harder to take care of once it’s bigger. This is just one application of this statement in Ecclesiastes, “but wisdom helps one to succeed.” It is wise to mend a sock while its hole is small. It is wise to pull the weeds out of the garden while they are small - so you don’t damage the plants you want to grow. It is wise to fix a loose page in a book before the page is lost completely. It is indeed wise to see trouble coming and head it off at the pass, so to speak.
And all of these physical occurrences should remind us that it is wise to recognize the sin in your life and deal with it immediately before it becomes a habit and is so much more difficult to eradicate from your life. (At this point, I set up the pile of flammables with a string leading from it. The kids were not quite sure whether I was going to light the string on fire or not.)
. . . wisdom helps one to succeed.
Sabbath, November 14th
Two Are Better Than One
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9
Materials: lazy susan
My favorite glider rocker also has a lazy susan so that it can swivel. A month or so ago, it stopped swiveling. So I turned my chair upside down to investigate. What I found was that the lazy susan had been constructed with a combination of plastic and ball bearings. This means that there were fewer ball bearings doing all the work - and when dog hair and dust bunnies tried to hide under my chair, they got caught and gummed up the works, so to speak. I could have taken all of the plastic out, but then there wouldn’t have been enough ball bearings to carry the load.
I couldn’t help thinking about what a great illustration this is of Ecclesiastes 4:9! Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. So many times in my life, whatever task I was trying to accomplish was so much more easily and speedily accomplished when I had someone working with me - everything from hanging drywall, to picking wild grapes, to repainting the house, to designing curriculum. There’s a principle here that the synergism between two people creates more than the sum of the parts creates. That means if I work with someone else, I can hang more drywall than I can working by myself here and my friend working by herself over there. We can get more accomplished, in less time, with less combined effort, and do a better job - if we work together!
Anyone who has had a huge project (or even a small project) knows this is true. We’ve experienced it - over and over. So why don’t we work together more often? Maybe because we don’t communicate our willingness to help someone else; maybe because we don’t communicate our need. Maybe we are too stubborn and independent to ask for help. Maybe we don’t want to be a problem or a burden to someone else.
But, in the end, it becomes so obviously clear: we need one another. We need the help and the encouragement that each of us has the ability to give to one another. We need to build those bonds of friendship in love - and if there’s enough of us working together to accomplish a goal, it will go so much more smoothly, in a shorter amount of time, to the glory of God.
And my chair. We bought a new lazy susan and replaced the old one. It has no plastic and many, many more ball bearings. In this age of division and contention, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I get to sit in my chair every day and think about about how Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
Sabbath, November 21st
Sweet Like Honey
Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: Proverbs 24:14
Materials: honey, spoons, slices of lemon
Have you ever eaten a handful of SweetTarts? Most people kinda like the sweet and sour combination. But what if it was just sour? Not many of us will overeat on lemons. Oh we like a little bit of the sour. We might enjoy the pucker of the sour, but I don’t know anyone who intentionally eats another not-quite-ripe persimmon after having inadvertently eaten one. The sour sets our teeth on edge. It upsets our stomach. It puckers our mouth. And in the case of persimmons, it puts hair on our teeth. But honey? Oh, people have gone to war over a honey tree. Seriously! Look up the honey war in northeast Missouri from 1839. According to Wikipedia, Before the issue was settled, militias from both sides faced each other at the border, a Missouri sheriff collecting taxes in Iowa was incarcerated, and three trees containing beehives were cut down. [The border dispute] was ultimately decided by the United States Supreme Court in Iowa's favor.
Solomon uses a very vivid simile (wisdom is like honey) so that we can get a glimpse of how important wisdom is. It’s valuable. It tastes good. It’s desirable. He even says in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” When you recognize that God is sovereign, He is overall and in control, then you begin to show Him the respect and honor that He deserves. And, Solomon says, that’s just the beginning of wisdom.
So why is there so much emphasis placed on wisdom and getting wisdom? It must be that people don’t like wisdom. They prefer to muddle along ignorant and stupid. (Only in Missouri are those terms synonymous; in most other places, there is a distinction.) Why would people not desire wisdom? Don’t they understand that wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; that it makes life work more smoothly? It doesn’t make sense! So the Proverbs are full of statements about wisdom: Wisdom helps you live longer (Proverbs 3:16); wisdom is more valuable than rubies, jewels, or gold (Proverbs 3:14-15; 8:11; 16:16;); wisdom gives insight, honor, wealth, justice, and righteousness (Proverbs 18:12-21). Solomon goes to great lengths to earnestly entreat us to diligently seek to gain wisdom.
In the end, perhaps the most powerful appeal is to our taste: wisdom is like honey. In this case, it’s a very good practice to acquiesce to, and even indulge, our sweet tooth!
Sabbath, November 28th
Imitate God
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Ephesians 5:1
Materials: objects from which you can take a rubbing, crayons
Have you ever made a rubbing of anything? It’s fun to rub coins. Sometimes that’s the only way to figure out what is actually on the coin because the coin is so faded. It’s also very interesting to make rubbings of grave stones. Some of those stones have become so weathered that they are unreadable to your eyes, so the rubbings can show what you otherwise can’t see! They also make rubbing plates that kids can rub and then color in. It’s actually pretty cool: you can get just an outline, or basic, idea if you rub really lightly. If you press a little harder, you get a better rubbing. It’s just an impression of the plate; it’s not really the plate, but you get an idea of what the plate looks like if you are careful to do a very good rubbing.
This “rubbing” effect happens with people too. Ever have a friend that you really like and suddenly you find yourself using the phrases they use. Jennifer came home from Aunt Tricia’s house last summer saying “Tricky.” Even if I hadn’t known she’d spent time with Tricia, I’d have known just by that one word. The more we spend time with people, the more we become like them. We pick up their words as well as their good habits and their bad habits. That’s especially true with children who are watching the adults in their lives and imitating them.
Isn’t that the way it is with God too? The closer we get to Him, the more we can become like Him. If you spend time with God (in prayer, Bible study, meditation, fasting), you find out that you are amazed and humbled by His goodness and you find that you really like Him and want to spend more time with Him. If you begin to desire to spend more time with Him, you become more like Him. And if you seek Him with all your heart, He promises that He will be found by you (Jeremiah 29:13). In the end, when you like God, like what He does, want to spend time with Him, want to be like Him, you become an imitator of who He is.
I guess you could say He rubs off on you. And children, it’s a good thing to be an imitator of your Father!
Sabbath, December 5th
Who Do You Belong To?
The Lord knows those who are his, 2 Timothy 2:19
Materials: wrapped box for each child with toy inside
Suppose there’s a pile of wrapped boxes on the table. You get to choose any one of them. Which do you choose? You’re only able to look at the outside. But once you choose a box and open it, you get to see what’s inside. But if you open the box and take the object inside out, how will you know which thing is yours and which belongs to the person next to you? Silly question! We employ our powers of visual acuity and discrimination to catalog the differences between mine and his. After all, we have a certain proprietary feeling towards those things which belong to us; we want to make sure that we hold on to our stuff!
But what if you don’t like it - for whatever reason - and you don’t want it? Do you claim it as yours? Maybe long enough to pick it up and throw it in the trash or give it to someone else. But you don’t treat it as a treasured possession.
God has treasured possessions. Malachi 3:16-18 is one place which talks about those who love God, who fear and honor Him, who are righteous. God says those people are His treasured possession and he will care for them. I definitely want to be among the people that God says are His!!!
So, how do you come to love, fear, and honor God and to do what is right? Because Romans 6:17 says that God’s people used to be slaves to sin. We were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13), and dead people are notorious for not being able to do anything. We couldn’t release ourselves from our slavery from sin. We were slaves! It was totally a work of God to call us (2 Tim 1:9), to choose us (John 6:44), and to redeem us from slavery to sin (1 Peter 1:18). Just like the boxes are powerless to choose you, so people do not choose God. They are powerless to break out of their slavery to sin. In fact, they don’t want to: Romans 8:7 says the carnal mind is hostile and an enemy to God.
But once God chooses us and saves us through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we show that we are a new creation in Christ by obeying God’s commandments out of love and reverence and gratitude to Him (1 Peter 1:14-15). We speak God’s love language: obedience. (John 14:15). And if we are obeying God, walking according to His standards, proclaiming His ways through our words and actions, then we may call ourselves Christians. We can accurately and appropriately take the name of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine one of those toys - let’s say one that you don’t like and would never claim - writing your name on it? To people who see that toy, they’ll associate you with it because your name is on that toy! Is it true? No! You’d never be caught dead with that toy. In a similar way, it should make you stop and carefully consider your words and your actions before you tell people around you that you are a Christian, that you belong to God. Are you showing honor and reverence and obedience to God? If you think it’s okay to break God’s commandments and still call yourself a Christian, you are not speaking God’s love language. In fact, you are dishonoring the One who made you and saves you. And that is a serious thing!
The Lord knows those who are his.
December 12th
A Good Steward
Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; Ezekiel 34:18
Materials: a small jar of water, a gallon jug of water, cups; jar of buttons; bag of candy
When my kids were little and the blueberry bushes were likewise small, we’d get a few blueberries every year. When we’d go out to pick, the kids were insistent that I equally divide the blueberries between everyone in the family. So I’d get out containers and carefully count out all the blueberries. Each person might get 10 or 20, but it was always just a small mouthful. Now, we pick about a quart every other day for a couple of months. When the kids pick blueberries with me now, I let them eat as many as they want straight off the bush.
When there is a very little amount of something, we are very careful to use it wisely. But when there is an abundance of something, we tend to be less careful with how we use it. If I have a small jar of water (or buttons or candy) to split between all of the people in the room, I’m going to be very careful not to spill even a single drop. If there’s lots of water, we tend to not care if some spills or everyone gets different amounts.
But God cares.
Think about when Jesus fed the 5000 with two fish and five loaves, there were 12 basketfuls left over. Jesus told them to pick up what was left. “When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted’ ” (John 6:12). It was just bread. They’d started with 5 loaves. Would it have mattered if there were pieces left over? We might not have thought so, but it mattered to Jesus.
So how does this work in your life? One very concrete example happens every day. We are blessed by God with an abundance of food - at home and at potluck at church. Take what you want to eat. Eat as much as you want. But don’t take more than you’re going to eat. You can always go back and get more. If, however, you put a bunch on your plate and you don’t eat it, it just gets thrown into the trash. You might pass it off that it’s just food and we have a lot - that it doesn’t matter. But it matters to God (Ezekiel 34:18; John 6:12).
But maybe God is talking about more than bread and pasture. Maybe it’s a message of comfort that God knows those who are His and He will not miss a single one of us when He gathers His people. (Deuteronomy 30:3; Matthew 24:31)
Sabbath, December 19th
That Stinks!
Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; Ecclesiastes 10:1
Materials: juice, a dead fly, little cups
Ever heard the saying, “There’s a fly in the ointment”? Did you know that it comes from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 10:1? We think of this phrase meaning that there’s some little thing which is ruining our perfect scenario, but the phrase actually has just a little different twist than that. The whole verse from Ecclesiastes says this: Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. It’s not that we have a little problem; we have a little thing which ruins it all. A little, stupid thing can outbalance wisdom and honor - completely!
Suppose I pour a glass of pear juice. I worked hard to make this pear juice: picked the pears, peeled and shred the pears, canned the pears. This is from a jar of pears I canned in 2014. There’s years going into this pear juice. So suppose I add a fly. I have ruined the whole glass. I’m not drinking that! In the large scheme of the universe, this is just a little thing because I can wash out my glass and refill it with something else. So what we’re really talking about is doing some stupid thing which ruins everything - maybe like spending all day long cleaning the house for your mom and then throwing the ball in the house (which you KNOW you’re not supposed to do) and it breaks her favorite vase or her laptop! It now no longer really matters that you worked so hard all day long. You’ve ruined it by doing some stupid thing that just wiped out hours of work in a split second.
People do this all the time. They spend years going to school, getting a good job, finding the right person they want to marry - and then they throw it all away because they decide to drive home intoxicated, or they flirt with a coworker, or they run a stop sign and hit another car. Oh, there are lots of stupid things that we do which outweigh the years of work!
But I suppose one of the stupidest things we can do is to proclaim we’re a christian, work very hard at living a God-honoring life, studying, praying, preserving - and then one day, in a fit of selfishness, we do or say something which completely changes how people view us and our God. The most vivid example is King David. He took Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife) and then arranged to have Uriah killed. Nathan, the prophet, told David that he’d given the enemies of God great occasion to blaspheme. David’s actions didn’t just reflect on himself; they reflected on God because David claimed to worship and belong to God.
I can give you each a glass of pear juice with a dead fly in it. We might laugh and joke about how silly that is. But when you do or say something thoughtless which brings dishonor to God, that’s a true fly in the ointment. It just stinks!!
December 26, 2020
But a Mist
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14
Materials needed: a spray bottle of water
One morning a couple of weeks ago, we had a thick fog when I took the dogs out for their morning walk. The cat came along, too, just for fun. It was fun for me, at least, as I watched this long-haired cat daintily stepping, now leaping, along the path, trying to keep her feet from getting wet. When we finished our lap around the field, I picked her up. I expected her feet and her belly fur to be quite wet. And it was. What was not readily apparent until I picked her up was the amount of water all over her. In walking through the mist, she’d accumulated quite a bit! So we got out a towel and rubbed her mostly dry. It wasn’t as if she’d gone swimming in the pond. So she wasn’t soaked. But she was more wet than I wanted her to be, especially knowing her proclivity to sleeping on the couch while we are working on school work.
So think about the difference between a mist, a good steady rain, and a pond. The mist burns off quickly as the sun gets stronger. In a few hours, the cat could have walked all the way and not have had to suffer the indignity of being towel-dried. A steady rain would have soaked her to the skin in a matter of moments. She would have to have quite a bit of attention before she was allowed to roam freely in the house! And had she actually chosen to swim in the pond, she’d have found herself an outside cat for several more hours. A mist is just a little bit, not very significant, not long-lasting.
We would like to think that we are more important than a mist. We would like to think that when we are gone that we will be greatly missed (no pun intended). But in the large scheme of things, each person is really rather insignificant. In contrast, the Being Who is significant is our Eternal King, the Creator of the Universe. We only exist because He wills us to exist! He, Who spoke all things into existence, sustains all things by His will. So here’s the really cool part: I’m an insignificant mist, yet God loves me so much that He gave His Son to die for my sins that I can be adopted into the Family of God. God looked on an insignificant mist and made it significant because He said it is!
The next time you don’t think you’re very important, just remember that you are loved and fully known by our Great God - and He says you’re important to Him.
January 4, 2020 - [God’s house is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20 What Is Your Foundation?
January 18, 2020 - . . . he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 2 Kings 6:6b Only God Can Do Miracles
January 25, 2020 - Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” . . . 2 Kings 6:17a
Open Our Eyes
February 2020
Sabbath, February 1st - But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16 Displaying God's Power In Your Life
Sabbath, February 8th - if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3 The Sure Foundation
Sabbath, February 15th - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, Colossians 3:23 Work With All Your Heart
Sabbath, February 29th - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:3 The Lord is Good
March 2020
Sabbath, March 7th - Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Romans 12:6a Use Your Gift
Sabbath, March 14th - . . . when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life . . . James 1:12 Withstand the Test
Sabbath, March 21st - no scheduled services due to COVID-19
Thursday, March 26th - New Year’s Day
Sabbath, March 28th - no scheduled services due to COVID-19
June
Pentecost, Sunday, May 31st, - Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
Sabbath, June 6th - But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14 The Aroma of the Knowledge of Christ
Sabbath, June 13th - I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 What Floats Your Boat?
Sabbath, June 20th - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 A New Creation
Sabbath, June 27th - . . . Pay attention to what you hear: . . . Mark 4:24 Pay Attention to What You Hear
July
Sabbath, July 4th - As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. Prov. 26:21 An Explosive Situation
Sabbath, July 11th - As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 What's Inside
Sabbath, July 18th - Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21 Useful to God
Sabbath, July 25th - No sabbath school
August
Sabbath, August 1st - For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34 What's in Your Heart?
Sabbath, August 8th - For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:36 - Keep On Keeping On
Sabbath, August 15th - No sabbath school
Sabbath, August 22nd - Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10 Tried in the Fire
Sabbath, August 29th - Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. Exodus 23:30 - Drive Them Out
September
Sabbath, September 5th - for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Proverbs 24:16 - When You're Under Pressure
Sabbath, September 12th - The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
Proverbs 22:3 - Bursting the Balloon
Sabbath, September 19th - Trumpets - We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a Changed!!
Sabbath, September 26th - . . . And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, . . . Revelation 2:23 What's Inside
Atonement, Monday, September 28th Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10 Whiter Than Snow
October
Sabbath, October 24th - My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18 - Peaceful, Secure, Quiet
Sabbath, October 31st - The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. Ecclesiastes 12:11 Like Nails Firmly Fixed
November
Sabbath, November 7th - but wisdom helps one to succeed. Ecclesiastes 10:10 A Stitch in Time
Sabbath, November 14th - Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two Are Better Than One
Sabbath, November 21st - Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: Proverbs 24:14 Sweet Like Honey
Sabbath, November 28th - Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Ephesians 5:1 Imitate God
December
Sabbath, December 5th - “The Lord knows those who are his,” 2 Timothy 2:19 - Whom Do You Belong To?
Sabbath, December 12th - Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; Ezekiel 34:18 - A Good Steward
Sabbath, December 19th - Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; Ecclesiastes 10:1 That Stinks!!
Sabbath, December 26th - For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14 But a Mist
Sabbath, January 4, 2020
What’s Your Foundation?
[God’s house is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20
Materials: dominoes, building blocks, etc.
If you were stacking blocks, with just a little hanging over the edge, how many would it take before the top one was no longer over the first one at all? The fourth one!! Because of the center of gravity, if you stack the blocks with just the right overhang, the fourth one will be completely clear. (This is very dramatic on the edge of a table.)
Place the first domino (or building block) just an eighth over the edge. The next block is one-sixth past the block beneath it. The third block is one-fourth past the block beneath it. The fourth block is placed halfway off the block beneath it. That makes it completely off the table.
If you could stack 227 blocks, the overhang would be three full blocks!!
The very cool thing about this is that cantilever bridges are built in this fashion. Their benefit is in not having to have a center support.
But what does this stacking of blocks, and the overhang, have to do with being a Christian and our walk with Jesus Christ?
Sometimes this world makes us feel like we are out there - way out there. Crazy. But our faith is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus being the chief cornerstone. So we can feel like we hanging over a precipice. We can feel like there’s nothing beneath us, but as long as we center our lives on the foundation, we won’t fall.
Resource: 77 Science Activities for Illustrating Bible Lessons, Donald B. DeYoung, pgs. 50-52, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-8010-1537-3
Sabbath, January 18th
Only God Can Do Miracles
. . . he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 2 Kings 6:6b
Materials needed: Various liquids (corn syrup, dish soap, water, oil, rubbing alcohol) and various tiny items (cork, paperclip, penny, raisin, eraser, eraser tip, piece of apple)
There’s a very interesting story in 2 Kings 6. Elisha was with a group of prophets. They had outgrown their meeting place and decided to go to the Jordan, cut down some wood and build a dwelling place there. As one of them was chopping down a tree, the head of the ax flew off and fell into the Jordan. The man immediately told Elisha that the ax had been borrowed. Elisha threw a stick into the water where the ax head had gone in and it floated. The man was able to get the ax head back.
We can experiment with all kinds of liquids and substances. Some of them will float in all of the liquids. Some of them will float in none of the liquids. And some of them will float in some of the liquids. But iron - the metal out of which the ax head was made - will not float in water. The iron is much too dense. And we know it wasn’t a thin piece of metal; the man had been using it to chop down a tree!!
The only explanation is that God performed a miracle through Elisha.
Will God always give you a miracle when you need it? Probably not. But you should never doubt that He could if it were the best thing for you. There is nothing that is too hard for God.
It’s also interesting that this was a lost tool. On the continuum of importance, it doesn’t seem very important to us that God perform this miracle. But maybe that’s the point. No matter how big or how small your problem is, you can always take it to God. Sometimes He will perform a miracle because He wants the very best for you. And sometimes the answer is no because He wants the very best for you.
So what is it that we take away from this lesson? 1) God is able to do things that no one else can do. He can perform miracles! and 2) Take your concerns to God. He loves you and He’s interested in all the big and the small problems in your life.
Sabbath, January 25th
Open Our Eyes
Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” . . . 2 Kings 6:17a
Materials needed: magnets
There are invisible forces at work all around us. Two of them come immediately to mind: gravity and magnets. We are so very glad that gravity exists; it’s what keeps us from floating off into space - which is a very good thing. Magnets are likewise a significant invisible force. Who doesn’t like playing with magnets?
If I place two magnets together and they repel each other, we say that we two ends were of the same polarity. The converse is also true. If I place two magnets together, they will be attracted and come together - as in opposites attract. If we had iron fillings we could show the lines of polarity coming off each magnet. (We could also make a big mess.) But in normal, every day life, those lines of polarity are invisible; we just feel their effects on the magnets.
There are other invisible forces around us. Think about the story in 2 Kings 6:8-23. The Syrians had been raiding Israel, or at least, they had been trying to. But every time they planned something, Elisha told the king of Israel those plans, warning him and keeping him out of harm’s way. It became so prevalent that the king of Syria was certain there was a spy in his own army who was warning Israel and frustrating the Syrians’ plans. One of his servants told him what was happening, that Elisha was warning the king of Israel. So the king of Syria decided to capture Elisha who was in Dothan. During the night, the Syrians surrounded the city so that when Elisha’s servant looked out the next morning, the city was completely surrounded by enemy soldiers. He cried out to Elisha. Elisha told him not to be afraid; that those who were with Elisha were greater than those with the Syrians. And the servant’s eyes were opened to see horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Then Elisha prayed that the soldiers would be struck with blindness. He led the blind soldiers into the city of Samaria. The king of Israel wanted to know if he should kill all of them. Elisha told him to feed them (It was a great feast!!) and send them home. And Syria quit bothering Israel.
Sometimes we see difficulties and problems in our lives and we cry out to God, much like Elisha’s servant did, “Ah, my Master! What shall we do?” We should never forget that God is greater than all of the difficulties and problems surrounding us. Pray that God will give you the eyes to see His will for your life, the path you should take for His glory and honor. That doesn’t mean you will always escape the difficulties and problems, but you know God can use them for your good. He is still sovereign. He is always good.
Sabbath, February 1st
Displaying God's Power In Your Life
But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16
Materials needed: battery, wire, light bulb
When you connect a bulb to a battery, what happens? The power (stored energy) from the battery cause the filament in the bulb to glow, giving off light.
In a similar way, when God works in your life - and you know that it is God who is responsible - you are a witness to the people around you of the greatness of God. You know that whatever happened wasn’t through your efforts any more than the light bulb can cause itself to glow and produce light. You know that it is all God and it’s your responsibility to give Him the glory and honor.
But there’s a couple more things you can learn from the battery and bulb. It makes a difference which direction you connect the wire to the battery. The power flows from the battery to the bulb. Power doesn’t not flow from the bulb to the battery. Similarly, we don’t make God do anything. It is not our will, but His will that is accomplished. He is the Source of power, not us. We exist to do His bidding; He is not like a genie in a bottle waiting to do our bidding.
It sounds silly to say that, but sometimes we go to God with a grocery list of requests for Him to fulfill. We are told to ask. But we really, truly want God’s will to be done because He always knows what’s best for us. He knows what we need to grow us, to make us profitable servants for His kingdom. We don’t know what we need; we only know what we want in this moment. And, in hindsight, sometimes we are very glad God didn’t give us what we thought we wanted at a particular moment in time.
The other very cool thing about a battery, a bulb, and a wire with a switch is that the switch can be turned off. What interrupts the flow of power from God through us - shining His light to people around us?
*Sin. Sin, godlessness, unrighteousness, lawlessness, transgressing God’s law - sin separates us from God. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that our sinfulness separates us from God so that He cannot hear our prayers. Our sinfulness separates us from God’s power.
*Selfishness - wanting our will, instead of His, or wanting the glory for ourselves rather than giving God the glory. James 4:3 says that we don’t have what we ask for because we ask amiss, seeking to satisfy ourselves. Selfishness is just sin - the breaking of the first commandment because we put ourselves in the place of God, thinking that we are more important than He is.
I’m sure we could think of many other things which interrupt the flow of God’s power working in our lives, but they all come back to the lack of connection and relationship with Him. Keep your eyes focused on God and on His ways. Guard your feet from straying away into the world. Watch yourself, making sure that your heart is set on God. Read the Bible. Be constant in prayer. Go to church and fellowship with believers to exhort and encourage you.
There’s a popular song right now that could be our motto: light shine bright everywhere we go!!
Sabbath, February 8th
The Sure Foundation
if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3
Materials: 8 sugar cubes (or bouillon cubes); 4 one-inch pieces of candle; 4 marbles; 4 square, flat rocks, 3 -4 books
Whenever you build something (a bridge, a road, a building), if you want it to last, you have to make sure you have a solid foundation on which to build. So obviously, we know that we can’t build on sand; it shifts and moves easily. It’s not a good foundation. So what is a good foundation?
*Could we use sugar cubes? They’re square and solid. No. At the first sign of water, they’d melt away.
*Could we use candle stubs? They’re solid and wouldn’t be affected by water. But they don’t stand up under fire very well.
*Could we use marbles? They’re solid. They don’t melt when exposed to water or to fire. But at the first sign of wind or earthquake, they would be all over the place.
We need a solid rock upon which to build.
We’re not just talking about building bridges, roads, or buildings, are we? We’re talking about what you build your life upon?
*Sometimes people try to build their lives on something that tastes good (like the sugar). It makes them happy at the time. But when the flood comes (like a flood of adversity), their lives crumble. You can’t build your life on something just because it seems good at the time.
*Sometimes people try to build their lives on something more solid - maybe something that people around them think is good. But God says He’ll purify everyone’s work with fire. And the things that society thinks are foundational are not going to survive the fire any more than the candle does.
*Sometimes people try to build their lives on something they think is rock solid - maybe they believe it has reason, common sense, or science behind it. But if it doesn’t agree with Godly principles, then there is something drastically wrong with it. Pseudoscience, secular humanism, relativism - all of those religions that people substitute for the way God wants us to live, all of these are a foundation that will not last.
You know that you have to build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, one the laws of God, and on a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Society, Satan, and our carnal nature doesn’t like that foundation. And we see our society trying to force God and Christians out of the world. That’s what Psalm 11:3 is talking about: the time when society is so ungodly that those who truly love God and follow His ways are persecuted. What do we do?
Psalm 11:4 tells us that God is watching from His throne. He knows what’s going on. He expects us to continue to seek Him, to do what is right, to fight the good fight, to persevere. Don’t give in to the pressure around us to build your life on something that won’t last. Build your life, every choice you make, to the best of your ability, on what pleases God.
Sabbath, February 15th
Work With All Your Heart
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
Materials: markers and paper, marbles, rocks, coins
Supposed you were instructed to separate all the magnets and put them into a circle and at the same time put 20 pennies, one at a time, into a bank. How would you do it. Would you separate out one magnet and set it down and then take one penny and put it into the bank, and then go back to the magnets? No, likely you’d finish one task and then start work on the other task.
What if your mom tells you to clean your room? Do you pick up all the toys and put them away and then pick up all the dirty clothes? Or do you pick up what’s in front of you and put it away and then pick up something else and put it away? What is going to make the best use of your time?
What if I was going to separate pennies and dimes? Would you pick out a dime and then a penny? Or would you pick out all of one kind first and then scoop up what was left?
What if I asked you to fill one page with As and one page with Bs? Would you write an A on one page and then move to the second page to write a B? Or would you do an entire page of one thing before you moved on to another?
Sometimes when we get so busy with stuff or when we really don’t care how well the task is done, we waste time jumping back and forth between tasks. We’re not as productive, and sometimes, doing it that way causes mistakes. We need to completely focus on what we’re doing, giving it all our attention, so that we can do it quickly and do it well. That’s how to work with all your heart - giving a task your best effort.
The second part of the verse talks about our attitude towards a task. If you don’t think that separating coins is important, you couldn’t care less whether you use your time well or not. But when you have a task to do, the apostle Paul says that you need to work as if you were working for God. He’s the King of the Universe. He’s the Almighty. He is Sovereign. It’s scary to think that you’d do a crummy job for Him.
Next time you have a job to do, whatever it is: big or small, hard or easy, fun or stinky; remember that you need to do it with all of your heart, working as if you were doing the task for God.
Sabbath, February 29th
The Lord is Good
if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:3
Materials needed: orange pieces, baking soda
Can you think of something that God has done in your life? Perhaps it was healing. Perhaps it was protection. Perhaps it was guidance so that you’d know which direction you should go.
My mom was driving on icy streets in Casper one winter. As she approached an intersection, she saw a pickup coming on the cross street. She stepped on the brakes and started sliding. She saw that he stepped on the brakes, but he was also sliding. The collision was inevitable. She closed her eyes, said a prayer, and when she opened her eyes, both cars were through the intersection without a collision.
If you can think of something that God did for you, did it happen the way you thought it would?
In my mom’s case, her prayer was for God’s help. And if you’d asked her, she probably would have said that she wanted both cars to stop short of the impact. What God gave her, however, was no stop and no collision - and an indelible memory of God’s rescue.
It’s kind of like eating an orange piece. You expect it to taste a certain way. But if you dip it into baking soda, you get something different. The acid from the orange and the baking soda combine to make an orange fizz in your mouth. It’s totally unexpected. That is, you don’t get that reaction from the orange by itself or the baking soda by itself. But when you put them together, an amazing thing happens.
God’s provision, His protection, the way He answers our prayers is often unexpected. It’s often different from what we thought it would look like. But that doesn’t make it bad. It actually, in the end, turns out better than we could have imagined - not so much because we got what we wanted, but because we did what we should always do: put our trust in God and know that He hears our prayers. Even if the answer is no, we have exercised our faith, and that’s a very good thing.
The next time you eat an orange, try dipping it in baking soda first. The orange fizz can remind you of the unexpected blessings we can receive from our Father.
Resource: www.sciencefun.org
Sabbath, March 7th
Use Your Gift
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Romans 12:6a
Materials: hammer, pliers, screwdriver, measuring tape, hole punch, scissors, paint can opener
Did you know that there are lots and lots of different tools in our world? And sometimes it’s very fun to try to figure out what some old tools were actually used for. Sometimes it very fun to try to figure out what present day tools are used for! Each tool has its purpose. It was designed to do a certain job.
In the same way, God designed each of us for a purpose. We each have a certain job to do or role to play. And just like looking at some tools, sometimes it takes a little bit of work to figure out just exactly what gift God has given to each of us so that we can do our job.
Imagine never having seen a screwdriver before. What job might you do with it. You could use it pry open a paint can. You could use the top of it to hammer a nail. You could use it as a chisel. You could even hammer it into the wall and use it to hang your coat on. But once you see how well it can be used for screwing, you understand what a brilliant person the inventor was - to create such a useful tool for putting screws in the right place.
We could have the same conversation about hammers and pliers and scissors or any of the tools we have around us. Or we could have the conversation about each of us. God has given us gifts to use in whatever task He’s set before us. And we praise God for His majesty and awesomeness to have created us with such gifts - like Mozart writing music or Frank Lloyd Wright designing buildings or Alexander Graham Bell creating the telephone. What a shame it would have been if Mozart had spent his entire life building houses, instead of writing wonderful music. And so it is with us: we need to figure out what gift God has given to each of us. Then we need to use that gift. We don’t need to look at the gifts of other people and wish that we’d been gifted in that way. We just need to figure out what God has designed for us to do. And then we need to do it with all of our hearts and minds and souls and strength - for the glory of God.
You have a gift. Do you know what it is? And do you use it?
Sabbath, March 14th
Withstand the Test
. . . when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life . . . James 1:12
Materials: stickers, balls, “rewards”
What is the first commandment with a promise? To honor your father and your mother. And what was the promise? That your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. How do you honor your parents? You demonstrate how much you love and honor them by being respectful and obedient. Why do you love them? Because they first loved you enough to bring you into the world and to provide everything you need.
Don’t you find the parallel between our earthly parents and our Heavenly Parent interesting?! God first loved us, creating us and then redeeming us from our sins through the death of Jesus Christ. Do we appreciate that? Do we love God for what He’s already done for us? If we love Him, He tells us how to demonstrate our love for Him: keep His commandments.
Our obedience demonstrates that we love God, that we want to please Him. That’s much like the fifth commandment language: Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12, ESV). God gave them the land. God chose them out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be His (Deuteronomy 14:2)! He rescued them from slavery, He gave them the Promised Land, and He blessed them with His presence. They, in turn, demonstrated their devotion to Him by obeying His commandments - commandments which were given for their good.
In the same way, God chose each of us. He rescued us from slavery to sin. He brings us into fellowship with Him through the death and resurrection of His Son. We, in turn, demonstrate our devotion to Him by obeying His commandments - commandments which are given for our good.
But this is not just one and done. We persevere in keeping His commandments until they become our way of life. We keep them automatically because they are increasingly part of who we are. There is a reward at the end of persevering and overcoming: we are given eternal life with God. Eternal life is a free gift from God. Our obedience to Him in this life demonstrates that we are honoring our Father, the King of the Universe. We can’t earn eternal life, but we demonstrate in our actions that it has been given to us through Jesus Christ.
Pentecost, Sunday, May 31st
Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Materials needed: large wine glass, oil, water, effervescent tablet, food coloring (Set up the demonstration while presenting the lesson: Fill the glass 85% with oil. Then pour in water - which will sink to the bottom of the glass. Put in a couple of drops of food coloring. Drop in a tablet. The effervescent tablet will bubble in the water, rise to the surface, and then sink again. The Holy Spirit works inside each of us. The outward actions that everyone sees can be genuinely motivated by the Spirit inside or they can be just an outward show without the inward reality. But God knows. And over time, the consistency of our actions will demonstrate the authenticity of our Christianity and the indwelling of God’s Spirit.)
The holy day, Pentecost, brings to mind the giving of the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit was given only to a select few, now God’s Spirit was poured out abundantly on His people (Acts 2; Titus 3:4-6). What an incredible gift!
The apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the downpayment, the pledge, of what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:16-17). It is a guarantee of our inheritance, our adoption into the family of God.
For those who belong to God, who are His people, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us causes a change from the inside out. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:7-8). As we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we who love God turn away from sin, choosing God and God’s ways.
As we seek God’s ways more earnestly, the Holy Spirit within is the source of wisdom, revelation, and power (1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 1:17-20). We are empowered to speak God’s words to others, to show His ways in our lives, and to understand more fully His ways and His plan.
The Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak and struggling with a temptation to sin. And the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know the words to pray to our Father (Romans 8:26-27).
The Holy Spirit working in our lives is the means by which we become holy and sanctified and able to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Knowing how very important the Holy Spirit is in our lives as followers of Christ who are pursuing holiness, it would behoove us to realize that we can quench the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Otherwise, the apostle Paul would not have felt a need to warn us!
Here’s the gift of God, guiding us, empowering us, teaching us, giving us wisdom, helping and comforting us - and we can choose to turn away from the leading. We can choose to ignore the convicting within. We can give in to fear or doubt. We allow our wants and desires to dominate over God’s will and plan in our lives. We can choose not to get as close to God as we possibly can be. And that would be such a shame! God has given us such a gift, such an opportunity through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
On this day of Pentecost, I pray that each of us will allow the Holy Spirit to work fully in our lives, that we would stir up the Spirit within (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
Sabbath, June 6th
The Aroma of the Knowledge of Christ
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14
Materials: cedar blocks
What are some of your most favorite scents? Cinnamon, dill, bacon, BBQ, fried onions, spaghetti sauce, tacos. How about the freshness of the air after a spring rain storm? There are scents which bring memories immediately to mind. Sitting here, I can almost smell walking into Grandma’s house. Or the barn!
We in our society tend to emphasize visual and indeed, we do have lots of images and video clips running through our heads. But that’s only one of our senses. Isn’t it interesting then, that the apostle Paul gives thanks to God for leading us, in Christ, and spreading the fragrance of Christ everywhere?
O.K. So what does Christ smell like?
I don’t know that I can give you a definitive answer. But I do know that in order to smell something, you have to get close to it. And you have to not hold your breath. That sounds silly to say, but if you don’t want to smell something, you hold your breath. So in order to smell something, you have to want to smell it. And the scent has to be strong enough. Have you ever caught just a whiff of something, but couldn’t quite figure out what it was because it wasn’t strong enough? But at the same time, you don’t want to walk into an overpowering smell. I usually turn around and escape those as soon as possible.
So if you’re going to spread the aroma, the fragrance, of the knowledge of Christ, it’s going to be to someone close to you. It’s going to be someone who wants to smell that scent. It has to be strong enough, but not a sledge hammer of a smell.
Are your actions like that? Do the people closest to you “smell” the knowledge of Christ in your life? Are you aware of when they are hungry for the things of God? Are you strong and confident without being overpowering?
Sometimes people get used to us as Christians. In effect, our fragrance isn’t as obvious. But life has a way of revealing what’s truly inside a person. If the scent on the cedar grows faint, you can always scuff it with a piece of sandpaper to renew the scent. So when life throws trouble at you, do people smell the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ more clearly again? That is, when you experience trouble, do people see you relying on God?
I pray that as we each are scuffed by life, people are able to smell Jesus in our lives more clearly.
Sabbath, June 13th
What Floats Your Boat
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Container large enough to float a lid, small boat, small container, water, towels
Suppose I float a lid, small boat, or container in water. Does it matter whether there’s lot of water or a little water? Not really. It floats the same in two inches and in four inches.
Suppose I make some waves, does it matter whether it’s a big boat or a small boat. Not really.
What causes the boat to sink? It only sinks when water gets in the boat. It really doesn’t matter how crazy the waves get as long as the water stays out of the boat.
So, let’s say that you are the boat. The water is the world around you. Sometimes the water is calm and peaceful. It’s not hard to keep the water out of the boat and stay afloat - aka when nothing bad is happening in your world, it’s easy to get along with your family and friends, work seems easier, you are pretty happy and calm.
But when the world around you is crazy - a hurricane, a locust plague, a world pandemic, a flood, a tornado, a hail storm - when the world around you is crazy, it’s harder to keep the trouble from the world from weighing you down - aka getting water in your boat and sinking.
How do you keep the water out of your boat?
Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
When the waves in your world get high and you’re thinking it might be enough to sink your boat (aka upset the peace and joy you have), remember to look to Jesus. He can save you from the waves and keep your boat from sinking. He is the One who will float your boat.
Sabbath, June 20th
A New Creation
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Materials: conditioner, corn starch, plastic sandwich bags, measuring cup, spoon.
There’s a huge change from before you were a Christian to after you become a Christian. It is a change of heart, of attitude, of agenda, of allegiance. It is a change of nature. It is imperative to each of us who would see God’s kingdom and eternal life. (1 Corinthians 15:50)
If I mix a cup of corn starch with a cup of conditioner, the result is play dough. Now I can extend the analogy a little more clearly. The dough is not the same nature as the corn starch. The corn starch can be used in many ways, like making gravy or meatballs, but it’s a powder. It can be blown away. It cannot stand. The dough, on the other hand, can be molded into any shape.
Think of the aptness of the analogy in a Christian sense: I can be useful in many ways before I become a Christian. I can do what people think of as good things. But I have no real strength on my own. I can be blown around by thoughts and events. I cannot stand. But once I accept Jesus as my Savior and the Holy Spirit comes into my life, I become a new creation. I become a moldable person to be used by my God to fulfill His purposes. The potential of how I can be used of God is limitless. Thus, in becoming a servant of the Most High, He gives solidity and purpose to my life even as He molds me and changes me into a useful vessel for His glory.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Sabbath, June 27th
Pay Attention to What You Hear
Pay attention to what you hear: . . . Mark 4:24
Materials: ear muffs, ear plugs, whistles, bells, alarms, good/bad books
Why should you pay attention to what you hear?
* It could be harmful.
Protect yourself from loud noises that can damage your ear drum. Use ear protection whenever you’re going to encounter loud noises. The alarm clock and Mom’s voice do NOT fall into this category.
Protect yourself from ungodly sounds, noises, messages which can
damage you emotionally and spiritually. Carefully consider what you watch on tv, what music you listen to, what friends you choose to be around, people who habitually swear and take God’s name in vain . . .
Protect yourself from liars and mischief-makers by carefully considering and verifying what someone tells you. You can’t always believe what other people say. If you believe a false report, you can ruin a friendship. You can find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. You could find yourself out of God’s will.
It could be very important to your life and prosperity.
Listen to the warnings that people give you (but check them out thoroughly). If you don’t believe the road is out ahead, you can find yourself in the crick without a paddle.
Listen to fire alarms, alarm clocks, and oven timers. Those sounds are there for your good.
*Whether you hear to avoid something bad or to get a blessing, it’s not enough to just hear! The wise person acts on what he has heard! Think about it! If the alarm goes off, it’s a sound that means you need to do something - like get out of bed. If you hear a tornado siren going off, you should take cover. If you hear God’s word telling you to act in a certain way, you must adjust your actions accordingly.
To recap: Choose carefully what you listen to - eschew the harmful and choose the good. Once you’ve determined which it is, do something about it. Don’t be foolish; pay attention to what you hear.
Sabbath, July 4th
An Explosive Situation
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. Proverbs 26:21
Materials: film canister with lid, water, and effervescent tablets
What happens if you have hot embers and you add charcoal to them? The charcoal quickly catches on fire and you have more heat.
What happens if you have a fire and you add dry wood to it? The wood catches on fire and creates a bigger fire.
This proverb compares these two situations to a quarrelsome man kindling strife. There’s already some sort of conflict going on. If you add someone who likes to argue, what happens? The quarrel doesn’t go away. It doesn’t die down. A person who likes to argue, who is often looking for a fight, only causes the conflict to get more heated.
Here’s what that looks like: Put a small amount of water into a film canister. Drop in half of an effervescent tablet (like Alka-Seltzer). Put the lid on. Within minutes, the top blows off.
There’s a couple of similarities between this demonstration and a quarrelsome person in an argument. First, you don’t know when the blow up is coming, but you know it’s inevitable. Secondly, just as the explosions makes a big mess, a quarrel that gets out of hand makes a big mess - damaging relationships, sometimes irrevocably. Third, once the explosion happens, you can’t get it back in the container again - not all of it. In a similar way, once a quarrel grows into a blazing confrontation, it’s very hard to get it contained. There will be lasting consequences.
So. What should you do? When you have a conflict, try to resolve it before a quarrelsome person gets involved. If that’s not possible, don’t engage. If the effervescent tablet is the quarrelsome person, and the water is the quarrel, don’t put them together into the container. That is, if you can, remove yourself from the situation. What good can possibly be gained from engaging in a discussion/argument/conflict with someone who just wants to argue?
There are going to be times when you can’t avoid a conflict. There will be times when you just can’t get away. So let’s compare the lid of the container to emotions. If you don’t cap the situation with emotions, you’re less likely to have a big explosion. It may bubble over and still make a big mess, but an overflow is better than an explosion any day.
We’re going to find people in this world who just want to argue. Use Godly wisdom to avoid unnecessary big explosions.
Sabbath, July 11th
What’s Inside
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19
Materials: cup, water, tube of cream/toothpaste
I was sitting on the porch this morning, drinking a cup of hot tea. The cat was very interested in what I had inside that cup, so interested as to become quite insistent that I let her see what was inside. If I had spilled some on the porch, she certainly would have known what I was drinking.
What causes you to spill what you’re drinking? If the cup is too full or your arm gets jostled, the liquid will slosh out. Isn’t that why travel mugs have lids? The unsettledness of a trip almost certainly will cause your drink to spill! When you have to clean up the mess, it becomes very apparent what was in the cup!!
We are very much like a cup of liquid. People don’t know what is inside unless we let them see. But even seeing doesn’t always give an accurate determination of the contents because people often allow others to see only what they want them to see. . . . unless something unexpected happens. If your life hits some turbulence and causes you to be shaken, what is inside spills out. It’s another way of saying that when you’re under pressure, when you’re squeezed, whatever is inside will come out. You show your true colors.
So perhaps you’re thinking the remedy is not to allow yourself to be ruffled, to be placed in a position of turbulence. In this life, Jesus told us, we are going to have trouble. We’re going to be under pressure and experience stress. Someone is going to hit our cup and what is inside is going to spill out.
Make it your goal to become like Jesus Christ, to be transformed into the image of the Son of God, so that when your life is shaken, people see godliness. Isn’t that what they’d expect to see from a true follower of Messiah, an ambassador of Christ, a child of God? You bet.
Sabbath, July 18th
Useful to God
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21
Materials: assortment of brushes
Having the right tool makes a job a whole lot easier. You wouldn’t scrub the kitchen floor with a pipe cleaner. You wouldn’t brush your hair with the floor scrub brush. Each brush is designed to do a certain job well. It would be foolish to try to use the wrong brush for a task.
Not only do you have to have the right tool, there’s a certain amount of cleanliness required for particular jobs. You wouldn’t scrub the garden vegetables with the toilet brush. And after a period of time, you get a new toothbrush.
We understand this when we’re talking about brushes. But sometimes we don’t get it as people of God. That is, God has designed each of us for a certain task. So first thing to remember is that
*God has a plan, a purpose, and a place for each one of His people. Figure out what your gift is, what your talent is, and use it for the glory of God.
Additionally, no one person is given every gift. It would be foolish to try to use your toothbrush to clean your teeth, brush you hair, scrub the vegetables, clean the floor, and scrub the toilet. Similarly, each person in a church family has a job to do to make the church family function at the very best level. So the second thing to remember is
*a church family and your physical family works best if each person contributes their talents to the benefit of the family.
It’s really disgusting to think of using a toothbrush to scrub the tile grout around the tub - and then use it to brush your teeth. It’s also yucky to think about brushing the dog’s coat with your own hair brush. I set aside my brushes for a specific purpose. When God sets a person aside for a specific purpose as a child of God, that person becomes holy. It’s our job to make sure that we cleanse ourselves from anything dishonorable so that we will continue to be holy, usable by God, set apart for His purposes.
*live in a way that pleases God, so that He can use you for His glory.
You have a job. Figure out what it is. Then be holy.
Sabbath, August 1st
What’s in Your Heart
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34
Materials: balloons, metal nuts of various sizes
Do you know what happens when you put a nut into a balloon and get it rapidly moving around the inside of the balloon? It’s the coolest thing: it starts humming. Now each nut makes a little bit different hum. And it’s kind of fun to guess which is which and why they do this.
The nut inside rubs against the balloon. The friction causes the sound. And that’s what happens with you too. Whatever is inside you is expressed through your facial expressions, your actions, and the words you speak. It’s what Jesus said in Matthew 12:34: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Jesus uses the very concrete example of fruit trees. If the tree is good, it will produce good fruit. If the tree is bad, it will produce bad fruit. In a similar way, what you genuinely are will be displayed for all to see by your words and deeds.
So could you pretend that you were something you’re not. Well, of course. We have actors in Hollywood that do that to earn a living! And there are some people who intentionally try to make you think that they are something they are not - for some evil purpose. But who you are, consistently, day after day is what people hear coming from your mouth and through your behaviors.
Like we’ve talked about before, it isn’t so much that you want to hide what’s inside. It is that you want God to change what is inside so that what is expressed is Godly and good.
Seek God. Seek His ways. Submit yourself to the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. Then whatever hums in your heart will be pleasing to God and beneficial to those around you who hear.
Sabbath, August 8th
Keep on Keeping On
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:36
Materials: cups, warm drink, ice, green tomato, red tomato
What is it that we have need of? According to the writer of Hebrews, we have need of endurance. But this is not endurance like who can walk up all the steps of the tallest building in St. Louis or ride your bicycle all the way from here to your home. The writer of Hebrews is talking about something else: doing the will of God until God tells you you’re done. That means keeping God’s commandments and doing what honors Him when it’s hard, when you’re tired, when no one else around you is worshiping God, even when you don’t particularly want to, you keep on doing what is right, according to God’s standards.
Some Bible translations say “you have need of endurance.” Others say that you must persevere. The KJV says that you “have need of patience.” It’s very similar to hearing your mom saying, “Just be patient. Dad will be home soon.” You know that means you have to finish the job she’s given you, but when Dad gets home, there will be a reward.
The concept of endurance makes me think of struggling to continue doing something. So I like the translations which use “patience” because that reminds me that sometimes enduring through having to wait can seem harder than struggling against something that requires physical effort. Is it harder to run three times around the house or to sit, without moving or talking, for the same amount of time?
We don’t like to be patient. We don’t like waiting. It’s hard to wait for the first tomato to turn red. It’s hard to wait for the watermelon to get ripe so that we can eat it. It’s hard to wait for the ice cubes in a glass of warm juice to melt enough to cool off the drink. But who likes warm juice? Who likes eating a green tomato? Who likes ruining a perfectly good watermelon because you cut it before it was completely ripe? No one does. You have to wait, patiently. And if you do, there’s a reward at the end.
The writer of Hebrews tells us to persevere through difficulties, to patiently continue obeying God, to keep on doing what is right in His sight. There is a reward coming - and it’s going to be worth everything we’re going through to get it - even waiting patiently.
Sabbath, August 22nd
Tried in the Fire
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10
Materials: cold water, hot water, cups, tea bags
(Pour the cold water over the tea bag in the cup. Then pour the hot water over the tea bag. Then, when you’re talking about relying on yourself vs. relying on God, pour the hot water over an herbal tea bag in one cup and then over a black tea in another cup.)
If you want to brew a cup of tea, what do you have to do? You have to place a tea bag in a cup of hot water. Why? What happens when you put a tea bag in cold water? It may brew, but you really haven’t maximized what you can get out of your tea bag. To release the most tea, you have to use hot water.
So, you can’t just look at a tea bag and know the strength of the tea possible. There’s a big difference between herbal tea, white tea, green tea, and back tea.
It is much the same with God’s people. You don’t really know what you are made of, how much you rely on God for strength and endurance, until you are put in a situation to show your strength or weakness; it’s not obvious by just looking at you. It requires a difficult or stressful situation, aka hot water, to reveal where your strength comes from.
God tells us that He refines us, trying us in the furnace of affliction. The word furnace doesn’t bring to mind a cold room; rather, it makes us think of heat and stress and the necessity of reacting right away. Why would God do that to His people? Wouldn’t it be more loving just to take all of our troubles away from us and make life smooth and easy? No, actually, that’s not more loving.
Those trials by fire remind us of a couple of things: 1) we live in a world corrupted by sin; 2) we don’t want to focus on this world as if it were the goal. God has a better place for us where there will be no more pain or sorrow or death; 3) we cannot overcome the difficulties through our own strength. God is our strength. He is our Rock and our Salvation; and therefore 4) we need Jesus Christ. And if we need Him, we need to focus our attention on our relationship with the only One who can save us, the One who loves us and can strength us in the midst of any trouble.
Sometimes we don’t know how strong we are - or, more accurately, how much we rely on God for strength - until we face trouble, the furnace of affliction. We can come out the other side of the trial knowing with more certainty that we serve the Mighty God, the King of the Universe, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior and that He is the One who gives us strength.
And that’s a good thing!
Sabbath, August 29th
Drive Them Out
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. Exodus 23:30
Materials Needed: two balloons, two small plastic bottles - one with holes poked in the end
If you place a balloon inside a plastic bottle, with the lip over the mouth of the bottle, how easy is it to blow up the balloon inside the bottle? It’s not easy, is it? The balloon will inflate a little, but pretty soon the air pressure inside the bottle is greater than the air pressure of you blowing into the balloon. However, if you have poked a couple of holes in the bottom of the bottle before putting the balloon in the bottle, you can blow up the balloon. Why is this? Because you’ve provided a way for the air to escape from the bottle.
It’s a good demonstration for the verse in Exodus 23:30. God did not drive out, all at once, the people of the land He was giving to the Israelites. He did it a little bit at a time. The Israelites were not numerous enough to fill the land and without people there, wild animals would have come in and caused more problems for the people of God. So, little by little the pagan inhabitants of the land were driven out as the people of God needed more land.
How does this relate to the bottles and the air? When the balloon is inside the bottle, but is not inflated, the air pressure pushes back on the outside of the balloon. When you start to blow up the balloon, the air outside of the balloon (inside the bottle) has to go somewhere. If there’s not a way for the air to escape, the balloon can’t inflate. This is what happened in the land. There was only enough room for a certain number of people. When the Israelites increased in number, the other inhabitants of the land had to go somewhere!
Interestingly, as long as God’s people were faithful to Him, God would drive out the pagans before them. But if God’s people were unfaithful - they didn’t keep God’s laws and began worshipping idols - then God did not drive out the pagans before them.
So how does this relate to you? You are gradually being changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, if the Holy Spirit is at work in your life. As long as you listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and make Godly choices, you become more and more like Christ. But if you don’t do what God has said, if you make excuses for not obeying your parents and not obeying God, if you choose not to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, then you will not become more like Christ. You will continue to live your life in rebellion to God and His ways. There’s no middle ground: you are either becoming more like Christ or you’re moving away from the things of God.
Choose to live your life God’s way. Choose to become more like Christ. Then God will help you, through the power of the Holy Spirit, if you earnestly seek Him with all of your heart.
Sabbath, September 5th
When You're Under Pressure
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Proverbs 24:16
Materials: test tube, 2-liter clear soda bottle, water
Here’s a very cool site which explains what’s going on and how to set up the experiment: https://www.superchargedscience.com/opt/cartesian-driver-pc2-con2/?inf_contact_key=6efa472fbc74e68c91528aae54c8795bb7af0999dac2af6212784c39e05d2aef
Have you ever wondered how a submarine works? It can’t be that they get rid of all their oxygen because then the sailors wouldn’t be able to breathe. No, rather, the submarine takes water into storage tanks, compressing what air is in the submarine into a smaller space. This makes the density of the submarine greater than the density of the water around it. Consequently, the submarine sinks.
This is basically what is done with a test tube and soda bottle. Fill the bottle with water. Fill the test tube about 4/5 full of water, place your thumb over the end and invert into the soda bottle. The top of the test tube should be just a little above the soda bottle. (It might take a few times to get it just right.) Make sure the soda bottle is completely full of water and secure the top. Then when you squeeze the bottle, the air in the test tube is compressed and forced into a smaller space in the top of the test tube. This allows more water to fill the test tube, making it heavier and the test tube moves to the bottom of the bottle. When you release pressure on the bottle, the air is allowed to decompress, the test tube gets less dense, and it shoots back up to the top of the bottle. Pretty cool.
What happens when you’re under pressure? You lose a tooth and on the way to show your mom, you drop it, and now you can’t find it. Your cat gets lost. Your grandparent is very sick. The family car is in the shop and you can’t go on the field trip you were looking forward to. There are lots of things that go wrong in our world. It’s part of living in this world. Your reaction to the stressful things says a lot about who you are.
If you belong to God and know Him, or rather, you are known by God (as Paul told the Galatians), then you have hope. You have the support and encouragement of God. You rely on the promises of the Creator of the Universe. And you can get up again, every time life knocks you down.
But, if you don’t know God and are not interested in following Him, obeying Him, and having a relationship with Him, you’re still going to experience getting knocked down. But then you have to depend on yourself to pick yourself back up again. And sometimes that just doesn’t work.
If the test tube didn’t have any air in it, it would sink to the bottom of the bottle and there’d be nothing it could do to get to the top again. The test tube having air in it gives it the ability to absorb the pressure and then pop back up to the top again. It’s a cool reminder that if you love, obey, and seek God, He can help you to endure. If you don’t love, obey and seek God, you’re sunk.
Sabbath, September 12th
Bursting the Balloon
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3
Materials: balloons (Blow up a balloon until it bursts to start the lesson with a bang!)
When blowing up balloons around younger children, it’s obvious who has seen the balloon blown up too far - so that it bursts! The child will cringe or put his hands over his ears. He knows what is coming. He has become prudent when it comes to blowing up balloons.
There are many times in life when the prudent see danger coming and they take steps to avoid it. Perhaps it’s a fire on the verge of burning out of control. Perhaps it’s a car driving erratically on the highway. Perhaps it’s a slow leak on a tire. Perhaps it’s a snake or skunk or wasp nest. The prudent see the danger and do something to avoid this danger. The simple don’t - and they suffer for it.
Know anyone who has sprayed lighter fluid on a burning fire? Know anyone who has gotten too close to a skunk or a wasp nest or poison ivy? Know anyone who wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas?
So how do you become prudent? Sometimes we become prudent (aka gain wisdom) by our experiences. The young child who experienced a bursting balloon covers his ears. The person who meets a skunk and is sprayed subsequently keeps their distance from skunks. But experience can be a hard, painful teacher. So where else can you gain wisdom?
Your parents have had a few more experiences than you have. It’s a good idea to listen to them. Proverbs 4:1 says, “Children, listen to the instruction of a father, and be attentive in order to know insight.”
People who are experts have had a lot more experience in that particular area. They are a good resource. Proverbs 11:14 (WEB) says, “Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”
God is a great source of wisdom. In fact, the Bible tells us in James 1:5 (ESV), “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The Bible with the leading of the Holy Spirit is often how God gives us wisdom for our daily lives.
We don’t any of us (usually) intentionally choose courses of action which we know will cause us to suffer. But do you make it a priority to get wisdom so that you can be prudent?
Sabbath, September 12th
Bursting the Balloon
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3
Materials: balloons (Blow up a balloon until it bursts to start the lesson with a bang!)
When blowing up balloons around younger children, it’s obvious who has seen the balloon blown up too far - so that it bursts! The child will cringe or put his hands over his ears. He knows what is coming. He has become prudent when it comes to blowing up balloons.
There are many times in life when the prudent see danger coming and they take steps to avoid it. Perhaps it’s a fire on the verge of burning out of control. Perhaps it’s a car driving erratically on the highway. Perhaps it’s a slow leak on a tire. Perhaps it’s a snake or skunk or wasp nest. The prudent see the danger and do something to avoid this danger. The simple don’t - and they suffer for it.
Know anyone who has sprayed lighter fluid on a burning fire? Know anyone who has gotten too close to a skunk or a wasp nest or poison ivy? Know anyone who wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas?
So how do you become prudent? Sometimes we become prudent (aka gain wisdom) by our experiences. The young child who experienced a bursting balloon covers his ears. The person who meets a skunk and is sprayed subsequently keeps their distance from skunks. But experience can be a hard, painful teacher. So where else can you gain wisdom?
Your parents have had a few more experiences than you have. It’s a good idea to listen to them. Proverbs 4:1 says, “Children, listen to the instruction of a father, and be attentive in order to know insight.”
People who are experts have had a lot more experience in that particular area. They are a good resource. Proverbs 11:14 (WEB) says, “Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”
God is a great source of wisdom. In fact, the Bible tells us in James 1:5 (ESV), “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The Bible with the leading of the Holy Spirit is often how God gives us wisdom for our daily lives.
We don’t any of us (usually) intentionally choose courses of action which we know will cause us to suffer. But do you make it a priority to get wisdom so that you can be prudent?
Sabbath, Trumpets, September 19th
Changed!
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a
Materials: a jar of pickles and a cucumber; applesauce and an apple; a tomato and a packet of catsup
There’s a saying: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Although there’s some hyperbole in the statement, there is also the truth that things rarely stay the same for long. You can clean your room and the very next day, you have dust on your dresser, your bed needs to be made, there are toys to put away. You have to clean your room again! You can take a bath before going to bed one night and the next night you have to do it again. You didn’t stay clean! Sometimes we’d like things to stay the same!! But that’s not reality in this life.
One of the aspects of Trumpets that we are all very excited about is the change which is coming! 1 Corinthians 15 says that we are all going to be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
In the earlier examples, the changes I talked about were negative changes - neat rooms becoming messy, clean children getting dirty. The reality is that everything changes. But not all changes are bad. As you work hard in school, your ability to read and to do math changes; you read more fluently, you comprehend more easily, you figure out complex math problems more quickly. You are learning and expanding your brain’s ability to think. For awhile your bodies are growing and getting stronger. You’re more able to do things.
In a similar way, the return of Jesus means a very good change. At that time, we who belong to God will be changed from a physical being to a spiritual being. We will no longer be subject to the aches and pains of our physical bodies. We won’t grow old. We will have passed from death into life - life eternal with our God forever.
There is a great change coming - a great day coming. And we get to be part of a dress rehearsal on this day, Trumpets, as we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
Sabbath, September 26th
What’s Inside
And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, . . . Revelation 2:23
Materials: embroidery project
Have you ever watched someone embroider a tea towel or pillowcase? It’s actually pretty interesting to see the even stitches and intricacies they weave with just the embroidery floss!! But have you ever looked at the back of the project? It’s a mess! There are knots and threads going in all directions. It doesn’t look at all impressive from underneath.
Sometimes we forget that the people around us are much like that embroidery. People can look like they have it all together, are super intelligent, or are just intimidating to be around because they are so impressive - but the reality is that each person is a human being with faults and foibles and fears. Of course, we don’t see that - or actually we see only as much as that person allows us to see.
But there is One who sees the whole package. God sees the outside and He sees the heart. This verse in Revelation 2:23 says that God (Jesus Christ, the Son) not only sees the heart and what’s inside, He searches both the mind and the heart. He looks deeper to see what you’re thinking and why. He looks at your motives and your fears. He digs deeper to know you completely.
There’s a couple of results of knowing that God sees us, outside and in. First, there’s no sense in pretending with God. He sees right through to the truth. So if you’re angry with someone, you might as well tell God that you’re angry. He already knows. If you did something wrong, you might as well tell Him about it; He already knows. Secondly, since God knows where you are in your thinking, who you truly are, and what you are capable of, He can be trusted to take care of everything in your life. He will protect and guide you. He will intervene for your good (even if we don’t understand how it could possibly end up good). And thirdly, God sees all of you, inside and out, and He loves you enough to redeem you from sin and death with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He loves you that much! All of these facts should lead us to one conclusion: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Atonement, September 28th
[This is a lesson with a very visual object lesson/demonstration. You’ll need three clear glasses. One is half full of water - labeled “you;” one is half full of water with enough iodine to make the water stained - labeled “sin;” the third is half full of water with a good dose of chlorine in it - labeled “Jesus.”]
Whiter Than Snow!!
Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
Why, do you suppose, are the angels of God so joyful over a sinner who repents?
Have you ever been really dirty - I mean the roll-in-the-mud, change-your-hair-color kind of dirty? There have been a few times - staining the house, working on tractors - when I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be clean again, to say nothing of my clothes.
That’s what sin does. It makes us unclean, in the Biblical sense. God says in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 64:6 says that even our righteous acts are like filthy rags. But sin does more than make us unclean, it separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).
So, here’s how it works:
1. You were born a carnal human being, with carnal nature that is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). Because of the choice that Adam made in the Garden of Eden, all of humanity is born with a carnal, sinful nature (1 Cor. 15:21; Romans 5:12). [Pour some of the “sin” cup into the “you” cup, discoloring the “you” cup.]
2. There is nothing you can do to get the “sin” out of your cup; it’s thoroughly mixed with “you.” Similarly, there’s nothing you can do, by yourself, to get rid of your sin nature. You can’t clean yourself up enough to make you righteous in God’s eyes. But Jesus can cleanse you. We sing “Washed By the Blood of the Lamb” because of the verses in Revelation (7:14; 22:14) which talk about the saints washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. Psalm 51:7 says, “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” [Pour “Jesus” cup into “you” cup.]
3. But, while “sin” makes you unclean, stained scarlet, “sin” has no effect on “Jesus.” God cannot sin. He never becomes unclean. God is never even tempted by evil (James 1:13). [Pour some of the “sin” cup into the “Jesus” cup.]
4. Even more than that, there is coming a time when Jesus will deal with sin forever- the Day of Atonement!. Because the wages of sin is death, and death will be swallowed up in victory (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:54; Revelation 21:4-5), there will be no more sin. Jesus will conquer sin forever. [Pour “Jesus” cup into “sin” cup.]
When one sinner repents, there is joy before the angels of God. It’s not only one more person who will be in God’s kingdom, it’s also a harbinger of a time when sin is dealt with forever, for all of humanity. It will be a time of great joy and rejoicing because there is no more sin, no more death, no more crying or mourning. There will be peace and love and joy. The Sovereignty of our God and of His Christ will be manifest everywhere. Nowhere will it be more profound than those sin-stained garments which are washed whiter than snow.
[You can watch a youtube video of this demonstration at https://youtu.be/sc3-Vmnt9w0]
Sabbath, October 24th
Peaceful, Secure, Quiet
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18
Materials needed: lots of different containers, pouches, packaging
Just a quick survey of your house reveals your possessions and how you keep them. On my desk is a box of kleenexes, a bottle of eye glass cleaner, a zippered pouch with a car phone charger, a glass container for pens and pencils, a tape dispenser, a stapler, a box of note papers, a CD etc. Once I’ve used all the kleenexes, the box is thrown away. Once the tape is used up, the dispenser no longer has any value. Once the stapler is empty, it is not useful. Once the eye glass cleaner bottle is empty, I throw it away. In each case, it’s what’s inside that is valuable. And because it is valuable, I want to keep it safe.
In a similar way, God is has a place for His people. Isaiah 32:18 says, “My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” Peaceful, secure, and quiet - that sounds very nice. In John 14:2-3, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Just like I have prepared a place to put my tape, eye glass cleaner, kleenexes, etc. because they are valuable to me - I need them, I use them - Jesus is preparing a place for those who belong to Him because we are valuable to Him.
It’s also interesting to look at the places where my things are. It wouldn’t work to try to keep the tape in the eye glass cleaner bottle. It wouldn’t work to keep the eye glass solution in the CD case. It wouldn’t work to put the phone charger in my stapler. Each place has been specifically designed for the item it holds and protects. In a similar way, God is preparing a place for each of us in His kingdom, a place especially suited for our talents and abilities, a place that has my name on it or your name on it.
And Isaiah tells us that it will be peaceful and secure and quiet. That sounds heavenly right about now. 😉
Sabbath, October 31st
Like Nails Firmly Fixed
The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. Ecclesiastes 12:11
Materials: nails, hammers, small pieces of wood (When you let the little ones hammer nails into the wood, warn them about hitting their fingers!!!)
Have you ever decided you need to hang a picture on the wall? After finding the perfect picture, you have to figure out where to hang it and then go find the nail and hammer. I usually try my junk drawer first, to see if I can find a good nail. Hmmm. Well, sometimes I can’t find exactly what I had in mind, but I reason that the nail I find will be good enough. The next task is to put the nail in the wall. Have you ever noticed that the studs are not necessarily centered on the wall? Sometimes you’re just going to hang a small picture and the drywall will provide enough support. Other times, the picture (or mirror or shelf) is much too heavy for just a nail in drywall. You really need to find a stud in the wall to provide enough support.
That’s what God’s laws are like. All of God’s words, His decrees, His judgments, His ordinances, His laws - they are like nails firmly fixed into the stud. What a great mental image this gives us!! We, you and I who love God, who follow the Shepherd, are like that picture to be hung on the wall. We want the support. We want to be secure where we live. Solomon gives us a great mental image of just how secure we are, if we are resting our lives, everything we do and everything we are, on God’s words, His laws.
Think about what happens when the nail is not firmly fixed. At some point, that picture (or shelf, or mirror) is in a precarious position. If the house is shaken by a storm or earthquake, the picture will fall. If we try to rest our lives on something other than God’s law, we are in danger of being broken. Our anchor, our foundation will not hold when we encounter storms and difficulties, if we’re relying on anything other than God and His ways, His words, His laws.
How firm is your foundation? How secure is your anchor? How fixed is your nail?
Sabbath, November 7th
A Stitch in Time
but wisdom helps one to succeed. Ecclesiastes 10:10
Materials: a sock/jeans with a hole; a string, matches, a pile of flammable items; a songbook/three-ring binder and hole reinforcers (other items that can be fixed more easily if done sooner rather than later)
Living in Missouri near the Missouri River and Mississippi River bottoms, we have seen what happens when people see a problem coming, but fail to take care of the problem while it is still small. The levees along these two big rivers are a prime example. Inspectors knew that the levees needed repair and reinforcement. When the levees didn’t receive the attention they needed, they were breached during spring flooding, costing billions of dollars in damage to home, roads, and crops, etc. A similar thing occurred with the Taum Sauk Dam in southeastern MO. Inspectors knew it desperately needed repairs. The repairs would have been expensive, but the damage caused by the dam bursting was a whole lot more costly!
But you and I don’t have too much to do with levees and dams. That is, they are not our jurisdiction. No, I have things like my garden, my family’s clothing, and care of our property. I can apply the same idea of seeing something that needs to be done and the consequence of not doing it in my own life. If I know I need to go get the weeds out of the strawberry patch, and I neglect to do it when the weeds are small, I’m going to have a work a whole lot harder to get the weeds out. I may even lose my patch of strawberries and have to start all over again, building a new patch. Or, if one of my kids brings me a pair of socks to mend, I can either do it right then when the hole is small, or I can tell them to wear it again and I’ll fix it next time. Only . . . the next time, that sock can be a lot harder to fix because the hole is much larger! Or I can see that one of my pages is starting to come out of a songbook. If I don’t take the time to fix the page, I can end up losing that page. That’s not a good thing!!!
Benjamin Franklin’s adage was “A stitch in time saves nine.” If you see a problem developing, take care of it right then before it’s a big problem. If you don’t take care of it while it’s small, it will be a lot harder to take care of once it’s bigger. This is just one application of this statement in Ecclesiastes, “but wisdom helps one to succeed.” It is wise to mend a sock while its hole is small. It is wise to pull the weeds out of the garden while they are small - so you don’t damage the plants you want to grow. It is wise to fix a loose page in a book before the page is lost completely. It is indeed wise to see trouble coming and head it off at the pass, so to speak.
And all of these physical occurrences should remind us that it is wise to recognize the sin in your life and deal with it immediately before it becomes a habit and is so much more difficult to eradicate from your life. (At this point, I set up the pile of flammables with a string leading from it. The kids were not quite sure whether I was going to light the string on fire or not.)
. . . wisdom helps one to succeed.
Sabbath, November 14th
Two Are Better Than One
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. Ecclesiastes 4:9
Materials: lazy susan
My favorite glider rocker also has a lazy susan so that it can swivel. A month or so ago, it stopped swiveling. So I turned my chair upside down to investigate. What I found was that the lazy susan had been constructed with a combination of plastic and ball bearings. This means that there were fewer ball bearings doing all the work - and when dog hair and dust bunnies tried to hide under my chair, they got caught and gummed up the works, so to speak. I could have taken all of the plastic out, but then there wouldn’t have been enough ball bearings to carry the load.
I couldn’t help thinking about what a great illustration this is of Ecclesiastes 4:9! Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. So many times in my life, whatever task I was trying to accomplish was so much more easily and speedily accomplished when I had someone working with me - everything from hanging drywall, to picking wild grapes, to repainting the house, to designing curriculum. There’s a principle here that the synergism between two people creates more than the sum of the parts creates. That means if I work with someone else, I can hang more drywall than I can working by myself here and my friend working by herself over there. We can get more accomplished, in less time, with less combined effort, and do a better job - if we work together!
Anyone who has had a huge project (or even a small project) knows this is true. We’ve experienced it - over and over. So why don’t we work together more often? Maybe because we don’t communicate our willingness to help someone else; maybe because we don’t communicate our need. Maybe we are too stubborn and independent to ask for help. Maybe we don’t want to be a problem or a burden to someone else.
But, in the end, it becomes so obviously clear: we need one another. We need the help and the encouragement that each of us has the ability to give to one another. We need to build those bonds of friendship in love - and if there’s enough of us working together to accomplish a goal, it will go so much more smoothly, in a shorter amount of time, to the glory of God.
And my chair. We bought a new lazy susan and replaced the old one. It has no plastic and many, many more ball bearings. In this age of division and contention, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I get to sit in my chair every day and think about about how Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
Sabbath, November 21st
Sweet Like Honey
Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: Proverbs 24:14
Materials: honey, spoons, slices of lemon
Have you ever eaten a handful of SweetTarts? Most people kinda like the sweet and sour combination. But what if it was just sour? Not many of us will overeat on lemons. Oh we like a little bit of the sour. We might enjoy the pucker of the sour, but I don’t know anyone who intentionally eats another not-quite-ripe persimmon after having inadvertently eaten one. The sour sets our teeth on edge. It upsets our stomach. It puckers our mouth. And in the case of persimmons, it puts hair on our teeth. But honey? Oh, people have gone to war over a honey tree. Seriously! Look up the honey war in northeast Missouri from 1839. According to Wikipedia, Before the issue was settled, militias from both sides faced each other at the border, a Missouri sheriff collecting taxes in Iowa was incarcerated, and three trees containing beehives were cut down. [The border dispute] was ultimately decided by the United States Supreme Court in Iowa's favor.
Solomon uses a very vivid simile (wisdom is like honey) so that we can get a glimpse of how important wisdom is. It’s valuable. It tastes good. It’s desirable. He even says in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” When you recognize that God is sovereign, He is overall and in control, then you begin to show Him the respect and honor that He deserves. And, Solomon says, that’s just the beginning of wisdom.
So why is there so much emphasis placed on wisdom and getting wisdom? It must be that people don’t like wisdom. They prefer to muddle along ignorant and stupid. (Only in Missouri are those terms synonymous; in most other places, there is a distinction.) Why would people not desire wisdom? Don’t they understand that wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; that it makes life work more smoothly? It doesn’t make sense! So the Proverbs are full of statements about wisdom: Wisdom helps you live longer (Proverbs 3:16); wisdom is more valuable than rubies, jewels, or gold (Proverbs 3:14-15; 8:11; 16:16;); wisdom gives insight, honor, wealth, justice, and righteousness (Proverbs 18:12-21). Solomon goes to great lengths to earnestly entreat us to diligently seek to gain wisdom.
In the end, perhaps the most powerful appeal is to our taste: wisdom is like honey. In this case, it’s a very good practice to acquiesce to, and even indulge, our sweet tooth!
Sabbath, November 28th
Imitate God
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Ephesians 5:1
Materials: objects from which you can take a rubbing, crayons
Have you ever made a rubbing of anything? It’s fun to rub coins. Sometimes that’s the only way to figure out what is actually on the coin because the coin is so faded. It’s also very interesting to make rubbings of grave stones. Some of those stones have become so weathered that they are unreadable to your eyes, so the rubbings can show what you otherwise can’t see! They also make rubbing plates that kids can rub and then color in. It’s actually pretty cool: you can get just an outline, or basic, idea if you rub really lightly. If you press a little harder, you get a better rubbing. It’s just an impression of the plate; it’s not really the plate, but you get an idea of what the plate looks like if you are careful to do a very good rubbing.
This “rubbing” effect happens with people too. Ever have a friend that you really like and suddenly you find yourself using the phrases they use. Jennifer came home from Aunt Tricia’s house last summer saying “Tricky.” Even if I hadn’t known she’d spent time with Tricia, I’d have known just by that one word. The more we spend time with people, the more we become like them. We pick up their words as well as their good habits and their bad habits. That’s especially true with children who are watching the adults in their lives and imitating them.
Isn’t that the way it is with God too? The closer we get to Him, the more we can become like Him. If you spend time with God (in prayer, Bible study, meditation, fasting), you find out that you are amazed and humbled by His goodness and you find that you really like Him and want to spend more time with Him. If you begin to desire to spend more time with Him, you become more like Him. And if you seek Him with all your heart, He promises that He will be found by you (Jeremiah 29:13). In the end, when you like God, like what He does, want to spend time with Him, want to be like Him, you become an imitator of who He is.
I guess you could say He rubs off on you. And children, it’s a good thing to be an imitator of your Father!
Sabbath, December 5th
Who Do You Belong To?
The Lord knows those who are his, 2 Timothy 2:19
Materials: wrapped box for each child with toy inside
Suppose there’s a pile of wrapped boxes on the table. You get to choose any one of them. Which do you choose? You’re only able to look at the outside. But once you choose a box and open it, you get to see what’s inside. But if you open the box and take the object inside out, how will you know which thing is yours and which belongs to the person next to you? Silly question! We employ our powers of visual acuity and discrimination to catalog the differences between mine and his. After all, we have a certain proprietary feeling towards those things which belong to us; we want to make sure that we hold on to our stuff!
But what if you don’t like it - for whatever reason - and you don’t want it? Do you claim it as yours? Maybe long enough to pick it up and throw it in the trash or give it to someone else. But you don’t treat it as a treasured possession.
God has treasured possessions. Malachi 3:16-18 is one place which talks about those who love God, who fear and honor Him, who are righteous. God says those people are His treasured possession and he will care for them. I definitely want to be among the people that God says are His!!!
So, how do you come to love, fear, and honor God and to do what is right? Because Romans 6:17 says that God’s people used to be slaves to sin. We were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13), and dead people are notorious for not being able to do anything. We couldn’t release ourselves from our slavery from sin. We were slaves! It was totally a work of God to call us (2 Tim 1:9), to choose us (John 6:44), and to redeem us from slavery to sin (1 Peter 1:18). Just like the boxes are powerless to choose you, so people do not choose God. They are powerless to break out of their slavery to sin. In fact, they don’t want to: Romans 8:7 says the carnal mind is hostile and an enemy to God.
But once God chooses us and saves us through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we show that we are a new creation in Christ by obeying God’s commandments out of love and reverence and gratitude to Him (1 Peter 1:14-15). We speak God’s love language: obedience. (John 14:15). And if we are obeying God, walking according to His standards, proclaiming His ways through our words and actions, then we may call ourselves Christians. We can accurately and appropriately take the name of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine one of those toys - let’s say one that you don’t like and would never claim - writing your name on it? To people who see that toy, they’ll associate you with it because your name is on that toy! Is it true? No! You’d never be caught dead with that toy. In a similar way, it should make you stop and carefully consider your words and your actions before you tell people around you that you are a Christian, that you belong to God. Are you showing honor and reverence and obedience to God? If you think it’s okay to break God’s commandments and still call yourself a Christian, you are not speaking God’s love language. In fact, you are dishonoring the One who made you and saves you. And that is a serious thing!
The Lord knows those who are his.
December 12th
A Good Steward
Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; Ezekiel 34:18
Materials: a small jar of water, a gallon jug of water, cups; jar of buttons; bag of candy
When my kids were little and the blueberry bushes were likewise small, we’d get a few blueberries every year. When we’d go out to pick, the kids were insistent that I equally divide the blueberries between everyone in the family. So I’d get out containers and carefully count out all the blueberries. Each person might get 10 or 20, but it was always just a small mouthful. Now, we pick about a quart every other day for a couple of months. When the kids pick blueberries with me now, I let them eat as many as they want straight off the bush.
When there is a very little amount of something, we are very careful to use it wisely. But when there is an abundance of something, we tend to be less careful with how we use it. If I have a small jar of water (or buttons or candy) to split between all of the people in the room, I’m going to be very careful not to spill even a single drop. If there’s lots of water, we tend to not care if some spills or everyone gets different amounts.
But God cares.
Think about when Jesus fed the 5000 with two fish and five loaves, there were 12 basketfuls left over. Jesus told them to pick up what was left. “When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted’ ” (John 6:12). It was just bread. They’d started with 5 loaves. Would it have mattered if there were pieces left over? We might not have thought so, but it mattered to Jesus.
So how does this work in your life? One very concrete example happens every day. We are blessed by God with an abundance of food - at home and at potluck at church. Take what you want to eat. Eat as much as you want. But don’t take more than you’re going to eat. You can always go back and get more. If, however, you put a bunch on your plate and you don’t eat it, it just gets thrown into the trash. You might pass it off that it’s just food and we have a lot - that it doesn’t matter. But it matters to God (Ezekiel 34:18; John 6:12).
But maybe God is talking about more than bread and pasture. Maybe it’s a message of comfort that God knows those who are His and He will not miss a single one of us when He gathers His people. (Deuteronomy 30:3; Matthew 24:31)
Sabbath, December 19th
That Stinks!
Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; Ecclesiastes 10:1
Materials: juice, a dead fly, little cups
Ever heard the saying, “There’s a fly in the ointment”? Did you know that it comes from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 10:1? We think of this phrase meaning that there’s some little thing which is ruining our perfect scenario, but the phrase actually has just a little different twist than that. The whole verse from Ecclesiastes says this: Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. It’s not that we have a little problem; we have a little thing which ruins it all. A little, stupid thing can outbalance wisdom and honor - completely!
Suppose I pour a glass of pear juice. I worked hard to make this pear juice: picked the pears, peeled and shred the pears, canned the pears. This is from a jar of pears I canned in 2014. There’s years going into this pear juice. So suppose I add a fly. I have ruined the whole glass. I’m not drinking that! In the large scheme of the universe, this is just a little thing because I can wash out my glass and refill it with something else. So what we’re really talking about is doing some stupid thing which ruins everything - maybe like spending all day long cleaning the house for your mom and then throwing the ball in the house (which you KNOW you’re not supposed to do) and it breaks her favorite vase or her laptop! It now no longer really matters that you worked so hard all day long. You’ve ruined it by doing some stupid thing that just wiped out hours of work in a split second.
People do this all the time. They spend years going to school, getting a good job, finding the right person they want to marry - and then they throw it all away because they decide to drive home intoxicated, or they flirt with a coworker, or they run a stop sign and hit another car. Oh, there are lots of stupid things that we do which outweigh the years of work!
But I suppose one of the stupidest things we can do is to proclaim we’re a christian, work very hard at living a God-honoring life, studying, praying, preserving - and then one day, in a fit of selfishness, we do or say something which completely changes how people view us and our God. The most vivid example is King David. He took Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife) and then arranged to have Uriah killed. Nathan, the prophet, told David that he’d given the enemies of God great occasion to blaspheme. David’s actions didn’t just reflect on himself; they reflected on God because David claimed to worship and belong to God.
I can give you each a glass of pear juice with a dead fly in it. We might laugh and joke about how silly that is. But when you do or say something thoughtless which brings dishonor to God, that’s a true fly in the ointment. It just stinks!!
December 26, 2020
But a Mist
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14
Materials needed: a spray bottle of water
One morning a couple of weeks ago, we had a thick fog when I took the dogs out for their morning walk. The cat came along, too, just for fun. It was fun for me, at least, as I watched this long-haired cat daintily stepping, now leaping, along the path, trying to keep her feet from getting wet. When we finished our lap around the field, I picked her up. I expected her feet and her belly fur to be quite wet. And it was. What was not readily apparent until I picked her up was the amount of water all over her. In walking through the mist, she’d accumulated quite a bit! So we got out a towel and rubbed her mostly dry. It wasn’t as if she’d gone swimming in the pond. So she wasn’t soaked. But she was more wet than I wanted her to be, especially knowing her proclivity to sleeping on the couch while we are working on school work.
So think about the difference between a mist, a good steady rain, and a pond. The mist burns off quickly as the sun gets stronger. In a few hours, the cat could have walked all the way and not have had to suffer the indignity of being towel-dried. A steady rain would have soaked her to the skin in a matter of moments. She would have to have quite a bit of attention before she was allowed to roam freely in the house! And had she actually chosen to swim in the pond, she’d have found herself an outside cat for several more hours. A mist is just a little bit, not very significant, not long-lasting.
We would like to think that we are more important than a mist. We would like to think that when we are gone that we will be greatly missed (no pun intended). But in the large scheme of things, each person is really rather insignificant. In contrast, the Being Who is significant is our Eternal King, the Creator of the Universe. We only exist because He wills us to exist! He, Who spoke all things into existence, sustains all things by His will. So here’s the really cool part: I’m an insignificant mist, yet God loves me so much that He gave His Son to die for my sins that I can be adopted into the Family of God. God looked on an insignificant mist and made it significant because He said it is!
The next time you don’t think you’re very important, just remember that you are loved and fully known by our Great God - and He says you’re important to Him.
