January 2021
Sabbath, January 2, 2021 - For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing . . . Revelation 3:17 Abundance or Fruitfulness?
Sabbath, January 9, 2021 - For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice; , , , Zechariah 4:10 Don't Despise Small Things
Sabbath, January 16, 2021 - Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket . . . Matthew 5:15 Shine!
Sabbath, January 23, 2021 - Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 1 Peter 3:3 What Should You Wear?
Sabbath, January 30, 2021 - All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3
February
Sabbath, February 6th - church canceled - inclement weather
Sabbath, February 13th - . . . but blessed is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18 - Don't Let It Slip Through Your Fingers
Sabbath, February 20th - For certain people have crept in unnoticed . . . . Jude 1:4 - Crept in Unnoticed
Sabbath, February 27th - Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37 - What Are You Looking At?
March
Sabbath, March 6th - no sabbath class
Sabbath, March 13th - My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. , , , 1 John 2:1 (NIV) So You Will Not Sin
Sabbath, March 20th - You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. Psalm 89:9 (ESV) The Raging of the Sea
Sabbath, March 27th - Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.
Deuteronomy 33:25 (ESV) Bars of Iron and Bronze
April
Sabbath, April 3rd - . . a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) How Do You Handle God's Word?
Sabbath, April 10th - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:8 Missing the Mark
Sabbath, April 17th - O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9
Sabbath, April 24th - The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.
Proverbs 17:3
First Day of Unleavened Bread, Wednesday, April 28th - Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. Psalm 26:2
May
Sabbath, May 1st - You shall count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, Leviticus 23:16
Tuesday, May 4th - Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Hebrews 12:12
Sabbath, January 2, 2021
Abundance or Fruitfulness?
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, , , , Revelation 3:17
Materials: herb jars of homegrown dill, cilantro, coriander, mint
If you ever talk to an experienced gardener about planting dill, cilantro, or mint, they will strongly caution you about where you plant these three common plants. (I’m sure there are others!!) I remember my mom telling me, “You only have to plant dill once.” It comes back year after year. It’s very prolific. So is cilantro. To the inexperienced person, it seems like an overabundance of caution. What’s the big deal? You get lots of dill or mint or cilantro. So what? That may have been what the pilgrims on the Mayflower thought when they brought over dandelions to use for medicinal purposes! They would be shocked to find that today so many people work very hard to eradicate dandelions from their gardens and yards. Dandelions are considered weeds - a plant that comes up where you don’t want it! And that’s what happens, especially, with the cilantro and the dill. It comes up and takes over, choking out what you really wanted to grow.
Similarly, you’ve seen people work very hard to get their fruit trees to produce lots of fruit - only to find that the tree is so laden with fruit that the branches start breaking. If that happens, the fruit won’t mature on that branch. And if it’s a big enough branch that breaks, it can kill the tree! Or sometimes the tree is so laden with fruit that it overextends itself - and ends up dying even if the branches don’t break!! And sometimes the overabundance of one plant interferes with the fruitfulness of the plant next to it.
There are several lessons for us. First, abundance doesn’t necessarily mean fruitfulness. You can have an abundance of mint, dill, or dandelions. They could be considered a blessing. Sometimes things we consider blessings can take over your life, like weeds, and get in the way of other parts of your life that really need your attention. So be careful of the projects you undertake.
Secondly, be careful about taking on a project that sounds good, but it saps all of your time and energy so that you can’t do other things that have to be done. Sometimes we think we’re doing a Godly work, but we neglect to ask God for His wisdom and direction first. We find ourselves worn out, doing something which we end up realizing God didn’t want us to do in the first place. Like a tree whose branches are broken or a bush that has overextended itself, we can get to the end of a project with no energy left for what is truly valuable.
The Laodiceans thought they were rich and had an abundance! And physically, perhaps they did. But they were not rich in the ways God wanted them to be. We can think we are rich and are producing an abundance of fruit. Yet, in reality, we have an overabundance of something which does not benefit us or the people around us. In fact, it’s detrimental!! And it doesn’t bring glory to God.
Sabbath, January 9th
Don’t Despise Small Things
For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice; , , , Zechariah 4:10
Materials: small round rock, mustard seed, a match, word
People tend to overlook small things. When you see a small round rock, what Bible story does it bring to mind? Do you think of Goliath, a giant of a man, defying the armies of the living God? Or do you think of God using David, his sling, and a small round stone to gain a victory (1 Samuel 17:50)?
What about a mustard seed, a tiny mustard seed? What did Jesus say about a mustard seed? If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains (Matthew 17:20)! It seems incredible that if we truly had that much faith - a little tiny bit - we could do great things to bring glory and honor to God.
We could talk about God using Gideon’s 300 men to defeat an army of Midianites and Amalekites that were like locusts or the sand on the seashore as to number (Judges 7:12). We could talk about Jesus blessing and breaking the five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14) and feeding 5000 men.
What do all of these small things have in common? They all were small things that God used: the rock in the hand of David, a mustard seed faith in the heart of a believer, a small group of men defeating the foes of God’s people, and a boy’s lunch in the hands of Jesus. Each of these small things brought glory and honor to God.
Another small thing is a match. When you see a match, do you think of how “it only takes a spark to get a fire going?” It’s amazing how a little tiny match can start a pile of leaves or brush on fire. Such a tiny thing that you could easily smash and destroy has the power to create a blazing wildfire. James (chapter 3) makes the comparison between a tiny spark of fire and the power of our words. Our words have the power to tear down and they have the power to heal. Such a small thing - a word, a small comment, a smile or an insult, a harsh word, and a frown. What incredible power there is for good or for evil in the small things we do and say.
In Zechariah 4:10 God was comforting His people who had seen the magnificence of Solomon’s temple. The temple which was being built by Ezra after the people were brought back from captivity in Babylon was a small and pitiful temple in comparison. But God told them not to look down on the day of small things. It was a beginning. It might have looked small. But God often does great things with small things. And eventually, they would rejoice!
Sometimes we think that our actions don’t matter. We are rather insignificant. But God often takes the insignificant and uses it for His glory. If you are willing to be used of God, if you make it your goal and habit to act in a godly manner, if you trust God with all of your heart, He can take your words and deeds and use them in a very powerful way. But make a start today. Start reading His word, so you know what pleases Him. Start praying to Him. Start spending time thinking about His ways. Make a start. And don’t despise the day of small things. God doesn’t.
Sabbath, January 16th
Shine!
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket . . . Matthew 5:15
Materials: candle, matches, bowl or flashlight and basket
We all know how silly it would be to light a candle and then put it under a bowl so that it won’t give its light. If you put the candle under the bowl, what will happen to the candle? Eventually, it will burn all of the oxygen available and it will go out. How silly to light a candle just to let it go out - and be of no use to anyone at all. This statement presupposes that we need the light. It’s dark and we can’t see; we need the light. So we light a candle. Then what do we do with the candle? We hold it up, or put it up high enough so it can shine its light so we can see.
We know that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 1:4-9; John 8:12). So it should not be surprising to find scriptures in the Old Testament that would point to this reality. For instance, the lampstand which was in the tabernacle was to be tended by the priests from evening to morning; it was not allowed to go out (Exodus 27:21). John 1:5 tells us that Jesus, the Light, shines in the darkness. Also, this lamp stand had 22 almond flowers on it - the same number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1). He is the Word and the Light which illuminates our path.
And there are other references to light - very comforting and encouraging references:
Micah 7:8 - Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Psalm 27:1 - The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 18:28 - You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
And then there’s this very important scripture in Matthew 5:14; Jesus tells His disciples that they are the light of the world. Then He tells them that people don’t light a lamp and put it under a basket.
If you are a follower, a disciple, of Jesus Christ then Jesus has called you the light of the world. You are to be giving glory and honor to God in everything you do - especially as the world around you grows more dark. If the world were full of light, your light wouldn’t be seen - or as desperately needed. But in an ever-increasingly darkening world, your light is more important than ever. We each need to make sure that we’re following in the footsteps of Jesus, the Light of the world, that we can likewise spread His light to people who desperately need hope; they desperately need the Savior; they need Light.
However, it's not only people who don’t know our God who need your light; God’s people need the encouragement too. There’s a stanza in a song: I will hold the Christlight for you in the nighttime of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear. We each rely on the light of our brothers and sisters in Christ to endure and persevere, to stay the course. We need the light!!
Especially now, don’t hide your light under a basket. Let it shine!!
Sabbath, January 23rd
What Should You Wear?
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 1 Peter 3:3
Materials: pins, necklaces, paper crowns, etc.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s like putting lipstick on a pig?” That’s a very evocative mental picture which illuminates how little outward dressing really impacts the character, integrity, and behavior of the pig. That is, just because you put lipstick on a pig doesn’t mean the pig won’t go wallow in the mud. The pig still grunts and squeals when he eats. And he shovels his food around as he roots around for the “best” slop. It wouldn’t matter if the pig were wearing a diamond necklace or a royal robe. The pig would still do what pigs do by nature.
In a very similar way, what we do reflects who we are, truly, on the inside. It really doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about a big rough-looking man or a tiny, frail little old lady. That’s just the outside. They could be wearing raggedy clothes with more holes than not holes. Or they could be wearing the most expensively tailored suits money can buy. The outward appearance really doesn’t tell you anything about the relationship the person has with God, how much he loves truth, how she treats animals, and so on.
So Peter tells his readers not to put so much time thinking about the outward appearance - braiding your hair, wearing gold jewelry or expensive clothing. In reality, we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, what people see when they look at us should be the actions they’d expect to see from a follower of Jesus. We should stand for truth and justice, love and kindness, mercy and compassion, respect and humility.
So, does that mean your appearance doesn’t matter at all? No! Our outward appearance, whether we are clean and neat, speaks volumes to the people around us. It tells them whether you’re a good steward of what God has given you. It tells them that you are diligent in your responsibilities - like staying clean and neat. And especially when we come to church, we dress in our best clothes, not to impress the people in our church family, but as an outward expression of the respect we have for our Holy God. He deserves our best: our best clothes, our best attention, our best thoughts, our best actions. He is God. He is our God, and what we wear reflects on Him when we wear His name.
We need to think carefully about what we wear - both physical clothes and our actions. We are showing our love and reverence for God. And we are representing Him to the people around us. Let’s not act like a bunch of pigs wearing lipstick.
Sabbath, January 30th
All Things
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3
Materials: miscellaneous homemade items - jellies, sewing projects, poems, drawings
Most people like to accomplish tasks. Not only is it nice to have it over, it’s also makes you feel good to have reached a goal. Finishing a task, completing a project, reaching the end of a book - it doesn’t matter whether it’s installing a new window, painting a room (or a picture), or any myriad of the things we find to do; when it’s done, we feel good about it.
We often talk about what we have done or made. I have made (crocheted) more than a dozen blankets over the past seven years. I’ve made three quilts, numerous bookmarks and bags. Just this week I sewed a dust cover for my dehydrator. I’ve canned hundreds of jars of produce from my garden. I’ve made a lot of things that I’m proud of.
But John 1:3 says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
So did I not make these things? No, not really. I may have taken the materials and arranged them into a different order. But I didn’t create the materials. I didn’t make the cotton plants. I didn’t make the soil in which the cotton plants grow. I didn’t make the water or the nutrients. I didn’t make the sun.
What about a calculator? That’s obviously manmade, right? Well, maybe the materials were arranged into a specific order by people, but where did the raw materials come from? Where did the metal come from? Where did the plastic come from? All of the building blocks that we, as humans, take and form into something new still had to be created (made) by God.
There isn’t anything that you can see that wasn’t made by God. God created everything. He’s the One who designed it all to work, to obey all of the rules He designed. (We call them rules of nature, but they’re God’s rules.)
There’s an old joke: Some scientists get together and they tell God that they’ve figured out how to create living things out of dirt, so they don’t need God any more. God tells them to get their own dirt.
I appreciate that joke - because when you trace everything back, everything, absolutely everything starts with God. And then when you have the basic building blocks, God’s the One who gives life. God’s the One who gives the intellect and reasoning to figure out how to combine the things He’s made. God’s the One who gives us the will to accomplish a goal. God is the Creator and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
We can be proud of our accomplishments - as long as we remember that we’re just rearranging what God has created. To Him belongs all glory and honor and praise!!
Sabbath, February 13th
Don't Let It Slip Through Your Fingers
. . . but blessed is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18
Materials: rulers
Have you ever checked your reflexes trying to catch a ruler dropped between your fingers? Someone holds the ruler between your first finger and thumb. They don’t tell you when they’re going to let go of the ruler. You have to react quickly enough to catch the ruler. Having done this with my fourth graders over the years, one thing becomes very apparent: if you know something is coming, you start anticipating. Many of the students completely missed the ruler the first time. But it didn’t take very long before they were catching it very quickly. They were no longer letting the ruler slip through their fingers.
Reading Proverbs 29:18 brought back the memories of the ruler reaction experiment, The first half of this proverbs is translated several different ways:
Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; (NIV)
Where there is no vision, the people perish (KJV)
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, (ESV)
Without guidance from God law and order disappear, (Contemporary English Version)
In other words, when there is no revelation from God, when the people don’t know what God is doing (now and future), when they don’t see God’s guidance - something happens: the people cast off restraint, they perish, law and order disappear. The phrase that is translated “cast off restraint” literally means that the people ignore an opportunity, they dismiss, they lose something. So putting both phrases together, you could restate it this way: When you don’t have a vision for God’s ways in your life, you let His ways slip through your fingers. God’s laws don’t seem important because you don’t look for His purpose and plan.
Now this makes perfect sense because this proverb, like many of them, is a contrasting proverb. The first half is the opposite of the second. And we know it’s a contrasting proverb because of the word “but” which starts the second phrase.
Check it out. Is the first phrase of “When you don’t have a vision for God’s ways in your life, you let His ways slip through your fingers” the opposite of the second phrase of “but blessed is he who keeps the law”? Yes. They are opposites!! If you let God’s laws slip through your fingers, life will not work well. But if you keep God’s laws, you will be blessed; life will work well. And! As you keep God’s laws, you acquire more and more understanding of His ways. Pretty soon you don’t want to let any of God’s ways slip through your fingers!
Sabbath, February 20th
Crept in Unnoticed
. . . For certain people have crept in unnoticed . . . Jude 1:4
Materials: paper, pencil, quarter (HAS to be a quarter)
I remember the first time that my older brother pulled this gag on me: First, challenge your mark (pun intended, as you will see) that they can’t roll a quarter down their nose while keeping three fingers in circles on the piece of paper. Once they’ve accepted the challenge, draw dark circles with the pencil around the quarter - making reasonably spaced circles for their fingers. Then with one hand, they pick up the quarter and roll it down their nose. Because it’s a quarter, it will have picked up graphite from the pencil. As they roll the quarter down their nose, the graphite will leave a nice mark all the way down. (Of course, I don’t plan to run the quarter down the children’s noses. We’ll run the quarter across the paper.) The point is this: a great deal of distraction was employed to achieve an outcome that they didn’t even see coming, literally! For my brother, it was a trick to have me walking around the house with marks on my face without even realizing it, so that he could laugh at me.
It’s a prank.But it does tend to illuminate the idea that if someone wants to pull something over on you, they’re going to try to do it when you aren’t paying attention. If they’re afraid you might be paying attention, they’ll employ some sort of distraction to get your attention somewhere else.
So when Jude says that certain people have crept in unnoticed - ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ - there are two possibilities. Either God’s people didn’t care enough about the faith that had been delivered to them to pay close attention to people who were coming in, or they were distracted by other things in their lives. In either case, Jude tells them to earnestly contend for the faith - in other words, the good news of Jesus Christ is worth paying attention to, it’s worth studying and meditating on so that you can give a solid reason for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus! Knowing what God’s word says is important. It’s valuable. It’s worthy of your time and energy.
I once had the kids count how many Bibles we have in our home. Not counting the ones online that can be accessed with the click of a mouse, we had 40-some physical copies of the Bible! But just having the Bible isn’t enough. You have to read it, think about it, digest it, and know it so well that you can defend your beliefs that are based upon it. Otherwise, people can creep in unnoticed and get you to believe things that just aren’t so. Stay on your guard. Value the gift that God has given. Make it part of who you are!!!
Sabbath, February 27th
What Are You Looking At?
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37
Materials: coins
Have you ever asked yourself who gets to decide how much something is worth? What is a glass of water worth? Well, it depends on how thirsty you are and how many other people want that glass of water. How much is a car worth? Or a painting? Or a book? In our society today, the value of an item depends upon how many people really want that item. It’s a crazy thing, really!!
Have you ever been to an auction? If there’s a really good turnout at an auction, the seller may do very well because people decide they really want an item and they’ll keep bidding until they get it - even if it’s not really worth that much. But if there are not too many people there, you can pick up items for a song! I went to one auction the summer I got my first teaching job. To the dismay of the seller, there was a bigger auction going on a couple of blocks away. I was able to purchase a bedroom set, pots and pans, a crockpot, etc, for next to nothing. There just wasn’t anyone bidding against me to drive up the price. Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
But what about money? That has a value, right? Actually, our money is supposed to have value, but once the government decided to take us off the gold and silver standard, our money isn’t stable. Even our coins are suspect. Did you know that it costs almost twice as much as a penny is worth to make it? And a nickel costs over half again as much as its worth to make. But we believe a penny is worth one cent, and as long as everybody agrees, our system keeps limping along.
But this verse in Psalm 119:37 gives a little different perspective. The second half of the verse says, “and give me life in your ways.” What is really valuable? God’s ways because they bring life. We want life, not death. We want good things and fun things and pleasant things. But here’s the kicker: some things are worthless. That is, they will not aid you at all in seeking God’s ways and finding life. And! the psalmist makes this point: I may not know what is worthless; I may have become beguiled by what everyone around me says is valuable! I may not even realize that what I’m looking at will not bring life; in fact, it will bring death.
This verse is really a prayer. The psalmist is acknowledging that he doesn’t always realize that he’s looking at something worthless, spending time on something that is not only not profitable; it actually could be harmful. Then he asks that God will turn his eyes away from looking at worthless things. The implication is then that God will turn the psalmist’s eyes towards those things which bring life, aka God’s ways.
It is a good idea to be aware of what has your attention and how valuable it really is. But it’s also very important to realize that God’s determination of what’s valuable is really the only true standard. May He turn our eyes toward life.
Sabbath, March 13th
So That You Will Not Sin
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. , , , 1 John 2:1 (NIV)
Materials: apple, banana, grapes; can of mandarin oranges, pineapple, cherry pie filling; frozen blueberries, strawberries, cantaloup; pecans
What happens when Mom or Dad tell you to do something and you disobey? There are consequences, aren’t there!! Sometimes it’s a swat. Sometimes it’s time out. Sometimes it’s no tv or being grounded. Sometimes it’s just Mom and Dad are mad at you. And as you get older, having Mom and Dad mad at you is worse than any other punishment. Or actually, it is worse when Mom and Dad are disappointed in you. If you are blessed to have this kind of relationship with your parents, then you have a much better understanding of how serious it is to disobey God, aka sin. There are consequences. Sometimes it’s a physical consequence, a punishment. Sometimes it’s knowing that God is mad at me, or, worse yet, disappointed in me. I don’t even like to think about that!!!
So when John writes that he scribed this letter to God’s people so that they would not sin, it is something to pay attention to. This whole passage is a great encouragement to obey God to the best of our ability, but to know that if we fail, if we make a mistake, Jesus Christ is there to forgive us when we repent. Then He restores our relationship with the Father. There might still be a consequence, but God is not alienated from us anymore.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had something you could do to encourage God’s people not to sin?! Oh, but there is!!! Hebrews 10:24-25 says that we need to think about how to spur one another on to love and good works and to encourage one another. We definitely do have something we can do to help one another. Maybe it’s a phone call. Maybe it’s making a card or drawing a picture. Maybe it’s a hug or a smile on sabbath. Sometimes just being at church is a great encouragement to the church family. We miss each one of you when you’re not here.
We are a family, the Lord’s army, a team. And a team, a family, an army works best when they work together. Here’s what that looks like: Let’s say I have an apple. An apple is good, but it doesn’t make a fruit salad. So let’s add a banana. That’s good! Now we have crunch and tangy along with smooth and subtle. Hmm. Let’s add some sweet - like a can of mandarin oranges. How about a complement of chunks of pineapple. We need something small and round for texture and color - how about some frozen blueberries. Let’s add some frozen strawberries and frozen chunks of cantaloup. Now we need a can of cherry pie filling. The filling will coat the apples and keep them from turning brown, even while it ties all the fruit together. Oh, and let’s add some nuts. Every team needs someone who nuts. Each one of these pieces in the fruit salad has a role in making the fruit salad stronger, more appealing, more able to be the best fruit salad it can be. Alone each ingredient is good, but together, it’s better.
In the same way, we can come alongside our church family and help to make each person stronger. Spend some time this week thinking about how you can encourage our church family, so they will be stronger in the Lord to do His will, so they will not sin.
Sabbath, March 20th
The Raging of the Sea
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. Psalm 89:9 (ESV)
Materials: bottles of water, buoyant objects which fit into bottle
It doesn’t take long in this world for most of us to feel like we’re a tiny person caught in a maelstrom that we didn’t cause, that we didn’t want, and that we didn’t see coming. There’s a good reason people call them “storms of life.” It can feel like everything is conspiring to pull you under so that you’ll drown. And honestly, sometimes it feels very much like those waves are getting higher and higher with the sole, malevolent intention of swamping your boat, beating you under, dragging you down.
It’s much like putting a tiny figurine into a water bottle and then trying to keep it under the water all the time. You can turn the bottle end over end. You can shake it violently. You can spin it like a top. Or maybe you let everything calm down and then hit the bottle with a surprise attack.
But for those who belong to Jesus Christ, we have to keep our eyes on Him, not on the waves, not on the trouble, not on the tempest around us. We look to Him for strength, provision, and protection. God takes care of us. That’s His job and we don’t get to tell Him how to do His job. We have our own job: giving glory and honor and praise to Him regardless of our circumstances.
*** The Hebrew slave girl of Naaman’s wife (We don’t even know her name!!) trusted God enough, even as a captive in a foreign country, to tell Naaman’s wife that God could heal him of his leprosy.
*** Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. He refused to disobey God. Instead he trusted him - to go to him for the interpretation of the dreams and then to give God the glory for the interpretation.
*** Daniel was a captive in a foreign country - but he refused to obey the kind’s edict and continued his habit of praying three times a day to God, regardless of the storm that would cause in his life, i.e. being thrown into the lions’ den.
There are so many stories of Godly people whose circumstances were less than perfect, but they demonstrated their belief and trust in God through their actions, bringing glory and honor to Him, praising God through those actions.
Yes, sometimes it feels like the storms of life are bigger than we are. Sometimes it feels like we are in a hopeless situation. That’s when it’s time to praise God. I like to do it in song. It could be a song like “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” or it could be “We Won’t Be Shaken” (by Building 429) or “Even If” (by MercyMe), “Hills and Valleys” (Tauren Wells), “Sparrows” (Jason Grey), or so many others. The reality is we serve the great God who can still the raging waves in our lives.
Sabbath, March 27th
Bars of Iron and Bronze
Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be. Deuteronomy 33:25 (ESV)
Materials: box lid, string/yarn, spaghetti, popsicle sticks, straws, metal bolts
Let’s suppose we have a model of a country. The country has a border wall around it for protection from wild animals and enemies. But we need a gate so we can get in and out. We still want to visit other countries. We still want to trade with them. We can’t completely block ourselves in. So we need a gate. What are we going to secure our gate with? We could use a nice strong cord. But if our enemies have a strong knife or if there’s a wildfire, that cord won’t last long. What about spaghetti? Well, that’s silly, right? At the first sight of rain, that spaghetti “bar” will be worthless. What about wood? Well, like the strong cord, wood can be cut or burned. What about plastic? It’s strong. But probably not strong enough. What about metal? If we make our gate and dead bolt (bar) out of metal, will it be strong enough to repel the danger?
This verse is part of a blessing pronounced by Moses on the tribe of Asher. Interestingly, Asher was along the northern border of Israel. So if Asher’s gates, and specifically, the bars securing the gates, were strong, the whole country was protected from enemies. In a sense, then, this was a blessing for all of Israel. And we know that it was a blessing of strength because of the parallel structure of the verse. The second half of the verse says, “As your days, so shall your strength be.” In other words, as long as you live, may your have the strength you need. So we know that the first half of the verse is also dealing with strength.
So then what happened? Israel was invaded by the Assyrians from the north. Didn’t they make their bars and gates out of iron and bronze? We don’t really know. But we do know that they turned away from something that is stronger than iron and bronze, something that could have protected them from any enemy. They turned away from God and His ways. They chose to follow pagan customs. So God allowed their enemies to overcome them.
Sometimes we worry about being strong enough to be protected from anything harmful. So what are you securing your gate with? Are you using spaghetti or cords? Are you using wood or metal? Notice that God still expected them to build with a strong material; don’t be stupid. Use the metal to build your gate and your bar. But then you follow God with all of your heart. He is our protection, our strong tower, our protection, our shield. In reality, if we don’t find our security in God, putting our trust even in iron and booze would be similar to trying to secure our gate with spaghetti.
Sabbath, April 3rd
How Do You Handle God’s Word?
. . . . a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
Materials: a hand-held fan, a box puzzle
Do you remember the first time you saw a fan folded up? Were you absolutely amazed when the lady snapped it open with a flick of her wrist? That fan, a combination of paper, wood, and glue, became a useful tool - when mere moments earlier, it was not helpful. Another apparently useless item is a puzzle box? It looks like a piece of decorative wood on a shelf. It seemingly does nothing but take up space and collect dust. But if you know how to open the box, it becomes a place to keep treasures.
I saw my fan the other day and couldn’t help thinking how well the fan illustrates this verse in 2 Timothy 2:15: a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
If we belong to God and we are His servants, then it logically follows that God has given us a job to do. We are to be witnesses of Him to the people around us. We are to make disciples of all nations. We are to spread the good news of the kingdom of God. Furthermore, God has given us a tool to accomplish that task: the Bible, the word of God, the word of truth.
So here’s the question: Do we handle that tool rightly? Do we use the Bible in the correct manner? That means believing it to be true, believing that it doesn’t contradict itself, that it means what it says and says what it means! We don’t take the Bible and add anything to it; we don’t add other people’s thoughts (other writings or books), we don’t add our own interpretations. We don’t pick and choose what we want to believe. We have to take all of the Bible, not just our favorite parts.
But just believing that God’s word is true isn’t enough. We have to know what the Bible says. That means we shouldn’t leave our Bible on the shelf and only read it on the Sabbath or when we need God’s help. We have to study it carefully, reading it diligently each day, seeking to understand what God’s telling us. Thankfully, those who belong to God have the Holy Spirit to help guide and illuminate God’s word so we can understand and apply the word of truth.
So we talked about the fan - how it’s a good object lesson of rightly handling God’s words. The puzzle box is also a good object lesson! Just as the puzzle box can hold treasures, so does the Bible. But you have to open the box to see the treasure, just as you have to open the Bible to find the treasures God has for you inside!
Here’s the bottom line: if you desire to know what God has said, so you open the Bible and read it, then you won’t be ashamed. Quite the contrary, in fact. God will bless you as you seek Him and His word of truth.
Sabbath, April 10th
Missing the Mark
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
Materials: marshmallows, popsicle catapults (https://academy.animaljam.com/posts/marshmallow-catapult)
There's something very compelling about hitting a target: darts, basketball, golf, skeet shooting, archery . . . and catapults come to mind! It takes skill to hit the bulls-eye consistently time after time. Who doesn’t like the call: nothing but net!! It has even become part of our language. If someone is describing something, we might say, “You nailed it” or “You hit that dead center.” The slang term of “right on” derives from the concept of having your sights right on the target. You are accurate.
Because we have this concept in our culture, it helps us enormously to understand the concept of sin. Literally, the word sin in the Greek means “missing the mark.” What a mental picture this creates for us!! Our desire is to hit the target, to hit dead center, to hit the mark. Nowhere is this more important than when we’re talking about obedience to God. We want our actions to be right on, to nail God’s commandments, to be on target with every one of our actions.
How do people get better at archery or catapulting? Practice. Attention to detail. Desire to hit the mark. The same applies to not sinning, aka obedience to God’s law. We practice. When we fail, we repent and we try again. We pay attention to the details, seeking out God’s will to do it exactly as He desires. And we earnestly desire to do what is right in God’s sight. If we have the desire, if we pay attention, and if we persevere, we may get closer to obedience and avoiding sinning (missing the mark). We also need God’s guidance - through the Holy Spirit and reading God’s word.
Some people miss the mark repeatedly, so they want to move the target. God doesn’t change; His laws don’t change. We cannot change the law just because we feel like it - and we cannot move the target just because we can’t hit it with our marshmallow catapult.
Read your Bible. Pay attention to what it says. And greatly desire to hit the mark!
Sabbath, January 2, 2021 - For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing . . . Revelation 3:17 Abundance or Fruitfulness?
Sabbath, January 9, 2021 - For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice; , , , Zechariah 4:10 Don't Despise Small Things
Sabbath, January 16, 2021 - Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket . . . Matthew 5:15 Shine!
Sabbath, January 23, 2021 - Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 1 Peter 3:3 What Should You Wear?
Sabbath, January 30, 2021 - All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3
February
Sabbath, February 6th - church canceled - inclement weather
Sabbath, February 13th - . . . but blessed is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18 - Don't Let It Slip Through Your Fingers
Sabbath, February 20th - For certain people have crept in unnoticed . . . . Jude 1:4 - Crept in Unnoticed
Sabbath, February 27th - Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37 - What Are You Looking At?
March
Sabbath, March 6th - no sabbath class
Sabbath, March 13th - My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. , , , 1 John 2:1 (NIV) So You Will Not Sin
Sabbath, March 20th - You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. Psalm 89:9 (ESV) The Raging of the Sea
Sabbath, March 27th - Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.
Deuteronomy 33:25 (ESV) Bars of Iron and Bronze
April
Sabbath, April 3rd - . . a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) How Do You Handle God's Word?
Sabbath, April 10th - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:8 Missing the Mark
Sabbath, April 17th - O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9
Sabbath, April 24th - The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.
Proverbs 17:3
First Day of Unleavened Bread, Wednesday, April 28th - Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. Psalm 26:2
May
Sabbath, May 1st - You shall count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, Leviticus 23:16
Tuesday, May 4th - Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Hebrews 12:12
Sabbath, January 2, 2021
Abundance or Fruitfulness?
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, , , , Revelation 3:17
Materials: herb jars of homegrown dill, cilantro, coriander, mint
If you ever talk to an experienced gardener about planting dill, cilantro, or mint, they will strongly caution you about where you plant these three common plants. (I’m sure there are others!!) I remember my mom telling me, “You only have to plant dill once.” It comes back year after year. It’s very prolific. So is cilantro. To the inexperienced person, it seems like an overabundance of caution. What’s the big deal? You get lots of dill or mint or cilantro. So what? That may have been what the pilgrims on the Mayflower thought when they brought over dandelions to use for medicinal purposes! They would be shocked to find that today so many people work very hard to eradicate dandelions from their gardens and yards. Dandelions are considered weeds - a plant that comes up where you don’t want it! And that’s what happens, especially, with the cilantro and the dill. It comes up and takes over, choking out what you really wanted to grow.
Similarly, you’ve seen people work very hard to get their fruit trees to produce lots of fruit - only to find that the tree is so laden with fruit that the branches start breaking. If that happens, the fruit won’t mature on that branch. And if it’s a big enough branch that breaks, it can kill the tree! Or sometimes the tree is so laden with fruit that it overextends itself - and ends up dying even if the branches don’t break!! And sometimes the overabundance of one plant interferes with the fruitfulness of the plant next to it.
There are several lessons for us. First, abundance doesn’t necessarily mean fruitfulness. You can have an abundance of mint, dill, or dandelions. They could be considered a blessing. Sometimes things we consider blessings can take over your life, like weeds, and get in the way of other parts of your life that really need your attention. So be careful of the projects you undertake.
Secondly, be careful about taking on a project that sounds good, but it saps all of your time and energy so that you can’t do other things that have to be done. Sometimes we think we’re doing a Godly work, but we neglect to ask God for His wisdom and direction first. We find ourselves worn out, doing something which we end up realizing God didn’t want us to do in the first place. Like a tree whose branches are broken or a bush that has overextended itself, we can get to the end of a project with no energy left for what is truly valuable.
The Laodiceans thought they were rich and had an abundance! And physically, perhaps they did. But they were not rich in the ways God wanted them to be. We can think we are rich and are producing an abundance of fruit. Yet, in reality, we have an overabundance of something which does not benefit us or the people around us. In fact, it’s detrimental!! And it doesn’t bring glory to God.
Sabbath, January 9th
Don’t Despise Small Things
For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice; , , , Zechariah 4:10
Materials: small round rock, mustard seed, a match, word
People tend to overlook small things. When you see a small round rock, what Bible story does it bring to mind? Do you think of Goliath, a giant of a man, defying the armies of the living God? Or do you think of God using David, his sling, and a small round stone to gain a victory (1 Samuel 17:50)?
What about a mustard seed, a tiny mustard seed? What did Jesus say about a mustard seed? If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains (Matthew 17:20)! It seems incredible that if we truly had that much faith - a little tiny bit - we could do great things to bring glory and honor to God.
We could talk about God using Gideon’s 300 men to defeat an army of Midianites and Amalekites that were like locusts or the sand on the seashore as to number (Judges 7:12). We could talk about Jesus blessing and breaking the five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14) and feeding 5000 men.
What do all of these small things have in common? They all were small things that God used: the rock in the hand of David, a mustard seed faith in the heart of a believer, a small group of men defeating the foes of God’s people, and a boy’s lunch in the hands of Jesus. Each of these small things brought glory and honor to God.
Another small thing is a match. When you see a match, do you think of how “it only takes a spark to get a fire going?” It’s amazing how a little tiny match can start a pile of leaves or brush on fire. Such a tiny thing that you could easily smash and destroy has the power to create a blazing wildfire. James (chapter 3) makes the comparison between a tiny spark of fire and the power of our words. Our words have the power to tear down and they have the power to heal. Such a small thing - a word, a small comment, a smile or an insult, a harsh word, and a frown. What incredible power there is for good or for evil in the small things we do and say.
In Zechariah 4:10 God was comforting His people who had seen the magnificence of Solomon’s temple. The temple which was being built by Ezra after the people were brought back from captivity in Babylon was a small and pitiful temple in comparison. But God told them not to look down on the day of small things. It was a beginning. It might have looked small. But God often does great things with small things. And eventually, they would rejoice!
Sometimes we think that our actions don’t matter. We are rather insignificant. But God often takes the insignificant and uses it for His glory. If you are willing to be used of God, if you make it your goal and habit to act in a godly manner, if you trust God with all of your heart, He can take your words and deeds and use them in a very powerful way. But make a start today. Start reading His word, so you know what pleases Him. Start praying to Him. Start spending time thinking about His ways. Make a start. And don’t despise the day of small things. God doesn’t.
Sabbath, January 16th
Shine!
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket . . . Matthew 5:15
Materials: candle, matches, bowl or flashlight and basket
We all know how silly it would be to light a candle and then put it under a bowl so that it won’t give its light. If you put the candle under the bowl, what will happen to the candle? Eventually, it will burn all of the oxygen available and it will go out. How silly to light a candle just to let it go out - and be of no use to anyone at all. This statement presupposes that we need the light. It’s dark and we can’t see; we need the light. So we light a candle. Then what do we do with the candle? We hold it up, or put it up high enough so it can shine its light so we can see.
We know that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 1:4-9; John 8:12). So it should not be surprising to find scriptures in the Old Testament that would point to this reality. For instance, the lampstand which was in the tabernacle was to be tended by the priests from evening to morning; it was not allowed to go out (Exodus 27:21). John 1:5 tells us that Jesus, the Light, shines in the darkness. Also, this lamp stand had 22 almond flowers on it - the same number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1). He is the Word and the Light which illuminates our path.
And there are other references to light - very comforting and encouraging references:
Micah 7:8 - Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Psalm 27:1 - The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 18:28 - You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
And then there’s this very important scripture in Matthew 5:14; Jesus tells His disciples that they are the light of the world. Then He tells them that people don’t light a lamp and put it under a basket.
If you are a follower, a disciple, of Jesus Christ then Jesus has called you the light of the world. You are to be giving glory and honor to God in everything you do - especially as the world around you grows more dark. If the world were full of light, your light wouldn’t be seen - or as desperately needed. But in an ever-increasingly darkening world, your light is more important than ever. We each need to make sure that we’re following in the footsteps of Jesus, the Light of the world, that we can likewise spread His light to people who desperately need hope; they desperately need the Savior; they need Light.
However, it's not only people who don’t know our God who need your light; God’s people need the encouragement too. There’s a stanza in a song: I will hold the Christlight for you in the nighttime of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear. We each rely on the light of our brothers and sisters in Christ to endure and persevere, to stay the course. We need the light!!
Especially now, don’t hide your light under a basket. Let it shine!!
Sabbath, January 23rd
What Should You Wear?
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 1 Peter 3:3
Materials: pins, necklaces, paper crowns, etc.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s like putting lipstick on a pig?” That’s a very evocative mental picture which illuminates how little outward dressing really impacts the character, integrity, and behavior of the pig. That is, just because you put lipstick on a pig doesn’t mean the pig won’t go wallow in the mud. The pig still grunts and squeals when he eats. And he shovels his food around as he roots around for the “best” slop. It wouldn’t matter if the pig were wearing a diamond necklace or a royal robe. The pig would still do what pigs do by nature.
In a very similar way, what we do reflects who we are, truly, on the inside. It really doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about a big rough-looking man or a tiny, frail little old lady. That’s just the outside. They could be wearing raggedy clothes with more holes than not holes. Or they could be wearing the most expensively tailored suits money can buy. The outward appearance really doesn’t tell you anything about the relationship the person has with God, how much he loves truth, how she treats animals, and so on.
So Peter tells his readers not to put so much time thinking about the outward appearance - braiding your hair, wearing gold jewelry or expensive clothing. In reality, we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, what people see when they look at us should be the actions they’d expect to see from a follower of Jesus. We should stand for truth and justice, love and kindness, mercy and compassion, respect and humility.
So, does that mean your appearance doesn’t matter at all? No! Our outward appearance, whether we are clean and neat, speaks volumes to the people around us. It tells them whether you’re a good steward of what God has given you. It tells them that you are diligent in your responsibilities - like staying clean and neat. And especially when we come to church, we dress in our best clothes, not to impress the people in our church family, but as an outward expression of the respect we have for our Holy God. He deserves our best: our best clothes, our best attention, our best thoughts, our best actions. He is God. He is our God, and what we wear reflects on Him when we wear His name.
We need to think carefully about what we wear - both physical clothes and our actions. We are showing our love and reverence for God. And we are representing Him to the people around us. Let’s not act like a bunch of pigs wearing lipstick.
Sabbath, January 30th
All Things
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3
Materials: miscellaneous homemade items - jellies, sewing projects, poems, drawings
Most people like to accomplish tasks. Not only is it nice to have it over, it’s also makes you feel good to have reached a goal. Finishing a task, completing a project, reaching the end of a book - it doesn’t matter whether it’s installing a new window, painting a room (or a picture), or any myriad of the things we find to do; when it’s done, we feel good about it.
We often talk about what we have done or made. I have made (crocheted) more than a dozen blankets over the past seven years. I’ve made three quilts, numerous bookmarks and bags. Just this week I sewed a dust cover for my dehydrator. I’ve canned hundreds of jars of produce from my garden. I’ve made a lot of things that I’m proud of.
But John 1:3 says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
So did I not make these things? No, not really. I may have taken the materials and arranged them into a different order. But I didn’t create the materials. I didn’t make the cotton plants. I didn’t make the soil in which the cotton plants grow. I didn’t make the water or the nutrients. I didn’t make the sun.
What about a calculator? That’s obviously manmade, right? Well, maybe the materials were arranged into a specific order by people, but where did the raw materials come from? Where did the metal come from? Where did the plastic come from? All of the building blocks that we, as humans, take and form into something new still had to be created (made) by God.
There isn’t anything that you can see that wasn’t made by God. God created everything. He’s the One who designed it all to work, to obey all of the rules He designed. (We call them rules of nature, but they’re God’s rules.)
There’s an old joke: Some scientists get together and they tell God that they’ve figured out how to create living things out of dirt, so they don’t need God any more. God tells them to get their own dirt.
I appreciate that joke - because when you trace everything back, everything, absolutely everything starts with God. And then when you have the basic building blocks, God’s the One who gives life. God’s the One who gives the intellect and reasoning to figure out how to combine the things He’s made. God’s the One who gives us the will to accomplish a goal. God is the Creator and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
We can be proud of our accomplishments - as long as we remember that we’re just rearranging what God has created. To Him belongs all glory and honor and praise!!
Sabbath, February 13th
Don't Let It Slip Through Your Fingers
. . . but blessed is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18
Materials: rulers
Have you ever checked your reflexes trying to catch a ruler dropped between your fingers? Someone holds the ruler between your first finger and thumb. They don’t tell you when they’re going to let go of the ruler. You have to react quickly enough to catch the ruler. Having done this with my fourth graders over the years, one thing becomes very apparent: if you know something is coming, you start anticipating. Many of the students completely missed the ruler the first time. But it didn’t take very long before they were catching it very quickly. They were no longer letting the ruler slip through their fingers.
Reading Proverbs 29:18 brought back the memories of the ruler reaction experiment, The first half of this proverbs is translated several different ways:
Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; (NIV)
Where there is no vision, the people perish (KJV)
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, (ESV)
Without guidance from God law and order disappear, (Contemporary English Version)
In other words, when there is no revelation from God, when the people don’t know what God is doing (now and future), when they don’t see God’s guidance - something happens: the people cast off restraint, they perish, law and order disappear. The phrase that is translated “cast off restraint” literally means that the people ignore an opportunity, they dismiss, they lose something. So putting both phrases together, you could restate it this way: When you don’t have a vision for God’s ways in your life, you let His ways slip through your fingers. God’s laws don’t seem important because you don’t look for His purpose and plan.
Now this makes perfect sense because this proverb, like many of them, is a contrasting proverb. The first half is the opposite of the second. And we know it’s a contrasting proverb because of the word “but” which starts the second phrase.
Check it out. Is the first phrase of “When you don’t have a vision for God’s ways in your life, you let His ways slip through your fingers” the opposite of the second phrase of “but blessed is he who keeps the law”? Yes. They are opposites!! If you let God’s laws slip through your fingers, life will not work well. But if you keep God’s laws, you will be blessed; life will work well. And! As you keep God’s laws, you acquire more and more understanding of His ways. Pretty soon you don’t want to let any of God’s ways slip through your fingers!
Sabbath, February 20th
Crept in Unnoticed
. . . For certain people have crept in unnoticed . . . Jude 1:4
Materials: paper, pencil, quarter (HAS to be a quarter)
I remember the first time that my older brother pulled this gag on me: First, challenge your mark (pun intended, as you will see) that they can’t roll a quarter down their nose while keeping three fingers in circles on the piece of paper. Once they’ve accepted the challenge, draw dark circles with the pencil around the quarter - making reasonably spaced circles for their fingers. Then with one hand, they pick up the quarter and roll it down their nose. Because it’s a quarter, it will have picked up graphite from the pencil. As they roll the quarter down their nose, the graphite will leave a nice mark all the way down. (Of course, I don’t plan to run the quarter down the children’s noses. We’ll run the quarter across the paper.) The point is this: a great deal of distraction was employed to achieve an outcome that they didn’t even see coming, literally! For my brother, it was a trick to have me walking around the house with marks on my face without even realizing it, so that he could laugh at me.
It’s a prank.But it does tend to illuminate the idea that if someone wants to pull something over on you, they’re going to try to do it when you aren’t paying attention. If they’re afraid you might be paying attention, they’ll employ some sort of distraction to get your attention somewhere else.
So when Jude says that certain people have crept in unnoticed - ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ - there are two possibilities. Either God’s people didn’t care enough about the faith that had been delivered to them to pay close attention to people who were coming in, or they were distracted by other things in their lives. In either case, Jude tells them to earnestly contend for the faith - in other words, the good news of Jesus Christ is worth paying attention to, it’s worth studying and meditating on so that you can give a solid reason for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus! Knowing what God’s word says is important. It’s valuable. It’s worthy of your time and energy.
I once had the kids count how many Bibles we have in our home. Not counting the ones online that can be accessed with the click of a mouse, we had 40-some physical copies of the Bible! But just having the Bible isn’t enough. You have to read it, think about it, digest it, and know it so well that you can defend your beliefs that are based upon it. Otherwise, people can creep in unnoticed and get you to believe things that just aren’t so. Stay on your guard. Value the gift that God has given. Make it part of who you are!!!
Sabbath, February 27th
What Are You Looking At?
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37
Materials: coins
Have you ever asked yourself who gets to decide how much something is worth? What is a glass of water worth? Well, it depends on how thirsty you are and how many other people want that glass of water. How much is a car worth? Or a painting? Or a book? In our society today, the value of an item depends upon how many people really want that item. It’s a crazy thing, really!!
Have you ever been to an auction? If there’s a really good turnout at an auction, the seller may do very well because people decide they really want an item and they’ll keep bidding until they get it - even if it’s not really worth that much. But if there are not too many people there, you can pick up items for a song! I went to one auction the summer I got my first teaching job. To the dismay of the seller, there was a bigger auction going on a couple of blocks away. I was able to purchase a bedroom set, pots and pans, a crockpot, etc, for next to nothing. There just wasn’t anyone bidding against me to drive up the price. Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
But what about money? That has a value, right? Actually, our money is supposed to have value, but once the government decided to take us off the gold and silver standard, our money isn’t stable. Even our coins are suspect. Did you know that it costs almost twice as much as a penny is worth to make it? And a nickel costs over half again as much as its worth to make. But we believe a penny is worth one cent, and as long as everybody agrees, our system keeps limping along.
But this verse in Psalm 119:37 gives a little different perspective. The second half of the verse says, “and give me life in your ways.” What is really valuable? God’s ways because they bring life. We want life, not death. We want good things and fun things and pleasant things. But here’s the kicker: some things are worthless. That is, they will not aid you at all in seeking God’s ways and finding life. And! the psalmist makes this point: I may not know what is worthless; I may have become beguiled by what everyone around me says is valuable! I may not even realize that what I’m looking at will not bring life; in fact, it will bring death.
This verse is really a prayer. The psalmist is acknowledging that he doesn’t always realize that he’s looking at something worthless, spending time on something that is not only not profitable; it actually could be harmful. Then he asks that God will turn his eyes away from looking at worthless things. The implication is then that God will turn the psalmist’s eyes towards those things which bring life, aka God’s ways.
It is a good idea to be aware of what has your attention and how valuable it really is. But it’s also very important to realize that God’s determination of what’s valuable is really the only true standard. May He turn our eyes toward life.
Sabbath, March 13th
So That You Will Not Sin
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. , , , 1 John 2:1 (NIV)
Materials: apple, banana, grapes; can of mandarin oranges, pineapple, cherry pie filling; frozen blueberries, strawberries, cantaloup; pecans
What happens when Mom or Dad tell you to do something and you disobey? There are consequences, aren’t there!! Sometimes it’s a swat. Sometimes it’s time out. Sometimes it’s no tv or being grounded. Sometimes it’s just Mom and Dad are mad at you. And as you get older, having Mom and Dad mad at you is worse than any other punishment. Or actually, it is worse when Mom and Dad are disappointed in you. If you are blessed to have this kind of relationship with your parents, then you have a much better understanding of how serious it is to disobey God, aka sin. There are consequences. Sometimes it’s a physical consequence, a punishment. Sometimes it’s knowing that God is mad at me, or, worse yet, disappointed in me. I don’t even like to think about that!!!
So when John writes that he scribed this letter to God’s people so that they would not sin, it is something to pay attention to. This whole passage is a great encouragement to obey God to the best of our ability, but to know that if we fail, if we make a mistake, Jesus Christ is there to forgive us when we repent. Then He restores our relationship with the Father. There might still be a consequence, but God is not alienated from us anymore.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had something you could do to encourage God’s people not to sin?! Oh, but there is!!! Hebrews 10:24-25 says that we need to think about how to spur one another on to love and good works and to encourage one another. We definitely do have something we can do to help one another. Maybe it’s a phone call. Maybe it’s making a card or drawing a picture. Maybe it’s a hug or a smile on sabbath. Sometimes just being at church is a great encouragement to the church family. We miss each one of you when you’re not here.
We are a family, the Lord’s army, a team. And a team, a family, an army works best when they work together. Here’s what that looks like: Let’s say I have an apple. An apple is good, but it doesn’t make a fruit salad. So let’s add a banana. That’s good! Now we have crunch and tangy along with smooth and subtle. Hmm. Let’s add some sweet - like a can of mandarin oranges. How about a complement of chunks of pineapple. We need something small and round for texture and color - how about some frozen blueberries. Let’s add some frozen strawberries and frozen chunks of cantaloup. Now we need a can of cherry pie filling. The filling will coat the apples and keep them from turning brown, even while it ties all the fruit together. Oh, and let’s add some nuts. Every team needs someone who nuts. Each one of these pieces in the fruit salad has a role in making the fruit salad stronger, more appealing, more able to be the best fruit salad it can be. Alone each ingredient is good, but together, it’s better.
In the same way, we can come alongside our church family and help to make each person stronger. Spend some time this week thinking about how you can encourage our church family, so they will be stronger in the Lord to do His will, so they will not sin.
Sabbath, March 20th
The Raging of the Sea
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. Psalm 89:9 (ESV)
Materials: bottles of water, buoyant objects which fit into bottle
It doesn’t take long in this world for most of us to feel like we’re a tiny person caught in a maelstrom that we didn’t cause, that we didn’t want, and that we didn’t see coming. There’s a good reason people call them “storms of life.” It can feel like everything is conspiring to pull you under so that you’ll drown. And honestly, sometimes it feels very much like those waves are getting higher and higher with the sole, malevolent intention of swamping your boat, beating you under, dragging you down.
It’s much like putting a tiny figurine into a water bottle and then trying to keep it under the water all the time. You can turn the bottle end over end. You can shake it violently. You can spin it like a top. Or maybe you let everything calm down and then hit the bottle with a surprise attack.
But for those who belong to Jesus Christ, we have to keep our eyes on Him, not on the waves, not on the trouble, not on the tempest around us. We look to Him for strength, provision, and protection. God takes care of us. That’s His job and we don’t get to tell Him how to do His job. We have our own job: giving glory and honor and praise to Him regardless of our circumstances.
*** The Hebrew slave girl of Naaman’s wife (We don’t even know her name!!) trusted God enough, even as a captive in a foreign country, to tell Naaman’s wife that God could heal him of his leprosy.
*** Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. He refused to disobey God. Instead he trusted him - to go to him for the interpretation of the dreams and then to give God the glory for the interpretation.
*** Daniel was a captive in a foreign country - but he refused to obey the kind’s edict and continued his habit of praying three times a day to God, regardless of the storm that would cause in his life, i.e. being thrown into the lions’ den.
There are so many stories of Godly people whose circumstances were less than perfect, but they demonstrated their belief and trust in God through their actions, bringing glory and honor to Him, praising God through those actions.
Yes, sometimes it feels like the storms of life are bigger than we are. Sometimes it feels like we are in a hopeless situation. That’s when it’s time to praise God. I like to do it in song. It could be a song like “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” or it could be “We Won’t Be Shaken” (by Building 429) or “Even If” (by MercyMe), “Hills and Valleys” (Tauren Wells), “Sparrows” (Jason Grey), or so many others. The reality is we serve the great God who can still the raging waves in our lives.
Sabbath, March 27th
Bars of Iron and Bronze
Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be. Deuteronomy 33:25 (ESV)
Materials: box lid, string/yarn, spaghetti, popsicle sticks, straws, metal bolts
Let’s suppose we have a model of a country. The country has a border wall around it for protection from wild animals and enemies. But we need a gate so we can get in and out. We still want to visit other countries. We still want to trade with them. We can’t completely block ourselves in. So we need a gate. What are we going to secure our gate with? We could use a nice strong cord. But if our enemies have a strong knife or if there’s a wildfire, that cord won’t last long. What about spaghetti? Well, that’s silly, right? At the first sight of rain, that spaghetti “bar” will be worthless. What about wood? Well, like the strong cord, wood can be cut or burned. What about plastic? It’s strong. But probably not strong enough. What about metal? If we make our gate and dead bolt (bar) out of metal, will it be strong enough to repel the danger?
This verse is part of a blessing pronounced by Moses on the tribe of Asher. Interestingly, Asher was along the northern border of Israel. So if Asher’s gates, and specifically, the bars securing the gates, were strong, the whole country was protected from enemies. In a sense, then, this was a blessing for all of Israel. And we know that it was a blessing of strength because of the parallel structure of the verse. The second half of the verse says, “As your days, so shall your strength be.” In other words, as long as you live, may your have the strength you need. So we know that the first half of the verse is also dealing with strength.
So then what happened? Israel was invaded by the Assyrians from the north. Didn’t they make their bars and gates out of iron and bronze? We don’t really know. But we do know that they turned away from something that is stronger than iron and bronze, something that could have protected them from any enemy. They turned away from God and His ways. They chose to follow pagan customs. So God allowed their enemies to overcome them.
Sometimes we worry about being strong enough to be protected from anything harmful. So what are you securing your gate with? Are you using spaghetti or cords? Are you using wood or metal? Notice that God still expected them to build with a strong material; don’t be stupid. Use the metal to build your gate and your bar. But then you follow God with all of your heart. He is our protection, our strong tower, our protection, our shield. In reality, if we don’t find our security in God, putting our trust even in iron and booze would be similar to trying to secure our gate with spaghetti.
Sabbath, April 3rd
How Do You Handle God’s Word?
. . . . a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
Materials: a hand-held fan, a box puzzle
Do you remember the first time you saw a fan folded up? Were you absolutely amazed when the lady snapped it open with a flick of her wrist? That fan, a combination of paper, wood, and glue, became a useful tool - when mere moments earlier, it was not helpful. Another apparently useless item is a puzzle box? It looks like a piece of decorative wood on a shelf. It seemingly does nothing but take up space and collect dust. But if you know how to open the box, it becomes a place to keep treasures.
I saw my fan the other day and couldn’t help thinking how well the fan illustrates this verse in 2 Timothy 2:15: a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
If we belong to God and we are His servants, then it logically follows that God has given us a job to do. We are to be witnesses of Him to the people around us. We are to make disciples of all nations. We are to spread the good news of the kingdom of God. Furthermore, God has given us a tool to accomplish that task: the Bible, the word of God, the word of truth.
So here’s the question: Do we handle that tool rightly? Do we use the Bible in the correct manner? That means believing it to be true, believing that it doesn’t contradict itself, that it means what it says and says what it means! We don’t take the Bible and add anything to it; we don’t add other people’s thoughts (other writings or books), we don’t add our own interpretations. We don’t pick and choose what we want to believe. We have to take all of the Bible, not just our favorite parts.
But just believing that God’s word is true isn’t enough. We have to know what the Bible says. That means we shouldn’t leave our Bible on the shelf and only read it on the Sabbath or when we need God’s help. We have to study it carefully, reading it diligently each day, seeking to understand what God’s telling us. Thankfully, those who belong to God have the Holy Spirit to help guide and illuminate God’s word so we can understand and apply the word of truth.
So we talked about the fan - how it’s a good object lesson of rightly handling God’s words. The puzzle box is also a good object lesson! Just as the puzzle box can hold treasures, so does the Bible. But you have to open the box to see the treasure, just as you have to open the Bible to find the treasures God has for you inside!
Here’s the bottom line: if you desire to know what God has said, so you open the Bible and read it, then you won’t be ashamed. Quite the contrary, in fact. God will bless you as you seek Him and His word of truth.
Sabbath, April 10th
Missing the Mark
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
Materials: marshmallows, popsicle catapults (https://academy.animaljam.com/posts/marshmallow-catapult)
There's something very compelling about hitting a target: darts, basketball, golf, skeet shooting, archery . . . and catapults come to mind! It takes skill to hit the bulls-eye consistently time after time. Who doesn’t like the call: nothing but net!! It has even become part of our language. If someone is describing something, we might say, “You nailed it” or “You hit that dead center.” The slang term of “right on” derives from the concept of having your sights right on the target. You are accurate.
Because we have this concept in our culture, it helps us enormously to understand the concept of sin. Literally, the word sin in the Greek means “missing the mark.” What a mental picture this creates for us!! Our desire is to hit the target, to hit dead center, to hit the mark. Nowhere is this more important than when we’re talking about obedience to God. We want our actions to be right on, to nail God’s commandments, to be on target with every one of our actions.
How do people get better at archery or catapulting? Practice. Attention to detail. Desire to hit the mark. The same applies to not sinning, aka obedience to God’s law. We practice. When we fail, we repent and we try again. We pay attention to the details, seeking out God’s will to do it exactly as He desires. And we earnestly desire to do what is right in God’s sight. If we have the desire, if we pay attention, and if we persevere, we may get closer to obedience and avoiding sinning (missing the mark). We also need God’s guidance - through the Holy Spirit and reading God’s word.
Some people miss the mark repeatedly, so they want to move the target. God doesn’t change; His laws don’t change. We cannot change the law just because we feel like it - and we cannot move the target just because we can’t hit it with our marshmallow catapult.
Read your Bible. Pay attention to what it says. And greatly desire to hit the mark!
