Archive for month: April, 2019
Children’s Bible Program – Level 3: Lesson 25 “The Time of the Judges”
by Janth English
Read Together: God chose Moses to bring Israel out of Egyptian slavery and to the Promised Land. He then chose Joshua to lead the people into that land and divide their inheritance among the tribes. God chose judges, or leaders, to teach the people His laws and to judge matters that came up according to those laws. Israel was obedient to God for as long as Joshua and the elders that he trained lived. However, after the generation who saw God’s works in the wilderness died, the people began to turn away from God. They wanted to be like the peoples around them, copying their ways and customs. To punish the Israelites for their disobedience, God sent these nations against them. Time after time, Israel suffered under the cruel hand of their enemies. When they cried out to God for relief, he mercifully sent a judge to save them. After a few years of peace, Israel would forget the God who saved them and return to their foreign idols. Again, God would remove His protection and the neighboring nations would invade the land of Israel. For many generations, the people of Israel followed their own rebellious heart, doing what was right in their own eyes.
Read Together: Exodus 3:6-10; Deuteronomy 31:7; 1 Samuel 12:12; Judges 2:6-23, 21:25
Discuss:
- Discuss with your child God’s criteria for leadership positions (See Exodus 18:21 and Titus 1:7-8). God’s standards have not changed, and they will not change. Remind your child that they are training now for future leadership positions.
- Discuss with your child Israel’s desire to be like the people around them. Do we sometimes fall into the same trap? What was the result for Israel? What would be the result for us if we do the same thing?
- Point out to your child how God showed mercy to Israel time and again. Help them to see that God’s mercy is forever.
- Discuss with your child the consequences of everyone doing what they think is right. What happens when my thoughts and your thoughts are not in agreement? What happens in society when there are no absolute standards?
Review Memorization.
Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Children’s Bible Program – Level 2: Lesson 25 “Jacob and Esau”
By Janth English
Read Together: Isaac and Rebekah lived many years before they had children, but God finally blessed them with twin sons, Jacob and Esau. They were twins, but never were two people more different. Esau was hairy, but Jacob had smooth skin. Esau was a skillful hunter, but Jacob was a mild-mannered shepherd. One day Jacob was cooking lentil stew when Esau came from the fields. He had been hunting and was very hungry. Jacob offered his brother some stew in return for his “birthright blessing”. Esau agreed. Jacob seems quite devious, talking his brother out of his birthright. Remember this, however; Esau cared more about his hunger than his birthright. Many years later, an elderly Isaac decided it was time to bestow a final blessing upon each of his sons. His plan was to give the greater blessing to Esau and a lesser blessing on Jacob, because Esau was his favorite son. Since Rebekah’s favorite son was Jacob, she hatched a plot that would have the greater blessing go to him! This lesson’s reading reveals what happened when their plan unfolded. Though the Bible reveals how weak and deceitful people can be, God’s purpose to establish a nation is still revealed. We’ll learn more about that later.
Read Together: Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-41
Discuss:
- Discuss with your child the ethics of this situation. Since God had chosen Jacob to inherit the promises He made to Abraham and Isaac, was it wrong for Jacob and his mother to use trickery in getting them?
- Discuss with your child the fact that Isaac intended to give the blessings to Esau. Think of a few ways that God could have prevented Isaac from giving the blessings to Esau. Can any human cause God’s plans to fail (Isaiah 46:9-10)?
- Jacob was his mother’s favorite son and Esau his father’s. Ask your child what happens in a family when individual members are shown favoritism.
- Help your child understand that God chooses individuals for His purpose at His time. Explain that God did not choose Jacob because he was somehow “better” than Esau. This principle applies to those who are called now as well.
Review Memorization Genesis 27:29 “Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you.”
Children’s Bible Program – Level 3: Lesson 24 “The Wave Sheaf—First of the Firstfruits”
Read Together: Unleavened Bread always occurred during the barley harvest which was the first of the grain harvests in Israel. God told the Israelites to perform the “wave sheaf” offering each year during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The priests went to the fields as the Sabbath during Unleavened Bread was ending. As the sun was setting, they cut a sheaf of barley and saved it for the ceremony the next day. On the first day of the week, after the Sabbath at about 9:00 am, the priests waved the sheaf of barley as an offering before God. The day when the Wave Sheaf was offered is not a holy day, but it is a ceremony packed full of meaning for Christians. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, was crucified on Passover in 31CE, which was a Wednesday. He was resurrected from the dead exactly three days and three nights later, which was at the end of the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread, the same time that the grain was cut. The next day, as the priests waved the sheaf before God, Christ ascended to His Father in heaven to offer Himself as the true Wave Sheaf offering. Jesus Christ fulfilled the meaning pictured by the wave sheaf; He became the first of God’s spiritual harvest, the “First of the firstfruits”. He is the firstborn of many brethren. Christ has the preeminence in all things. He is proof that we too can be firstfruits and be born into God’s family as His very own children.
Read Together: Leviticus 23:9–14; Matthew 12:40; John 20:1, 9, 15–17; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23; Romans 8:29–30.
Discuss:
- Discuss what the Bible says about the “wave sheaf” in Lev 23.
- Help your child to create a time chart of the events during the Days of Unleavened Bread in 31 CE. Start with Jesus and the disciples keeping the Passover the Tuesday evening before the crucifixion and ending with His ascension to the Father on Sunday. Count three days and three nights. Christ was in the grave during this time. The chart will help show that He could not have been crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday at sunrise as most professing Christians believe. Note that Christ was not in the tomb when Mary Magdalene got there while it was still dark (the sun had not risen).
- Explain to your child in words he/she can understand that a Christian’s hope is in the resurrection. Our destiny, his/her destiny, is to be born as a spirit being into God’s family.
Review Memorization.
Romans 5:10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Children’s Bible Program – Level 2: Lesson 24 “Eating Unleavened Bread—Putting on Righteousness”
Read Together: God told ancient Israel that they were to put out all leavening from their homes, and He also instructed them to eat unleavened bread for seven days. The first and seventh days were to be holy convocations.God’s people continue to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread by eating unleavened bread for seven days and celebrating the first and seventh days as Holy Days. These days have important meanings in God’s plan for mankind. Passover commemorates Christ’s sacrifice in payment of our sins. The Days of Unleavened Bread picture our effort to put sin out of our lives and replace it with living according to God’s ways. We don’t just avoid doing bad things. We must fill our lives wit good actions, just like our elder brother Jesus Christ.
Read Together: Exodus 12:14–17; Leviticus 23:6–8; Ephesians 4:22–24; John 6:47–51; Galatians 2:20; 2 Timothy 3:16–17; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 12:2
- Discuss with your child the biblical meaning of righteousness. Read and discuss Psalm 119:172 together.
- Remind your child that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the only one that has two Holy Days and that Passover is a separate feast but it is not a Sabbath.
- Ask your child to summarize the meaning of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, the first two steps in God’s plan of salvation.
Discuss:
Review Memorization.
1 Corinthians 5:7 “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
Second Thoughts: It’s for the Kids
Author: Thomas White | Student at LivingEd-Charlotte
“…the Father’s throne is ultimately going to be here on this earth. We look that far out in the future…but for that to be possible, we know that billions of human beings must come up and be taught His way of life, and for them to have the opportunity to become our younger brothers and sisters.” ~ Mr. Ron Poole
Student Assembly | April 11, 2019
Why do teachers work so hard? Almost all of them will be honest about the fact that they generally don’t get paid much. Whatever level of education they may be involved in, ask any of your best teachers why they put forth so much effort, and I’m willing to bet that most of them would answer with something like, “It’s for the kids. It’s all for the kids.”
This week, Mr. Ron Poole’s assembly reminded me that the future Kingdom we’re striving to reach as unborn children of God, that’s also “for the kids.” It’s our reward, but it’s not only our reward, and I can often undersell it by thinking of it as such. We’re not just running to finish a race, we’re also educating ourselves to try to get a job, the job of a teacher. And one of the bests reasons to be a teacher is to do it for the kids.
“We can see that God has work for us to do. God has a job that He wants us to be able to take care of. He is going to put us to work…but only if we’re ready. It’s only if we’re ready that He will be able to use us.”
As fully born members of the God Family, we’re going to be responsible for the education of untold billions of people, as Mr. Poole poignantly illustrated. How do we make that real to us? How do we motivate ourselves to strive toward that job? “Billions of people” sounds like something out of a statistics class, and I have a very complicated relationship with math, so when I think of being a teacher in the Millennium and Great White Throne Judgment, I focus on three people. One of them is a close family member outside God’s Church, a member I love deeply. Another is someone I knew in college, whose life had been irrevocably damaged by a terrible upbringing. The third is my best childhood friend, a principled and noble individual, who nevertheless was always missing the Truth that would bring his life to a new level. When I think of those people, I am exceedingly motivated to become a teacher, the kind of teacher who heals and enriches his students. Those are my “kids” I want to do it for. Who are yours?
“Would our resumes, starting in chronological order, show that we are growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?”
Whoever your “kids” are, keep them in mind as this life gets hard, because as Mr. Poole said, we’re building our applications for the ultimate teaching position with every decision we make, every opportunity from God that we take advantage of. When we desire something with every ounce of our being, we make sacrifices for it, sometimes painful ones, but the result is always worth the striving. Applying to become one of God’s Teachers is long and arduous, but in our most paralyzing moments of weakness, it might be most helpful to remember that we’re doing it for the kids.
Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.
Children’s Bible Program – Level 3: Lesson 23 “The Days of Unleavened Bread”
Read Together: The Days of Unleavened Bread begin immediately after the Passover, on the fifteenth day of the first month. For seven days, all of Israel was to have no leaven in their homes and to eat unleavened bread. The first and last Days of Unleavened Bread are Holy Days to the Eternal. During the Days of Unleavened Bread, leavening agents picture sin which causes people to be puffed up with pride and vanity. Putting leavening out of our homes reminds us that we are to put sin out of our lives. When Peter told the Jews that they had crucified the Son of God, they asked what they should do. Because every person has sinned, each of us is responsible for the death of Christ. He had to die to pay the penalty for our sins. When we acknowledge this fact, we face the same question of what to do. Peter’s replied that they must “repent”. We repent of sinning, which is the transgression of God’s law. Repentance means to turn from the way of life that leads to death and to follow God’s way leading to eternal life. Eating unleavened bread for seven days pictures feeding on Christ, the true unleavened bread, in whom dwelt no sin. We feed on Christ by studying His word which transforms our minds. As we do, we begin to be more like Christ. As Dr. Roderick C. Meredith often said, we will begin to think like God thinks, want what God wants, and do what God would do. If we feed on Christ, God will give us eternal life, because He is the “bread of life.”
Read Together: Exodus 23:14–17; Leviticus 23:4, 6–8; Acts 2:36–38; I John 3:4; 1 Corinthians 15:3; John 6:35, 47–51; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:11–16; John 6:57–58.
Discuss:
- Talk with your child about sin. Explain that the Ten Commandments are the foundation for all of God’s laws. We are to obey all of the Commandments, even those we may feel are the least important (Matthew 5:19).
- Talk with your child about repentance. Explain that repentance is more than being sorry. It means that with God’s help, we stop committing the offense.
- Ask your student what is his/her favorite thing about the Days of Unleavened Bread. Is it getting together with friends on the Holy Days or perhaps a special treat that is only baked at that time? Share what you enjoy about that time.
Review Memorization:
Romans 5:10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Children’s Bible Program – Level 2: Lesson 23 “Putting Sin Out”
Read Together: When God delivered ancient Israel from Egypt, they left in a hurry. They left so quickly that they were unable to let their dough rise, so their bread was unleavened. God told Israel they were to remember the day that He brought them out of Egypt by observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. The first and last days of the feast were to be Holy Days or annual Sabbaths. As they prepared for these days they were to remove all the leavening from their homes. God commanded the Israelites to do this and instruct their children to pass on this command to the next generation. But we understand that the command applies to us as members of the church of God also. You have probably helped your parents clean the leavening from your home before the Days of Unleavened Bread each year. It can take a lot of time and hard work! But, why is it important? Here’s the answer.
Remember, God brought ancient Israel out of slavery in Egypt. For the Israelites, Egypt represented the years of slavery they had endured. Today, God calls each member of His church and frees them from slavery also. But our slavery is not to the kingdom of Egypt. Our slavery is to sin. Even though we don’t want to, we sometimes break God’s law out of rebelliousness and selfishness. That is like being a slave of sin. For us, God uses leaven to represent our slavery. What is leaven? Leaven is the yeast that is added to bread to make it rise, which makes it more enjoyable to eat. Without that leaven, bread is hard and flat. Just like the yeast that makes bread rise, sin causes us to grow in pride, vanity and selfishness. And as we remove leavening or any bread that has been made with leavening from our homes, we are practicing an exercise that reminds us of removing sin from our life!
Read Together: Exodus 12:15–17, 33–34, 39; 13:3–10; Leviticus 23:6–8; John 6:44; Matthew 16:6; 1 Corinthians 13:4; 5:6–8; Romans 6:12–14
Discuss:
- Help your child name some leavened products that you are to throw out and avoid during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
- Discuss with your child what sin is and have them read 1 John 3:4 (KJV). Help your child recognize that just as we are to carefully stay away from leavening during the Days of Unleavened Bread, we are to be especially diligent to keep sin out of our lives.
- Try to think of a humorous event that happened to your family during the Days of Unleavened Bread. What was the oddest place that you found leavening? Were you ever in a situation where you temporarily forgot it was the Days of Unleavened Bread? What do you do when these things happen? Help your child to understand that when we repent of sin, God is quick to forgive us. This is how we remain unleavened.
Review Memorization:
1 Corinthians 5:7 “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
Second Thoughts: Blaming Gravity for the Ground
Author: Thomas White | Student at LivingEd-Charlotte
“Gravity operates the same way, all the time. … Sometimes, when we’re falling, we wish it didn’t work that way, but we pay the consequence when we hit the ground. …and there are others laws that are absolutely just as sure as gravity. …and those laws are found right here, in the Bible.” ~ Mr. Sheldon Monson
April 4, 2019 | Student Assembly: LivingEd-Charlotte
I’m pretty sure that at some point or another, we’ve all wished that we, personally, could fly. It’s a natural, human thing to fantasize over. Even King David envied the birds at least once (Psalm 55:6). That fantasy, though, always seems to include the ability to stop flying when you’re so inclined, because otherwise the flight becomes a lot less awesome, and also a lot more terrifying. As Mr. Sheldon Monson made the point in this week’s assembly, gravity is a great thing to have around, and we all recognize that. Even after a particularly nasty fall, no one is all that tempted to sincerely say, “Ugh, gravity. I wish it would go away.” We know that would be ridiculous…but when we, in our heart of hearts, wish that certain parts of God’s law weren’t there, aren’t we being just as foolish?
“The world around us is filled with strife, it’s filled with poverty, ignorance, suffering, pain…those are all results of living a way of life that’s opposite to what God says we ought to live.”
One of my absolute favorite non-biblical quotes comes from Cecil B. DeMille, who said, “We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them…” We all recognize that sin will always have consequences, but if we’re not careful, we can start thinking that God put those consequences there. In reality, He created His law to keep us from sin’s consequences, not consequences to keep us out of sin. If I hop the fence at the edge of the Grand Canyon and perform a swan dive, the inevitable splat isn’t the fence’s fault, or the Grand Canyon’s fault, or gravity’s fault, rather it is every bit my own fault. And as Mr. Monson brought out, the vast majority of our world is taking Satan’s advice and swan-diving off the edge of the Grand Canyon, deceived into believing that God’s Church is foolish for not doing the same.
“The main thing is to remember to keep ‘The Main Thing’ the main thing.”
So I have to make sure that I don’t do the same, because Satan whispers in my ear, too, telling me that there is no splat at the end of the dive into sin, that I can level out and levitate away right before I hit the ground. That fits right into my flying fantasy, so how do I keep from believing him? As Mr. Monson reminded us, “The Main Thing”, what keeps us safe from our own gullibility, is to “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). To cut through life’s distractions and maintain that primary focus, we need to remind ourselves that those commandments are a shield, not a cage.
Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.
Children’s Bible Program – Level 3: Lesson 22 “The Passover – Justified by His Blood”
Read Together: God gave ancient Israel instructions concerning Passover observance. On the tenth day in the first month of the year, each family was told to select a special, Passover lamb. This lamb was to be perfect, without any blemishes at all. Four days later, as the 14th day of the first month was just beginning at sunset, they were required to kill the lamb, cook it, and eat it as part of a special Passover meal, putting some of the blood of the lamb on their doorway. Those who did this would be protected from the death angel, who would kill all the firstborn in the land, except those in houses with the blood of the lamb on their doorway. Every year after that, the Israelites were commanded to eat a Passover meal on this same night and remember how God had spared them from the death of the firstborn in their home. But this Passover lamb also symbolized something more. All humans are under the threat of death because we all have sinned, and death is the penalty for sinning against God. We may not have the death angel passing over us, but we still are subject to death for our sins. Instead of a Passover lamb, however, we have Jesus Christ. Christ was the perfect sacrifice who was willing to become a human being and then die for our sins, protecting us from death, just as the blood of the lamb on the doorway protected the Israelites. Before Christ died, He taught His disciples that they should think of the Passover as a yearly reminder of His sacrifice for them, and to drink a small cup of wine and eat a small piece of unleavened bread instead of cooking a lamb. These new symbols were taught to the church by the disciples. Since that time, the faithful people of God through history have continued to remember Christ’s sacrifice every year at the Passover, just as the Israelites remembered the Passover every year. They were released from their Egyptian taskmasters, while we are released from the grasp of Satan and sin.
Read Together: Exodus 12:3–8, 43–47; Leviticus 23:4–5; Romans 3:23; 6:23; Hebrews 10:4; John 1:1–3; Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:23; Philippians 2:5–8; John 10:17–18; 3:16; 1:29.
Discuss:
- Ask your child why they think the lamb selected for Passover had to be without any blemishes. How does this relate to Jesus Christ?
- People often question why Christ had to die. Discuss this with your child. Be sure to relate that God will not compromise with sin and that there could be no pardon of sins without shedding blood (Hebrews 9:22). Christ had to die to atone for mankind’s sins, giving you, your child, and every human being who has ever lived a chance for salvation and eternal life in God’s family.
- Discuss with your child how awful sin is and why God hates it. Choose one of the Ten Commandments and talk about how breaking it causes misery, pain, and suffering. How different would the world be if that commandment were kept? Remind your student that it is because of sin that Christ had to die.
- Explain to your child that the blood of Christ is represented by the wine, and the bread represents His body that was beaten for us.
Review Memorization:
1 Corinthians 5:7 “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”