A Big
“Thank You” to Donna Chinnis, Harold Chinnis and Polly Cook for leading
Children’s Church on Sunday. They will
continue to lead every 1st Sunday of the month. I was blessed to be
able to attend the 9:30 worship service with my family.
During
CC, they did a variety of activities including singing, games, and reviewing
last week’s SS lesson. They reviewed Joshua’s final words to the Israelites.
Before SS began, the children, including and especially 4th and 5th
grades watched the “What’s In The Bible?” vol. 4 video explaining this killing
that we have been reading about in Joshua. The battles for the land of Canaan
continues through Judges, so we thought it important to go over again. The 4th
and 5th graders had not seen the video. In light of the story in
Judges Chapter 3 about Ehud and what happens to the King Eglon, it was
necessary to help the kids understand how serious God is about sin.
This
is the video: http://whatsinthebible.com/video/dvd-4-why-did-the-israelites-kill-people/
I
encourage you to watch it again with your children.
In Sunday School, we made it to the book of Judges, the Bible story takes place chronologically after the death of Joshua.
The Israelites had God’s laws to help them live their everyday lives, but
without a leader they fell into a cycle of sin. They turned away from God and
worshiped idols, which led to bondage and oppression by foreign kings. Then
they remembered God and cried out to Him. God raised up a judge to deliver
them, and finally there was ease in the land.
Today’s Bible story, “The First
Judges,” describes how God raised up Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar to deliver
His people when they cried out to Him. As long as the judge was alive,
the people followed God and experienced peace and prosperity. When the judge
died, however, they would fall back into the cycle of sin.
Today’s lesson focused mainly on Ehud and what he did to the evil King
Eglon. It was a pretty gross death. Some of the kids found it interesting,
while others were grossed out. It is a short story of a great hero and a very
evil king who was in the way of God’s Rescue Plan. When you get in the way of
the Rescue Plan, bad things happen. During our study of Judges, we will
continue to see the Israelites not keep their covenant with God that they made
during Joshua’s time. They were a disobedient bunch, as we are. But every time
things got really bad, they cried out for help and God sent a hero, a judge, to
rescue them every time. God was merciful with the Israelites and He is merciful
with us.
The Israelites needed someone better than a judge; they needed a
king who would save them not only from the consequences of their sin, but the
sin itself. That was all part of God’s plan. God sent a true Deliverer; His
Son, Jesus, died for our sin and delivered us forever from the oppression of
sin and death.
Just in case the “Family Journal Page” didn't make it home:
Bible
Passage: Judges 3:7-31
Big Picture Question: How does God accomplish His plan? God works in the lives of people
to bring about His plan of redemption.
Key passage: “Whenever the
LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, the LORD was with him and saved the
people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.” Judges
2:18
Christ
Connection: The
judges saved the people from the consequences of their sin, but not the cause
of it. God’s plan was to one day send a true Deliverer-Jesus, His Own Son-to be
the King of His people. Jesus saves people from sin forever.
Family
task: Think of one or two believers at church
or in the community whom you admire. Talk about why you admire them. Share that
just as God works in their lives to accomplish His plan, and just as He did
with the judges in ancient Israel, God works in the lives of your family
members. Write how you see God using the person you named.
Next
week's lesson: Judges
4-5
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