Youth Sunday School Lesson – January 10,2010
So we have a new sport to participate in out at Lee’s Chapel #1 these days – Wednesday Night Water Polo! I’d like to thank those of you who showed up last night to help us clean up the water from the broken pipes and you also need to know that you made a big difference for the church when you did so. Don’t be surprised if God blesses you for the help you provided as He has been known to do just that.
Our lesson this week revolves around the Holy Spirit and how He works in our lives, specifically in the area of when/how we study our Bibles. Our text this week is taken from John 16:1-16 and Acts 16:7-9. We will look at the verses in John to give us an explanation from Jesus on the purpose of the Holy Spirit, and then we'll get an example of the Holy Spirit in action and how He guides from the verses we will read in Acts. Read those verses and see if you can grasp what we will study in class, but in the meantime I will blog today on how the Holy Spirit works on a day to day basis in a Christian’s life.
In Romans 8:13-14 Paul writes: “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” By the way, it is not a coincidence that I always seem to get a lot of the scriptures I use out of the book of Romans – the book is a great starting point for anyone who wants to fully understand the Bible and what Jesus did for us on the cross. But I am digressing here, and we are talking specifically about being ‘led by the Spirit’ in our daily lives.
Notice that Paul speaks of us being ‘led’ by the Spirit. Our lives should not be lived in a way in which we are pulled or dragged by the Spirit. The Spirit does not work in that manner, because in our verses in John where Jesus describes the Holy Spirit, look at the verbs in the text. Jesus uses guide, speak, and tell to show that God has chosen to persuade us rather than force us to do the right things each day. Followers of Christ still need to do something on our own – we will need to make choices and set our will on doing the right thing when called upon to do so. When we do not take this part of our life seriously, there is no way the Holy Spirit will be guiding us. In fact, when we live within our own will and do the things that only seem right to our carnal minds, it is a safe bet that we will find ourselves being led by someone or something else. Our spiritual lives will suffer as a result. When we find ourselves in this condition, we will also find it very hard or extremely difficult to study God’s Word.
As a teacher, I know that I cannot impose my will or my knowledge on those I would teach without a little cooperation in the process from my students. Without the help of my students in class, if they choose not to listen and make no effort to understand on their own, then my efforts to teach are fruitless. In much the same way, we should submit ourselves as the Spirit of God suggests, influences, and in many ways dominates how we live our lives. That sounds like a rough term to use, but think about it – God is good, therefore allowing His Spirit to dominate our lives is a good thing for us to do. When the Holy Spirit controls our manner of thinking and how we live our lives, much fruit will be produced as we in turn will become more and more faithful to God.
So how about you and me this morning? Can we feel the divine influence of the Holy Spirit drawing us away from things that might corrupt us and would have you and I fall by the wayside in our daily walk as Christians? Are we aware of a desire in our hearts to yield to that influence, and instead of our own will, to be transported along a path of righteousness with the goal of being as close to Christ as possible? Or are we resisting the influence of the Holy Spirit and in so doing, seeking to find our own way to becoming closer to God, and alternately maybe becoming closer to something else?
God will never lead us astray. As Christians, the only real love, joy, and peace we will ever find in our lives will be uncovered when we submit to Him - by following the Spirit which He has sent to guide us. Last of all this morning, notice how the parts all fit together: To be led by the Spirit is to choose voluntarily and consciously to submit to the Word of God. By submission to God’s Word, and allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit, we will be drawn closer to God.
Something That Lasts
When we were little, my brother and I would play with our toy soldiers around an old pond in the woods behind our house. I wasn’t content to simply limit myself to combat against him in miniature battle scenarios, no, I had to build a city next to the pond complete with a dock and warehouses. When the water level fell on the old pond, it wasn’t a problem – I’d use an old coffee can to scoop either a river or a channel to my city and the dock would be back in service. My brother would build a city of his own, and I in turn would add onto or build a new city. This went on until the next big rain would happen to come along. The small cities would be inundated and we would have to start all over; our engineering feats washed away on the breath of a sudden summer thunderstorm.
Years later I moved to New York City, as I’ve mentioned in a previous blog. As a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, I was stationed on Governor’s Island in the middle of New York Harbor. Each morning I would look out my window at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, seemingly right outside my door. Actually, they were. I’ve noticed in most of my pictures I took while on the island, they appear to be always visible and looming in the background. My friends and I made quite a few trips to the towers during my stay in New York, as there were several shops located in the conclaves below them. Today I still find it very hard to comprehend that they are no longer there, standing a stoic watch over the small island I used to call home. The two sentinels that were once the symbol of our Nation’s financial power and fiscal might are gone today, washed away by a different type of storm – a storm of violence perpetrated by the soul-less hatred of others who would seek to steal, kill, and destroy.
Jesus and His followers arrived in Jerusalem for the Passover. The building most revered and held in esteem by the Jewish nation at the time was the temple, and they were very pretentious about it. The Bible tells us that His disciples were quick to proudly show Jesus all of the buildings of the temple complex. Jesus’ reply to them was, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” I’ve pondered that verse many times, and I do not think Jesus was simply bashing the temple or chiding His disciples due to their obvious pride in a building. Jesus, as He always did, was only telling the truth about what was going to happen in the future. Sure enough, forty years later (around 70 AD) the Roman General Titus conquered Jerusalem and completely destroyed the temple.
The things of earth are temporal in nature, and subject to fail or fall. A wise man once said, “Man proposes and God disposes.” Yet we as mere mortals do our best to make things permanent and still attempt to test our fate by hitching our wagon to whatever star beguiles us at the moment. Do you think I’m wrong here? If so, then what is the purpose of ‘Life Insurance’? Seriously. I have a policy myself and it gives me great peace of mind to know that should I take a celestial dirt-nap my loved ones will – hit the jackpot upon my demise. My life insurance policy will be a testament to me once I am gone, and my children will remember me graciously – good ‘ole dad! Though I’ll be gone, I will live on in their hearts for many years to come, or at least each time they spend some of the money. Call that life insurance policy my own pyramid rising above the arid desert of a life I tried to live with the best of my abilities. Do tell.
Time has a nasty habit of washing away everything we labor for in the end. If not time, then calamities and natural disasters are sure to take their toll. And then there are also moths and eventual rust and decay that we must take into consideration. Throw in man-made disasters (terrorist attacks?) and you have a recipe for nothing to remain constant. So what is it all for, these things we do here during our time on earth? Will a bigger life insurance policy help? How about a revolving endowment fund to some university or orphanage in our name?
Jesus tells us: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
There it is. Something that will pass the test of time and pay dividends to those who follow the guidelines He has set for us. If I hitch my wagon to treasures that are only available in Heaven, I need not worry about summer storms nor other disasters in this life. It's all about where your heart is.
Years later I moved to New York City, as I’ve mentioned in a previous blog. As a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, I was stationed on Governor’s Island in the middle of New York Harbor. Each morning I would look out my window at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, seemingly right outside my door. Actually, they were. I’ve noticed in most of my pictures I took while on the island, they appear to be always visible and looming in the background. My friends and I made quite a few trips to the towers during my stay in New York, as there were several shops located in the conclaves below them. Today I still find it very hard to comprehend that they are no longer there, standing a stoic watch over the small island I used to call home. The two sentinels that were once the symbol of our Nation’s financial power and fiscal might are gone today, washed away by a different type of storm – a storm of violence perpetrated by the soul-less hatred of others who would seek to steal, kill, and destroy.
Jesus and His followers arrived in Jerusalem for the Passover. The building most revered and held in esteem by the Jewish nation at the time was the temple, and they were very pretentious about it. The Bible tells us that His disciples were quick to proudly show Jesus all of the buildings of the temple complex. Jesus’ reply to them was, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” I’ve pondered that verse many times, and I do not think Jesus was simply bashing the temple or chiding His disciples due to their obvious pride in a building. Jesus, as He always did, was only telling the truth about what was going to happen in the future. Sure enough, forty years later (around 70 AD) the Roman General Titus conquered Jerusalem and completely destroyed the temple.
The things of earth are temporal in nature, and subject to fail or fall. A wise man once said, “Man proposes and God disposes.” Yet we as mere mortals do our best to make things permanent and still attempt to test our fate by hitching our wagon to whatever star beguiles us at the moment. Do you think I’m wrong here? If so, then what is the purpose of ‘Life Insurance’? Seriously. I have a policy myself and it gives me great peace of mind to know that should I take a celestial dirt-nap my loved ones will – hit the jackpot upon my demise. My life insurance policy will be a testament to me once I am gone, and my children will remember me graciously – good ‘ole dad! Though I’ll be gone, I will live on in their hearts for many years to come, or at least each time they spend some of the money. Call that life insurance policy my own pyramid rising above the arid desert of a life I tried to live with the best of my abilities. Do tell.
Time has a nasty habit of washing away everything we labor for in the end. If not time, then calamities and natural disasters are sure to take their toll. And then there are also moths and eventual rust and decay that we must take into consideration. Throw in man-made disasters (terrorist attacks?) and you have a recipe for nothing to remain constant. So what is it all for, these things we do here during our time on earth? Will a bigger life insurance policy help? How about a revolving endowment fund to some university or orphanage in our name?
Jesus tells us: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
There it is. Something that will pass the test of time and pay dividends to those who follow the guidelines He has set for us. If I hitch my wagon to treasures that are only available in Heaven, I need not worry about summer storms nor other disasters in this life. It's all about where your heart is.
Before Creation, The Angels Were...?
A dear, sweet girl emails me this morning and asks:
“Ok so I have a big question. It’s been on my mind for a few days and I never found the answer. And it might be a dumb question, but I’m learning. Ok, so the serpent that told Eve to eat the fruit from the tree, was that the devil? I thought the devil was an angel at one point that fell from the sky because he thought he was more powerful than God? I might have that wrong but my question is: The bible says in the BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth. So where did the devil come into the picture? I didn’t think there was existence before Adam and Eve because He says it was without form and it was dark. So how did all of this happen? I think I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. Can you help?”
There is nothing wrong with asking a question, and this one isn’t dumb! However, I do not have all of the answers and the things you are asking are pretty intense – these questions are dynamic at the very least. In a nutshell, your question appears to be: was there anything in existence before the earth and the heavens were created?
Fortunately, the Bible has an answer for both of us and you do not have to depend on me alone for an explanation. I’d worry about you if you did; I never trust anyone that attempts to answer my own difficult questions without first consulting their Bible. Our answer can be found in the Book of Job.
Job is an interesting book, and is considered to be one of the oldest books of the Bible, despite its location in the middle of the Old Testament. Job questioned God, so in return God questions Job. We can follow the dialogue in Chapter 38, beginning in verse 4: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Morning Stars and Sons of God are terms used in the Bible for specific angels and celestial beings. When God created the world (In the beginning) the angels were already present. These verses tell us that when God ‘laid the foundations’ of the earth, the Morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy. Now, I don’t know when they were called into existence by God, or where He created them, or how it all came to be. I also do not know how long they had been in existence before God decided to create the world and the universe in general. But these verses satisfy me with an explanation that not only were the angels around at the time, they were also very happy about God creating the world as we know it!
This also sheds some light on the Christmas carol we sing called Angels From The Realms of Glory:
“Ok so I have a big question. It’s been on my mind for a few days and I never found the answer. And it might be a dumb question, but I’m learning. Ok, so the serpent that told Eve to eat the fruit from the tree, was that the devil? I thought the devil was an angel at one point that fell from the sky because he thought he was more powerful than God? I might have that wrong but my question is: The bible says in the BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth. So where did the devil come into the picture? I didn’t think there was existence before Adam and Eve because He says it was without form and it was dark. So how did all of this happen? I think I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. Can you help?”
There is nothing wrong with asking a question, and this one isn’t dumb! However, I do not have all of the answers and the things you are asking are pretty intense – these questions are dynamic at the very least. In a nutshell, your question appears to be: was there anything in existence before the earth and the heavens were created?
Fortunately, the Bible has an answer for both of us and you do not have to depend on me alone for an explanation. I’d worry about you if you did; I never trust anyone that attempts to answer my own difficult questions without first consulting their Bible. Our answer can be found in the Book of Job.
Job is an interesting book, and is considered to be one of the oldest books of the Bible, despite its location in the middle of the Old Testament. Job questioned God, so in return God questions Job. We can follow the dialogue in Chapter 38, beginning in verse 4: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Morning Stars and Sons of God are terms used in the Bible for specific angels and celestial beings. When God created the world (In the beginning) the angels were already present. These verses tell us that when God ‘laid the foundations’ of the earth, the Morning Stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy. Now, I don’t know when they were called into existence by God, or where He created them, or how it all came to be. I also do not know how long they had been in existence before God decided to create the world and the universe in general. But these verses satisfy me with an explanation that not only were the angels around at the time, they were also very happy about God creating the world as we know it!
This also sheds some light on the Christmas carol we sing called Angels From The Realms of Glory:
Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight oer all the earth.
Ye who sang creation’s story,
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
Wing your flight oer all the earth.
Ye who sang creation’s story,
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
We can be certain that at some point in time the angels were all created by God, and from these verses we understand that they were already around and in existence before the earth was created. "In the beginning" refers to the beginning of the world we live in but does not equate to God as He has always been in existence. God is not bound by our time and how we understand the concept of it.
You are also right when you mention that the devil (Satan) was the culprit in the Garden of Eden as far as his tempting Eve and causing the fall of man. But we do not know all of the details surrounding the fall of Satan himself, or even when it actually happened. Notice, too, that the serpent was forever changed afterward. Before Satan used him, he was one of the most wondrous of God’s created animals. After the fall in the garden, he was cursed by God to slide on his belly and be despised by everyone. That’s another story and something I, once again, do not have all of the answers to.
I hope this helps. One day we will know everything about it and ‘we’ll understand it better by and by.’ But for now, we have the Word of God to help us understand all the things we need to know while we are here on earth. And thanks for giving me a topic to use in my blog today!
I hope this helps. One day we will know everything about it and ‘we’ll understand it better by and by.’ But for now, we have the Word of God to help us understand all the things we need to know while we are here on earth. And thanks for giving me a topic to use in my blog today!
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