Sometimes a very visual demonstration drives home the reality of scripture so much better than just talking about it.
Psalm 32: 8 - God's Guides
Exodus 14:13 - God's Rescue
Psalm 13:6 - A Victory Song
John 6:33 - Heavenly Food
Isaiah 49:10 - Water From a Rock
Leviticus 23:24 - We're Going to See the King (Trumpets Lesson)
**God’s Guides
"I will guide you and teach you the way you should go.” - Psalm 32:8 (NIrV)
Materials: YE2H.4 (YEA curriculum from CEM)
What would you do if I told you to move from right here to the other end of the room? Would you go directly there? Would you run? Would you dance? Would you stop by the table for a cookie? There are so many options if I tell you to go from here to there.
But this is just a small room in comparison to life. What if God said, “Just do it. Just live.” And He didn’t give us any directions. Without any guidelines, we almost certainly would do it wrong. Wrong?! What do I mean wrong? Well, there are rules for living life. There are people who think that there aren’t any rules - that Christians just make up rules to ruin everyone’s fun. But let’s think about this for a minute.
Do you have any rules in your house? Name one. Put the cap back on the toothpaste. Don’t leave the front door wide open. Close the shower curtain while you’re taking a shower. Do your homework. Why are you directed to do all of those things? Because they make life work better. Leaving the cap off the toothpaste causes it to dry out - and brushing your teeth is important to keeping them healthy. Leaving the front door open means that you make either the a/c or the furnace work harder to get the inside temperature to where you’re comfortable. You close the shower curtain so that water doesn’t get all over the floor. Otherwise you could slip and fall and break something! Or the water could get into the floorboard and start rotting it out. That’s never a good thing! And why do you have to do your homework? It’s not because your mom doesn’t have anything else better to do than grade your homework!! Believe me!! It’s so that you will learn what you need to know. The rules of the house are to help you grow up with wisdom so that life works better for you.
And that’s why God gives His laws too! God’s laws give us direction in which way to go.
It was very interesting when they first came out of Egypt, though. How did God lead them? He led them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. He was literally right there with them all the time in a very visual way! Do you ever wish God was with you all the time? Well, guess what: God may not be a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire with you, but is with you. He has promised to never leave you or forsake those who love Him and follow His ways. You just need to seek Him to find out how He wants you to cross this “room” called Life. A good place to start is by reading your Bible - and then doing what God says to do in it.
**God's Rescue
"Don't be afraid. Stand firm. You will see how the Lord will save you today." - Exodus 14:13 (NIrV)
Materials needed: YE2H.5 lesson (CEM’s YEA books)
When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, the economy of Egypt was in shambles! Their grain crop was gone; their herds and flocks were gone; their firstborn children were dead. God had done everything He told Pharaoh He would do. So why in the world Pharaoh would decide to chase after the Israelites and recapture them is almost beyond comprehension - although, of course, he was watching his labor force walking away and God hardened his heart.
So the Israelites found themselves, just days out of Egypt, caught between Pharaoh’s army rapidly approaching on one side and the Red Sea on the other. Incidentally, those folks who think the water was only 2 foot deep - aka the Sea of Reeds - are unbelievable! They would certainly have waded through water of that depth of avoid Pharaoh’s army. In fact, the water that they faced likely looked similar to one of our Great Lakes - wave action and deep. The Israelites knew they were in trouble.
But what did Moses tell them? (Here’s your memory verse!) Moses, at God’s direction, stretched out his rod over the Red Sea. A strong east wind blew all night, piling up the water into walls and drying out the sea bed so the Israelites could walk across on dry ground. Once the Israelites were across, the pillar of fire moved so Pharaoh’s army could move into the Red Sea which crashed back over the top of them and drowned them all. Not one of them remained (Exodus 14:28).
But God doesn’t do things like today, does He? I want to tell you three quick stories:
When I was little, we lived in Casper, WY - you know, where it snows in October and mostly stays on the ground until late April. The main streets get enough traffic and treatment that you’ll see the payment at times, but the side streets stay pretty snow-covered. Mom would put chains on the tires when the roads got bad and, because it’s a pain to take them off again, she would drive to work on the side streets. One day she was hurrying to work and came to an intersection. A pickup was coming crosswise towards her - sliding. Mom could see there was no way he could stop and she was already in the intersection; there was going to be a collision. She said a quick prayer and closed her eyes, anticipating the impact. When she opened her eyes, they were both through the intersection with no impact. Mom is convinced that God worked that miracle. But a skeptic might say that she just hadn’t accurately assessed the situation.
The second story comes from when I was a senior in high school working at a steak house across town. I was driving home late after closing one night - it was probably close to midnight. Close to our house, I had to cross two sets of railroad tracks. I would drive over the first one, curve to the left, and drive over the second one. I was driving along, singing out loud, thinking about the calculus assignment I still needed to complete. I crossed over the first set of railroad tracks, made the curve and started over the second set. Something caught my eye in the rearview mirror. It was a train!! And then I realized that I had been hearing the train whistle blowing furiously. I have no idea how I wasn’t flattened by that train. Where it was and the speed it was traveling, I surely must have just missed impact crossing that first set of tracks! But someone might say that I was just mistaken.
Several years ago, Mom and Dad were driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway. They stopped to do some sightseeing at a waterfall. As they were climbing the steps up the steep path, they heard someone calling for help. Dad raced on ahead. Mom continued after him as quickly as she could. She lost her balance. She was falling backward with no hope of catching her balance to keep from falling. She said it was as if two hands caught her and set her back up on her feet. There was no way she did that.
Does God always protect you when you’re driving too fast on snowy streets? Does He always protect you from getting smashed by a train when you’re not paying attention? Does He always catch you and put you back on your feet? No. There are times when bad things happen to God’s people. But there are also times when God rescues us - because He loves us and because He gets the glory. Don’t take your relationship with God lightly! He can do great things to rescue you in this world.
**A Victory Song
“I will sing to the Lord. He has been so good to me.” - Psalm 13:6 (NIrV)
Materials Needed: assorted musical instruments
How often do you have a song playing in your brain? Do you ever sing out loud? When? Why? What do you have currently playing in your head? Is that a good thing? Do you know what song terrorism is? It’s when someone starts singing a catchy tune that you only know one line of - but now it’s stuck in your head and it just keeps playing over and over again.
What’s your favorite song? Do you ever sing it out loud? When?
Music is incredible! It allows us to express emotions in a deeply satisfying way. There are songs that can make me cry. There are songs that lift my spirits.
Music can be tied to memories. We can start singing “How Great Thou Art” and I’m sitting on the piano bench in Aunt Mary Ann’s house plunking out one note at a time because she decided to teach me to play the piano.
Or we can sing “As the Deer” and I’m in the Feast house in 1998 in Kissimmee, FL. Or “Come to the Feast” and I’m in the family van driving to the Feast in Kissimmee with everyone doing parts.
Music is stored, apparently, in a separate part of your brain because people who have lost memories of other things can still remember the words to a hymn.
I love that after God brought the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground, Moses and the people sang a song to God. There were three parts to it. They recounted what God had just done in delivering them; they affirmed that there is no God like our God; they recounted their faith that God would do what He had promised. It must have been a great song because Miriam and the women sang and danced to the music.
Oh that the people would have sung that song over and over until it was part of their very being. Then maybe they wouldn’t have doubted God three days later! Maybe they wouldn’t have rebelled against His commands. Maybe they wouldn’t have had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
What about us? Do we sing the songs that God gives us? Do we use them to recount what God has done, who He is, and what He has promised to do? If we don’t, we’re missing an opportunity to use a tool that could save us a lot of heartache. So, sing, sing a song. Sing out loud. Sing out strong.
Heavenly Food
"The bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven.” - John 6:33 (NIrV)
Exodus 16 records that the people were hungry for the meat and bread that they had in plenty in Egypt. So God gave them manna. There was just enough for every day. It appeared in the morning, like the dew, and then when the sun grew hot it vanished. Numbers 11:7-9 tells us what it looked like: “Now the manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of gum resin. The people walked around and gathered it, ground it on a handmill or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot or shaped it into cakes. It tasted like pastry baked with fine oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.”
God used the manna to teach the people about the Sabbath. How did He do that? On Sunday-Thursday, anything they tried to save, so they wouldn’t have to gather the next day, would breed worms and grow moldy and stink. But on Friday, they were specifically told to gather twice as much so they could observe the Sabbath. It didn’t go bad overnight. And there was no manna available to gather on the Sabbath. It tells you a lot about the Israelites that God tied their lessons about obedience to Him to their food.
How long did God provide manna for them to eat? For almost 40 years! From the time they grumbled, just days out of Egypt, until they crossed the Jordan River into the land, they were given manna to eat! Some of those people were born in the wilderness; they had never known a time when God didn’t provide the food they needed to eat.
And then there’s your memory verse: "The bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven.” - John 6:33 (NIrV) But let’s talk about it in context. Jesus had just fed the 5000 - performed an incredible miracle and then crossed the Sea of Galilee. People came to find him. And this is what they said, starting in John 6:30: So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Are you kidding me?! What sign would Jesus do that they might believe?! Hadn’t He just fed them all!! They cite the manna - almost as if Jesus feeding them one meal wasn’t enough. And then Jesus tells them that He is the bread of life.
Are you making some connections here? The Israelites passed through the Red Sea, were baptized in the Red Sea - which Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:2. And God fed them for forty years with bread from heaven. Jesus makes the connection that the true bread from heaven is He - who gives life to the world. What was the reaction, eventually, of the Israelites to the manna? They were tired of it. They complained that all they had to eat was the same old manna! Do you ever do that? Do you ever grow tired of Jesus? Of following Him? Do you ever complain that Mom and Dad just want to read the Bible? Do you ever complain that you have to go to church and listen to another sermon and sabbath school?
Let me encourage you to ask God to give you a hunger for Him, to not become tired of obeying Him and of learning more about Him. Just as the Israelites ate that manna in the wilderness for 40 years, God wants you to not grow weary in seeking Him and making Him a part of you always.
**Water From a Rock
"Like a shepherd, he will lead them beside springs of water.” - Isaiah 49:10 (NIrV)
Materials needed: Melted crayon over rock paperweight, YEA lesson YE2H.8 “Water From a Rock”
What can you do with a rock? Well, you can use it to build roads - or in this case, block a road. You can use it to build houses and bridges. Many fences were built along the road as the landowners moved the rocks from their pastures. I blew Jonathan and Christopher’s minds one summer when we used a rock to smash the cabbage into sauerkraut. Rocks, then, can be made into grindstones for grinding wheat and barley and rye (etc.). But there are other uses for rocks too! For instance, you can get minerals and gems from the rocks; diamonds are called “rocks” sometimes.
How do we see rocks used in the Bible? David killed Goliath with a rock. So it could be a weapon. Rocks could also be built into fortresses. We see numerous references in the psalms to God being our Fortress, the Rock in whom we trust. So “rock” can be a picture of safety and security. We read the parable of the wise man who built his house upon the rock. And we learn that a rock, well, The Rock, Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which we should build our lives. In that case, the idea of a rock is the steadfastness, the very idea that God never changes. But God is also called our Hiding Place - like one hymn says, “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock” based on Exodus 33:22. You could also set up piles of rocks into an Ebenezer - a Stone of Remembrance to remind you of God’s goodness, mercy, and love.
So why in the world do I have this rock with felt on the bottom and melted blue crayon on the top? It’s a paperweight for my desk to remind me of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They hadn’t gone very far into the desert when they needed water. That’s a lot of people with all of their animals to be traveling in the desert, where, by definition, there is not a lot of water. So what did God tell Moses to do? Strike the rock and the water will pour forth. (Exodus 17:6) This was a miracle like all of the other miracles God had been doing - the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the deliverance from the Egyptians, the provision of the manna. But it goes deeper than just giving them a drink. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
So why would I put this paperweight on my desk? To remind myself that Jesus Christ is my Fortress, my Rock in whom I trust. He’s my foundation. He’s my Hiding place. He’s my Defender. And He’s my life, my Source for living water, and, by extension, eternal life.
You know how kids are always picking up and collecting rocks. They naturally pick up one of the symbols that points to Jesus Christ in so many ways!! Maybe that’s another reason God tells us that we won’t enter the kingdom unless we become like children.
**We're Going to See the King
Memory Verse
"Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts’" (Leviticus 23:24).
Materials Needed: CEM YEA Trumpets lesson (YE2X.4); dry erase board, markers, eraser
I have a story to read to you today. Listen carefully . . .
Once there was a little boy named Joshua who led the children of Israel against a huge city, the city of Bethlehem. The Israelites sang and danced around the city for six days. On the seventh day, they carried their pianos and sang songs and then they jumped up and down and the gates of the city opened up to let the Israelites in. Then they had a party with the people of Jericho.
O.K. That story’s a mess, isn’t it!! Let’s go back and fix it.
Once there was a (little boy) man named Joshua who led the children of Israel against a huge city, the city of (Bethlehem) Jericho. The Israelites (sang and danced) marched silently around the city for six days. On the seventh day, they (carried their pianos and sang songs) marched around the city seven times and the priests blew the trumpets. (and then they jumped up and down) The people gave a mighty shout and the (gates) walls of the city (opened up) fell down flat to let the Israelites in. Then they had (a party) a great victory over the people of Jericho.
The story of Joshua and Jericho is a well-known story that points to the Feast of Trumpets and the return of Jesus Christ. Joshua is the Hebrew form of Jesus; they both mean “God is salvation.” Jericho is like all the kingdoms of this world. The children of Israel are like all of the saints/people of God. We’re walking around the kingdoms of this world and we can’t defeat them, but we do what God tells us to do and we persevere. The seventh day is the day when the falls of Jericho fell down flat. The seventh day is the Feast of Trumpet - looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ returns. The priests blew their trumpets; Jesus returns at the last trump, the trumpet call of God. The people of Jericho were defeated; all enemies of God will be defeated and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
There are some people who would like to rewrite the ending that is coming. They would like to tell you that it doesn’t matter if you follow God’s directions as you’re marching in this world. They will tell you that you can do whatever you want to do. But I think there’s a very good chance that Joshua wouldn’t have been given the victory if he hadn’t followed God’s directions to the letter. What you do matters! And when Jesus comes back, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But I’m only going to hear those words if I do the things that are pleasing to God, keeping His commandments and keeping His holy days.
Soon and very soon we’re going to see the King . . . .
Exodus 14:13 - God's Rescue
Psalm 13:6 - A Victory Song
John 6:33 - Heavenly Food
Isaiah 49:10 - Water From a Rock
Leviticus 23:24 - We're Going to See the King (Trumpets Lesson)
**God’s Guides
"I will guide you and teach you the way you should go.” - Psalm 32:8 (NIrV)
Materials: YE2H.4 (YEA curriculum from CEM)
What would you do if I told you to move from right here to the other end of the room? Would you go directly there? Would you run? Would you dance? Would you stop by the table for a cookie? There are so many options if I tell you to go from here to there.
But this is just a small room in comparison to life. What if God said, “Just do it. Just live.” And He didn’t give us any directions. Without any guidelines, we almost certainly would do it wrong. Wrong?! What do I mean wrong? Well, there are rules for living life. There are people who think that there aren’t any rules - that Christians just make up rules to ruin everyone’s fun. But let’s think about this for a minute.
Do you have any rules in your house? Name one. Put the cap back on the toothpaste. Don’t leave the front door wide open. Close the shower curtain while you’re taking a shower. Do your homework. Why are you directed to do all of those things? Because they make life work better. Leaving the cap off the toothpaste causes it to dry out - and brushing your teeth is important to keeping them healthy. Leaving the front door open means that you make either the a/c or the furnace work harder to get the inside temperature to where you’re comfortable. You close the shower curtain so that water doesn’t get all over the floor. Otherwise you could slip and fall and break something! Or the water could get into the floorboard and start rotting it out. That’s never a good thing! And why do you have to do your homework? It’s not because your mom doesn’t have anything else better to do than grade your homework!! Believe me!! It’s so that you will learn what you need to know. The rules of the house are to help you grow up with wisdom so that life works better for you.
And that’s why God gives His laws too! God’s laws give us direction in which way to go.
It was very interesting when they first came out of Egypt, though. How did God lead them? He led them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. He was literally right there with them all the time in a very visual way! Do you ever wish God was with you all the time? Well, guess what: God may not be a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire with you, but is with you. He has promised to never leave you or forsake those who love Him and follow His ways. You just need to seek Him to find out how He wants you to cross this “room” called Life. A good place to start is by reading your Bible - and then doing what God says to do in it.
**God's Rescue
"Don't be afraid. Stand firm. You will see how the Lord will save you today." - Exodus 14:13 (NIrV)
Materials needed: YE2H.5 lesson (CEM’s YEA books)
When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, the economy of Egypt was in shambles! Their grain crop was gone; their herds and flocks were gone; their firstborn children were dead. God had done everything He told Pharaoh He would do. So why in the world Pharaoh would decide to chase after the Israelites and recapture them is almost beyond comprehension - although, of course, he was watching his labor force walking away and God hardened his heart.
So the Israelites found themselves, just days out of Egypt, caught between Pharaoh’s army rapidly approaching on one side and the Red Sea on the other. Incidentally, those folks who think the water was only 2 foot deep - aka the Sea of Reeds - are unbelievable! They would certainly have waded through water of that depth of avoid Pharaoh’s army. In fact, the water that they faced likely looked similar to one of our Great Lakes - wave action and deep. The Israelites knew they were in trouble.
But what did Moses tell them? (Here’s your memory verse!) Moses, at God’s direction, stretched out his rod over the Red Sea. A strong east wind blew all night, piling up the water into walls and drying out the sea bed so the Israelites could walk across on dry ground. Once the Israelites were across, the pillar of fire moved so Pharaoh’s army could move into the Red Sea which crashed back over the top of them and drowned them all. Not one of them remained (Exodus 14:28).
But God doesn’t do things like today, does He? I want to tell you three quick stories:
When I was little, we lived in Casper, WY - you know, where it snows in October and mostly stays on the ground until late April. The main streets get enough traffic and treatment that you’ll see the payment at times, but the side streets stay pretty snow-covered. Mom would put chains on the tires when the roads got bad and, because it’s a pain to take them off again, she would drive to work on the side streets. One day she was hurrying to work and came to an intersection. A pickup was coming crosswise towards her - sliding. Mom could see there was no way he could stop and she was already in the intersection; there was going to be a collision. She said a quick prayer and closed her eyes, anticipating the impact. When she opened her eyes, they were both through the intersection with no impact. Mom is convinced that God worked that miracle. But a skeptic might say that she just hadn’t accurately assessed the situation.
The second story comes from when I was a senior in high school working at a steak house across town. I was driving home late after closing one night - it was probably close to midnight. Close to our house, I had to cross two sets of railroad tracks. I would drive over the first one, curve to the left, and drive over the second one. I was driving along, singing out loud, thinking about the calculus assignment I still needed to complete. I crossed over the first set of railroad tracks, made the curve and started over the second set. Something caught my eye in the rearview mirror. It was a train!! And then I realized that I had been hearing the train whistle blowing furiously. I have no idea how I wasn’t flattened by that train. Where it was and the speed it was traveling, I surely must have just missed impact crossing that first set of tracks! But someone might say that I was just mistaken.
Several years ago, Mom and Dad were driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway. They stopped to do some sightseeing at a waterfall. As they were climbing the steps up the steep path, they heard someone calling for help. Dad raced on ahead. Mom continued after him as quickly as she could. She lost her balance. She was falling backward with no hope of catching her balance to keep from falling. She said it was as if two hands caught her and set her back up on her feet. There was no way she did that.
Does God always protect you when you’re driving too fast on snowy streets? Does He always protect you from getting smashed by a train when you’re not paying attention? Does He always catch you and put you back on your feet? No. There are times when bad things happen to God’s people. But there are also times when God rescues us - because He loves us and because He gets the glory. Don’t take your relationship with God lightly! He can do great things to rescue you in this world.
**A Victory Song
“I will sing to the Lord. He has been so good to me.” - Psalm 13:6 (NIrV)
Materials Needed: assorted musical instruments
How often do you have a song playing in your brain? Do you ever sing out loud? When? Why? What do you have currently playing in your head? Is that a good thing? Do you know what song terrorism is? It’s when someone starts singing a catchy tune that you only know one line of - but now it’s stuck in your head and it just keeps playing over and over again.
What’s your favorite song? Do you ever sing it out loud? When?
Music is incredible! It allows us to express emotions in a deeply satisfying way. There are songs that can make me cry. There are songs that lift my spirits.
Music can be tied to memories. We can start singing “How Great Thou Art” and I’m sitting on the piano bench in Aunt Mary Ann’s house plunking out one note at a time because she decided to teach me to play the piano.
Or we can sing “As the Deer” and I’m in the Feast house in 1998 in Kissimmee, FL. Or “Come to the Feast” and I’m in the family van driving to the Feast in Kissimmee with everyone doing parts.
Music is stored, apparently, in a separate part of your brain because people who have lost memories of other things can still remember the words to a hymn.
I love that after God brought the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground, Moses and the people sang a song to God. There were three parts to it. They recounted what God had just done in delivering them; they affirmed that there is no God like our God; they recounted their faith that God would do what He had promised. It must have been a great song because Miriam and the women sang and danced to the music.
Oh that the people would have sung that song over and over until it was part of their very being. Then maybe they wouldn’t have doubted God three days later! Maybe they wouldn’t have rebelled against His commands. Maybe they wouldn’t have had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
What about us? Do we sing the songs that God gives us? Do we use them to recount what God has done, who He is, and what He has promised to do? If we don’t, we’re missing an opportunity to use a tool that could save us a lot of heartache. So, sing, sing a song. Sing out loud. Sing out strong.
Heavenly Food
"The bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven.” - John 6:33 (NIrV)
Exodus 16 records that the people were hungry for the meat and bread that they had in plenty in Egypt. So God gave them manna. There was just enough for every day. It appeared in the morning, like the dew, and then when the sun grew hot it vanished. Numbers 11:7-9 tells us what it looked like: “Now the manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of gum resin. The people walked around and gathered it, ground it on a handmill or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot or shaped it into cakes. It tasted like pastry baked with fine oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.”
God used the manna to teach the people about the Sabbath. How did He do that? On Sunday-Thursday, anything they tried to save, so they wouldn’t have to gather the next day, would breed worms and grow moldy and stink. But on Friday, they were specifically told to gather twice as much so they could observe the Sabbath. It didn’t go bad overnight. And there was no manna available to gather on the Sabbath. It tells you a lot about the Israelites that God tied their lessons about obedience to Him to their food.
How long did God provide manna for them to eat? For almost 40 years! From the time they grumbled, just days out of Egypt, until they crossed the Jordan River into the land, they were given manna to eat! Some of those people were born in the wilderness; they had never known a time when God didn’t provide the food they needed to eat.
And then there’s your memory verse: "The bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven.” - John 6:33 (NIrV) But let’s talk about it in context. Jesus had just fed the 5000 - performed an incredible miracle and then crossed the Sea of Galilee. People came to find him. And this is what they said, starting in John 6:30: So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Are you kidding me?! What sign would Jesus do that they might believe?! Hadn’t He just fed them all!! They cite the manna - almost as if Jesus feeding them one meal wasn’t enough. And then Jesus tells them that He is the bread of life.
Are you making some connections here? The Israelites passed through the Red Sea, were baptized in the Red Sea - which Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:2. And God fed them for forty years with bread from heaven. Jesus makes the connection that the true bread from heaven is He - who gives life to the world. What was the reaction, eventually, of the Israelites to the manna? They were tired of it. They complained that all they had to eat was the same old manna! Do you ever do that? Do you ever grow tired of Jesus? Of following Him? Do you ever complain that Mom and Dad just want to read the Bible? Do you ever complain that you have to go to church and listen to another sermon and sabbath school?
Let me encourage you to ask God to give you a hunger for Him, to not become tired of obeying Him and of learning more about Him. Just as the Israelites ate that manna in the wilderness for 40 years, God wants you to not grow weary in seeking Him and making Him a part of you always.
**Water From a Rock
"Like a shepherd, he will lead them beside springs of water.” - Isaiah 49:10 (NIrV)
Materials needed: Melted crayon over rock paperweight, YEA lesson YE2H.8 “Water From a Rock”
What can you do with a rock? Well, you can use it to build roads - or in this case, block a road. You can use it to build houses and bridges. Many fences were built along the road as the landowners moved the rocks from their pastures. I blew Jonathan and Christopher’s minds one summer when we used a rock to smash the cabbage into sauerkraut. Rocks, then, can be made into grindstones for grinding wheat and barley and rye (etc.). But there are other uses for rocks too! For instance, you can get minerals and gems from the rocks; diamonds are called “rocks” sometimes.
How do we see rocks used in the Bible? David killed Goliath with a rock. So it could be a weapon. Rocks could also be built into fortresses. We see numerous references in the psalms to God being our Fortress, the Rock in whom we trust. So “rock” can be a picture of safety and security. We read the parable of the wise man who built his house upon the rock. And we learn that a rock, well, The Rock, Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which we should build our lives. In that case, the idea of a rock is the steadfastness, the very idea that God never changes. But God is also called our Hiding Place - like one hymn says, “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock” based on Exodus 33:22. You could also set up piles of rocks into an Ebenezer - a Stone of Remembrance to remind you of God’s goodness, mercy, and love.
So why in the world do I have this rock with felt on the bottom and melted blue crayon on the top? It’s a paperweight for my desk to remind me of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They hadn’t gone very far into the desert when they needed water. That’s a lot of people with all of their animals to be traveling in the desert, where, by definition, there is not a lot of water. So what did God tell Moses to do? Strike the rock and the water will pour forth. (Exodus 17:6) This was a miracle like all of the other miracles God had been doing - the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the deliverance from the Egyptians, the provision of the manna. But it goes deeper than just giving them a drink. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
So why would I put this paperweight on my desk? To remind myself that Jesus Christ is my Fortress, my Rock in whom I trust. He’s my foundation. He’s my Hiding place. He’s my Defender. And He’s my life, my Source for living water, and, by extension, eternal life.
You know how kids are always picking up and collecting rocks. They naturally pick up one of the symbols that points to Jesus Christ in so many ways!! Maybe that’s another reason God tells us that we won’t enter the kingdom unless we become like children.
**We're Going to See the King
Memory Verse
"Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts’" (Leviticus 23:24).
Materials Needed: CEM YEA Trumpets lesson (YE2X.4); dry erase board, markers, eraser
I have a story to read to you today. Listen carefully . . .
Once there was a little boy named Joshua who led the children of Israel against a huge city, the city of Bethlehem. The Israelites sang and danced around the city for six days. On the seventh day, they carried their pianos and sang songs and then they jumped up and down and the gates of the city opened up to let the Israelites in. Then they had a party with the people of Jericho.
O.K. That story’s a mess, isn’t it!! Let’s go back and fix it.
Once there was a (little boy) man named Joshua who led the children of Israel against a huge city, the city of (Bethlehem) Jericho. The Israelites (sang and danced) marched silently around the city for six days. On the seventh day, they (carried their pianos and sang songs) marched around the city seven times and the priests blew the trumpets. (and then they jumped up and down) The people gave a mighty shout and the (gates) walls of the city (opened up) fell down flat to let the Israelites in. Then they had (a party) a great victory over the people of Jericho.
The story of Joshua and Jericho is a well-known story that points to the Feast of Trumpets and the return of Jesus Christ. Joshua is the Hebrew form of Jesus; they both mean “God is salvation.” Jericho is like all the kingdoms of this world. The children of Israel are like all of the saints/people of God. We’re walking around the kingdoms of this world and we can’t defeat them, but we do what God tells us to do and we persevere. The seventh day is the day when the falls of Jericho fell down flat. The seventh day is the Feast of Trumpet - looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ returns. The priests blew their trumpets; Jesus returns at the last trump, the trumpet call of God. The people of Jericho were defeated; all enemies of God will be defeated and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
There are some people who would like to rewrite the ending that is coming. They would like to tell you that it doesn’t matter if you follow God’s directions as you’re marching in this world. They will tell you that you can do whatever you want to do. But I think there’s a very good chance that Joshua wouldn’t have been given the victory if he hadn’t followed God’s directions to the letter. What you do matters! And when Jesus comes back, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But I’m only going to hear those words if I do the things that are pleasing to God, keeping His commandments and keeping His holy days.
Soon and very soon we’re going to see the King . . . .