Children’s Bible Program – Level 3: Lesson 18 “Forty Years in the Wilderness”

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Read Together: Israel did not bring a good report during their wandering in the wilderness. During this time, Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On stirred up the people in rebellion, saying Moses and Aaron should no longer be the leaders of Israel. God had something to say about that! He caused the earth to open up and swallow these rebellious men, their families, and all their possessions. After the rebellion was put down, the Israelites complained that Moses had killed the people of God. They gathered against Moses and Aaron, but again God saved them and sent a plague that killed 14,700 more people. After a victory over the king of Arad, the people started complaining again, calling the manna worthless. This time God sent fiery serpents through the camp which killed many of the people. After Israel wandered for forty years, the time finally came for them to inherit the Promised Land. God lead Israel to defeat and take the lands of Sihon King of the Amorites, and Og King of Bashan. The Moabites heard of Israel’s conquests and were afraid. Balak, king of Moab, sent for Balaam to curse Israel, but God would not allow it, but allowed Balaam to bless them instead. However, the Israelites started worshipping idols and marrying foreign women. The Lord became angry and sent a plague that killed 24,000 people. Time and again Israel tested God. Israel failed to keep the covenant they had made with God, but their deeds were recorded for our benefit so that we can learn from their mistakes.

Read Together:  Numbers 16:1–32, 41–50; 21:1–6, 21–26, 31–35; 22:1–35; 24:10–13; 25:1–9

Discuss:

  • Remind your child that God promised Israel the land of the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and the Hivites (Exodus 3:7–8). Their conquests were in partial fulfillment of God’s promise.
  • Ask your child what lessons they think we can learn from Korah’s rebellion. Use this as an opportunity to talk about God’s government and how we are to respect those God has put in leadership positions.
  • Read 1 Corinthians 10:6–11 with your child. Discuss how we can get caught up in the same sins that Israel committed. Help them come up with some examples.

Review Memorization.

Deuteronomy 30:15–16  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.”

Printable PDF – L3.18

Children’s Bible Program – Level 2: Lesson 18 “God’s Promises to Abraham”

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Read Together: God promised to make Abram a great nation, saying that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. God showed Abram all the land of Canaan and promised it to his descendants. Abram had traveled throughout the land of Canaan for 24 years, and now he was 99 years old. God had promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, but he still did not have a son. It was at this time that God appeared to Abram and expanded the promises. He told Abram that he was going to make him a father of many nations and that some of his descendants would be kings. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and his wife’s name, Sarai, to Sarah, to reflect the promise that many nations would come from them. God told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son the next year, and they were to call him Isaac, which means laughter. Perhaps Isaac was given that name because both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they first heard they would have a son. The next year Isaac was born, just as God had said. Isaac was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.

Read Together:  Genesis 13:14–18; 15:1–6, 18–21; 17:1–24; 18:1–15; 21:1–6

Discuss:

  • Discuss with your child how Abraham remained faithful to God year after year, believing that God’s promises would be fulfilled through his descendants. Include Hebrews 11:1 in the discussion. Remind your son or daughter that if God says something, it is as good as done!
  • Ask your child if they can remember some of the promises God gave to Abraham. Discuss with them how these promises have been fulfilled (e.g. through Jesus Christ, European kingdoms, Great Britain, and the United States).
  • Remind your child that the promises were also made to Sarah. She was an important part of the covenant God made with Abraham. God loves both men and women.  All human beings are created in His image (Genesis 1:27).
  • God names things what they are. From the Bible, we learn that in the Kingdom we will all to be given a new name. Ask your child what name he or she would choose for themselves to reflect their character and personality.

Review Memorization:  Hebrews 11:17–18  “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

Printable PDF – L2.18

Children’s Bible Program – Level 1: Lesson 18 “Nimrod”

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Read Together: After the flood, people began to raise families, and gradually moved further and further away from where the ark had come to rest. The Bible tells us about the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and how they began to populate the earth. We read about one man who became famous as a great hunter. This man’s name was Nimrod, and he was the grandson of Ham, one of Noah’s three sons. As his fame grew, he was idolized by many. In fact, some people began to look to Nimrod instead of God for protection and leadership. They called him “the mighty hunter before [“instead of” or “in place of”] the Lord” (Genesis 10:9). Remember, God had commanded the sons of Noah to fill the earth (Genesis 9:1). But proud Nimrod rebelled against God, building cities and a kingdom. One of the cities he built was the famous Babel, where the people began to build a giant tower, reaching into the sky.

Read Together:  Genesis 10:6, 8-12

Discuss:

  • Help your child to understand that the people were looking to Nimrod as their provider and protector and not looking to God.  Remind your child that God is our ultimate provider and protector.
  • Nimrod was setting up a kingdom for himself to make himself the ruler over the people. You may want to take this opportunity to explain that in God’s government, men do not choose to be in charge themselves. God selects the leaders.
  • Explain to your child that moving people into cities as Nimrod did was not what God intended. Imagine and discuss what cities may be like in the wonderful world tomorrow and how they will be much different than the cities of Nimrod or of today
  • Help your child to understand that Nimrod was leading the people away from God.

 

Review Memorization:

Genesis 11:6  “And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.’”

Printable PDF – L1.18

Second Thoughts: When Humility Becomes Dishonesty

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By Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“You don’t want to step on other people trying to get a job, but the reality is…if you’re going to be hired…you need to look better than the other guy or other gal. That’s just the reality, because there’s competition for jobs.” ~ Dr. Scott Winnail

Dr. Scott Winnail focused this week’s assembly on strategies for building a strong resume, delivering a practical and beneficial presentation that was particularly pertinent in the lives of the eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds sitting in the room. The ability to write an effective resume is critical to those of us who would like to buy food on at least a semi-consistent basis, and two of the helpful resources Dr. Winnail provided are linked at the end of this post. But what struck me the most about this assembly was when Dr. Winnail spoke of the balance we all must use in showing humility and honesty at the same time. As he brought out, we’re all representatives of God’s Church, so if we make ourselves look worse than we really are, aren’t we not only lying, but making the very body of Christ look bad?

“People just lie. That’s what society is like, and lying becomes part of the character of the end-time Israelite society. And certainly, that’s something we don’t want to be part of.”

This topic certainly applies well to resumes, as Dr. Winnail proved. I had difficulty writing my first resume, largely because I felt like I was bragging. But I wasn’t lying on my resume; like Dr. Winnail said, I was simply putting my best foot forward. Do we ever view humility as thinking or speaking poorly of ourselves? I’ve thought of it that way, but that’s a pretty shallow idea of what humility is, and it leaves more room for dishonesty than true humility ever would. How often do we find ourselves being dishonest in the name of humility? “Hey, you did a good job on those spreadsheets,” someone might say. “Nah, it wasn’t much,” I might reply. Did I just lie? If I know I worked hard on those spreadsheets and delivered a quality result, then yes, I have indeed just lied. I might be well-intentioned, trying to obey the First Commandment by not making an idol of myself, but now I’ve turned around and broken the Ninth Commandment. How is that any better?

“We’ve got to speak truth to our neighbor, and any employer is our neighbor, in the context that God uses. … You can be a false witness of yourself, if you don’t tell the truth.”

Compared to God, not one of us humans is anywhere near a big deal, so obviously, we shouldn’t parade around acting like one. We’d all hopefully agree that we should never lie about our accomplishments, but do we think about how short-changing ourselves is, essentially, doing just that? For example, if you’re a great singer, wouldn’t true humility be to recognize that God made you that way, that you owe your talent to Him, and then to sincerely thank Him for it? (Probably best not to do this on a resume, by the way. That might not go over well.) To deny that you’re a great singer, if indeed you are, isn’t that to insult the gift God’s freely granted you? When we dismiss the abilities and accomplishments God’s given us as “not much,” we’re not only lying, but failing to be thankful. With prayerful effort and God’s constant help, we can strike that balance of humility and honesty, recognizing that we’re nothing without God, and acknowledging that He’s given us something valuable.

 

 

Resume Resources Given:

Indeed.com’s “10 Resume Writing Tips to Help You Land a Job”

The sample resume of one Sparty Spartan.

Thomas White headshot

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 17 “Israel Rebels in the Wilderness”

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  Sweet Publishing | FreeBibleImages.org

By Janth English

Read Together:  As God delivered Israel from Egypt, they witnessed miracle after miracle! The children of Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry land with walls of water on both sides. They watched the Egyptian army get swallowed up by the Red Sea as God allowed the water to crash down on them. But they still complained to God!  When they had no water, they complained. When they had no food, they complained again. It’s understandable that they were hungry and thirsty, but instead of asking God for help, they accused Him of bringing them out into the wilderness to die. Again and again, they said “Let’s go back to Egypt”. When Moses went up to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites made a golden calf to worship. They bowed down to it and called it their god, even though they had just promised to obey the real God who had brought them out of slavery! When Moses sent the spies to scout the land of Canaan, they came back with a bad report even though the land was full of delicious fruit. All the spies, except Joshua and Caleb, said they should not enter the promised land because they saw the giants who lived there. They had no faith that God would deliver them, so the people refused to go in and inherit the land God had promised.  For this, and for all their constant complaining and faithlessness, God sentenced them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. This was one year for each day the spies were in Canaan, until everyone of that generation had died.

Read Together:  Ex. 15:19-24, 16:2-4; Num. 11:1-10; Ex. 32:1-8; Num. 13:17-33, 14:1-4, 26-35

Discuss:

  • Point out to your child that three days after Israel came through the Red Sea they were complaining about water.  Israel had forgotten God’s power very quickly.  Discuss why this would happen.
  • Have a discussion with your child about faith. The Israelites knew God was real, but they lacked faith.  Israel proved that witnessing miracles does not guarantee faith. Include James 2:18 in the discussion.
  • Talk with your son or daughter about the Israelites’ tendency to complain.  Do we have the same characteristic?  How does God feel about complaining?  What is the antidote for complaining?

Review Memorization:

Deut. 30:15-16  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.”

Printable PDF – L3.17

Children’s Bible Program – Level 1: Lesson 17 “Families Grew into Nations”

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Sweet Publishing | FreeBibleImages.org

by Janth English

Read Together:  God destroyed every human being on the face of the earth with the exception of 8 people – Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives.  A pair of every unclean animal and seven pairs of all clean animals survived with Noah and his family on the ark. After the flood, God commanded Noah, his sons, and the animals to multiply on the earth, and that is exactly what they did.  People lived longer so they were able to have many children. Soon families grew so big that they formed nations, and the nations were all separated into their own lands.

Read Together: Genesis 8:15-17; 9:1-2; 10:1-7, 19-22, 30-32

Discuss:

  • Help your child to identify the eight people that survived the flood.
  • Discuss with your child why God told Noah to take seven of every clean animal on the ark.
  • Help your child visualize what the earth might have been like after a few years with so few people and so many animals which were multiplying very quickly.
  • Explain to your student that though their numbers were increasing, the people were still united by language and culture.
  • Help your child recognize that after the flood there were only eight people, and today, about 5 thousand years later, there are almost eight billion people all of whom are descended from Noah.

Review Memorization:

Genesis 11:6  “And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.’”

Printable PDF – L1.17

Children’s Bible Program – Level 2: Lesson 17 “Abram Leaves for Canaan”

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Sweet Publishing | FreeBibleImages.org

By Janth English

Read Together:  Abram was born 292 years after the flood. His family lived in a city called “Ur”, which was in the area of modern-day Iraq.  He was the youngest son of his father Terah whose ancestor was Shem. Abram married his half-sister Sarai, but they did not have any children. Terah left Ur for Canaan and took Abram, Sarai, and Lot, his grandson, with him.  The family stopped for a while in Haran where Terah died. Abram had become very wealthy in Haran. By the time he was 75 years old, he owned livestock, and had silver, gold, and many servants. This would surely have made it hard to leave Haran. But God commanded Abram to leave his home and go to a distant land that He would show him. In return for his obedience, God promised to make Abram’s descendants a great nation. Amazingly, Abram immediately obeyed God. He simply took his wife, his nephew Lot, and all their possessions and left his home for good.

Read Together: Gen. 11:24-32; 12:1-10; 13:2-4

Discuss:

  • Explain to your child that it was not uncommon for people to marry close relatives in Abraham’s days.  Remind him/her that everyone was closely related after the flood because only one family survived. God later commanded the Israelites not to marry close relatives (Lev. 18:6-17).
  • Discuss with your son or daughter how difficult it must have been for Abram and Sarai to pack up and move to a place that they did not know.  There were no trucks or vans to move them and no hotels along the way. Ask your student what might have been some of the hardships Abram and Sarai could anticipate on their journey.
  • Abram must have known how hard his journey would be. Still, he did not argue with God. He just obeyed what God told him to do. Talk with your child about Abram’s character. Highlight the good example that Abram showed when he obeyed God immediately.
  • God promised Abram that he would become a great nation, but that promise was not fulfilled right away.  Explain to your student that obedience to God must come first before we receive any rewards.

 Review Memorization:

Heb 11:8 NKJV “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Printable PDF – L2.17

Second Thoughts: Don’t Be Chained to Your Thing

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An essay on Mr. Richard Ames’ Student Assembly titled, “Expand Your Horizons”

by Thomas White, LivingEd-Charlotte

“There are times for meditation, and of course, for recreation, but…have discipline and…broaden your horizons.” ~ Mr. Richard Ames

Most of us have a Thing. You know the one. That Thing that checks all the boxes – you’re good at it, it’s good for you, and you love doing it. It’s good to have a Thing. After all, without anything to make our individual lives exciting and fulfilling in unique ways, we might as well be automatons. But God made an awful lot of Things, and He made each human being versatile enough to fit a lot more than one. In the assembly this week, Mr. Ames spoke about the importance of expanding our horizons, disciplining ourselves to continuously grow into more multifaceted Ambassadors for Christ.

 

“How do you expand your horizons? … One of the ways is through various hobbies and various interests.”

Another amazing aspect to us humans is that we can get excited about almost anything, given time and exposure. Now, this has a ton of downsides we have to be aware of, so as to avoid joining those who trick themselves into caring about what a random celebrity wears to a random place. But a major positive aspect to this is that if you think you could never possibly be interested in a potential new hobby, learning more about it will probably fix that. Nothing has to replace your Thing. Just don’t trap yourself into making your Thing your only Thing. Love reading? Maybe you can give mountain climbing a shot, too. Really into sports? You could try learning to draw after you’ve hit the showers. You never know what will give you a sense of unexpected fulfillment, and contrary to popular belief, you’re totally allowed to love doing something that you’re not actually all that naturally talented in. God might not intend for you to have a career in it, but that’s no reason not to do it for fun.

“Why do you [expand your horizons]? To make you a more effective ambassador for Christ, [who] can relate to people.”

The more things we like to do, the more common ground we’ll find with others. And as Mr. Ames said, the more versatile we are, the more effective we can be as Christ’s Ambassadors. God made a lot of people, and almost all of them have passions they love talking about. Being able to talk to many different people, about many different things, can improve the light in which people see you, and improve the light in which they see “that Church you’re in.” It’s good to have a Thing, but as Mr. Ames showed, it’s even better to have many.

Children’s Bible Program – Level 3: Lesson 16 “God Explains the Statues”

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Moody Publishing | FreeBibleImages.org

By Janth English

Read Together: Israel was so afraid when they heard God speak the Ten Commandments that they asked for Moses to relay God’s words to them. God agreed. In addition to the Ten Commandments, God gave Moses “statutes.” Statutes are laws that apply to more specific situations. They help us understand how to apply the Ten Commandments in everyday life. God’s laws and statutes were designed to provide Israel a fair and just legal system that would protect people and property. When Jesus came to earth, He supported the laws of God, including the statutes, and taught His disciples about how to keep them in our heart and mind.

Read Together: Deuteronomy 4:1–10; Exodus 22:5, 14, 28; Exodus 23:1–17; Leviticus 23:1–3; Deuteronomy 4:1–10; 22:8.

 

Discuss:

  • Explain to your student that the statutes are finer points to God’s Ten Commandments. For example, the Ten Commandments command us to keep the Sabbath, but the statutes explain there are “annual” Sabbaths as well (Leviticus 23:1–3).
  • Read, with your child, Exodus 22:28. Ask your child if he or she ever hears people “cursing” or making fun of leaders today. How would this statute guide a child to behave toward his or her parent or teacher?
  • Ask your child what the following statute means: “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil” (Exodus 23:2). Can he or she think of a time when they’ve had to resist following others to do something they knew was wrong?
  • With your child, read the statute in Exodus 23:4. Ask him or her, “Why would God want a person to bring back the animal of their enemy? Would that kind act possibly help them to be friends again?”
  • Ask your child what the statute in Deuteronomy 22:5 means. Ask if they can see how that could apply in our world today (when some are confused about gender).
  • Ask your child why God would make the statute in Deuteronomy 22:8. Would it not protect people from accidents?

 

Review Memorization.

Exodus 20:1–17 – The Ten Commandments (long form)

Printable PDF – L3.16

Printable PDF – L3.13-L3.16

Children’s Bible Program – Level 2: Lesson 16 “Nimrod’s Legacy”

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Sweet Publishing | FreeBibleImages.org

By Janth English

Read Together: The Bible portrays Nimrod as an evil man, and we still see the effect of his evil influence today. Nimrod is the first recorded leader to organize people into city-states so that he could rule over them. He was a proud tyrant who was openly rebellious toward God. Nimrod built the city of Babel, and led the effort to undermine God’s plan for people to spread throughout the earth, building a tower that reached to the sky. Many historians trace the pagan traditions that are part of all of the world’s religions today back to this very city. People who are really following God avoid these traditions, even if they are mixed with a worship of Christ. Instead, God’s people keep His Sabbath, Holy Days and other commands.

Read Together: Genesis 10:8–12; 11:5–9; Revelation 17:5; 18:1–2.

Discuss:

  • Ask your child what are some wrong traditions that people in the world’s churches observe?
  • Explain that many modern church traditions of the world started a long time ago. (You may wish to refer to the booklet, “Satan’s Counterfeit Christianity,” pp. 8–10, https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/booklets/satans-counterfeit-christianity).
  • Ask your child, who is really behind the false traditions and religious deception of the world? (Reference Revelation 12:9)
  • Explain to your child that the Bible shows that end-time religious deception (“Babylon”) is just a modern version of traditions started long ago (the city of “Babel”). (Reference Genesis 11:9 and Revelation 17:5; 18:1–2)
  • Explain to your child that we can only understand God’s truth because He opens our mind and helps us not be deceived (John 6:44, Matthew 13:11).
  • Ask your child what about God’s way of life are they most thankful for?

Review Memorization.

Genesis 11:9 “Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

Printable PDF – L2.16

Printable PDF – L2.13-L2.16