Archive for category: LivingEd – Youth

Featured: Passage: Isaiah 14:12–14; Ezekiel 28:15–17; Luke 10:18.

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Lucifer was a powerful archangel with great responsibilities. However, he allowed pride and vanity to pervert his thoughts and actions. Lucifer began to believe that he knew better than God and that his way of competition and get was better than God’s way of cooperation and love. He devised a coup attempt, convincing about one-third of the angels to rebel with him to take over God’s throne. Lucifer wanted God’s job! Of course the created being was not more powerful than his Creator. God threw Lucifer and his angels back to the earth. God names things what they are, so when he rebelled, God changed Lucifer’s name to Satan, which means adversary. God called Satan’s angels demons.

 

Discuss:

• Satan was a son of God in that God was his Creator. Ask your child if they can think of any movie, television program, or personal example in which the child thought they knew more than their parent.
• Help your child understand that we have nothing to fear from Satan because God is in charge and Satan can do nothing to us without God’s permission.
• Explain that everyone will be given a chance to be in God’s family and that only those who willfully reject God will be burned up in the lake of fire (Mal. 4:1, 3).  No human being will spend eternity burning in hell fire.

 

Memory Challenge:

Hebrews 1:13–14

“But to which of the angels has He ever said: ‘Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool?’ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation?”

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Featured Passage: Genesis 1:20-2:3

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On day five of the re-creation week, God created birds and fish. Songbirds along with larger birds flew through the sky; fish populated the lakes, streams, and oceans. God then created land animals on the sixth day. Toward the end of the sixth day, God created the first man, Adam, in God’s own image. God created the Sabbath on the seventh day of creation by resting in it, setting mankind an example to do the same.   

 

Discuss:

• Ask your child to think of reasons why God created animals.
• Ask who mankind resembles.
• Discuss why God created mankind. Remind him/her that God wanted a family.
• Ask what God said about His creation.
• Talk about what he/she likes about the Sabbath and why it is special to him/her.
• Remind your child that God made the Sabbath, and He set it apart for holy use.

 

Memory Challenge: 

The Days of Re-Creation Week:

  Day 1 – Divided light from darkness

  Day 2 – Prepared sky and clouds

  Day 3 – Separated dry land from seas; Created plants

  Day 4 – Appointed sun, moon, & the stars for lights in the sky

  Day 5 – Created birds and fish

  Day 6 – Created land animals and Man  

  Day 7 – Created the Sabbath by resting

 

 

More to Do!

These activities are optional, but some children may find them enjoyable

1. .Using seven paper plates, draw and color what God created each day and label them.
2. Have your child find pictures in magazines or books that are examples of God’s creation and state on which day they were created.

 

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Featured Passages: Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3; Job 38:4-7; Hebrews 1:10, 13-14; Romans 8:19.

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There was a time when there was only God—two Beings that included God and the Word. But God wanted to have more people in His family. He first created angels, which were designed to be helpers of human beings. Afterward, God began to create the physical universe.  All the planets, stars, comets, and everything on earth was created by God! The whole universe, everything that we can see and everything that we cannot see, was created in preparation for the future sons and daughters of God Almighty.

 

Discuss

• Talk about how God and Jesus Christ wanted a family and built a creation for them to enjoy. Originally, it was just the two of them—the Father and the Word—and they wanted a much bigger family.
• Help your child to understand that God is the Creator and that only God can create from nothing. When we make something, for example, we use materials that He made.
• Explain that God created the spirit world, including angels, before creating the physical universe.
• Show your child that while most of the time “sons of God” refers to people, some times in the Bible it can refer to angels (Job 38:4-7).
• Ask your child what things in God’s creation they enjoy the most. Help him or her understand, in a simple way, that God created all of these things for us!

 

Memory Challenge:

Isaiah 45:18  

“For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other’”

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Featured Passages: Job 38:4–7; Psalm 91:11; 104:4; Colossians 1:15–16; Hebrews 1:13–14; 2 Peter 2:11; Revelation 4:1–11; 5:11 [2]

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God is the Creator of all things, spirit and material. Before He made the sun, planets and stars, God created the angelic host. Angels are individually created, brilliant, powerful spirit beings with purposes and free will to exercise their intent. God made millions, and perhaps billions, of angels. They were created prior to the physical universe to assist in the work of building, governing, and managing that which was to be created.[1]  Angels were designed to be on a lower plane than God, with power and intellect superior to human beings. The angelic realm is very real, even though we cannot perceive it with our natural senses. Their primary job at this time is to minister to us, the future sons and daughters of God.

 

Discuss:

• Remind your child that everything God creates is beautiful, and though some of the spirit beings described may seem different to the human mind, they have their own special beauty.
• Discuss God’s throne room. Can he/she identify anything at God’s throne that we have a copy of here on earth? Explain that many of the things we have on earth are physical copies of things in heaven.
• Explain that “sons of God” in the Bible most often refers to human beings, but sometimes can refer to angels that were created by God [Job 38:7].

Memory Challenge:

Hebrews 1:13-14.

“But to which of the angels has He ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

 

 

[1] Herbert W. Armstrong. Mystery of the Ages. (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Company, 1985) 61.

[2] Parents may wish to read Mystery of the Ages, “Mystery of Angels and Evil Spirits”, in preparation for discussion.

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Featured Passages: Exodus 3:13-14; Isaiah 57:15; Romans 1:18-22; 1 Timothy 1:17; Revelation 4:1-4

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God had no beginning, and He has no end. God was not created; He is the Creator. God is the ever-living One. One of His names is simply, “I Am”. It means He has always existed. It may be difficult to understand, but God did not come from anywhere. God is eternal. He is, and He has always been. Atheists say this makes no sense. They would rather believe that everything happened by chance. They believe that cells and organisms and human beings just came together somehow! However, they offer no explanation of how that happened. Evolution is an attempt by people to explain the existence of a creation without a Creator. God calls this foolish. He says they are without excuse; the universe itself is proof of His existence. God now lives in the third heaven where He reigns over His creation.

Discuss:

• Explain to your child that the Word was the God in the Old Testament who interacted with human beings (John 1:1, 14).
• Explain to your child that evolution, even though it is portrayed as a fact, is a theory which offers no evidence as proof. (You may wish to view the Tomorrow’s World telecast “Darwin’s Legacy,” which explains this point.)
• Ask your child if they have heard of evolution. Help them to explain why it is false, in their own words.
• Help your child think about God’s throne. What will it be like to be there?

Memory Challenge:

Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’”

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