Life Span

Life SpanGrade 5, Quarter 3, Lesson 1

In movies and on television weve seen all kinds of wars: barbarian wars, Indian wars, knights in armor fighting with lances and swords, sea wars, air wars, the Gulf War and even space wars! But did you know that there was once a war in heaven?

Who fought in that war? The Bible tells us that a power struggle broke out in Heaven. Satan and his an-gels fought with the archangel, Michael, and his angels.

Have you ever wondered what kind of weapons they used? Or what kind of fighting really went on, since angels are spirit beings who cant be wounded or killed?

We dont know the answers to some of these questions, but God has told us who won that war and what happened to Satan!

Read Revelation 12:7-12 with your parents. When satan lost the war in heaven, where did he go?

What is he doing now?

How can we guard against his deceit andlies?

Teachers to Parents

Thinking Aloud to ParentsYou parents, with your greater Bible knowledge as well

as your greater experience in living, are able to see Satans work more clearly than your children can do. Because he is a very powerful force in the world today, it is imperative that they learn about him, so that they may be able to overcome him. A thorough knowledge of Gods word is our shield against all of Satans var-ied attacks.

As parents, help your child to grow closer to God each day by helping him to recognize the times when Satan is trying to influence him to disobey God. Too often, both God and Satan are relegated to the church building, in the sense that parents fail to incorporate awareness of their presence and their activities in the every-day life of the home. Children need to see life from that spiritual perspective, so that it will take precedence over the physical, material world.

Todays Lesson: This quarter your child will be studying about the age-old conflict between God and Satan, in the struggle for souls. The first lesson is an introduction to Satan as a spirit being who is real and who has great power. All of us will be better able to ward off his attacks if we learn what Gods word has to say about him and his deceitful lies. This subject has been largely ignored in the world as well as in the church in recent years, resulting in the rampant growth of sin with all its destructive power.Using the lesson this week at home: Use Life Span as a refrigerator-door reminder for your child to be on the look-out for Satans work, his lies, and his temptations to do wrong. Be sure that this knowledge is balanced with an equally strong reminder that God is greater than Satan, and that He is always with us to help us. No temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Corinthi-ans 10:13).

War in Heaven!

A Puzzle about SatanIn the word search puzzle below appear several

words associated with Satan. See if you can find those list-ed under the puzzle.

Take It Home!We have read several verses that tell how wicked

and deceitful Satan is and how he has approached people throughout all time. We have seen that he is real and pow-erful. He wants to turn everyone away from God. A chal-lenge for you throughout this course is to observe how Satan works in the world today, and to study Gods word to learn how Satan can be overcome.

When we read about the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-11, we see that Jesus used the word of God to defeat Satan.

When Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, because He was hungry, Jesus said, It is written, Man shall not live ___ ________ _________, but by every ________ that proceeds from the ________ ____ ________.

The temptation to test God was answered with ____ ___ _________ ________, You shall not _______ the LORD your God.

The temptation to worship Satan was answered with, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall ________ the LORD _______ ______, and Him only you shall serve.

As a part of your challenge, make a list of ways you see that Satan is working in the world today. Also find Bible verses that can be used to answer and defeat him. If you have difficulty finding some verses for Satans attacks, ask the class or your parents to help you. Remember that Satans

most powerful weapon is his ability to deceive people.Memory Verse:

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

(Revelation 12:9)

Dont forget:Book of Bible Knowledge

Memory VerseSong: Get Behind Me, Satan!

PrayerPractice what youve learned

SATANPNAGJADVERSARY

RCXCQOMSCMNYIPWZQDB

ZCDFROARINGLIONJIPM

GURESUBYFUESEXAUOPA

KSECDYFDWHLKPLDSQGP

BEELZEBUBJOHLSRAOPO

ORCHGRRRYDFSQYPLYRL

LWTMAEUXFULIASFKMVL

HQBELIALTUIKDEMONPY

MDUJRWSISAGRUPURWMO

IAKYWQWAOEHYTDRAGON

NDEVILURADTYOPDSVEJ

ZELFCAPKJSQZDYENBCD

QCYUKZKYTEMPTERWAQF

SERPENTKPNEDGYELJOP

VIHKDARKNESSFWRSXAR

XVEMOXTPRMGACISOEKX

KEDWNDWYJYAIDWEOLBM

PRQSEVILONEDABADDON

abaddonapollyonaccuseradversaryangel of lightbeelzebubbelial

darknessdeceiverdemondevildragonenemyevil one

liarmurdererroaring lionsatanserpenttempterwicked one


In movies and on television weve seen more and more violence. Without realizing it, we become accustomed to the bad language, the fighting, the explosions, the skimpy clothes, the immoral situations, and even the alternative families that are now being promoted. These are Satans tools to destroy us.

Before the flood of Noahs time, the Bible says that Satan had so wrecked the world that everybody did only evil things all the time only Noah and his family still loved God.

What were some of the terrible things people did? Like today: fighting, killing, lying, stealing, cheating, cursing, immodesty and lust, immorality, idolatry...

Humans were created in a likeness of God. We can think and act; we have consciences. [What is a conscience?] Within ourselves, we know that some things are right and we feel good about doing them. We know that some things are wrong, and we feel guilty when we do those things. Our lives must be pure, and we must learn to be passionate about living for Jesus.

It is important that Christians be with Christians, so that we can help each other to be strong against Satan. Chris-tians need to marry Christians so that they can have good homes and raise their children to be Christians. That way, we can be ready when Jesus comes back to take His Family to Heaven.

Teachers to Parents

Thinking Aloud to ParentsWe live in a busy world. Fifty or sixty years ago, few

mothers worked outside the home. Sadly, the thinking of many in this era is that unless a woman is bringing home a paycheck, she is not carrying her share of the load. Yes, there are situations in which a mother has no choice but to put in eight hours a day on a job. When that is necessary, in most cases everyone in the family helps to pay the price.

We would pray that you, as parents, would carefully exam-ine your situation to see if you could manage on less, being willing to give up some of the luxuries that seem to be necessary, so that the mother can devote her time to her husband, her children, and the home. Families need time every day to grow together, to study Gods Word together, and to help each other through the hard times in life. Sadly, because of this lack of time, there is little spiritual cohesion in many Christian families, and children are lost.

Todays Lesson: In these lessons, we are making a contrast between the kind of world Satan makes and the kind we have if we are following Gods directions in the Bible. Though we hope that none of the children in the class are living with these kinds of problems and we hope they dont deal with these kinds of fears the only way we can begin to change the broken world is to warn our children of its realities and its dangers. Please take the time to talk with your young ones about these things and strengthen them in their security at home and with God.Using the lesson this week at home: The weekly take-home sheet, Life Span, gives you a small insight into the weeks lesson. It would be good to ask your child to tell you what he/she studied in class, so that you can be aware of any impact/questions/misconceptions/concerns. The questions and activ-ity page may be filled out in class, but if there is not enough time it can serve as a review you can have at home during the week. No lesson will have its full impact during those few minutes of class time. Your reinforcement of it throughout the week will greatly strengthen the message and help in your childs spiritual development.

Each one of us is in this world for a purpose: to let our lights shine for God, so that the friends around us will learn how God wants us to live. Do this activity about different kinds of lights.

What does Matthew 5:14-16 teach us about the work God has given us to do, to be the lights in a dark world?

Take It Home!In the beginning, when God created the world, every-

thing was _____________. Were there storms, tornadoes, and earthquakes? ________. Were Adam and Eve afraid of the animals? _______. Did anything die? ________.

Name two trees God placed in the Garden of Eden: The _______ ____ ____________ of ________ and ______; the _______ ____ _______. God told them not to eat the fruit of one of the trees. Which one was that? Did they obey God? What happened when they disobeyed?

What did Adam and Eve suddenly realize when they ate the fruit? What did they do? What was the first death? Why did God kill the animals? Is it important for us to dress modestly?

Can you think of some wrong things Satan is still get-ting people to do today? Why is it important for Christians to be together? When you are with Christian friends, is it easier to do right things than when you are with kids who fight and bully and use bad language?

What was the world like when Noah was building the ark? Jesus said that when He comes again, the world will be like it was in the days of Noah. Would you want to live in

that kind of world?

Who made the family? God gave _________ and __________ the important work of teaching their chil-dren the right things to do and to obey Him.


Memory workPrayer

Practice what youve learned

Memory Verse:You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)

Teachers to Parents

Thinking Aloud to ParentsWhen children are young, the years of parenting seem to

stretch on and on but too soon the fledglings are graduating from high school and heading off to college! THEN you may look back and think, Have I taught them strongly enough that they will remain faithful Christians through the challenges that lie ahead of them?

It will be too late to lay that firm foundation as they are walking out the door. NOW, during these days and weeks and months while they are your little ones, looking to you for guidance in the shaping of their lives, NOW is the precious time you have to mold them. The pattern for our spiritual interaction with our children should be as God taught the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:7, You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

If spirituality permeates our thinking so that whatever we are teaching our children grows from our intimate relationship with God, they will develop the same natural relationship with Him. We urge you, as parents, to make family Bible study a daily practice, and to weave godly thinking into all that you teach them by the way.


We know that when God created the world, everything was perfect but now it is a dangerous place because sin destroyed the perfection. There are natural disasters, like storms and earthquakes that happen everywhere.

People have been ruined too, because Satan has lied and deceived almost everyone. He is always trying to trip us up and to get us to live like the people around us. It makes him happy to see trouble-makers having fights, ruining their lives with drugs, and cheating and lying.

But Jesus has done everything to help those who love Him. He made the family fathers and mothers to teach their children in the right way; and He made His spiritual Family, the church, so that Christians can help each other to be strong and to live faithfully all their lives. Jesus loves His church so much that He died on the cross to save us. He taught His disciples to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel to everyone. Since we are His disciples now, that should be our purpose every day to live as pure examples of Christianity, and to make opportunities to talk to others about what Jesus has done for us.

Your children and their eternal destination are our great concern. In reality, their spiritual education is of far greater im-portance than their secular education, so we know we can provide very little of what they need in two weekly class periods. At best, the time in the classroom on Sunday morning and Wednesday night is very short. As a teacher I have prepared to teach a les-son that we feel is vital. If the first 15 minutes are spent getting late-comers settled in and brought up to speed on what weve been doing, very little time is left for the singing that is important, for reciting the memory verses, and for the lesson and activity. You can help me with the tremendous responsibility of implant-ing Gods word in those precious hearts by having your child in class on time. Or better still, try to come a little early! That will allow us time to better get to know the children and their individual needs.

Find and Circle the Words!

Take It Home!Jesus had love and compassion for people who were

sick or were outcasts for some reason. He often ate meals with publicans and sinners, in order to teach them what they needed to do to please God.

In your neighborhood or in your school there may be people who are known as trouble-makers. Sometimes these are really bad people, but there are also those who cause trouble because they feel left out. Having a friend might help them to change. If someone in your class in school is a loner and needs a friend, you could try to help. Be on guard, though, that you are not influenced by his/her bad behavior, bad language, and trouble-making attitude. If you see that you cannot help to turn those things around, dont continue trying.

Instead, be the shining light of example that Jesus wants us to be. We learn how to be lights in the world by __________ Gods word. It is the responsibility of parents to teach their children about God. Family ________ study is important, so that children can grow in their knowledge of what God wants them to be.

Mothers and Daddys who are living by Gods word are able to provide a sense of ___________ for their chil-dren. What other kind of family did God make? How is the church important to parents and to children? Why is it important for the church to gather each week to worship God and to study His word?

In whose name do we do everything? Who is the head of the church Jesus started?


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

(Matthew 1:21)

D A N G E R O U S - W O R L DG R Q S Q K Z H E A D R S I NA R S A C I N A C M G D D G JB E A T E N R R U U D U R H Z

Z E H P F I G H T I N G P R EN T M N R T Q W I P E Q Z S JN S P A Z C H U R C H P Y T X

R E E M I D N N X D S A V E SY R O S M O K I N G S R U H UO D Y L A G V S Y G R P N E S

Q Y E W Y E U R Y E V W Z R IL B I B L E - S T U D Y R A P

savespraydangerous-worldsmokinglightfamilyJesusheadbeaten

churcharrestedsecurityfightBible-studyhearsinSatanGod

Across or Down


The church of Christ is Gods Family in the world. The church is carrying on the war with Satan. You might ask: If there is the danger that a Christian will become weak or will let Satan tempt him to leave Christ, why does God leave us in this dangerous world? Why doesnt He just take us to heaven when we are baptized, and then all of us will be saved, and nobody will lose the war?!

But think about that: Who is teaching you how to be a Christian? Your parents? Are they Christians? Your Bible class teacher? Is he/she a Christian? How would you learn if there was no one to teach you? And if the first ones who obeyed the Gospel had been taken to Heaven right then who would have been left in the world to have brought the truth and the Bible on down through the centuries to us???

So we HEAR the Gospel, we BELIEVE that Jesus is Gods Son, we REPENT we die to sin as we turn away from Satans temptations, we CONFESS our faith that Jesus is Gods Son, we are BAPTIZED into Christ buried in water and raised up out of the watery grave, resurrected to new spiritual life, becom-ing new babies in His Family. What we do to be born into the family pictures what Jesus did for us: He DIED for our sins, He was BURIED in the grave, and then He was RESURRECTED. Teaching this is our purpose in life.

Todays Lesson: Your children are reaching the age when they can understand the concept of obedience to God. It is for that reason that we are in-troducing in this lesson the plan of salvation, as it is taught through-out the New Testament. Probably the tender heart of the average chil-dren of this age would prompt them to voice concern about obeying the Gospel. My concern as a teacher is that they not be encouraged to be baptized before they are old enough to be held accountable to God, and before they are old enough to really understand what they would be doing. It is better to teach well but to encourage waiting about such a life-commitment until they are have reached some emotional and logical maturity in thinking things through. Using the lesson this week at home: Ask your child to tell you what he/she learned in class today. Get them to explain what we must BELIEVE, what it means to RE-PENT, what we are to CONFESS, and what BAPTISM is. If they are at all confused about the words and their meanings, explain to them but also talk with me as their teacher so that I can reinforce what was covered in this lesson.

Thinking Aloud to ParentsThe concept of parenting, and of parent/child relationships

was established by God for a very important purpose. You are teaching your children that rules must be followed, that respect is due those in authority, that disobedience brings consequences, and that family bonds are lasting. As they learn these lessons in their family relationships, it will be an easy extension of that knowledge for them to respect teachers, policemen, government and God as our spiritual authority. As they learn obedience to you, that will translate into an understanding of the necessity to obey secular rules and ultimately, God, as their heavenly Father. If you threaten punishment for disobedience but fail to keep your word, inadvertantly you will be teaching them that authority can be ignored and that may lead to disobedience to God. BE CARE-FUL! In human relationships, you are teaching spiritual attitudes that may determine their eternal destination.

Teachers to Parents

Find and Circle the Words!

Satan is not ____.He ______ and __________ people. Jesus was _____________ to be our ___________.The _________ is the ________ ________.All have __________ and _______ short of Gods glory.God so _________ the __________.Jesus ________ for our sins, was ________ and _______.We _________, _____________, ____________, ________ and are ______________ into Christ to be __________.We must be __________ to God unto __________.

Across or Down

R O S E K C R U C I F I E D AA C V V P S D L E S D F V F E

P F A L L V T W H N L T W D AE N I D L M W S D N Y Y S D S

T S M F A I T H F U L P W R DN S P W B U R I E D X W B X EE E L B A P T I Z E D D Z G V

I R W E T E G O O D G N E W SL H R B S H A G G X F U D N Y

S C D E A T H E O N F D I E DS A V I O R G P U I U A E H YE D H L R A N S D L T W C P K

Take It Home!Why do you think the Gospel is called Good news?

Satan lies to people and deceives them because he wants everyone to go to _______ with him. Before Jesus died for our ______, we could not be saved. Thats why the news about what He has done for us is GOOD NEWS! There is a way now to be saved and to be able to live with God eternal-ly.

How many Sons did God have? ________ Did Jesus die so that our sins could be forgiven? _______ How did the Jewish leaders try to be sure that Jesus disciples could not come and steal His body and then claim that He had risen from the tomb? _______________________________ Could the Roman guards prevent Jesus from coming alive out of the grave? ________

What do we do to obey the Gospel? 1. _________ the word of God. 2. ___________ that Jesus is Gods Son. 3. ____________ of our sins. 4. ____________our faith in Jesus as Gods Son. 5. Be _____________ in water so that our sins can be washed away. This is our picture of the __________, ____________ and ___________________ of Jesus for our sins.

We are baptized into Christ and also into Gods family, the church of Christ. As brothers and sisters, we worship God in Jesus name, we study, we pray, we take the supper each Sunday to remember what Jesus has done for us, and then we go out to live for Him, telling others the Good News

of the Gospel. That is why weve been left in this danger-ous world.

Memory Verse:For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

(John 3:16)


Memory workPrayer


Todays Lesson: This is a very important time in the lives of your children. Because many of them are beginning to understand that sin separates us from God, they are wondering if they are lost and if they need to be baptized. Thorough teaching needs to be done on all aspects of sin, obedience to God, the plan of salvation, the resulting birth into the church, and what it means to be a new baby in Gods family. Questions and answers will need to be repeated, enlarged upon, and referred to again and again in subsequent materials. Reinforcement by parents is vital if the children are to understand the importance of these lessons.Using the lesson this week at home: Use Life Span as a further review of the lesson and discussion of any concepts that might not be clear in the minds of your children. Help them to grow in the idea of Gods spiritual family the church by being interactive yourself with fellow-Christians as dear broth-ers and sisters. Dont let your relationship be simply, Hello, how are you? but cultivate family involvement with the church. Have times of home fellowship together, be there to help in time of need, etc.

Teachers to Parents

Thinking Aloud to ParentsPerhaps your son or daughter has already been question-

ing, Am I lost? Do I need to be baptized? No one wants to discourage the completion of obedience to the Gospel, but there is also the danger of baptizing children when they are actually too immature to have fully understood even the concepts of the Gos-pel, of obedience to it, and of the lifetime commitment they should be making. In consequence, often in later years there will be the haunting question, Did I really understand what I was doing? Now that I know I understand, do I need to be baptized [again]? In answer to the question of being lost, we urged our chil-dren to make their judgment based on who they feared offending: their parents or God? If God was their first concern when they knew they had done something wrong, that would indicate that they were mature enough in their understanding of sin and the resulting separation from God that they could be counted ready.


Fifth graders often are beginning to wonder if they would go to Heaven if they died; to wonder if it is time for them to obey the Gospel. Most children at that age are not mature enough in their thinking to have been able to read the Bible for themselves and to figure out the rights and wrongs and the remedy for sin. For our children, we kept emphasizing that the best way to judge accountability is the persons own attitude: if the first concern is for what the parents will think, rather than how God will judge some wrong in their behavior, they are not yet ready for the one-to-one relationship with God. They would still be counted as innocent, I believe.

But when they do obey the Gospel, they are born into Gods Family, and they have a new life to live. They need to be made aware that Satan will be working really hard to tempt them to leave the faith because hes angry that another soul belongs to God. Satan realizes they are just spiritual babies, and dont know much about defending themselves. They need the help of their phys-ical family and their spiritual family to grow strong.

The new life requires growth and changes. We learn about these in the Bi-ble. We learn to be lights of Jesus in the world What Would Jesus Do? should be our guide always. Life, now, has great purity and spiritual purpose.

Take It Home!How do children learn to obey their Heavenly Father?

Yes, it is through the parent/child training in the home. When your mother or daddy asks you to do something, how do you feel in response? Do you try not to hear? Do you feel an-gry? or do you get up with a smile and obey? Keep a check on your reactions this week. Maybe it would even be helpful to make some notes about your attitude and your obedience.

Now, after keeping track of your attitudes in response to your parents requests, translate that into what your atti-tude might be to what God asks of you. When somebody mistreats you, God asks you to turn the other cheek rather than to get mad and try to hurt them back. When some-one wants you to do more than your share of some work at school, God wants you to go the second mile and to volun-teer to do even more than was asked.

How do you feel in response to what God asks you to do? Angry? Happy? Thankful that you know God and can obey Him?

We let our lights shine among friends and family by ________ when someone is in need. If we give ourselves ________ to God, well want to do all we can to help others, especially those in Gods __________.

In the church, one way we grow together as a Fam-ily is through meeting each week to _____________ God. Spiritually, when we worship, we are joining the multitudes of ______________ and the great host of ___________ as

they are worshiping God and His Son. What a company!

BelieveHearRepentGospelBaptizeRomanBuriedConfessGiftWagesCrucifiedStripesResurrected

CrossHeart

MouthTombEars

DeathTurn

RaisedGood News

WashHealedGuard

Eternal Life

Matching Exercise


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

(Acts 2:38)


Gods book the Bible is not a history book about people who lived centuries ago. Yes, it does tell us true ac-counts of people and ages past, but it is far more than a his-tory. It is God speaking to us today, as our Heavenly Father, telling us what to do to have the best and safest life possible in this broken world; and telling us what not to do, to protect us from making terrible mistakes.

The Bible was written by about 40 men, over a period of more than 1600 years! Most of them never knew any of the other writers, and most of them never got to read what the others wrote! Yet, the message is one: it begins with the creation in the Garden of Eden the original Paradise and ends with the eternal Paradise the new Heaven and Earth that Jesus has gone to make ready for His Family.

All through the Bible are prophecies statements about things that would happen many years down the way and all of them came true, which proves that God inspired the men in what they wrote. We can follow Gods perfect plan to be born into His church, to live purposely and in purity every day for Him, and we can look forward to living with all the saved people eter-nally.

How do we get into Jesus church? By being baptized in water, as He was buried in the grave. Then we are resurrected to new life!

Todays Lesson: T

Thinking Aloud to ParentsBecause of the rampant atheism and humanism in our

country today, and because that foundational thinking has made its way even into our schools, it is vital that parents counteract those doctrines with sound spiritual answers. The Bible IS the inspired word of God, but can you give your children the evidence that will take away any doubt they may have?

Much that is taught today is laid on the foundational fact that evolution explains all that exists. Have you studied their doctrines and the answers so that you can fortify your children and protect their faith?

Do you know how to deal with your childs questions about the moral and cultural changes that are taking place? Unless they are equipped with rock-solid answers, their faith will not be strong enough to withstand the onslaughts of change and political correctness accepted without question by many of their friends. Your time to armor them is short Dont let it slip away!

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: Just as God developed the physical family [parents and chil-dren, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins] to be help and sup-port for each other, He developed His spiritual Family the church so that Christian brothers and sisters can turn to each other in time of need or joy. Developing that kind of relationship among Christians is vital, and bringing up children with the realness and preciousness of that relationship as a part of their lives will be the natural result. Using the lesson this week at home: As a background to the beginning of the church, this lesson gives facts concerning the inspiration and writing of the Bible, so that children can grow up with the assurance that the message is from God. It would be good for you, as parents, to go over these facts so that they can become part of your childrens memory work. Doing Bible Facts as a game and challenge can be a productive form of entertainment in the car on the way to school or while making some other car trip. It is smart parents who capitalize on such times of enforced togetherness!

Crossword Puzzle


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:Therefore, Come out from among them and be sep-arate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.

(2 Corinthians 6:17)

ACROSS:1 We are baptized in ______.2 Buried with Christ.3 Many are baptized in the ____.4 Immersion means to be ________.5 The ______ is our spiritual family. 6 We have ________ in Christ.7 We are to be the ________ of the world.8. Gods throne is in _________.9. The place prepared for Satan is ________.10 Satan tempts us to ______.11 People have ________ Gods laws.

8 L

3 S

8 H

2 B 3 P

11 B

10 S9 H

7 L

6 R1 W 5 T

5 C

6 P

4 D

4 B 7 D

DOWN:2 Gods book3 The place of the righteous dead.4 Beginning of a new day.5 _______ will set us free.6 Raised from the dead.7 God is ______.

Take It Home!Have there been damaging storms, tornadoes, or hur-

ricanes in our country this year? This is not the kind of world God created, but the perfection of creation was broken when Adam and Eve listened to Satan. Death came. Sin grew and grew and grew, until finally God brought the great flood to destroy that world of sinners. Only Noah and his family were left. After the flood, everything was changed changed! Our world is broken!

God sees all of time, and He knew what would hap-pen, even before He began the creation. It was planned then that Jesus would be born as Gods Son and would die for the sins of the world. All those people who obey Jesus are born into His family, called the ________. Christians live in the world, but they dont live like the _______. On the day of Pentecost, when the church was started, Peter told the people to _________ and be __________ in the name of Jesus Christ for the ____________ of ______ (Acts 2:38). How many people became Christians on that first day? _________________. What does Acts 2:47 say that God did in response? _____________________________.

Those early Christians continued in the apostles ___________ and ______________, in the breaking of __________, and in _____________ (Acts 2:42). In worship today, we __________, ___________, study Gods _______, take the __________ ___________, and give of our ______. Would it be OK to add things to worship or change things or leave off things? Are we supposed to follow the

commands in Sripture and the examples we see there?


What is Gods special Family called? [body bride church of Christ]

Where did it begin? [Jerusalem]

When did it begin? [the Day of Pentecost, approxi- mately AD 33]

Who is its Head? [Christ]

Christians are called sheep and the men who lead the church are called shepherds. That means they take care of the Christians, teaching them, leading the church in its work. They are helped in that work by men who are called deacons which means servants in the original lan-guage. What do servants do? There are also teachers and preachers evangelists in the church.

In the New Testament, God has described the kind of men who are to lead the church, both elders and deacons. He has shown how we are to come together on Sunday to worship Him as a body of people. We are to sing hymns of praise to God, to take the Lords Supper in remembrance of Jesus death to save us from our sins, we are to study the Bi-ble, we are to pray, and we are to give of our money to help pay for the work the church is in the world to do. God leaves us in the world but we are to live so differently from the broken world around us that people will be able to see Christ in us. That purity is our purpose.

Thinking Aloud to ParentsAs your children reach the age of accountability, looking

toward the time they will decide to be baptized, it is vital that they realize the uniqueness of the church in contrast to the many de-nominations begun by men and governed by teachings contrary or in addition to those recorded in the New Testament. They need to know that when they are baptized into Christ, they are born as new babies into His spiritual Family, the church. Christ and His church are bonded together, the Head and His body.

This teaching of distinctiveness is not done to be divisive but to lay a firm foundation on which your children can build their entire spiritual life. Too many times, when these truths have not been clearly taught, as children grow up and have more interaction with denominational friends it is no challenge for them to begin to go to a community/denominational church that may seem good.

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: There are many denominational churches. All of us are used to seeing the buildings and we know that most of our friends are members of those groups. It is very important that our children be taught clearly about the Lords church. The teaching must be done with love, more from a positive and informative point of view. There are many defin-itive points about the church that will enable any concerned person to identify it. Those need to be taught.Using the lesson this week at home: Use Life Span to reinforce the lesson. Practice a drill with your children with these questions: What is Gods family called? When did it begin? Where? Who is its head? What book does it follow? What are the 5 steps in the plan of salvation? When do Christians meet together to worship God? What are the 5 things that are done in a worship service? Knowing these things clearly will prevent confusion in later years.

Take It Home!In todays world there are two contrasts in religion:

those who are willing to kill or die for their religion and those who dont know or care much about spiritual things.

God cared so much about you that He gave His only Son to die on the cross so that your sins can be washed away. Does His love mean that much to you? How much do you love Him in return?

At your age there are lots of things to get your atten-tion and to take up your time: school, chores, sports, school activities, homework, video games, TV, and on and on we could go. Sometimes an hour or two on Sundays is about all the time people have left for God. If you went to school for an hour or two each week, how well do you think you would do in life? If you played a video game or some sport for an hour or two each week, how good do you think you would get to be at it?

Do you want Gods help and blessings as you live in this world? Do you want to know that you will live with Him eternally when you die? If these things are important to you then God needs to be a part of your thinking throughout the day, every day. With your family you need to spend time studying Gods letter to you. Learn what He promises; learn what He asks you to do; learn how He wants you to live.

In the church, we must _________ God; we must be ___________ from the world; we must worship Him accord-ing to the Scriptures; we must offer our prayers in ________

name; we must remember that we are Gods _________ to teach others about Him.

Unscramble these Letters


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

(Colossians 1:18)

RHUCCLFCOKPDHESREPOIMEMTSERTDFFNEEIVIEDROCSGNICREIPSTTTOAOOIPRWSHONETHR

ISRTRNFBOAEZTIDBPGNPCAILPDNAGNSORTFLEUTSRIINACHPPUSREOIANPGGNNIISNEVYLAEH

PIERCINGSDIVORCEDIFFERENTTATTOOSIMMODESTFLUTESHEPHERDCHURCHWORSHIPTHRONE

FLOCKSINGINGPIANOSUPPERBAPTIZEDCHRISTIANGRANDSONHEAVENLYCLAPPINGFIRSTBORN

From the words in the bottom box, figure out the words in the top box. I warn you! Theyre all mixed up and also out of order! Have fun!


Jesus promised, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

Since creation, there have been three ages in the way God has worked with humans. The first was the Patriarchal Age; the second was the Mosaic Age; the third is the Christian Age.

Patriarch means fathers. During that age [about 2500 years] there were no churches or any organization of people. God talked to the fathers of faithful households [such as Noah and Abraham] and gave them guidance. There was no Bible for them to read.

Through Moses God gave what we call the Law of Moses to the people called Israelites. They were a chosen nation, because God planned for Jesus to be born to them.

Jesus died to begin the last chosen nation, Chris-tians who make up the church. We see God working through miracles [parting the Red Sea, Jesus raising the dead] and also through His providential interweaving of peo-ple, powers, things, to bring about what He wanted:

Jonathan, Sennach-erib, Elisha, Paul. After the Scrip-tures were completed, the mi-raculous age ended because now we can prove all things through Gods written word.

Thinking Aloud to ParentsYour children have a measure of security in knowing that

you are taking care of them, that you will do all in your power to protect them and to help them out of any difficulty.

Through His tools of providence, we can depend on Gods care as we live in this dangerous world. He does not promise to shield us from every challenge and hardship, because it is inevita-ble that life will bring those difficulties. But He will strengthen us and help us through, if we remain strong in our faith in Him. It is important that you, as a parent, help your children to grow in this understanding of security in His providential care. The under-standing must not be built on presumptions and our own desires but on exactly what the Scriptures promise, both in example and in promises in words such as in Romans 8:28, this weeks memory verse. That verse does not say that no negatives will come into our lives, but the promise is made that God will work everything togehter for our good, if we love Him and are His children.

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: Because many erroneous things are being taught in religious groups, it is important that we in the church carefully study what the Scriptures teach and promise about Gods work in the world today with and through His people. This lesson defines and explains miracles and providence, as two ways that God has interacted with humans through the ages. Using the lesson this week at home: If you have access on your TV to channels that carry various religious programs featuring faith healers it would be good to watch one of them with your children and then discuss with them the great differences between the miracles of the Bible and what is claimed today. These men will announce that the dead can be raised, the lame can be made to walk, etc., but these things dont happen either grad-ually or instantaneously as a result of their prayers which are often made in the form of demands of God: Heal! Heal!. They are false claims and our children must be educated to see the contradiction between these claims and what the Scriptures teach.

Take It Home!Probably there are many Christians in your life: your

parents, grandparents, Bible class teachers, and friends. Every day, through their example and the words they say, they are teaching you about God.

One of the important things we learn is that God is our heavenly Father. You know that your Daddy and Mother work hard every day to take care of you. God is taking care of you too, even though you cant see Him. That doesnt mean that you wont have problems. Do we learn lessons from problems? ______

Sometimes our problems are caused by our foolish __________, like racing too fast on a bike or doing some other dangerous thing. We need to ask God to help us make wise ____________.

In past ages, when people did not have the Bible to be their guide, sometimes God used miracles.

What is a miracle? ___________________________________________________________________________.

After the New Testament was written, now He helps us through His use of providential tools.

What is providence? _________________________________________________________________________.

How did God help Jonathan and his armor bearer when they were fighting the Philistines?

How was the army of Sennacherib defeated?

How did Paul make the trip to Rome? ___________________________________________________________.

Jesus wants all Christians to take the Gospel to their friends and family and into the whole world. Use your Bible to find the answers to the questions about Pauls first missionary journey.


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

(Romans 8:28)


Miracles were powerful proofs that a prophet or a teacher was actually from God. That was their purpose. The Scriptures say that the more excellent way would be through the coming of THAT [not HE] which is perfect (1 Cor-inthians 13). The only two perfects are Jesus and the Bible. Jesus is He; the Bible is that, a thing, not a person. So when the Bible was completed with the Revelation of Jesus to John, the message from God was finished and there was no more the need for proving that a preacher was from God. Now we can know by comparing his message to Gods word. This is the safest way for our souls. A magician or a fake healer can deceive people, but if his message is tested by Scripture, his error will be clear for all to see.

So, today, God works powerfully but not miraculously, through anything and everything He needs to use to bring about His will. Reggie, Vertannes, the doctor in Karachi are examples of Gods providential care for those who are look-ing for Him. With the same power, He works in the lives of Christians to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. Hebrews 1:14 and 13:2 are His binding prom-ises. Knowing Gods provi-dential work, we turn to Him in fer-vent prayer always, in all things.

Thinking Aloud to ParentsIn their Bible class your children learned lessons concern-

ing Gods use of providential tools in todays world. Ask them to tell you what they remember of the beginning of the church of Christ in the country of Sri Lanka, and of the things that happened that show Gods providence in Reggies conversion and later in his help with the radio programs for the entire nation of India.

Ask them, also, to tell you about the conversion of the family that was the beginning of the church in Burma. Do they re-member where the man was from who told them of the American missionary, and where he lived? Gods providential care spanned how many countries, to bring the Gospel to these people?

Ask them about the Pakistani doctor who told a missionary that his people in the mountains of Iran were also Christians and a part of the church of Christ. How had they learned about Jesus? Were their beliefs biblically correct about how to become a Chris-tian and how we as a congregation are to worship God ?

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: In addition to the examples we see in the Bible of God help-ing people through providence, this lesson teaches us to look to things that happen in our own time that show us that God is still very much at work. When Jesus went back to Heaven, He told His disciples to go into all the world and teach people the Gospel. He told them not to be afraid, that He would not leave them to do that work alone. We are Jesus hands and feet today, to teach others what He has done for us.Using the lesson this week at home: Study Hebrews 1:14 and Hebrews 13:2 with your children. Discuss the meaning of these verses and stress that angels are Gods workers to help His human children, even though we are not able to see them. If you have a concordance, look up angel and select as each nights family study a Bible event concerning Gods use of angels. Understand, and help your children to understand, that these are not fairy tales but that they are true accounts of things that hap-pened in our real world.

Find the Words!

M P N T R P W W A O O D E E HJ T O O L S N D P L E A D S X

F O R E I G N C E F S S C A IU X A I Q L I A R J H I N D U

T W L O M U S L I M S A V M P

Across or Down

P R Y P Z I G M X S Q W E B O

D W I N I N P V Y C K P R A YV T M I R A C L E A H U P K E

A Y I D A L Y R E N V F I T Z

Q E S W T G O S P E L B O J DV I S A D E U T R V O R V V C

Take It Home!Jesus said, Go into all the world and preach the gos-

pel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:15,16). We are His people today, so Hes saying the same thing to us. We have work to do and we want to prepare so that we can know the Bible and love the ones we want to teach. Some of the people who learn about Jesus and obey Him through our teaching will spend eternity with Him! Thats a wonderful thing that we can do for Him!

How big is the world? __________ miles around.

How many countries are in the world? ___________

About how many people are there? ______________

Jesus said, ... I will not leave you _________.

What does that mean?

God has put the treasure of the Gospel in our hands. Can you think of ways you can help to teach your friends? Do you know anyone who is working in a foreign country as a missionary?

What is a missionary? _______________________

What are some of the religions in other countries?

H__________.

M___________.

B_____________.

Denominational _________.

In order to live and teach in those countries, we need to study the _________.


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

(Hebrews 1:14)

ACROSS:

MIRACLEWINGOSPELVISATOOLSPLEADSHINDUFOREIGNMUSLIMSPRAY

DOWN:

MISSIONARYANGELSWINGSPREPARELOVEPROVIDENCE


Satan has been the enemy of Gods people from the beginning, but he really tried to destroy Gods plan to save us by destroying the Baby Jesus. When he failed in that, he hoped he could tempt the man Jesus to worship him instead of God. Finally, Satan must have thought he had won the war when Judas betrayed Jesus, the Jewish leaders con-demned Him, and Pilate finally allowed His crucifixion. But then Jesus came out of the tomb, alive, and the victor over death. By His resurrection, He promises a resurrection for all of us, so Satan was badly defeated.

But then, when Jesus began His church, Satan sneak-ily planned a new way to fight. He couldnt keep Jesus from calling people to obey Him, to be baptized into His church, and to live by the Bible. But Satan could start counterfeit churches! Do you know what counterfeit means? A coun-terfeit dollar may look like the real thing to people who are not trained to recognize the genuine bill, but it is worthless. Counterfeit churches look like churches groups of religious people but they wear different names and worship different ways and teach different ways of being saved and all kinds of other doctrines. Jesus began only one family, and He says in Ephesians 5:26,27 that He is coming back for His one bride!

We, as part of His bride, have to live pure lives, purpose-

ful lives, passionate about teaching others so they can be saved too and

live prayerfully under Gods providential care. What a life!

Thinking Aloud to ParentsIn these days there are thousands of denominational

churches. Many of these are large community churches that draw people from multiple denominational backgrounds. Your chil-drens friends may be attending one of these groups that offer many activities that appeal to children. The tendency among humans is to go with the crowd, to fit in well with ones peers. Especially can this be an attraction for young people who dont yet have a firm foundation in the Scriptures.

For the sake of your childrens eternal welfare, it is vital that you, as parents, carefully teach them about the church the special spiritual family for which Christ died and that they understand that you are not being bigotted or prejudiced in what you are teaching, but that you want them to be guided only by Gods inspired word. You want them to be saved, not deceived by a counterfeit Gospel and church.

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: We need to understand that we are in a real war with Satan. He began by getting Adam and Eve to disobey God. He tried to kill the baby Jesus. He tempted the disciples to deny that they knew Jesus, and he got Judas to betray Jesus to the Jewish rulers. When Jesus was crucified, Satan must have thought he had at last won the war, but what happened? In dying, Jesus made the way for us to be forgiven of our sins and to be born into Gods spiritual family, the church. What a victory! Using the lesson this week at home: Just as a man has one wife, the church is called the bride of Christ. He died to save that one bride. We need to carefully and clearly teach our children the oneness of Gods system: ONE body [church, Ephesians 1:22,23], ONE Spirit, ONE hope, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, One God. Satans goal is still to win the war. The way he does it today is to start lots of churches and teach lots of things that are not in the Bible, so that people will think they are doing what God wants them to do, and they wont see the Truth and obey only that.

Take It Home!This is a very important lesson, one that needs to be

studied carefully with your parents so that the whole family can know the specialness of Jesus church and the terri-ble thing that division among those who believe in Him has caused in the world.

None of us can be the judge who will finally open the gates of heaven to people, or will say depart from me.... Ac-cording to 2 Timothy 4:1: ... the Lord Jesus Christ ... will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom....

Sometimes in school your teacher will give you the questions on a test so that you can study carefully before having to take the test. Jesus did that for us. He said, He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day (John 12:48).

When we read in the New Testament that Jesus be-gan His church and that someday He will come back for her, as a husband comes for his bride (Ephesians 5), we know that those words are true. When Jesus said in Mark 16:16, He who believes and is baptized will be saved, those words will be one of the test questions on the judgment day! Today, in churches that men have started, people are taught that they are saved by Gods mercy alone, that we dont have to be baptized. And instead of teaching that we are to be bur-ied with Christ in baptism (Romans 6:3,4) for the forgive-ness of our sins, the guide books for most denominational churches say that sprinkling or pouring water on a persons head is baptism. We must follow closely all that is taught in

the New Testament.


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

(Ephesians 5:15,16)

Pentecost AD 33

Jesus died on the cross to save people in His family, the church.

606 AD: the first Pope of the Catholic church

The

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of C

hris

t con

tinue

s in

the

wor

ld

until

the

end

of ti

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The Reformation Movement in the

1500s brought the beginning of the thousands of denominations.

1054 AD

Split

in th

e C

atho

lic c

hurc

h The New Testament tells us that Jesus

began only one church.

Church History tells us that through the

years:

X men have start-ed thousands of different churches.

X they are called by different names.

X they teach dif-ferent doctrines.

X they teach dif-ferent ways to be saved.

X they teach different ways to worship.

X they teach dif-ferent laws about sin.

X they teach dif-ferent things about eternity and heav-en and hell.


Almost from the beginning of Satans war with God, hes been getting people to worship idols and things in-stead of God. He told Eve that she would be like God if she ate the forbidden fruit.

There are many religions in the world today, and one of the lies Satan is still getting people to believe is that humans can become like God. So statues are made of Buddha and of men in the Hindu religion who became gods. People bow down to them, their faces to the ground, and worship them.

In the Bible, God ridiculed humans who would cut down a tree, burn part of it to warm themselves, burn part of it to cook their food, and then carve a god from the rest of the tree. He showed how stupid they were to fall down be-fore an image they had carved with their hands an image that could not move or speak or even help itself in any way and to pray to it for their needs.

To us, knowing the Bible and what it teaches us about God, we cant imagine that anyone in this day and age would actually worship a lifeless stone. Millions in the world follow these religions Satan has made to confuse people and to keep them from turning to the true God.

Thinking Aloud to ParentsAs with the study about the many denominations that have

been developed by men, with their doctrines that contradict Scrip-ture, this study of the other major religions of the world is of great importance. In decades past, we in America saw very little of for-eign influence, personally, but now there are mosques and temples in all major cities and in many smaller ones. Millions who follow those religions now call this country home. Their children are in school with yours. Words in their languages are becoming a part of ours: mantra, kudos, karma, and nirvana are only a few exam-ples of Hindu words that are now heard frequently.

You have only a few short years to teach your children about God, His word, and His will for us, to make a strong foun-dation on which they can build their lives and their eternity. Dont presume that they will be well-grounded simply by association. The New Age movement is an American version of Hinduism, and by it many have been led away from a belief in God. Teach with dedication so that your children will not be in any such danger.

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: Not only are there many churches in the world today, but there are also many different religions, following many gods and goddess-es. To worship an idol may seem laughably silly to us because we have been taught about God, but many millions of people in the world worship idols and believe that they can either bless them or curse them. Many sacrifices are made to idols: money, animals, and sometimes even humans.Using the lesson this week at home: Google the names of some of the idols that are worshiped in Hinduism and Buddhism: Buddha, Shiva, Ganesh, or Vishnu. There are children your age in India and other countries whose daddys and mothers are teaching them to love and woship these as their gods. In Muslim countries, they dont have idols but children are taught in schools, in the mosques [places of worship] that it is right to kill people who wont become Muslims. They think Jesus was showing weakness when He taught His followers to love and forgive others.

Take It Home!In this lesson we have talked about different religions,

and maybe you think that the lives of people in those religions are not much different from yours except in the way they worship. Because you have parents who are teaching you how to think and act like a Christian every day, that behavior is natural to you. You know that Jesus teaches us to obey our parents and teachers, to be loving and helpful to others, to do our best in everything as though we are doing it for God. Everything about the teachings of Christ asks us to talk, think, live every day like He would live if He were here in our place. His promises also give us hope for the best in this life and in the world to come if we are faithful and obedient to Him.

In Buddhism, there is the belief that you can be happy only if you stop wanting anything. The best Buddhists just go off and live by themselves. Those who choose to have fam-ilies and live a normal life are generally good moral people because they believe that doing bad things will bring bad things to them. They believe that there is no god, though most pray to Buddha, the man who started the religion.

Hindus believe that everyone is born as a high-caste or low-caste or out-caste person, because of the way he lived in his past life. A low-caste person cannot work hard and move up the ladder because his birth is his reward or punishment for past behavior. They do not believe in forgiveness or salvation. They believe that each person is re-born thousands of times.

Muslims, historically and even today, are taught that holy war is what Allah (their god) wants, to make all the world follow their religion. Lying, stealing, and all kinds of

wrong things can be practiced.

Maybe youll think your activity this week is a strange one, but it will help you to learn an important lesson:v Buy some play-doh or a package of regular clay. v Do the very best job you can do at shaping a god like the Hindu god, Shiva, or the god Ga-nesh (the elephant-head god.)

v Now, with your family, read Isaiah 44:9-17. Some idols are made of wood, some of clay, some of marble, but all of them are as helpless as Dagon, described in 1 Samuel 5:1-4. Read these verses also.v Remember with your own hands you did what people in many countries do: you shaped a god out of clay. Now, after the clay has hard-ened, drop it on the sidewalk. Is it able to help itself? Did it break? This shows you how use-less idols are. You have learned an important lesson. Now break your clay figure into pieces and throw them in the trash. Only God can save us.


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

(1 Timothy 2:5)


Even though we know the truth about God, still we can be fooled by Satan. How? By letting anyone or anything be more important to us than God. We have to be careful in this, because if I ask you, Who do you love most? you would probably quickly say, God! But we show who is most important to us by our actions. If we have hours to devote to video games and no real interest in letting God talk to us through the Bible, who or what is more important to us? If wed choose to go to a ball game instead of to Bible class or to do some work in the church, that tells us what is more important to us. Our passion must be for God, not for enter-tainment or things in this world.

Satan knows that many people dont want to do bad things. You wouldnt kill anybody or rob a bank. So if he cant get us to do really bad things, hes satisfied if he can just keep us from putting God first in our lives. So he zeroes in on every innocent distraction possible. Theres nothing wrong with reading a good book, or playing video games, or competing in sports, or a thousand-and-one other things. But if satan can fill our days with thinking about all the fun things so that there is no real time left to give to God, he wins again! Satan is a tricky fellow, and we have to be on guard all the time, or hell find a way to trip us up.

Our protection from him is to be sure that God is truly the most important in our lives; that we sincerely pray to Him, thankful for all He does every day, talking about Him to others, trusting Him to keep His promises, with peace in our hearts.

Thinking Aloud to ParentsIn the past five decades many changes have taken place

in America. Largely, the mother has ceased to be the keeper of the home, atheistic and humanistic thinking governs much of the educational system which is shaping the minds of our children, and violence, bad language, deviant sexuality, and other anti-God influences have taken over the world of entertainment. From early ages children become addicted to video games that comsume as many hours of their day as would be permitted, hardening them to violence in every imaginable form.

The tendency to allow the TV, video games, and other forms of entertainment to baby-sit our children is a dangerous and destructive practice. These things dominate their thinking, harden-ing them to real violence and death, and place them in a make-be-lieve world where they fight to be in control of all the powers that be. Parents, take control again and invest deeply in their souls.

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: We live in such a world of self-centeredness that often we dont even realize how much we focus on ourselves and our wants and our indulgencies. Without realizing this, also, parents train their children in self-centeredness. We feel that we are good parents when we fulfill their little hearts desires, giving them the attention they want, the new fads that keep them on par with their friends, and sparing them the stresses of a demanding life. Using the lesson this week at home: Ask your children to evaluate the use of their time and thoughts, making a written list in the order of their importance. Dont prompt a listing of spiritual things first let this be their own spon-taneous answers. Not only will the list be a strong indication of their personal interests, it will also help you to see the strengths and weak-nesses of your parenting. We have one short period of time to instill in our children the life-focus that God must come first, family love and responsibilities second, and that all the things in this world are here today and gone tomorrow. If their happiness and well being depend on things they will be going down the wrong road.

Take It Home!Already, at your age, you can think back on the times

that Satan has trailed thoughts of doing wrong things through your mind: maybe he tried to get you to lie or to peek at somebodys test sheet in school, or maybe he wasted your time with hours of playing video games instead of taking care of your chores. Maybe he has hidden some idols in your heart, things that are more important to you than they should be. Look back on those times of temptation: did you resist and say, Get behind me, Satan! Did you do what he tempt-ed you to do? Later, did you realize Satan was the cause of your behavior and did you stop listening to him? Did you apologize to your parents for disobeying them, and did you ask God to forgive you?

Remember this important fact: the only way to erase problems in the past is to stop doing those things and to ask God and anyone else that you have wronged to forgive you. This wipes the slate clean, but just pretending its all in the past and forgotten does not work.

It would be good to make a check-list of the things mentioned in Philippians 4:8,9. If these words describe the way we think, we will be shaping ourselves into the kind of people God wants us to be. So if we think on these things

and if we protect ourselves from Satans attacks by put-ting on the whole armor of God, as Ephesians 6:13-17 teaches, we can get through a lifetime in this dangerous world. Lets do that!

Put on the Whole Armor of GodRead Ephesians 6:13-17

and fill in the blanks

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all, to stand...praying always with all prayer and supplication

in the Spirit, watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.


Memory workPrayer


Memory Verse:Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praise-worthymeditate on these things.

(Philippians 4:8,9)

B_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _of

R_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

s_ _ _ _ _of

F_ _ _ _

W_ _ _ _with

T_ _ _ _

G_ _ _ _ _ _of

P_ _ _ _

H_ _ _ _ _ _of

S_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

s_ _ _ _ _of the

S_ _ _ _ _


In these lessons weve studied about Gods plan for protection and guidance for you as a child in a very danger-ous world. He knows that ever since the creation of Adam and Eve, Satan has been doing everything he could to trip people up and to take them down into hell with him.

God planned parents for children, so that you could learn how to walk and talk and think and live. They do all they can to protect you from getting hurt. They love you and pro-vide you with food, clothing, housing, education, and training to live like God wants you to live. Thank your parents for all that they do for you, and thank God for the family-system He created. You know, there are many children in this world who are orphans, living on the street and begging for a few crumbs to eat. Be thankful for the rich blessings you have.

God also planned further protection for us. When we obey Him we are baptized into His Family, the church. God is our Father, Jesus is our older brother, and we have the Christians in the church as our friends and helpers. When were having good times, they are happy with us. If there are problems, they can pray with us and help us through them. Our spiritual family is very important in helping us to be strong in the war that Satan is fighting to take all of us to hell.

The more we know about the way Satan is fighting his war with us, the better we will be able to protect ourselves. If we know that he has made teachings and churches that look something like the real thing but that are actually like coun-terfeit dollars, we will be very careful to follow only what we find in the New Testament. On the day of Pentecost, after His resurrection, Jesus began His church. He adds us to His Family when we are buried with Him in baptism. If we live for Him all our lives, we will live with God and Jesus and all the saved people in that new heaven and earth forever!

Thinking Aloud to ParentsWith this lesson we have completed a very important study

of the continual warfare going on in the world, in your life and in the lives of your children. We have provided Scripture to serve as spiritual armor in your defense in that war, but the only way you and your children can be protected is through actually wearing the armor!

For too long busy families have too often depended on the once- or twice- weekly Bible classes to do most of the spiritual equipping of themselves for life. Too often, daily life is secular, filled with work, school, home responsibilities, and entertain-ment. For the Christian, this is not enough. As God instructed the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:7: You shall teach them [His Word]diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. It is in the God-centeredness of the Christian family that we separate ourselves from the world around us and that we secure the eternal salvation of our souls and the souls of our children. Nothing else in life is of greater importance.

Teachers to Parents

Todays Lesson: The student book gives a review of the lessons of this quarter. Today your child will bring that book home, to add it to his growing library of Bible study books. The purpose in printing these class mate-rials in a permanent book form is so that you as a family can use them in your daily devotionals. Now, during the formative years of your childrens lives, and while you have the time day-after-day to mold them in the things that are right, please invest this effort in their eternal welfare. By building for them a firm foundation not only of knowledge of Gods word but also of seeing it lived out in their parents lives, you will be giving them a treasure far beyond anything that money or prestige could bring. Beyond what you do in training at home, it is important that they learn the value of Family association in the church depending on that fellowship from others and also offering it themselves. We must work with greater dedication to be the Family God intended.

Take It Home!Dont forget the warning in this weeks memory verse:

Satan is here in our world, trying to deceive us and take us away from God. We must be soldiers in Gods army, both to protect ourselves and to bring others into that army. Let the song Hard Fighting Soldier be our theme, living every day for Jesus and telling others about Him. We want to bring souls to Jesus because that is where they find the best life in this world, with Gods special care for His Family, and the promise of eternal life with Him.

No soldier can win the battle alone, and neither can we as soldiers in Gods army in His Family, the church. Sometimes Christians see each other on Sundays and Wednesdays, only to say Hi, and to go on about our sep-arate lives. God intended for us to be a spiritual family, spending time with each other, encouraging each other, helping each other, so that we can together reach out to the world around us to show them the beauty of the Christian way.

I hope that this will be the assignment for you and your parents for the weeks and months ahead: Make a list of special things you want to do with other families in the church. Let some of the projects be fellowship in each oth-ers homes; let some of them be work you volunteer to do with leaders in the church; let some of them be with the elders and deacons organizing work in your community to share tracts or sign up people for Bible courses, or to have a

day of community service for the elderly. Lets get busy!

Lets make this our theme song!


Memory workSong: Hard Fighting Soldier

PrayerPractice what youve learned

Memory Verse:So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

(Revelation 12:9)

Hard Fighting SoldierI am a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield,I am a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield,I am a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield, I keep on bringing souls to Jesus by the service that I give.

Ive got a helmet on my head and in my hand a sword and shield,Ive got a helmet on my head and in my hand a sword and shield,Ive got a helmet on my head and in my hand a sword and shield, I keep on bringing souls to Jesus by the service that I give.

Youve gotta walk right and talk right and sing right and pray right on the battlefield,Youve gotta walk right and talk right and sing right and pray right on the battlefield,Youve gotta walk right and talk right and sing right and pray right on the battlefield, We keep on bringing souls to Jesus by the service that we give.

When I die let me die on the battlefield,When I die let me die on the battlefield,When I die let me die on the battlefield, I keep on bringing souls to Jesus by the service that I give.

Date post:	17-Nov-2015
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