GL Kid’s Journal – July 2017, Week 1

Bible Story: 1 Samuel 17

Bottom Line: God Made You to Be You

Memory Verse: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Life App: UNIQUENESS—discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference.

Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

The first two weeks of July have been a blast in GL Kid’s We are continuing our theme of Gadget’s and Gizmo’s, but this month the focus is on how God has created each of us with our own unique talents, personalities and individual purposes. We really want the kids to understand that God’s creativity is evident not only in the physical world, but also can be found in each and every one of them.

Like all of our lessons, they are based upon a story from the Bible. This one is a very familiar story, one that we all know. The story of David and Goliath.

There were some powerful things we can learn from this story. First off we learn that God can use anybody, big or small, king or shepherd, warrior or poet to bring about His glory. Second we learn what happens when we have faith in God, verbalize that faith AND we take actions that show that faith, God honors and delivers. But it’s the third lesson that we really wanted to show the kids.

When David told King Saul that he was going to not only fight this giant, but defeat him, Saul offered David his armor and his weapons, preparing David for the battle in front of him. David considered these items, tried them on, but in the end wasn’t comfortable. The armor was too heavy and David couldn’t move. The sword was unwieldy, and David had no confidence in using it. So David told Saul that he wouldn’t fight with the King’s armor. That he would face this giant with what he had confidence in.

David had some unique experiences for a young man. As a shepherd he had defended his Father’s flock against bears and lions, and he had done so with staff and a sling. A unique choice for fighting off such powerful animals. David had confidence in the abilities and gifts that God has given him, and even more so he had confidence in the God that had given him those gifts. David made the unique choice again, this time to face the giant warrior Goliath, with a staff, a sling with a few smooth stones, and the power of God behind him.

We all know how this ends. God rewards David’s faith and boldness with a victory against Goliath, the Philistine army is scattered, and David is made a hero! But if not for David’s unique choice, if David had decided to try and fight as someone else, not himself, his victory may have come at a much higher difficulty. David’s swift and dominant win, came because David recognized that God created David to be David. The same way God created you to be you!

This last Sunday we had to missionary guests who shared amazing stories of kids praying and believing for miracles. In one case a little girl prayed for a healing, against the wishes of the woman she prayed for, and God delivered that miracle healing! This week I challenged the kids to look for opportunities to pray with people for the miracles they need, to have the faith that God answers prayers. Even ones that come from the tiniest of us. I challenge you to do the same as a family. Look for opportunities to pray, to believe, to give God the opportunity to show you something amazing.

Pastor Paul

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GL Kid’s Journal – June 18, 2017

Bible Story: Genesis 2:19-20

Bottom Line: God Made You to Imagine

Memory Verse: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

Life App: CREATIVITY – imagining what you could do because you’re made in God’s image.

Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

What a month of firsts! We’ve talked about the first light, the first mountains, the first oceans, the first animals and God’s most special first in the creation story, the first person.

Adam was created in God’s image, with all the creative and physical capabilities to do another first; the world’s first JOB!

Adam was tasked by God to take care of His creation, to tend to the garden and enjoy the fruits of God’s labor. Sounds a lot better than some of the jobs I’ve had!

But like we learned last week, Adam was created by THE Creator, in HIS image! God knew Adam needed more to do than pull weeds and take walks. Adam needed to be able to flex the creative muscle and use the imagination that God gave him. So God gave Adam a second job… to name all of God’s other creations.

So time out for a second. One of my favorite things making its way around social media circles are the memes with alternative animal names. Adam had to name every creature on the face of the earth. He looked at the tortoise and said (in perfect English of course), “Hello, tortoise.” Adam saw birds with beautiful feathers and exclaimed “Parrots!” Us? This is the best we can do…

animal-kingdom-trash-panda-raccoon

But I digress.

God also made Adam a helper, Eve. Although they couldn’t create something from nothing, they could use all the imagination and creativity God had put into them and see limitless possibility.

These jobs God gave Adam, they are ours today as well, we are still tasked with caring for God’s creation, both the animals and all of the rest as well. God made all of us to create and to imagine. Stop and think  and dream with your child on how you can use your imagination to help make this world better. The only limit to what we can do is the limit of our imaginations.

Throughout the Bible, God gives jobs to his people. Moses was to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Solomon, to build the temple. John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. Paul was to go to the Gentiles and spread the story of Jesus. And that’s a job that we share as well. Jesus gave us a job to go into all the world and share the gospel. There is no unemployment in God’s Kingdom! We all have a job to do.

This Sunday we wrap up our month focusing on creation and creativity with another first… and this one is not so fantastic.

See you next week!

Pastor Paul