April 23, 2017 - Solomon Builds God a Temple

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK


MEMORY VERSE

Unless the Lord builds the house,
    those who build it labor in vain.
Psalm127:1a

As the Memory Verse says, God must be the one in charge if anything is to succeed.  So many times in our lives we try to do the things we want to and hope that God helps us when, instead, we should be seeking His will and allowing Him to work through us.  King David himself had to learn this lesson.

Remember from a few weeks ago we spoke of King David

bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the Tabernacle in Jerusalem after it had been returned by the Philistines.  He was so full of joy that he could worship God properly and in his capitol city that he danced when the Ark arrived and while he escorted it to the Tabernacle.

One day, after David had finished building his own fancy

house, he looked out at the Tabernacle and thought that God deserved better than a tent.  He went to the prophet Nathan and told him how he wished to build God a Temple. Nathan thought it was a wonderful idea and that God would surely be pleased.

Unfortunately, Nathan didn't consult with God before he told David to go ahead and build the Temple.  It's not that God was unhappy that David wanted to do it, it's just that God had other plans.  David had been a man of war and God didn't want His Temple built by a man of war.  However, David had a son, Solomon, who would one day be a peaceful king.  God said that Solomon

would build His Temple.  

So King David did whatever he could to get the materials ready for his son to build the Temple in the future.  When Solomon became King, he set about fulfilling what his father had started. Even King David's friend Hiram, King if Tyre, helped out by allowing Solomon to cut down cedar trees from Lebanon.  

All of the stones used to build the Temple were cut and

prepared somewhere else.  That way, the Temple site wasn't filled with the sounds of beating hammers and breaking rocks. It took seven years and many people to help build the Temple.

After it was built, it was time for the priests to move all the special things into the temple: The Altar of incense, the Table for Showbread, The Menorah, all the dishes and utensils and, most importantly, the Ark of the Covenant.

 
When all this was done, God filled the Temple with His Glory in the form of a cloud.  It was so thick that the priests could no longer see to work and had to leave the Temple.  

What happened next we can read about in II Chronicles 7. 

The Temple is gone now but the Bible says that God's Holy Spirit now lives in a new Temple, our hearts. So remember that your heart should be a special place for worshiping God.  Some day, a new Temple will be built in Jerusalem but that's another story. 

So, Israel had a great King and everybody worshiped God. Sounds like a happy ending, right?  Unfortunately, Israel was in for some dark times ahead.  Next week we will talk about one of the darkest.

April 16, 2017 - Easter / The Last Altar

     

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!

Luke 24:5b-6a

Happy Easter!  Easter is the most important Holiday in the Christian faith.  Even bigger than Christmas!  Easter is the day that our sins were paid for so we could spend eternity in Heaven with God.  How were they paid for?  The perfect Lamb of God was sacrificed as the final sin offering on the final altar.  Confused?  Let me explain.  

An altar is something that is built for making sacrifices to God.  The most important sacrifice was the sin offering; the once a year sacrifice of an unblemished lamb.  This was made by the high priest during Passover for the sins of Israel.  However, the blood of animals wasn't enough to pay for our sins forever.  We needed something better.

     The first altars were built of uncut stones. Later, they built them of cut stones.  Then they built a moveable bronze altar for the Tabernacle and eventually a larger one for the Temple.  However, there was to be one more altar...

     Last week we left off at the Last Supper where Jesus revealed that one of the Disciples would betray Him.  Judas Iscariot then mysteriously left the dinner. The rest of them went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane.  There, Jesus told them that they would all abandon Him out of fear.  Peter refused to believe that!  He said he would never abandon Jesus no matter what. Jesus then told Peter that he would deny he even knew Jesus three times that very night!

     Then he took Peter, James and John and went off to pray.  Jesus asked His Father if there was any way to avoid what was coming but completely surrendered to what God the Father wanted. Afterwards, Judas came with soldiers to arrest Jesus. Peter valiantly tried to stop them but eventually ran away with the rest of the Disciples.  However, Peter followed from a distance and waited outside as they took Jesus into the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. 

     Inside the house, Jesus was being put on trial.  They were unable to find people to accuse Jesus of anything so they found people to lie.  Even these did not agree with each other. The entire time Jesus stood there as quiet as a lamb (John the Baptist had called Jesus the "Lamb of God" at His baptism). Finally, Jesus was asked plainly if he was the Son of God.  His answer is in Mark 14:62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Hearing this they saw no more need for witnesses and considered Jesus guilty of blasphemy, a crime punishable by death! They then blindfolded Jesus and began to strike him saying, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”(Matthew 26:68)

     Outside in the courtyard, Peter is confronted three times with people accusing him of being a follower of Jesus. Each time Peter denies this.  Then, suddenly, he hears the rooster crow and remembers that Jesus said Peter would deny Him three times.  Peter is so ashamed of himself that he goes away and cries uncontrollably.

     Jesus is then taken to see Pontius Pilate, the Roman in charge of Jerusalem.  Since the Romans were in charge of Israel, they had to be the ones to put Jesus to death because the Jews weren't allowed.  Pilate questioned Jesus but found no reason to convict Him.  When he heard that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Him to King Herod who was in charge there.

     Herod was happy to see Jesus since he had heard of all the miraculous things He had done.  Herod told Jesus to perform a miracle for him but Jesus just stood there silent as a lamb again.  This angered Herod and he said that Jesus was probably crazy but not deserving of death.  Then they decided to mock Jesus.  They put a purple robe on him and pressed a crown of sharp thorns into his head!  Then they took him back to Pilate.  

     Pilate decided to have Jesus scourged but not killed. Afterwards he planned to let Jesus go.  However, the Priests convinced the people to insist that Jesus be crucified (Killed by being nailed to a cross).  Pilate tried one last time to save Jesus.  He gave the people a choice to either free Jesus or a murderer name Barabbas.  The people chose Barabbas and said to crucify Jesus.  Finally, Pilate gave in and gave the order to crucify Jesus.

     When someone was crucified, the Romans made the criminals carry their crosses through the streets of Jerusalem all the way to Golgotha (Calvary) where they would die.  Jesus, however, was too weak after being beaten, scourged, and made to wear a crown of thorns.  So the Romans found a man name Simon from Cyrene to carry it for Him.  

     Once they made it to Golgotha, Jesus was nailed to His cross through His hands and feet.  While He hung there, the soldiers gambled for His clothes, the people mocked Him, and the Priests challenged Him to get Himself down.  Even one of the two thieves He was crucified with started making fun of Him!  The other thief was smarter.  He knew who Jesus was and told the other man to leave Him alone.  He knew they deserved their punishment but Jesus had done nothing wrong.  He then asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom.  Jesus said they would be together in Paradise before the day was over.

     As Jesus looked down at the people, He said “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)  Then, after six hours on the cross, the sky went black.  Jesus said, "It is finished."  (John 19:30) and died.  Then an earthquake shook the ground and the curtain in the Temple that blocked the Holy of Holies, which was four inches thick, tore from top to bottom, opening the way to the presence of God to us all.  

     In this way, Jesus was the final sacrifice for the sin offering: the ultimate pure and unblemished Lamb of God.  The altar on which He was sacrificed was a Roman cross.  The Bible tells us “that the wages of sin is death” but Jesus had no sin to die for! This enabled His death to pay for the sins of the world.  The crucifixion of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of the sins of any who would believe in Him was the culmination of the Passover story started way back at the Exodus; and in another way, the Garden of Eden itself.  This is how the Easter story coincides with altar worship.

     Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.  The Pharisees had the tomb blocked with a huge stone, sealed and guards posted outside because they knew that Jesus said He would rise on the third day.  They were afraid the Disciples would steal His body and claim that He had risen.  

     On the third day, women were going to anoint 
Jesus' body but didn't know how they would move the stone. When they got there, they saw they didn't have to.  Earlier that morning, two angels had come and moved the stone and one even sat on it!  The guards had fallen down from fear and then ran away.  The angels said that Jesus had risen and told them to tell the Disciples.  

     At first they didn't believe the women but John and Peter went to check it out and they found the tomb open and empty.  One of the women, Mary Magdalene, also went and began weeping.  Then the two angels appeared. 

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” (John 20:13)

    She then turned around and saw who she thought was the gardener and asked him where he had put Jesus' body. He simply said, "Mary."  Then suddenly she knew she was looking at Jesus Himself!  He told her to go back and tell the Disciples.  Later, Jesus appeared to them inside a room that was completely locked.  They thought He was a ghost. To prove He was real and alive, Jesus ate some fish in front of them.  He then spent the next forty days on Earth and revealed Himself to about five hundred people.  He then gave the Disciples the Great Commission and ascended into Heaven before their eyes.

So now you know why Easter is so important.  Colored eggs and candy are fun and who doesn't love bunnies?  However, we should NEVER FORGET that we are celebrating the great thing that Jesus did simply because He loves us so much!

April 9, 2017 - Palm Sunday

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

“Hosanna! 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Mark 11:9b

       Remember a while back when we learned about God, through Moses, rescuing the Israelites from the Evil Pharaoh in Egypt?  God had sent 9 horrible plagues to Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.  Finally, God sent a 10th plague where the Angel of Death was sent to kill the firstborn son of every family.  Anyone who believed Moses' warning and didn't want the Angel to visit them only had to sacrifice a perfect lamb and paint their doorposts with the lambs blood.  If the Angel saw the blood, he would pass over the house and all inside would be safe.  

God then told the Israelites to celebrate this every year.  This would be called the Passover and the celebration would last an entire week.  Thousands of years later the Passover is still celebrated.

Much later, in about the year 33 A.D., Jesus and His disciples headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the week long Passover Festival. Jesus sent some of His disciples to go fetch a special donkey that had never been ridden.  He even told them where to find it and how to convince its owners to let them have it!  Jesus then got on the donkey and began riding into Jerusalem.

     The people must have remembered Zechariah's prophecy because they grabbed palm branches and began waving them and laying them, as well as their coats, on the road in front of him.  They even started shouting "HOSANNA! (Which means Save, we pray).  Blessed is the King of Israel!"  This did not make the Pharisees happy.  They told Jesus to quiet the crowd down.  Jesus told them, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40 NIV)  
   Five days later, Jesus and His disciples got together in an upper room to eat the Passover meal (which is called a SEDER).  Before they could eat, Jesus got up and began washing the disciples' feet, a job usually meant for the servants.  At first, Peter didn't want Jesus to wash his feet. He thought that Jesus was too important to be washing anyone's feet!  Jesus explained that He needed to do it or else Peter would have no place in His Kingdom. 

Jesus was showing, by example, how we should be servants to others.

     Afterwards, Jesus gave them some bad news.  He said that one of them would betray him!  They were all shocked!  One by one they asked Him if they were the one until, lastly, Judas Iscariot asked, "Is it me?"  Jesus, who already knew it was Judas, told him that what he was going to do he had better do quickly.  He didn't even try to stop him!!!  Judas left without anyone knowing why.

     After dinner, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and passed it out to the Disciples.  He said, "This represents my body which is going to be broken for your sake." (paraphrase)  Then He took His cup of wine and said "This represents My blood which is being poured out so your sins can be forgiven." (paraphrase) We still celebrate this ceremony today.  It is called communion.  

Even if you're not Jewish, Christians can still celebrate the Passover today.  Talk to your parents about learning how to do a Seder meal or maybe even celebrate with our Jewish neighbors.  It is a great way to understand and remember that the Passover points to Jesus.  Remember that Jesus came to Earth as a Jew and used Jews to spread the Gospel to the whole world!  There is nothing wrong with celebrating their history because, in many ways, it is also our history too.  Don't forget to come back next week to learn the incredible thing Jesus did next...

April 2, 2017 - Absalom / David Worships

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

  O God, you are my God; 

I will seek you eagerly. 

Psalm 63:1a

Who are the people in charge in your life: Parent? Teacher? Boss?  We all know that God has placed certain people in authority over us in different places and situations.  What if we don't like the person who has authority over us?  What if you thought you could do a better job than the person in charge of you?  Is it okay to try take their place?  What if your Sunday School teacher tried to take over being church Pastor by telling everyone that they should listen to him instead?  Would that be right?  Would God be pleased with that?  Believe it or not, something like that happened in the Bible!  

Lately we've been learning about King David.  The Bible says David was a man after God's own heart and was chosen by God  Himself to be King of Israel. David was put in authority over all of God's Chosen People; the Israelites.

Among David's many children was a man named Absalom. Absalom was very handsome and had very thick hair.  He and his father David did not get along very well even though King David loved his son very much.  

One day, Absalom decided that he wanted to be king instead of his father.  He got

himself a chariot and had fifty men run in front of him as he went through town.  This made the people think that Absalom was very important.  

Absalom knew that the people loved King David and, if he was going to take his dad's throne, he had to make the people love him

instead.  So, whenever people would come to see the King with a problem, Absalom would get to them first and say things like, "The King is too busy to see you.  If I were king I would care very much about your problem."  or, "If I were in charge, I would make sure that all the people's problems were heard and that justice was done."  The people began to think that maybe Absalom WOULD be a better king than David. 

After this, Absalom knew it was time to take the next step

.  So, after getting his father's permission to go to Hebron, he sent word to everyone that, when they heard the trumpets, to shout, "Absalom is King in Hebron!!"  So Absalom had himself crowned King and then headed toward Jerusalem to take his Father's throne.

When David heard what had happened, he decided that the best thing to do was to RUN.  David knew that Absalom had an army and he would destroy the city if he had to in order to get what he wanted.  Running saved David as well as all of Jerusalem.  

So David and his men were hiding from Absalom in the wilderness.  This was a very sad time for David.  His son had turned against him, the people had turned against him, and he had lost the throne of Israel that God had given him.  So what did David do?  He did what he always did; worshiped God.  David knew that we need to worship God in the good times and the bad times.  In fact, the song he wrote for God during that time is Psalm 63.  

Meanwhile, one of David's men, who was posing as an

adviser to Absalom, convinced Absalom to wait a while before going after David.  This allowed David time to recruit a bigger army.  David was ready when Absalom came after him.  

When Absalom came with

his army, King David still loved his son so much that he told his army not to hurt Absalom.  During the battle, Absalom came riding under a low branch.  His hair was so thick that it got caught in the branches and pulled him off his donkey and he was left hanging by his hair in the tree.  

When Joab, King David's General, heard about this, he ordered the men to kill Absalom.  They refused because David said not to but Joab hated Absalom.  Joab went and killed Absalom while he was stuck in the tree and they buried him in a pit covered with

rocks.  When King David heard that Absalom had been killed he was so sad that he said that he wished that he had died instead of Absalom.  So David once again became the King of Israel.

We may not always like the people in authority over us but, remember, God put them there for a reason.  If we are obedient to God, maybe someday He will put us in charge.  Even if He doesn't, we should always worship God by obeying Him and the people He puts over us.

March 26, 2017 - David Danced Before God

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,

PSALM 92:1

  In class, we've been discussing ways that we worship God and how the word worship sounds a lot like the word "Worth-ship".  Some ways we may display worth-ship are by singing, obeying, praying, dancing, kindness and giving. Some play music, some shout about the great things God has done, and some even dance before God.  Some forms of worship may seem weird to some but perfectly normal to others.  It is easy to misunderstand someone's form of worship if it's not what you're used to.

We learned a few weeks ago about how the two disobedient sons of the High Priest Eli (the priest that raised Samuel) had taken the ark of the covenant into battle against God's will.  This was a great tragedy because the Israelite army lost the battle and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. The Philistines had the Ark all the way through King Saul's reign and into the reign of King David after Saul and his sons died.

After it was finally returned to Israel, King David wanted to bring the Ark and the Tabernacle to Jerusalem.  God had instructed Israel that the Ark had to be carried by the priests wherever it went.  The Israelites thought they had a better way. So, rather than obeying God, they loaded the Ark on an Ox Cart and they were on there way.  This greatly displeased God because they chose to disobey rather than to worship Him through their obedience.  While they were on their way to Jerusalem, one of the Ox stumbled and the Ark nearly fell off the cart.

A man named Uzzah who was walking beside the cart reached out to steady it so it wouldn't fall.

 Uzzah apparently had forgotten that God had ordered that no one was allowed to touch the Ark.  As soon as his hand touched it he fell down dead.  King David then realized that they had made a major mistake in putting the Ark on the cart and was angry that God had killed Uzzah.

Was God being mean by killing Uzzah? Absolutely not!  If Uzzah, King David, and the other Israelites had obeyed God, the Ark would not have been in danger in the first place.  We can either choose to worship God by obeying or accept the punishment for not obeying.  

Understandably, David decided that it wan't a good time to bring the Ark to Jerusalem and left it with a man named Obed-Edom the Gittite.  Obed-Edom took care of the Ark for three months and God blessed him greatly for it.  When David heard about about how Obed-Edom was being blessed, he decided that he wanted to bring the Ark all the way to Jerusalem.  Before they set out they sacrificed a bull to God and had the priests carry the Ark like God wanted.

 This time, however, he would do it right! 

David was so happy to be bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem that he worshiped God by dancing with all his might while wearing an ephod (a priestly undergarment).  It was like a big parade with people shouting and many instruments.  It must have been crazy fun! 

Meanwhile, Michal, David's wife (and King Saul's daughter) was watching the procession with King David dancing all the way.  Did she think David was worshiping? No,  She thought he looked foolish and was just trying to impress those who watched him.  She was actually

embarrassed.  When David got home Michal scolded him for it.  

God knew that David was worshiping Him by dancing and was not happy that Michal was angry at David for it.  God decided it was time to fulfill Him promise that King Saul would never have a descendant on the throne of Israel so He kept Michal from ever having children.  

There are many ways of worshiping God and other people may or may not understand them all but we must be careful about judging the way others worship.  Sure, there are right and wrong ways to do things but we had better be careful before deciding to scold someone for what we may not understand.  Wouldn't it be great to love God so much and feel His joy so greatly that you can't help but dance for Him?  I hope we all get there some day.