November 20, 2016 - Moses Learns To Delegate

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Two people are better than one. They get more done by working together. If one person falls, the other can help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a

Have you ever been in charge of something?  There is so much to do isn’t there?  You are the one responsible to make sure everything gets done so you had better get started, right?  If you are the Children’s Pastor at your church you have to get all the chairs and classrooms set up, prepare a lesson for every class, get all the crafts and snacks ready, get the worships songs chosen and get them ready to be projected on the wall at the proper time so everyone can worship, practice the songs because you are going to have to lead worship, get all the kids checked in and checked out, and make sure ever you solve every argument, fix every problem, and everything else that might happen is taken care of!  This is what it takes to be a leader, you have to do EVERYTHING….right? WRONG!!!!

If you actually tried to do all of this you would either wear yourself out or explode.  God never called anyone to be everything at once, he created us to be a body: different parts doing different jobs.  A good leader knows how to delegate: share the work with people he/she trusts to get it done well.  A leader is the head of a team and chooses his/her teammates according to the gifts that God has given them. They appoint people to be teachers, tech people, security guards, people in charge of snacks, etc.…  Surely there was nobody in the Bible that ever made the mistake of trying to do everything themselves…right?  Wrong.

Last week we talked about how God kept His promise that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel by bringing their descendants out of Egypt and putting them on their way to the Promised Land in Canaan. 

Afterwards, God had to rescue them from Pharaoh one last time by parting the Red Sea and allowing the Israelites to

escape.  At that time, Moses found that he was the leader of somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 million people!  The people all started looking to Moses to be their teacher, their judge, their problem solver, and God’s messenger to them.  It was a big job!  Moses would often be working from dawn till dusk solving problems and teaching lessons.

One day Jethro, the father of Moses’ wife, came to visit. 

He listened joyfully as Moses told him all about how God had freed them from Egypt through the Ten Plagues and parting the Red Sea.  Jethro was very happy to see that God was taking care of Moses and his people.  The next day, Jethro watched as Moses sat as the judge for all the people all day long.  Afterwards, Jethro came to Moses and said, “What are you doing?  Why are you trying to do all this by yourself?”  Moses answered him, “The people come to me to fix their problems, settle their disputes, and teach them about God.”

“It isn’t good that you’re doing this all alone, Moses.  You’re going to wear yourself out!  Listen to me, I have some really good advice you should take.” Jethro said.  “You should continue being the people’s teacher and the messenger between them and God.  However, you need to find others

to help you judge the people, solve problems, and settle disputes.  Find men that are honest and can be trusted and put them in charge of the people.  Put some over a thousand people, some over a hundred, some over fifty, and some over ten. These people will help you share the load and take care of the smaller problems.  Only if there is a problem too big for them will they bring it to you to solve.  Otherwise, you will wear out and the people won’t have any leader!  

Moses saw how wise his father-in-law’s advice was and decided to take it.  We should do the same thing if God ever puts us in charge of something.  We, as Christians, are meant to work as a team, not try to do everything by ourselves.

November 13, 2016 - The Shema

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." 

Deuteronomy 6:4

Have you and your friends ever played a new game?  What is the first thing you always do? Look at the rules, of course!  Rules are very important to make sure everyone gets along and plays fair. This is as true in running a country as it is in playing a game.  God, in all His wisdom, knew this as well.

Two weeks ago we left off with Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt after God showed His power with the 10 plagues.  So you would think that everything would be smooth sailing now, right?  Wrong!  

After the Israelites left Egypt, the Egyptians went to Pharaoh saying, "What have we

done?  Why have we let our slaves go?  Who will do all the work now?  Let's go and get them back!"  So Pharaoh, with his heart hardened, rounded up all his horsemen and chariots and went after the Israelites.

God had led the Israelites through the wilderness appearing in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  He had led them until they reached the Red Sea and could go no further.  When the Israelites saw the Egyptian army

coming, they knew they were trapped so they turned to Moses saying, "Why did you bring us out here to die?" 

Moses calmed the people saying, "Do not be afraid.  After today, you will never see this Egyptian army ever again! Watch how the Lord will deliver us today."  Then God told Moses to stretch his hand over the sea.  When Moses did this, the water parted and a dry path through the sea appeared for the Israelites to walk through.  God also moved the pillar of cloud to stand between the Israelites and the Egyptians.

After the Israelites had gone through, God lifted the cloud and the Egyptians ran after them through the Red Sea.  Then God let the water go and it flooded over the Egyptian army; drowning them all! Finally, the Israelites were free from

Egypt once and for all.

After this, Moses led the people to Mount Sinai where he had seen the burning bush.  There, God gave him the 10 Commandments to give to the

people.  However, when the people heard the thunder and lightning and the voice of God, they were afraid.  So God told Moses to have them go back to their tents while He spoke with Moses.  Afterwards, Moses came down from the mountain and gave the people the Law which God had Given him.  Here is how it started:

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road,

when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

This is called the Shema by the Jewish People.  Shema means "Hear" or "Listen."  God

knew that the Israelites were about to start a new nation and needed the rules that He was giving them.  The people of Israel still believe this today!

November 6, 2016 - Review Week

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK


This week was a review week and had no new lesson.  However, we will be giving 1/2 point for every Bible Memory Verse  (12 in all) you can say from memory in class next Sunday.  If you can do all 12, you will get 10 POINTS toward 2nd quarter.

October 30, 2016 - The Ten Plagues

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Exodus 6:8a

What was the hardest job that God ever gave you to do?  Did you think it was too hard?  Did you think that you were ready for it?  Last week we talked about how Moses felt that very same way.  However, God knew that He had prepared Moses and that, with God's help, Moses could accomplish the work God gave him to do.  After all, God Himself was going with Moses...

Last week we left off with Moses and his older brother Aaron were going back to Egypt to confront the Pharaoh about the horrible way he had been treating the Children of

Israel.  When they arrived, God told them to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go into the wilderness and have a feast to worship their God.  Pharaoh, however, had a very hard heart and refused to let the people go.  

"You people are just lazy and don't want to do your work!" Pharaoh said to Moses. " So I am going to make their work even harder."  The Israelites were making bricks for Pharaoh and he would make sure they had the straw they needed to do the job.  "Now I will make them go and get their own straw and they had better make just as many bricks as they did before!"  So now the children of Israel had to do twice

as much work in the same amount of time!

Moses went to God and asked, "Why did you send me here?  All I've done is make their lives even harder!"  But God told Moses to go back to Pharaoh while he was down by the Nile River and tell him once again to let the people go.  Moses

did so but Pharaoh refused.  So Moses told Aaron to use his staff and turn the entire Nile River to blood.  This made all the fish die and the water stink.  The Egyptians could no longer even drink the water from the river and had to dig wells to find clean water.  This was the first plague that God sent on Egypt. However, the Pharaoh had sorcerers that could do the same thing using witchcraft.  So Pharaoh ignored Moses warning and went home.

So God had Moses and Aaron cause millions of frogs to come out of the Nile river and go everywhere!  This was the second plague. The sorcerers could also do the same thing but they couldn't get rid of the frogs.  The Pharaoh called to Moses and Aaron and said he would let the people go if they would get rid of the frogs.  So the

next day all the frogs died and the people piled them up in huge stinky mounds.  When Pharaoh saw that the frogs were gone, he hardened his heart again and wouldn't let the people go.  

So God had Aaron strike the ground with his staff and all the dust of the ground turned

into gnats.  This was the third plague God sent.  The gnats were so bad that once again Pharaoh promised to let the people go if God would get rid of them.  However, once the gnats were gone, Pharaoh broke his promise again.  

So God, through Moses and Aaron, sent plague after plague on Egypt and each time Pharaoh would make a promise and then break it.

 Also, each time God sent a plague, He was showing that he was stronger than all of the false Egyptian gods.  

Finally, God decided to send one more horrible plague.  He gave Moses special instruction to tell the people of Israel.  Each family was to take a perfect lamb that had nothing wrong with it and sacrifice it to God.  This was to be called the Passover Lamb.   They were to eat the lamb's meat that night but the blood had another purpose.  God told them to put the blood of the lamb on the two

doorposts and the mantle of the door of every Israelite house.  Then they were to go inside their houses and wait.  They all kept their sandals on and were dressed so they could leave in a hurry.  God also told the Israelites to ask their

Egyptians neighbors for their silver and gold.  He touched the Egyptians' hearts so that they were willing to give the Children of Israel whatever they asked for.

That night, God sent the Angel of Death over Egypt to go into every house and take the life of the firstborn son of every family.  When the Angel came to a house that had

the blood on the door frame, God told him to pass over it and not hurt anyone.  This is why the people of Israel celebrate Passover today.  

That night, every Egyptian family lost their oldest son, including the Pharaoh himself.  When the Pharaoh realized that even his own son had died, he knew he was beaten.  He called Moses and

Aaron and told them to take their people and leave Egypt.  So the people went to their neighbors to ask for their gold, silver, and clothes, and then walked out of the country with all the treasures of Egypt!  Finally, the Israelites were

free.

Today, God can still call us to do great things that we can only accomplish if God helps us.  We must learn to trust God and obey His commands.  If we do these things, there is no limit to what God can do through us.

October 23, 2016 - God Prepares Moses

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.

Psalm 119:9

Have you ever gone through some hard times?  Did you wonder why God was allowing such difficult things to happen to you?  Maybe you even thought that you were being punished.  Maybe you just felt that nothing ever goes right for you.  Sometimes bad things just happen and sometimes God does punish people in order to bring them back to Him.  Sometimes, however, God is preparing you for a special job and He needs you to be ready.  It can be hard to have faith and stay positive in times like this but we must remember to trust God.  

Today's story is about God preparing a man for a very important job.  Last week we talked about how God provided for baby Moses a way to not only survive, but to grow up as a prince in the house of Pharaoh.  Little did he know that this was the start of his preparation.

Moses, as the adopted grandson of the Pharaoh, had the best of everything, food, clothes, house, education, you name it!  Moses, however, never forgot he was a Hebrew, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel.  As he grew up, Moses saw the

awful way the Hebrews were being treated by the Pharaoh.  Pharaoh had made them slaves and forced them to work very hard.  It broke Moses' heart.

One day, when he was

forty years old, Moses saw an Egyptian guard beating one of the Hebrew slaves.  Moses got so angry that, when he thought no one was looking, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.  The next day Moses tried to break up a fight between two of the

Hebrews.  They turned to Moses and said, "Are you going to kill us like you did the Egyptian?"  Moses knew he had been caught.  He had to run away.

So Moses left Egypt and took off across the desert until he came to a land

called Midian.  There he saw some shepherdesses trying to get water for their animals but some other shepherds came and bullied them away from the well.  Moses came to the women's rescue and chased away the bully shepherds and, like a true

gentleman, help the ladies water their animals.  

Because Moses did this, the ladies' father, Jethro, took Moses in and even let him marry his daughter Zipporah. Moses spent the next forty years of his life being a shepherd in Midian.  His life in Egypt became a distant memory.

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, Pharaoh was still treating the  Hebrews very badly and they began to cry out to God for help.  God heard their cries and remembered His promise to Abraham that He would make his descendants a great nation and that He would bless those who blessed them and curse those who cursed them.  It was time for God to keep His promise.  In fact,  God had spent the last eighty years preparing someone who would rescue the Hebrews from Egypt: Moses.

One day, while Moses was tending the sheep, he saw a

fire on a mountain and went to check it out.  When he got there he saw a burning bush.  The strange thing was, the bush was not burning up!  Moses was thinking this was very strange until suddenly God spoke to him

from the bush saying, "Take off your sandals because this is holy ground."

Moses obeyed.  God then told Moses that He was the same God that his ancestors; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, had worshiped four hundred years earlier.  God then said that

he had heard the cries from His people, the Hebrews, in Egypt and said that he was going to send Moses back to Egypt to set them free.

Moses couldn't believe it!  "I am not important enough to go to Pharaoh.  He would never listen to me! I can't do it!" Moses told God.  "I will be with you." God answered Moses.

"What if the Hebrews won't even listen to me?  What if I tell them You sent me and they ask WHO YOU ARE?" Moses asked.  "I Am Who I Am!" God said. "Tell them that I AM sent you. God also said, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation."  (Exodus 3:15)

God then said to Moses that He was going to keep His promise to bring them into their own land flowing with

milk and honey. God then gave Moses miraculous signs to show the people to prove he was sent by God.  First, God changed Moses' shepherd's rod into a snake then back into a rod when Moses picked it up by the tail.  Then He told Moses to put his hand in his shirt and it was covered with leprosy when he

pulled it out.  God then healed Moses when he put it back into his shirt. God also told him to change water from the Nile River into blood.  This would convince the Hebrews to believe Moses.

"But I can't speak very well, God. Can't you send someone else?"  Moses said to God.  This made God angry because He had spent eighty years preparing Moses for this job and knew that he could do it but Moses' lack of faith was getting in the way.  Finally, God said to Moses, "I

will send your brother Aaron to do the speaking for you.  He is already on his way to meet you.  

So Moses took his family and set out for Egypt.  On the way he met his brother Aaron and they all headed back to Egypt.  Moses was

finally about to do the job that God had spent the last eighty years preparing him for and it was going to be spectacular! 

When we go through hard times we must remember that God may be preparing us for something very important.  We must keep our faith strong and keep going.  God has His reasons for what He does and sometimes we don't understand what they are until afterwards.  Just keep plodding on my friends.