Caroling Party Reminder

Tomorrow evening, we meet at 5:00 pm at 10 West George St, two doors west of our usual meeting place to go caroling. Bring a large dish to share for the potluck afterward and come prepared to sing, have fun, and fellowship!

Hope to see you there!

Random Lesson: Festive Fulfillment

My most sincere apologies for not posting this earlier! I started the post, saved it in the drafts folder, and promptly forgot about it. Here it is, though a week late.

Jael's lesson: 

Several months ago, I made the acquaintance of a family who celebrates the Jewish feasts. Although they are Christian, they love the symbolism the feast represent, and so they celebrate the feasts. As I was talking with their daughter Bridget, I started becoming very interested in the feasts. Before this, they had just been traditions with lots of animal sacrifices that God commands in books like Leviticus and Numbers. But my interest had been piqued, and so I started looking more into the feasts, how people celebrate them now, and, most importantly, how Jesus fulfilled them.

And, since last meeting was the end of set one, we didn't have an assigned topic for this week. :-D So I was let loose with all my creative juices.

So, hopefully, this lesson will help reveal the secrets of the feasts, and deepen our awe of Jesus and His miraculous life!

There are 8 feasts that are commonly celebrated today. They are
Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year
Yom Kippur, which is the day of Atonement
Sukkot, or Tabernacles, when they build booths to remind themselves of the 40 years of wandering in the desert
Hanukkah, when they celebrate God's miraculous intervention at the time of the Maccabees
Purim, when they celebrate what the book of Esther is all about
Passover, which is when God passed over the houses of the Jews when he killed all the firstborn in Egypt
The Feast of Firstfruits, which is when the grain first begins to ripen
Shavuot, Feast of Weeks, or Penticost, when they celebrate the harvest.

This will be a long lesson, but hopefully, really fun. I have lots of fun food, and some fun activities. Ready?

One quick thing to note, though. Jews count their days from sundown to sundown (so right now, a Jew would say that it's December 5, already. Though, of course, they wouldn't call it December. :-P)


Shabbat:
Sabbath, held on Saturday every week.

LIGHT THE CANDLES

This isn't really a feast. It's a celebration of a day of rest. People usually celebrate it by having the mother light the lamps, and recite this blessing over it:

"Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and has commanded us to light the lights of Shabbat."

Then, they bring out grape juice/wine (BRING OUT GRAPE JUICE), and the father recites:
"Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine."

Third, they bring it challah bread (BRING OUT CHALLAH) and the father recites:
"Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. Amen"

Then, there is usually an individual blessing given to each member by the father, and they all pray for the peace of Jerusalem. That is usually followed by reading of the Tanakh (which stands for Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim [Hebrew: Law, Prophets, Writings]) and song.

Quick facts about Shabbat:
It is the longest commandment out of the 10.
It is a covenant with God. He gave it to us to ensure that we would spend time with Him. If we break it, He doesn't desert us, but things go better if we do observe it.
In Deuteronomy, God told the Jews to keep the Sabbath because He rescued them from Egypt. How much more should we, as Christians, celebrate God's deliverance from sin! That's one reason why many Christians worship on Sunday. Jesus conquered death and rose...on a Sunday! :-D


Rosh Hashanah
Jewish New Year...and Feast of Trumpets.

Unlike our New Year, which is on January 1 every year, the Jewish New Year changes from year to year, since it is based on a lunar (as opposed to our solar) calendar. This year, Rosh Hashanah was on September 16-18.

Come. I want to show you how they welcome the New Year. (GO OUTSIDE AND BLOW SHOFAR. COME BACK IN)

Rosh Hashanah is a joyful time! They eat many sweet things, ignoring that which is bitter. Some of the foods are apples dipped in honey and pomegranates. (HAND OUT THOSE FOODS) Some say the pomegranates have 630 seeds, which is the number of commandments that God gave the Israelites in the Old Testament.

On the last day of Rosh Hashanah, people say, "May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year."
Just as this feast is cheery, looking forward to the new year that is signaled by the blowing of the shofar, so we too, on the last day, have something to look forward to when the great horn sounds! We have life with Jesus, and nothing will ever be bitter again!


Yom Kippur
Day of Atonement

This day is the day when the high priest would go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant. He would sprinkle blood there for himself and the people. Yom Kippur was a day of blood. Many animals were killed for the people's sins. No one ate anything. God specifically told the people to deny themselves. During this period of fasting, the high priest would lay his hands on the head of a goat, and commit all the sins of the people onto that goat. The animal would then be taken to a remote place in the desert, and left there. The goat bore all of God's wrath on the people's sins. This is where the term scapegoat comes from, too.

As depressing as this feast is, it is also the most richly fulfilled in Jesus. He is the high priest who went behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place to make intercession for us. But He took His own blood. So, for us, it's a day of rejoicing! We can talk with God every day as if we were in the Holy of Holies.


Sukkot
Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering

This feast is used to commemorate the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the desert. They had no real homes, so they had to live in tents. This is one of three feasts that the Lord commanded all the Israelite men to celebrate in Jerusalem. This is one of two feasts during which the biggest commandment is that the Israelites rejoice! How tough is that? You HAVE to rejoice! ;-) It's seven days long, and is a time of great joy. The biggest thing, though, for this feast is the "hut" that everyone has to build to stay in during the 7 days. We're gonna make our own huts...out of graham crackers and peanut butter! (BRING OUT SUPPLIES) Okay, start making! But keep listening while you construct it!

The Jews, of course, used real branches, and often decorated their sukkots elaborately.

Often times, Jews would read the book of Ecclesiastes during this time, and on the last, greatest day, they'd spend the day reading the Tanakh, dancing, and singing!

This feast, since it was 7 days long, had a lot of feasts.

When I was looking at this feast, I was trying to figure out what this had for us today. Then I realized, when the Jews were in the sukkot to remind them that they were strangers in a foreign land, God COMMANDED them to rejoice! In the same way, if we are in Jesus, knowing that we are but strangers in a foreign land, we will have much joy! :-D


Hanukkah
Feast of lights, celebrating God's miracles

This feast comes up a lot during this time of year. In fact, Hanakkah starts on December 8 this year. This festival isn't specifically called Hanukkah in the Bible, but we're pretty sure it is mentioned. In John 10, it talks about Jesus going up to the feast of Dedication, which was during the winter. Since this is the only winter feast, many people assume that they are the same thing.

This feast, I think, has the most interesting story behind it. After the Old Testament ends, the Jews were conquered by the Syrians. The Syrian king offered a pig in the temple (and pigs were about the most unclean animal you could get in Jewish society!), and thereby desecrated it. He also set up a statue in the Holy of Holies, and bowed down to it. He tried to force the high priest Matthias Maccabee to bow down to the idol and eat some pork, but Matthias refused. Instead, he and a bunch of countrymen killed all the invaders in an uprising called the Maccabean revolt. They successfully conquered the invaders, but then they had the task of purifying the temple. Te way to do this was to burn the holy oil in the sacred menorah in the temple for 8 days. Unfortunately, they only had enough oil for one day. Not to be deterred, they burned that. God did a miracle, and that oil lasted all 8 days. Therefore, the festival of Hanukkah lasts for eight days, and each day, a child in the family lights a candle on the family menorah. (IF POSSIBLE, LIGHT CANDLES)

This feast is a celebration of miracles, and a celebration of lights. I found it very interesting that the passage that talks about the feast of Dedication also has Jesus talking with the Jews about all the miracles he's done. God's miracles were fresh on their minds, and so when Jesus tied Himself to God's miracles, He was proclaiming Himself to be God. And, of course, there are all those passages where Jesus declares Himself to be the Light of the World.


Passover

This is probably the best known of all the feasts. I mean, who doesn't know the story of Passover? Ten plagues, the last of which is the death of the firstborn. But, God told the Israelites to mark the door with the blood of a lamb. Use some of this frosting to mark "blood" over the doorway of your sukkots. (BRING OUR FROSTING)

But blood over the doorway wasn't everything the Israelites were commanded to do. Last year, I was able to participate in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and I found it a very sweet experience. I wanted to let you try some. (BRING OUT SADAR STUFF)

This unleavened bread is called matza. The Jews were going to have to leave so quickly that they couldn't even make bread with yeast. I didn't understand that before this week. I make some challah bread (not the stuff we ate), and it took me almost 5 hours to make two loaves! So I can understand why they didn't have time!

Now, dip it in these bitter herbs. This is to represent the suffering the Israelites went under while they were slaves of the Pharaoh.

Now, dip it in the charoset. This is a sweet mixture to wash away the bitterness of the herbs. It represents the freedom of the Israelites after God led them out of Egypt.

But did you know that Jesus died on Passover? The lamb of God died on the day when all Jewish men had to offer a perfect lamb in Jerusalem? One of the requirements of the lamb's preparation is that none of it's bones be broken. Jesus' weren't.

A lamb saved the life of all the Israel firstborn. The Lamb saved the life of all Israel.
This feast was also one of the three that every Jewish man was required to celebrate in Jerusalem every year.

Being Fully Dedicated To God

I've been struggling to be really dedicated to God; mainly because, in order to be fully dedicated to something or someone, you have to love it or them, and know that any effort you put into the cause will be worthwhile.

For example, there was this kid named Jaydee who loved horses. He would get up before the sun, take some carrots to a horse farm, make a stew/mash for the horses that would simmer all day. Then, he would do a normal job running telegraphs back and forth during the day. Then, as soon as he was off, he would days home, change, and run to the horse barn to feed them the mash and brush them and all that good stuff. All his money from telegraph-delivery went to help support his mother and grandmother. He walked both to speed up the process and to save money. He bought the cheapest food for lunch that was possible. Why did he do all that? Why did he even both to help with the horses? Because he was dedicated to horses. He loved them. If he hadn't loved them, he couldn't have been that dedicated to them. But he was, and in the end, he became a very good jockey.

If you are totally dedicated, you will do pretty much anything for that person or goal.

My problem is, I have doubts. "Is God really there? Is he hearing me?  I've asked SO MANY TIMES!!!" I want to be sure that I'm pouring myself into a worthwhile cause.

The point of my saying all that is that, just so you know, this is a not-fully baked lesson. I'm still learning. But I've heard it said that you teach best what you need to learn most. So, that's what I'm doing.

I'm gonna start with a story of someone who was doing it right, just so you catch the vision.

William Carey totally dedicated to God. Mad wife, obstacles, poor communication, 4 children died before he did, 2 wives out of 3, missionary board working against him, other missionaries working against him, England working against him, no converts for 7 years, yet...learned languages, didn't give up, worked hard, translated a lot of stuff, fire and flood (stood, looked, wept, and rebuilt), gave money to support, lived godly life, loved mad wife, kept preaching, working with government officials to advance the kingdom. :-)

He knew God was faithful, and so he was willing to pour his all into an effort that seemed totally futile.

You can't be dedicated to God by your own effort, though. I've tried to be dedicated to God. I started a BL group. I tried to start a teens group at OB. I tried to memorize a lot of verses, and know a lot of Bible Trivia. Nothing, in the sense that I am totally dedicated to God. Those are all good things, and stuff I should do, but I've been trying to do them in my own effort, kinda to MAKE myself dedicated to God. But that won't work. It's like an elephant. My sinful flesh is like a big fat huge elephant, and my efforts to try to make that be dedicated to God are like a little girl trying to make an elephant go where it doesn't want to go. It may LOOK like it's working, but it isn't really. Just as soon as the little girl relaxes, the elephant will go it's own way again.

But, what if, the elephant was replaced by another elephant that wanted to go the same place the little girl wanted to go? Would it be hard to the little girl to guide that elephant? No! Therefore...

God has to be in you. He must have taken your whole life, and all your plans. Your body must be his. Otherwise, the elephant will keep going its own bad direction, and the little girl will constantly be fighting against it. He takes a few steps when he does this. First, he awakens you to your sin, kinda like Lazarus. Jesus had to raise Lazarus before Lazarus could walk out of that tomb, right? So, God awakens us. Then, we have to give our life to him, and walk out of the tomb. Kinda a no-brainer. But giving your life to Jesus can be rather tough. You have to be willing to give God control over every single nook and cranny of your life! For example, I've always wanted to be married. That's my number one goal in life. But God wants me to give that to him. It doesn't mean that it's a BAD desire. It doesn't even mean that I shouldn't have it. It just means that God wants me to surrender my whole life to him. He may have given me that desire so that I can give it back to him, so that he can return it when the time is right. But, oh! Is it hard to let go! You can't do it on your own. I can't do it on my own. I have to pray (and have been praying) for God to soften my heart so that I am willing to let go of everything. Even marriage. I'm still not there, but through fervent prayer, it can be done.

But what about prayer? It seems as if prayers aren't answered for a long time, if at all. I'm sure you've all heard that God has three answers to prayer, "Yes, No, and Not Now." But sometimes I think that God wants to say yes, but we haven't prayed enough! The Bible talks about the good news being hidden in jars of clay (2 Cor. 4). What if God just wanted us to dig? Dig in prayer? In the Bible, it says that if we ask for anything according to God's will, He will give it to us. So, pretend you are praying for an unsaved friend. Certainly something God wants, right? Pretend that it is a treasure hidden in the soil. You take a shovel, and dig one scoop one day. You don't see the treasure, and so you assume God has said "no" or "not yet". But this is something according to God's will! Do you really think he will say "no?!" But what if you dig 5 more times? Still no treasure. Others may commend you, saying, "Wow! You dug 6 whole shovelfuls! God must be saying no or not yet for sure!" But the treasure is still there! It is according to his will! You just haven't dug deep enough! Only have digging a hundred times do you reach it! Now, what if a friend joined you in praying for this person? Now, you have two people digging out of the whole, and it goes twice as fast!
So, every time you pray for something that you know is God's will, imagine a treasure buried in the ground. Each time you pray, you scoop a shovelful out of that hole. If someone else prays with you, you are both going at it, and it will go faster.

And God answers prayer!

It just requires perseverance. Any of you ever had your perseverance tested? Well, you're about to. I'd like each of you to stand up, and to hold your arms out for 3 minutes. I'll time you. :-)

Perseverance is hard, isn't it? Especially when you're doing it in your own strength. But, what if someone was holding your arm up. Would it have been any easier?

That's why we need God in us. You can't do it on your own. You can know all about it, yet not really know IT. You have to know the God you are dedicating yourself to. Imagine an airplane. You must be in it, in order to beat gravity. Thus, you must be in Jesus. You have to be in Christ, but He has to be in you for you to be in him. :-)

Accepting God's Design For You

Tonight was a very informal meeting... Jael and Abi were gone, Sophia and Kira were sick, and I did not have a whole lot of time this week for preparation! 

We had planned a hairstyle night, so several of the girls brought accessories, and Desiree brought a curling iron and straightener. 

Mary doing Rosemary's hair 

Desiree curling Larissa's hair 

Rosemary with her "poofy" ponytail 

Daisy fixing her own hair :)

Larissa looking lovely 

Cecily with her crazy braid giving Mary a ponytail 

Mary :)

Gloria making Daisy look "fancy" 

Cecily

Larissa's finished curls 

The lesson topic this week was accepting God's design for us. Insecurity is a huge issue with teens and preteens in America, and girls feel a lot of pressure from peers, movies, advertising, and family members. However, according to a poll Jael and I took of 42 girls (all Christian, many homeschooled or partially-homeschooled), the pressure is not nearly as great as it is for "the rest of the world". Only 2 out of the 42 girls said they were insecure about their physical appearance. 21 said they were "sometimes insecure" or "a little insecure", and 19 said they were not insecure at all about their appearance.

Still, I would venture to guess that at some time in our lives, all of us feel insecure for some reason or other. What we need to remember is that we are made in the image of God, that He designed each one of us uniquely, and the He makes no mistakes. When we try to change how we look or be someone different than who He made us, we're rejecting His perfect design for us. Romans 9:20 says, "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"'" Dressing up, doing our hair in fun ways :), or otherwise trying to enhance the beauty God has given us is fine... in fact, I believe God has given us girls the desire to dress up, to try to look attractive, to have fun with our appearance. However, if we start obsessing over how we look and spending hours of our time on makeup or hair or making sure our clothes are in style, that's going too far! 1 Peter 3:3-4: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." We are to focus on our relationship with God more than our outward appearance.

The root problem of insecurity is fearing men more than we fear God. If we're focusing first of all on the Lord, then being outward-focused and looking for ways to meet the needs of others, we'll forget all about our insecurity and our worries about how we look!

However, we still need to be careful about the image we are presenting to the world. We are Christ's ambassadors, and we are to reflect Him. Psalm 100:3 says, "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture." We are His, and we need to show that in the way we dress, act, speak, etc. We need to reflect Christ's love and joy in the way we speak and act, and be honoring to Him in the way we dress. The world's styles should not be the standard; instead, we should dress in a way that is first pleasing to the King, then honoring to our parents, then honoring to those around us, and lastly pleasing to ourselves. Things to evaluate are:
1. Am I portraying myself in a Christlike way, or am I trying to draw ungodly attention to myself?
2. Do my parents approve of the way I dress? (We don't have to dress according to their likes and dislikes... my mom and I have TOTALLY different tastes when it comes to dress. However, we do need to respect  their standards for us, such as whether they want us to wear makeup, avoiding styles they disapprove of or think are inappropriate, etc.)
3. Am I dressing modestly so that I don't cause anyone to stumble, and respectfully to show others that I care enough about them to not dress like a slob?
4. Do I like the way I dress? Does my appearance reflect the personality God has given me and highlight the beauty He has bestowed on me, or am I trying to copy the world's styles and trends to look like someone I'm not?

There's nothing wrong with trying to look stylish, but often things that are popular with the world have very negative associations.
There is nothing inherently wrong with carrying a realistic-looking toy gun around all over the place, but you will scare a LOT of people if you do so! If you could somehow travel back in time to the Middle Ages with a toy gun, these associations would not exist, since guns had not been invented yet! The image of the gun would earn you some blank stares ("What is that thing?"), but would not have people running away from you and screaming. :) Today, however, the image of the gun has such associations that it will elicit quite a bit of nervousness from those around you if you choose to carry one around (which I don't recommend).
Likewise, many clothing styles have negative associations that will get you categorized as rebellious, disrespectful, or ungodly just based on your appearance. It's important to use discernment to avoid some of these associations, but of course, we should avoid taking this too far. Every dress style has some negative associations; we just need to be sensitive to how we're presenting ourselves and make sure we're glorifying God with our appearance.

Understanding the Fear of the Lord

This week, we had the girls make scones for our snack. 

Several people wanted to stir... 

Tea and snacks by candlelight, while listening to a chapter of our biography. 

Jael's lesson

[in monotone voice] The topic this week is The Fear of the Lord. This is a very exciting and important topic...one that we all need to take to heart and obey. I have to tell you, though, that I could only think of one story that fit this topic. I hope you do not mind. However, the Fear of the Lord is a topic that appears all throughout Scripture, and so, this week, I did a Bible Study on The Fear of the Lord. You'll be amazed at what I found. Now, the first verse I looked up was...[look surprised to see slight boredom or distraction on their faces] Hmmm. How can I make this a little more interesting? [pretend to think] Aha! [look as if random idea has come into my head, but then look doubtful] Who here wants to be wise? Who wants to be understanding? Insightful? Well, I have just the thing for you! In this house (the three main rooms here), I have hidden some wisdom, some insight, and some understanding. Well, I've hidden pieces of cardboard with Bible verses on them that talk about wisdom, insight and understanding. So, who want to look for them? Okay! Here are the directions to your virtue. [hand out pieces of paper] Now, go find them! [wait while the girls find their pieces of cardboard]  Has everyone found their treasure? Good! Now, come and sit down. [pick a random girl] What does yours say? [She reads a Bible verse about the fear of the Lord] Hmm. You? [ask another girl, and she also read a Bible verse about the fear of the Lord] Does anyone have anything different? No? Well, what do they say? [wait for a few girls to answer] Ah! So all of them talk about how the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and insight and all? Hmmm. I'm seeing a common thread here. :-)

Before I go on, we might want to define "Fear of the Lord." "Fear" in this sense isn't "afraid"...necessarily. ... Oh, what can I compare it to? [think] Well, how many of you are afraid of your parents? Like, if you see them coming, you'll run away? (ALL the time!) Okay. Now, how many of you would flat out call your parent a name, or boss them around? Hmm. Why not? [wait for girls to answer] So, you aren't afraid of them...unless you do something wrong? [wait for agreement] So you love your parents, but they can punish you, and so you're always afraid to do wrong, because then they'll get mad at you, right? It's the same way with God. He loves us like nobody's business, but, if we do something wrong, He will punish us. So, in a way, the Fear of the Lord is the same thing as the Fear of the Parents. :-P Except God is even better than our parents. Understand?

Now, I'm sure you all can think of many times in the Bible when God smashed the bad guys for doing bad things, so I don't think any of you would disagree when I say that we should fear the Lord. But there are some specific Bible verses that tell us to fear the Lord. 1 Chronicles 16:25 says "For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods." (Kinda like, "Duh!" there! He's the only real God, so obviously He should be feared more than any other! But, sometimes we stupid humans need something that simple to ensure comprehension!) And...Psalm 96:4 tells us, "For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods." So we fear Him 'cause He's totally awesome and mighty and everything. And yet, as Christians, He's our Daddy!

One quick Bible story - as I mention early on, I did a word study on "Fear of the Lord," and the one Bible story I found (I think it was the only actual Bible story that actually used the term "the Fear of the Lord" in the midst of the narrative) was in Jonah. You know how Jonah was trying to run away from God, and he got on the boat, and tried to sail to Tarsheesh? Well, when the big storm came up, and the men on the ship were so scared, Jonah 'fessed up, and told the sailors to throw him overboard. They didn't want to do it, but he told them that, if they did, his God would stop the storm. So they pitched him overboard, and the sea grew calm. Then Jonah 1:16 records: "At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him." I just thought that was an interesting demonstration of God's power (His spanking for Jonah, if you will) that brought unbelieving pagans to a healthy fear of the Lord!

You'll hear about other Bible characters later, but first, let's do some fun stuff. Well, if you like words and English, it should be fun. :-P Remember how we were talking earlier about how the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and understanding and everything? [take out small stack of cardboard pieces] Well, I don't know how many of you noticed, but each of your pieces is the beginning half of a word. Here's the other half. See if you can find yours. [wait while they do that] Now, look on the back of the piece you just received. What word is written in purple/magenta back there? [wait for girls to shout out "wisdom", "life", "avoidance of evil", "humility", "pure", and "enduring". One girl will not have spoken] Hmm. Random. Is there anything else written? It'll be in red or black. [They'll all say "yes - it's a Bible verse!”] Okay. Can you look those up? [wait for them to look their verses up, and then have them read them out loud. They will be Job 28:28, Proverbs 14:27, Proverbs 10:27, Proverbs 16:6, Proverbs 22:4, Psalm 19:9, and Psalm 19:9 again] Wow! The Fear of the Lord is a lot of things! But [girl who hasn't read yet], why haven't you said anything? [she'll say that what she has isn't in purple or red.] Then what do you have? Just read it out. [She'll say, "The Key" and she'll read, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6"]

Hmm. So the Fear of the Lord is the key to treasure. [think] Sylvia, would you happen to have a box containing some of God's treasure? [she does, and she hands it to me.] Awesome! Now! Within this box are some treasures, but [I try to open the box] the box is locked. To access these treasures, I need the Fear of the Lord. Do you have that, too, Sylvia? [she hands me a small key that has a tag that says "The Fear of the Lord"] Ah! Now I have the tool to open the box. [I open it] Ooh! Look at it all! [the box is full of coins] Hmm. Sylvia, aren't there some Bible verses in here taped onto quarters? [she nods] Well then. I need a volunteer to come forward and find a quarter. [a girl comes up, searches through the box, and finds a quarter] Great! Now, go sit down and find that Bible verse. [she goes and sits] I need another person to come. There are eight quarters with eight verses, so we better get moving! [the girls each come up, find a quarter, go sit down and look it up. Once this is done, I ask...] Okay! Now, what's your verse? [point at the first girl. She'll read her verse, and on down the line. The verses will be Psalm 33:18, Psalm 34:7, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 15:33, Psalm 128:1, Proverbs 14:27, and Proverbs 19:23] Each of these verses talk about one of four things: God's protection, God's Blessing, Wisdom, and Life. Four very good things to have, wouldn't you say?

But how do you get them? Aha! Believe it or not, the Bible has something to say about that, too!
There are TWO ways that I saw that God installs his fear in us...other than having us toss a disobedient passenger overboard, as in the case of Jonah.

Mentoring and through His Spirit.

I would like one of you to look up 2 Chronicles 26:5, another to look up Psalm 34:11, and a third to find Isaiah 11:1-3. I'll wait till you've found them. [short pause]

Okay. In 2 Chronicles, you'll read about a 16-year-old king named Uzziah. (All of you who have been memorizing the various kings are like, "Ooh! Ooh!") Uzziah was the son of Amaziah the son of the boy king Joash (once he grew up!). Now, Uzziah wasn't exactly a bad king, but he wasn't exactly "on fire" for the Lord. Kinda like a lot of Christians today. But, Uzziah was more fortunate than a lot of kings back then, because he had a mentor named Zechariah who loved God. The Bible records that...[I tell the girl with the first verse to read]. I wish I could say that Zechariah's work stuck, but Uzziah had some pride issues later on, and was afflicted with leprosy, which he eventually died from. BUT, the important thing is, he had a mentor.

Now, your verse [referring to the girl with the second verse] is along those same lines. Why don't you read it for us. [she reads it] So David worked on teaching his children the fear of the Lord.

Before we read the last verse, I want to mention something. Both David and Zechariah had problems implanting the fear of the Lord in the people they mentored. Uzziah fell away. David's sons had issues (think of Absalom), and even Solomon stumbled later on in life. This doesn't mean that mentoring is bad, but it's not enough. Thankfully, though, God has given another way. Now you can read your verse. [she reads it] As you all know, this passage is talking about Jesus. But take a closer look at the last part of verse 2: "The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." GOD GIVES US HIS SPIRIT!!! His Spirit will implant a lasting "fear of the Lord" within our hearts, just like He did with Jesus! Isn't that fantastic!?

Now, topic change time. Remember the box over here? I had to use the key "Fear of the Lord" in order to open it. What is the opposite of "Fear of the Lord?" ["Fear of man!"] Exactly. If I were to try to open this box with the "fear of man" [I produce a key with "fear of man" tied on], the box won't open. [I try to open box] I'm sure most of you have notice the alarming lack of stories in this lesson. That is because I've been focusing on what happens when you fear the Lord as you should. Unfortunately, I'm not good at Fearing the Lord, yet. But I do have a story to tell here. A couple months ago, I was sitting in the car at a store, waiting for Mom to come out. I noticed some people sitting in the car next to me with their doors open, obviously doing the same thing I was. I could tell, by looking at them, that they weren't Christians. Now, in the car next to me, was a Gideon's New Testament. All of a sudden, I felt God telling me, "Get out, and give that New Testament to them." I thought, "No way, God! What would they think - and random girl walking up to them and giving them an orange New Testament! Besides! What would I say!? They don't look particularly friendly!" I still felt God urging me, but I did the stupid thing, and stayed in my seat. I was never so glad to see Mom come out!

But that incident annoyed me. I don't know WHY I remembered it, but I have, and I got tired to remembering it. So, a few weeks ago, I ordered some tracts, and I have been faithfully "sowing" them in various spots near us. I've not outright given them to a person yet, but I'm working towards that, and I'm sure that, when the time comes, God will give me grace.

Basically, I'm trying to say, "Don't let the fear of man out-fear your Fear of God."
I'm sure at least one of you has thought, "Why do I need the fear of the Lord? What can I do with it."
Since I'm sure you're all tired of hearing me jabber on and on, so I'll let God's word make my last point for me. I need someone to look up Acts 9:31, someone to look up 2 Chronicles 19:9, and someone to look up Malachai 3:16.

As Christian girls, we have a responsibility to live the way God wants us to live. So, Acts 9:31. [girl reads it] What does that mean? ["The church grew in numbers while they were living in the fear of the Lord."] Can you imagine if the churches today really lived in the fear of the Lord?

2 Chronicles 19:9. [girl reads it] Jehoshaphat, one of the godliest kings after King David, is telling the Levites - the men who served God at his temple! - that, in order to serve properly, they must live their lives in the fear of the Lord.

Finally, Malachai 3:16. [girl reads this] Think about what this verse says! Those who feared God talked among themselves and prayed, and God headed them and recorded it in His records! Can you imagine!?
So, I want to take 5 minutes or so. And I want you to divide up into groups [I name the groups], and I want you to pray together. For each other. For yourselves. For Christians around the world. I want you to pray for God to give us his Spirit, that we may know what it means to properly fear the Lord.