KidzPort November 22 – Writing on the Wall

November 23, 2009

The tale of Belshazzar, Price of Babylon hold a lot of information and some

great lessons for us.  Belshazzar’s story is told to us mainly in Daniel 5, although historical documents also prove his existence.

Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and the son of Nabonius, King of Babylon.  He was charged by his father with the protection of the city, while Nobonius took his army to meet the Persians in battle.  Instead of doing his job, Belshazzar had a great party, using gold and silver items stolen from the Temple of God in Jerusalem.  While he and his guests partied, a strange hand appeared in mid air, and began writing on the wall of the palace.

Belshazzar was scared and confused – the words made no sense.  He called his wisest men and fortune tellers, but they couldn’t explain either.  Finally, Daniel was called, and Belshazzar promised him much wealth and power if he could interpret the message. Daniel said he didn’t want money, but would do it any way.  He said the message was three Aramaic words: mene mene, tekel, u-pharsin. Taken together, these words mean “counted, weighed, divided.”

Daniel told the prince that God was telling him that his days had come to an end, that he had been judged and found wanting, and that his kingdom would be divided.  Belshazzar lives up to his promise and gives Daniel much wealth, but that very night Belshazzar is killed when Darius the Mede captures the city and becomes king.

So what lessons can we learn?  It’s basically three-fold.  First, we have to know when God is speaking to us. Secondly, we have to understand what He is saying. Finally, we must be obedient to what He says.

Knowing, understanding and obeying.  These the steps to understanding what God says to us, and getting the most from it.

For Parents:

• Read Daniel 5 with your child.  Make sure they understand what happened in the story.
• Why didn’t Belshazzar understand the writing.  What did Daniel have that he didn’t?  (A relationship with God)
• Talk to your child about a time when they think God spoke to them. Did they understand it?  Did they listen and obey?

KidzPort October 18 – R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

October 21, 2009

Respect is a funny thing.  Everyone wants it, but few folks are willing to give it easily.   What are we to do. 

Disrespect has many roots.  Most of them relate back to fear.  For instance, when someone is disrespectful by clowning around, talking out loud or disrupting, they are usually looking for attention.  They look for attention because they are afraid people will ignore them.

Or, sometimes people are disrespectful in a more dangerous way – they are bullies, always looking to pick a fight or provoke an argument.  They are afraid people won’t respect them.  That’s ironic, isn’t it?  The fear of disrespect being the root of disrespect.

For Parents:

• If you ever notice a pattern of disrespect in your child, take time to sit down and talk to them about it without criticism.  See if you can work through and find the root of it.
• Talk to your child about how they feel when they are disrespected. Maybe do some role playing.
• Look us some scriptures relating to respect.  Proverbs is always a good place to start.  Use your index or concordance in the back of your bible. Read them together.

KidzPort July 5 – Freedom!!

July 6, 2009

Since it was Fourth of July Weekend here in the States,  it seemed appropriate to begin this week’s discussion with a question: “Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July, anyway?  Our oldest KidzPort group is 7-9 years old, so the answer to the question was not as easy as one might think.  Most of them could put together that it was Independence Day, buit no one could tell me what “independence” really meant, or who we were “independent” from. 

After a (very) quick primer on the American Revolution, we began to discuss the idea of “freedom.”  What exactly does “freedom” mean, anyway.  One common answer was that freedom mean you could do anything you want.  Of course, that’s not true.  In any country, there is still the rule of law, and so people cannot do whatever they want to do.  But, we are (here in America) free to voice our opinions, to vote someone into or out of office, and to worship how we see fit.

One person in the Bible who did not enjoy such freedoms was Daniel.  Daniel lived during a time when his country, Israel, was under the rule of a more powerful country, Babylon.  Daniel, in fact, Daniel was forced into service to the King of Babylon, a man with the unlikely and hard-to-pronounce  name of Nebuchadnezzar.  The King made Daniel interpret a dream, and because of that, Daniel (whose Baylonian name was Beltshazzar) became a man of great standing.  Danel later interpreted the “writing on the wall” (Dan 5) for Belzhazzar. 

When Babylon was taken over by the Persians, Daniel found himself in the service of Persian King Cyrus.  Cyrus had made a law that no one could be worshipped but him.  This limited Daniel’s freedom, because it meant that he could not worship God legally.  Imagine if someone came to your house and told you you could only pray to the President of the United States, or you would be killed!!  These things happen all over the world, even today.  Thankfully, we live in a country where we all have freedom to worship God.

Eveyone knows Daniel’s story, about being thrown into the lion’s den.  God rescued Daniel for his faithfulness.  Amen!

Our 3-7 group was working on John 3:16.  They made pictures depicting their idea of what God’s love looks like to them.

For Parents:

• Talk to your child about freedom.  What does it mean to you?  What does it mean to them?  How what responsibilities come with freedom?
• Read the story of Daniel in the lion’s den.  (Daniel 6)  What does the story mean to them?
• If you have a younger child, have them explain their picture to you, and learn John 3:16

KidzPort March 15 – Sponges and Faith

March 16, 2009

Last week, we gave the kids a homework assignment.  You can read about the details in that post, but here’s what we found:

The wet sponge was soft and pliable.  It readily absorbed water, and even when folded, crushed, stomped on and twisted, it regained is original shape, and still held water.  More importantly, it was excellent at cleaning – which after all, is it’s purpose.

The dry sponge was hard and brittle.  It took awhile for it to absorb any water.  When it was folded and crushed, it was in great danger of breaking. And it was lousy at cleaning anything.

If Jesus is the water, and we are the sponge, this is a great illustration of how we need to keep ourselves immeresed in Jesus – the Water of Life.

We also talked about walking in faith.  In Jeremiah 42, we see an Israelite nation in fear of Babylonian invasion.  Some of them want to leave – to flee to Egypt.  But as we say in class, “Nothing good ever happens in Egypt.” 

Egypt represents slavery in many places in the bible.  The Israelites were more willing to return to the land that they had been slaves in than to stand fast in the land that God had promised them.  But if God had promised them the land, they rightfully should have had no fear.  Jeremiah tells them in 42:10 :

If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. (NKJV)

We need to stay in the places that God puts us, and walk in faith, even when times are difficult.  God’s promise is clear in this.

For Parents:

• Talk to your child about faith.  What does in mean to them? Give them examples of when you walked in faith – and when God answered His promise.
• Repeat the experiment of last week.  Each child should bring their sponge to class next week.
• Hold your child accountable for what they need to bring to class each Sunday – a bible, a journal, a pen.  Also, work with them on the memory verse above. (Jer 42:10)

KidzPort – January 18th – What Does God Want?

January 19, 2009

We had a big group in KidzPort today, due to some special guests.   The conversation was about knowing God’s will, and figuring out how we know what God wants us to do when we have a choice to make.   The answer can be found in this week’s verse:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding   – Proverbs 3:5 

When we have a choice to make, it is important that we take a look at the reasons behind why we choose the things we choose.  We need to be sure that we bring God into the conversation.  Often, we choose the way that will please ourselves – but we should try and choose the way that will please God.   This is not always a difficult choice – God’s desires will often line up with our own. 

For Parents:

• Talk with your child about choices.  Discover some of the choices they need to make, and talk about how they can keep God “in the loop.”
• Read the verse above with your child.  Be sure they know it and understand it.
• Pray with your child when they have a difficult choice to make.  Teach them to do this, and they always will.

 

Please be sure:  That your child brings a bible to KidzPort.  We are going to be giving them journals next week – please be sure they bring them each week.

For some other announcements read the GLCCKidz blog.

Kidzport November 16 – Raiders of the Lost Ark

November 17, 2008

Today we talked about the Ark of the Covenent.  Yes that Ark of the Covenent.   Now, dealing with seven-to-nine year olds, I had to come to grips with the fact that no one had ever even seen the original Indiana Jones films.  So we started from scratch, because I had a point to get to, but they had to understand what I was talking about. 

So we talked about the Ark, how it was built and what it was made of.  Special attention was paid to the fact that once the Law was placed into the Ark, no one was allowed to touch it. Which brings us to the point of the lesson.   David had decided to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.  Instead of having the Levites carry it – which was the way it should have been done – David had it placed on an oxcart.  At one point, the ox stumbled and the Ark nearly fell, Until it was steadied by Uzzah.  The Lord killed Uzzah on the spot for touching the Ark.

While it seems at first harsh and cruel – after all, Uzzah probably reacted instinctivly – it demonstrates an important point.  We are not to interprete God’s law for our own purposes.  After all, perhaps God planned for the Ark to fall.  David had made several mistakes – moving the Ark without consulting God, putting the Ark on a cart instead of carrying it.  Throughout his lifetime, people would die for David’s mistakes.  Often times, other people suffer for ours.

For parents:

• Read the passage in 2 Samuel 6 regarding the moving of the Ark and the death of Uzzah.  Have your child relate why Uzzah was killed for this simple act.
• Ask your child if they’ve ever had to suffer for something someone else did, and how they felt about it.
• Ask your child to describe the Ark.  Remind them by letting them read the description in Exodus 25.