Love not the World

Welcome to Aunties Bible Lessons. FYI…I will also be posting in the future  on “kidsbible.wordpress.com”.

Today,  I have been led to a study from 1 John 2, and a look at what it means to “love the world”.  We are warned by the Holy Spirit to keep ourselves from attaching ourselves to the world, but how often do we really contemplate what this means. This will be a lesson for older children as the themes are for a more mature audience and can be used as an alternate lesson when teaching about  the temptations of Eve or Jesus.  This worksheet would be good for supplementing your teaching on the temptation of Christ, the temptation of Eve, or before you begin your lessons on the kings of Israel or the Second Coming of Christ.

The amplified version of the Bible gives good definitions of what “the world” encompasses.  The  “lust of the flesh” is the first of three  mentioned in this “worldly” category, and is described as being  the craving for gratification. ..or in other words…one’s “God-given” bodily appetites are “out of control”. We have a lot of appetites that are legitimate like hunger and the need for sleep.  But we all know that overeating, and too much sleep are bad habits that lead to laziness and poor health.   Eve was tempted by the  “forbidden” fruit as she  determined it was good for food…she forgot all  about the other good fruit that God had freely provided.  Jesus was tempted by Satan to turn the stones to bread. Jesus looked to God to provide for all of His needs.  He did not need to follow His enemy’s suggestions for meeting them even though He was hungry from fasting for forty days.  We also read that the kings of Israel were not to multiply wives to themselves lest their hearts be led astray.(Solomon  should have paid attention to this!) This law was written for Israel’s future kings in Deuteronomy 17 to protect them from “lusts of the flesh”.  God ordained marriage between one man and one woman and this is our LORD’S ideal design.

“The lust of the eyes” are greedy longings of the mind. This is excellently portrayed in scripture by Achan , who coveted a beautiful Babylonian garment and other treasure  after Jericho’s destruction, stealing “the accursed things” and hiding them in his tent.  Who can forget King David who took a woman unlawfully as she was another man’s wife! (Uriah was one of David’s faithful “thirty” warriors but that did not stop this great king from sinning  against the LORD and his friend once lust was aroused.)  Both Achan and David’s transgressions had dire consequences that affected not only these men but their entire families and  nation.  Eve looked at the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden that God had instructed them not to eat and saw that it was delightful, so she fell for the rest of the serpent’s lies.(why had she forgotten that  all of the other fruit was also pleasant to the sight! Genesis 2:9)  All of mankind has inherited a sin nature as a result.  The  kings of Israel were not to covet wealth and were instructed not to multiply to themselves silver and gold to help protect them from the “lust of the eyes”. Satan took Jesus to a high mountain and tempted Him by allowing all the kingdoms of the world to pass before Him.  The devil said he would give these kingdoms to Jesus if He would worship him.

The last arena we are tempted in is a very powerful lure in America.  The amplified Bible defines “the pride of life” as having “assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things.”   We “pride” ourselves in being independent. (ouch) Who hasn’t heard that old expression “just pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”. The Kings of Israel were not to multiply horses to themselves.  They were not to trust in their military might but in the LORD of hosts.  Jesus was tempted by Satan to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple…then God could rescue Him and prove He really was God’s Son.  Eve was tempted with the “pride of life” also, as ‘the fruit was desired to make one wise”….

“This I say then,  Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16

Memory verse:  “And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He is made visible we may have and enjoy perfect confidence and not be ashamed and shrink from Him at his coming. ” 1 John 2: 28

Love not the World wkst

The “Love not the world” worksheet #2 contains 9 pictures. Three depict Eve’s temptations, three illustrate Jesus’ temptations and three show what Israel’s kings were not to multiply to themselves.  Each one is to be glued in one of the three headings, either: (1) the lust of the flesh (2) the lust of the eyes and (3) and the pride of life. In my class, we worked on one section at a time.

Note: I printed this from the website and had to enlarge it  …129% would be ideal…the rectangles measuring 2 inches by 1 & 1/4 inch.

“Assembling” Together

Hebrews 10:25

“…making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:16

“…knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”              Romans 13: 11

We are busy serving the LORD… getting lessons together and teaching kids. But I would like to exhort you to  make sure you prioritize your  time for  corporate worship,  and  are getting refreshed and nourished in your spirit with good teaching. We also need to be sensitive to opportunities for encouraging and exhorting the “adult” members of the body of Christ.  As I heard in a sermon this past  Sunday, is not enough to just “gather together” like the watches in the photo

“it’s time”

we must not be”…forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as we SEE the DAY approaching.” The previous verse says that we need to “consider one another to provoke unto love and good works…”  Hebrews 10:24

…but “assembling together”

When the body is functioning properly it is just like the workings of a timepiece.  Each part does its own special work and like Ephesians 4:16 teaches, we should be maturing in a healthy manner, growing in love.  Jesus is our example here.  Not only did he regularly attend the synagogue “…and as his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day…” (Luke 4:16) , He was in constant communion with His disciples; teaching, exhorting, encouraging… and showing them perfect compassion, patience, fearlessness and joy.  I can be very patient with a child because I do not expect maturity from them… but rubbing shoulders with a Christian brother or sister is very revealing .  The Holy Spirit has a perfect chance to open our eyes to our true spiritual needs as we see how difficult it is to truly “consider others”.

assembling together – worksheet #4

As always, you might have to play around with “shrinking to fit” the parts of the worksheet.  Worksheet #4 is what you will measure all your other pieces to and works well with  this smaller dimension.  Try to get the image to print about 6 &1/4 inches across and 4 & 1/8  tall and  you will be able to get 2 images per page. That will put the “faces” of the timepiece at aprox. 5 inches across…this also means you will be able to print the other worksheets with 2 images per page. I punched “holes”  using the nut can seals (we used them for Leah’s veil)…rubbing off the texture with a pencil erasure and creasing the middle with a pencil… by just drawing a line you can simulate a little watch screw. You will need 13 “holes” for each timepiece, and a few “rubies”.(these can just be colored in)  Color  and assemble as in samples above using a thin line of tacky glue connecting wkst #2 (the timepiece face) to wkst #4 after you have glued the verse from worksheet #3 to the back of the timepiece face..This may seem like an extra piece of paper but I do not like the words of the verse to show through on the timepiece…if you do not mind this, worksheet #3 can be eliminated but the kids will have to write the  verse from Ephesians 4:16.  Worksheet #4 is the bottom layer  and the glue goes applied in the space provided to the left of the dotted line…this will make your project 3 layers after you glue the  edge of the gold watch cover (wkst #1) to the edge of the timepiece face (wkst#2). If you want to keep the front cover from flapping open, magic tape is your friend…just roll a little piece  “stickie-side” out, and place it on the backside, near the outer edge…..press to close. Optional:  the kids can copy a verse on the back of the golden cover (#1)  Ephesians 5:16 or Romans 13:11 are good choices for this. If you want to  emphasize  the contract between “just meeting” together and assembling…you may want to cut out  and glue  the pieces of  a watch in a little collage.  If this is the case, you can glue your collage onto worksheet #4…just leave space  to do so.   To make the spring, cut out a circle the size of a quarter from a nut can seal.  Rub out the texture, and cut as thin as possible in a continuous circle.  Cut 2 sizes of wheels out of grey paper, or use the foil …(or white paper colored grey or with pencil!)  You might cut some circles out of gold paper  also…then you will have to patiently scallop the edges or use the scissors that have that sort of edge.  The watches are easy to piece together out of black card stock.  Copy the basic design from the photo above.  You will be surprised how the Holy Spirit can give you a burst of creativity.

I sometimes think of Bezaleel from Exodus 35-36…”whom the  LORD had filled with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, and in all manner of workmanship; and to devise curious works, and to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work…”I mean the list goes on and on..engraving, teaching, embroidering, weaving…all for the glory of God .  As he was giving himself to the construction of the tabernacle, what joy must have overwhelmed his heart as he realized the LORD was using him and gifting him with these abilities.    *             *                *             *              *

assembling together – worksheet #2

gathered together collage

back cover of timepiece #3

golden timepiece cover- wkst#1

Gospel Tract – annotated

Good News – page 1

Good News – page two

These 2 pages need to eventually be printed back to back so make sure you click on both… You will have to figure out how to copy them “back to back”.  Also…you will have to shrink the cover to fit the pages.  Dimensions for the cover should be  2 & 13/16ths  inches wide…that’s just a smidge over 2 & 3/4 inches… but it is a lovely 8 1/2 inches long! The tract pages are a little bit smaller.  Directions for assembly are on the Sept. 13, 2011 blog entitled “Good News – part 7”. You will be able to figure out the order of the pages by checking out “Good News – parts 1-7”. I hope the annotation makes translation easier.  Please share your success with me @ bibleauntie@gmail.com        Thanks and God Bless

cover

“Consider your Ways!”

The phrase  “consider your ways” literally means “put your heart on your roads”, or in other words, consider what direction your life is taking. A good message for all of the LORD’S people today but specifically it was sent to His much beloved remnant…a small group of less than 50,000 Jews  that had pulled up stakes in Babylon ( 537 B.C.)  to return to Jerusalem .  Worship had been joyfully restored , and the foundation of the temple was laid but  this noble purpose was frustrated  after two years, and extinguished by crushing opposition. After lagging fourteen years, Haggai was sent to admonish the children of  Judah and Benjamin for prioritizing their own security and comfortable  “paneled” homes, but neglecting the ruined temple. (Some speculate that the cedar logs from Lebanon mentioned in Ezra 3:7, probably ended up in their private residences….now new wood was to be procured from the mountains) The people were to take stock of their lives and quit making excuses as to why they could not fully obey the LORD…hadn’t they noticed that their crops, livestock and labors were not being blessed ? This was going to take an acknowledgement of the LORD’S dealing with them so they could repent.  Good news!   All of the remnant obeyed the LORD “…and feared His presence.” (“…love the LORD with all your heart, with all your soul…”) and they were willing to be strong and work hard (“…love the LORD with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5) I hope we are all paying attention here… Could we be experiencing “blight” from the LORD…or perhaps we are putting our wages in bags with holes?  Let us “consider our ways” so we can repent and turn to Him with our first love.  Then the LORD will take pleasure in His church, and He will be glorified as He was in the days of Haggai.

Haggai – worksheet

Color page, cutting strip on the end.  (the sample above was printed on ivory parchment  cardstock)  Glue correct scene in the window.  Go over the meaning of the word “remnant”.  Have the kids practice saying Zerubbabel. Optional: Have them write in the verse from 1 Samuel 12:24 in the space below the window.

You may notice a difference in style with the earlier posts.  I wish I could start over and annotate all of the texts on the worksheets and samples but I just learned how to do this (and have still not worked out all of the bugs)!  I had no idea this blog would have a “world-wide” following and I did not accommodate  for the language barrier.  I am trying to take this into account for all future posts.  Hopefully you have some good ideas and can “rewrite” them to suit your needs. Yay white-out!