do not fear

Psalm 56

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Hello all! Today’s lesson is from Psalm 56. This is a song about trusting God. David wrote it when the Philistines captured him.

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1 Be merciful to me, my God,
    for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
    all day long they press their attack.
2 My adversaries pursue me all day long;
    in their pride many are attacking me.

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4     In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?

5 All day long they twist my words;
    all their schemes are for my ruin.
6 They conspire, they lurk,
    they watch my steps,
    hoping to take my life.
7 Because of their wickedness do not[c] let them escape;
    in your anger, God, bring the nations down.

8 Record my misery;
    list my tears on your scroll—
    are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
    when I call for help.
    By this I will know that God is for me.

10 In God, whose word I praise,
    in the Lord, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can man do to me?

12 I am under vows to you, my God;
    I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
    and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
    in the light of life.

The preschool version goes:

Have mercy on me, God,
because my enemies are chasing me;
all day long they try to attack me.
My enemies chase me all day long;
many are attacking me.

When I am afraid, I will trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
If God takes care of me, what can people do to me?

All day long they twist my words;
they are trying to ruin me.
They think up bad plans, they lurk,
they watch my steps, hoping to kill me.
Do not let them escape;
God, bring them down.

Remember how sad i am;
write down every tear i cry.
Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help.
I will know that God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?

I promise you God;
I will give you thanks.
For you have saved me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk with you forever. 

What does David say he will do when he is afraid? He will TRUST in God. When we are afraid we can trust in God too and He will be with us. What kinds of things make you afraid? How can you remember to trust in God when you are afraid?
One of our favorite modern song-versions of this song is by Steve Green  posted Kendall Sauer.
Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

Psalm 23

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Hello again! Today’s psalm is about trusting God. This is very popular song and it tells us God is like a shepherd that takes care of us, His sheep.

This is a song that David wrote…and since HE was a shepherd…he knew a lot about what it takes to keep sheep healthy and safe.

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1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

For preschool understanding:

The Lord is like a shepherd, He takes care of everything I need.
He keeps me safe….like a shepherd has his sheep sleep in green pastures,
He shows me a good, peaceful way to live…like a shepherd leads his sheep by calm waters,
he refreshes my soul and makes my heart happy.
He guides me along the right paths and helps me make good choices, because that makes Him happy.
Even when sad or hard things happen, like walking through a dark, scary, valley,
I will not be afraid, for You, God, are with me;
your strength comforts me…like a shepherd’s big staff (stick) protects the sheep.

You give me everything I need AND MORE….like a whole feast of food and nothing can stop how good You are to me. 
You give me all the best things to comfort me, my cup overflows…I have more than enough.
Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will live close to the Lord in His house forever.

Like a shepherd that loves his sheep, God loves us and takes good care of us. He gives us everything we need AND more!

We did not do a craft today, but of course any kind of sheep craft would work.

I also found THIS super cute marshmallow sheep cupcake.

THIS VIDEO from Sami Cone teaches sign language along with the verses.

THIS VIDEO from zondervan retells the Jesus Storybook Bible version of Psalm 23.

And this cute video from spaz1amy is just a super cute recitation.

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

Deborah and Jael

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Hi all! Today’s story is from Judges 4-5. Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

deborah

So the Israelites needed a leader. God was giving them judges (people who help make decisions) to help lead the people and remind them of God’s laws. When the people had a judge, they obeyed God. When a judge got old and died…the people would disobey God again until He gave them a new judge.

One of those judges was named Deborah. She was very wise and the Bible says she would give advice and teach the people outside under some palm trees.

The Israelites had been disobeying God so they were now working for the Canaanites (the people who lived in the promised land that they were SUPPOSED to defeat before but hadn’t). The people complained and asked God for help. Deborah told Barak (the leader of the Israelite army) that God said he should lead the army to face the Canaanite army leader. She said God would help them defeat Sisera (the leader) and his army.

And big, strong Barak said….”ummm only if you go with me??” He was too scared to go alone!

Deborah said “Yes, I will go with you…but because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman.” (A woman will defeat Sisera and not you!)

So off they went. They met Sisera and his army and Deborah was not afraid. “Go! God is with you!” she said. And the Israelites defeated the Canaanites. Only Sisera was still alive and he ran and ran until he came to a tent.

There was a woman there named Jael.

Jael said  to Sisera “Come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” So she gave him a drink, and covered him up so he could take a nap.

“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

But instead, while he fell asleep, Jael killed him.

Just then Barak came by looking for Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera–dead.

Deborah sang a song of praise to God for helping them defeat their enemies.

God used two women, Deborah and Jael in His big plan. Barak was scared to go without Deborah, but we never have to be afraid to follow God. Deborah and Jael were brave and they trusted God to help them.

We can always trust God to help us do the things He asks us to do. And no one can ever tell you that you can not be a leader for others. No one can say “because you are a girl, or a kid, or have brown skin, or white skin, or are too short, or too tall, or have curly hair, or wear glasses you can’t be a leader.” God can use ANYONE He wants to be a great leader! Let’s trust God to use us to do big things and not be afraid to follow Him always!

THIS is the link to the BrickTestament retelling of the story (a LEGO version).

THIS is a video by BimBam (formerly G-dcast).

And THIS video is a song about Deborah posted by sheilahamil. (While admittedly, it’s not the best quality video…it is full of truths that could be adapted to your own home or Sunday school lesson).

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Do not be afraid

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Hello again! So last year we did an overview of Leviticus found HERE and then covered the first part of Numbers HERE.

Today, however we are just going to jump in and continue following the Israelites. This story is from Numbers 13/14. Last year’s lesson and craft on this can be found HERE.

So Moses and the Israelites had been freed from Egypt and had been given God’s rules on Mt Sinai and God was leading them to a special place He had for them. This was the land He had promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God was bringing His people back to this promised land.

As they got closer they realized this place (called Canaan) had people living there. So Moses asked 12 guys (one leader from each tribe/family) to go check it out. They were like secret spies. For 40 days (a little more than a whole month) they watched the place. They wanted to see what kind of people lived there and if food would grow well there. They wanted to know what kind of weapons the people had, or if they had a big army.

Well…when they came back to report to all the Israelites they said “Good news! It has LOTS of great food! It’s beautiful!’

“But the bad news is….those are BIG scary people! And the city walls are BIG….it’s too scary…we shouldn’t go in.”

Two of the men, Caleb and Joshua tried to remind everyone that GOD was leading them. They didn’t have to be afraid with God on their side! God was on THEIR team! God had PROMISED them this land! But the people didn’t want to trust God’s promise. Instead…they trusted their fear. They said “It doesn’t matter what God promised us!? This is too scary! We shouldn’t try to take that land.”

And they all decided to NOT obey God. God was not happy and He said “Only Caleb and Joshua (who wanted to obey) and the children will get to go in someday. The rest of you, who didn’t obey Me will never live in the promised land. The grown ups who were too scared to obey Me will be old and die before it’s time to go in to the promised land.”

And even though their trip from should have taken about two weeks….God kept the Israelites in the desert for 40 YEARS!!!

We NEVER have to be afraid to obey God. God might ask us to do some pretty scary things sometimes…but we can always know that God loves us, and protects us, and the best thing we can do is obey God, no matter what. Like Caleb and Joshua said “Do not disobey the Lord, and don’t be afraid…the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid!” (Nu 14:9)

For our craft today we used paper plates to draw a face. Then we traced our arms in a “strong position”. We cut out the arms and taped them to the face. Then we bent them in half so they could cover the eyes of the face OR be bent out to be like strong, muscle arms.

Our text reads: We never have to be afraid to obey God! Numbers 13/14

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!