Review Last week we learned about all the 39 kings of Israel and Judah. What were God’s prophets (those who deliver God’s messages to the kings to return to God) doing during all this time? They kept delivering messages to the kings to return to God or there would be trouble. The LORD used Elijah […]
Let’s start at the beginning Our world is drowning in sin. Sin is: ignoring God and doing things our own way… it’s breaking God’s laws… it’s why the world is so full of fighting, death, disease… it’s why we hurt each other and why the whole world is broken. Sin started with Adam and Eve […]
Review Last time the story in 1 Kings discussed the consequences of King Solomon’s sins (idolatry and accumulation of horses), which was a divided kingdom. The northern 10 tribes followed a man named Jeroboam who set up two golden calf idols. The reason why Jeroboam led his people to worship idols is because he didn’t […]
Review 1 and 2 Samuel We have learned about the first 3 kings of Israel: King Saul, King David, and King Solomon. They all made mistakes but each handled those mistakes differently. What happened when these three kings sinned? King Saul: made excuses King David: repented, asked God for forgiveness King Solomon: acted like nothing was […]
Review King David was the previous king. David did many great things: conquered the Philistines, united the kingdom of Israel (all the tribes), built the capital city, Jerusalem, and few other things. David also did one bad thing: he stole another man’s wife and had her husband killed. After being confronted by the prophet, Nathan, […]
Quick 1 Samuel Review Saul was Israel’s first king and he didn’t do such a good job, which means he didn’t always do what God told him. In fact, Saul wanted to kill David (who was going to be the next king after Saul). 2 Samuel 2 Samuel is the 10th book of the Bible […]
King Saul The Israelites had the meanest bunch of enemies they had ever seen: the Philistines. They came from the sea around 1100 BC. The Israelites were scared of the Philistines (fear). All they had to do was trust God (faith) and follow his instructions (Torah), and the LORD would take care of Israel’s enemies. […]
Review A long time ago God created man and woman. We fell, we sinned, we ignored God and went our own way. With the stain of sin on us we had to leave God and live on our own (we all earned death). But, God has a rescue plan (to save us from the punishment […]
Review of Judges: source YouTube Cycle of Apostasy Israelites would abandon God and worship idols. God would send them an oppressor to punish his people. The Israelites would cry out the the LORD for help. God would raise up a Judge to rescue his people. The Judge would drive out the oppressor and rescue God’s […]
Review of Genesis thru Joshua God made people to be close to him (Genesis 1-2). But our bad choices has broken God’s creation and brought death into the world (Genesis 3). God wants to rescue us from sin and death (Genesis 3:15). God picks a group of people to be part of his rescue plan […]
This year (2015-2016) in Followers, we are storying our way through the book of 1 Samuel. It’s a little experimental (you can read about that here). 1 Samuel 3:1 – 4:1 “The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD at Shiloh under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare…” The LORD calls to Samuel […]
This year (2015-2016) in Followers, we are storying our way through the book of 1 Samuel. It’s a little experimental (you can read about that here). 1 Samuel 1:21 – 2:36 Hannah weans Samuel and presents him to the LORD at Shiloh. Samuel continues to grow in the LORD in the house of Eli (priest at […]
This year (2015-2016) in Followers, we are storying our way through the book of 1 Samuel. It’s a little experimental (you can read about that here). 1 Samuel 1:1-20 This is the story of Elkanah and his beloved wife, Hannah, and their attempt to have a child. I use these slides to walk the students through […]
Who wrote the Bible? Good question, right? Well, some kids in the video gave some possible answers to that question. Here are some of their thoughts: lots of people who love Jesus only one maybe two people nobody lots of writers the disciples, apostles God made the Bible Nehemiah David Moses prophets and apostles some […]
What is the Bible? Perhaps science can answer this question… According to Doctor Schniffenhousen, the Bible is 3 things: Paper: made from wood. Ink: derived from black carbon and oil. Leather wrapper: made from a cow. Tongue-in-cheek: Perhaps science cannot answer this question :). “Never ask a scientist to do a Sunday school teacher’s job.” (Sunday school […]
Saul’s Story At the beginning of Acts 9, Saul is a really bad dude. He is in hot pursuit of any followers of the “Way” (Christians) and has authority to put them in prison. On his way to Damascus, Saul was blinded by a light, fell to the ground, had a conversation with Jesus, didn’t […]
This past Wednesday @ Middle School Youth (Hayward Wesleyan Church) we started a new series called: “Tempting Stuff.” One of the questions posed to the students in their small group was: What are some temptations that middle school students face? In an effort to bring out to the whole group what was being shared in […]
We’ve been recording our Main Street Teachings for over 4 years now. If you’re aware of how we cycle through the stories of the Bible every three years, then you’ll realize that the stories we are currently doing have a digital record from the three years prior. The fun part of is that it’s difficult […]
Nathan tells a story to David about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man steals the poor man’s beloved sheep to feed a traveler instead of using one of his own animals (of which he had plenty). David’s righteous anger is churned… until Nathan points his finger at David and tells him […]
Wow. The book of Judges had some really interesting characters in it. Especially one of the last ones, Samson. He just couldn’t figure out how to be a stable “image of God” bearer. It seemed like he always was in a rash state of mind—unstable is a word I would use. The Main Street students […]