“What did the kids learn this week at VBS?”

July 24, 2005.  Pastor Matt

Overview of what the kids learned all week at VBS:

Day 1.  I can choose to worship Jesus

Matthew 2:1-15.  ¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."  

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

What do you think when you hear the word worship?

-         in church singing songs

-         being outdoors enjoying God’s creation

Definition of worship:  to bow down, to reverence, to fall down, to stoop or to crouch to pay homage to someone superior to you. ^[1] The Holman Student Bible Dictionary defines worship with several words: adore, obey, reverence, focus positive

o       To place in a priority above all else such as a beautiful girl, sports team, famous person you’d do anything to meet

That’s what the Wise Men did. 

We can do the same today

-         first by choosing to believe in Him

Give Him glory (show you have pride in who He is) in everything you see, do, or experience

We all may experience God in different ways and then worship/respond to him differently

-         At a minimum we can thank Him/worship Him for dying for our sins.

What has He done in your life to cause you to want to worship Him?

Psalm 95:6-7.  Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;  for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

As an unbeliever, we can worship Him because we understand that He sent His Son to die for our sins. 

As a believer, we can worship Him because we are under His care

Day 2.  I can choose to thank Jesus

Luke 17:11-18 

    ¹¹Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"  ¹⁴When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.  ¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.  ¹⁷Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"

How often during a day do you thank someone?  How often do you thank God for what He has given you?

Don’t you know that the Lord not only created the entire world, but He also owns everything within it.  Everything you have was given to you by your father in Heaven.  (remember there is always at least one person who has it worse than you. You’re still alive and still have a hope for a future. 

At a minimum, as a Christian, you have it good in the life to come because of the eternity in Heaven we have to look forward to.

Only one leper came back to thank Jesus for healing him. Let’s not be like the 9 that did not thank Him. 

I often feel like there are nine out of every ten people who are ungrateful for what God sent His Son to do and if they are ungrateful, then they are unbelieving. 

God will not be mocked.  He will not allow you to trample the blood of Christ under your feet.

Hebrews 10:26-31. ²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." ³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

We as Christians can practice an attitude of thankfulness.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. ¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

At least, we can thank Him for our salvation.

Day 3.  I can choose to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. 

Matthew 28:1-10.  ¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.  ²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.     ⁵The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

This is the simple message of Jesus.  We have sin and we need someone to save us from that sin. 

Your sin and my sin will keep us from going to heaven and will send us to hell.  However, Jesus took the punishment for your sin.

Sin is everything you have ever done wrong.  Every sin requires payment to be made in order to gain access to heaven.  (Jesus paid it all on the cross)

All you have to do is believe that He did what He did and put your life in His hands. 

Mark 10:15.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Day 4.  I can choose to believe Jesus is real.

John 20:19-31.  ²⁴Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
      But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."  ²⁶A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  ²⁸Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  ²⁹Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  ³⁰Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Thomas doubted Jesus really did rise again.  He wanted physical proof.

Some of you may doubt that Jesus is who He says He is. 

If that is you, I ask you to do a couple of things:

1. Don’t just assume he is real or not.  Search out the Truth unless you are one of those people that just believe whatever people throw at you.  I do not believe understanding who Jesus is and putting your faith in Him is a totally blind effort.  There are evidences all around you.  Just as Thomas needed proof, God has left you proof/ evidence.

Matthew 7:7.  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

2. Ask people who have put their lives in Jesus’ hands, why they believe He is real

- Let me share some things with you that prove Jesus is who He says He is. 

- Believe He is real because of the miracles He has done in our lives.

3. Ask God to show you He is real

4. Search your own heart

Revelation 3:20.  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Day 5.  I can choose to obey Jesus.

A man was reading the Bible and He had some questions.  As Philip helped Him understand what the Bible was saying, the man made a decision to believe in Jesus.  We know His decision was genuine because He immediately wanted to be baptized/ to walk in obedience to what God was telling him to do.

Acts 8:26-38.  ³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" ³⁵Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.   ³⁶As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" ³⁸And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

Living the Christian life is all about being obedient to what Jesus is telling you to do.  If we choose to believe in Him, we are also choosing to follow Him and obey Him.  He is in control of your life. 

The first thing Jesus asks you to do is to be baptized.  Baptism shows those around you that you have put your life in Jesus’ hands and are deciding to follow Him. 

It is an outward sign of what you have already decided to do in your heart.  If you refuse to be baptized, then you are refusing to be obedient to the Lord and if you refuse to be obedient to the Lord, is He really in control of your life?

We are to obey because life is better when we obey.

When we truly understand what he did for us, we will naturally want to obey Him.

Closing

Key verse: Psalm 25:4

This is how you need to respond to Him today if you know you have sin and need to do something about it.