“Forsake me not, O Lord.” Psalm 38:21

Frequently we pray that God would not forsake us in the hour of trial and temptation, but we too much forget that we have need to use this prayer at all times. There is no moment of our life, however holy, in which we can do without his constant upholding. Whether in light or in darkness, in communion or in temptation, we alike need the prayer, “Forsake me not, O Lord.” “Hold me up, that I may be safe.” A little child, while learning to walk, always needs the nurse’s aid. The ship left by the pilot drifts at once from her course. We cannot do without continued aid from above; let it then be your prayer today, “Forsake me not. Father, forsake not your child, lest he fall by the hand of the enemy. Shepherd, forsake not your lamb, lest he wander from the safety of the fold. Great Husbandman, forsake not your plant, lest it wither and die. ‘Forsake me not, O Lord,’ now; and forsake me not at any moment of my life. Forsake me not in my joys, lest they absorb my heart. Forsake me not in my sorrows, lest I murmur against You. Forsake me not in the day of my repentance, lest I lose the hope of pardon, and fall into despair; and forsake me not in the day of my strongest faith, lest faith degenerate into presumption. Forsake me not, for without you I am weak, but with you I am strong. Forsake me not, for my path is dangerous, and full of snares, and I cannot do without your guidance. The hen forsakes not her brood; do you always then cover me with your feathers, and permit me under your wings to find my refuge? ‘Be not far from me, O Lord, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.’ ‘Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!’”

“O ever in our cleansed breast,
Bid thine Eternal Spirit rest;
And make our secret soul to be
A temple pure and worthy thee.”

Sorry that I could not be around last week. It was my membership confirmation. I heard from Jeremy that some of you guys need more time to go through last week's material. If you do, please take the time to do so.

For those of you who have finished it, carry on with the next chapter in this set (Click here). It is titled "Boldness in Evangelism" and starts on pg 14. I think you should be able to cover pg 14-18. Less this time. Do not feel pressure to rush through it. We are not trying to catch bullet train. If you cannot finish everything it is OK. It is more important to make sure you get the point across.

You also don't have to go through every single thing. If it is draggy, pick the things that you think are important or contextualize the examples into your own.

Some tips for this week:
The little section on Are we ‘on fire’ for Christ? (pg 16) deserves attention. If we answer No to the 3 questions in the box, what makes us so sure that we are Christians?

Pg 18 Qn 3: Are there certain types of movies we should not watch? This is a very real issue. If you have drawn boundaries to protect yourself from the trash that Hollywood spews out share your stand with them.
Qn 4 and 5: Think of a personal story to share with them and invite your youth to share as well...
Qn 6: Everyone should share for qn 6.

I leave it to you to decide how to challenge them to invite their friends on the 5th. Impt thing is to make the challenge not just talk but into something tangible.

This is the material for this week.... Reason to Share. Girls if your kids are too distracted you can try printing out the material for them. Having something to look at may help them to focus.

I know I said we will do Acts 7... but I think it is better to do this instead. Don't worry.. the material is not bad, and the words are big. It will not take 30 mins to go through. When they have trouble answering you at point 7, talk to them about inviting their friends to play board games and hear the gospel on the 5th. You can skip point 8 and the assignment. Instead Challenge them!

They would already have named some friends earlier in the material. Challenge them to pray for their friend and invite their friend because they love both God and their friend.

Challenge is different from encourage. If you say "I encourage you to share the gospel... it is good for you", our commission to witness sounds like a choice. But our mission is not a choice. It is a joyous responsibility to love. Challange them and follow up with them. Call them later in the week to ask them whether they have done anything about it. E.g. "Have you invited your friend yet? Have you been praying for him?" and of course don't just check on them.. pray for them when you call them.

Remember... it is only when we lead them to share the gospel that we can call ourselves their Christian leaders.

****

For your own supplementary reading (not required)...
How to Witness in the Spirit by Bill Bright

Midweek HOP for TTB. Do come and pray, and be prayed for.

I cannot empathize this more. We have had something stolen from us - our joy... and with it goes our faith and our strength. Dear Brothers & Sisters... this should not, cannot, and must not be!

This is the rock where we stand when the dark clouds gather and the floods lick at our feet:

justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit),
through faith alone (not mixed with our works)
on the basis of Christ alone (not mingling his righteousness with ours),
to the glory of God alone (not ours).

- John Piper, When the Darkness Will Not Lift
(Legal download here)

Kudos to Kenn, Alex, Alden, and everyone else who helped plan and execute Sunday's amazing trivia race. That's the real deal... covering up for my weakness.

Download docx version

Ask someone… Have you ever met with opposition while trying to do the right thing? How did it make you feel? (You might want to refer them to the calculator hook example if it is suitable, don’t spend too long on this question)

In Acts 6, we will see how Stephan met with opposition while trying to serve God, and how he dealt with it.

Read Acts 6

Get one of the youth to summarize the story for you. This will let you know that they are listening.

Did you notice anything strange about the passage? Most of us would not think twice about picking table waiters. Anyone should be able to do it. Yet the believers selected their table waiters with much care.

What were the minimum requirements the disciples had for the table waiters?

Your answer:

One reason why the seven servers had to be filled with the Spirit and wisdom was because authority came with their responsibility - they would become 2nd in command after the 12 disciples. Can you think of other reasons why the task of waiting on tables requires Spirit and wisdom? (v3)

Your answer:

Stephen met with opposition while he was trying to do God's work. Did that stop Stephen from doing God’s work? Why was he able to stand up against his persecutors?

Your answer:

Now we know the real reason why the Seven needed to be filled with the Spirit and wisdom. He needed the wisdom to stand up against his persecutors. There is a more important question. Why did Stephen persist in doing God’s work? Why not stop – or run away?

The answer is simple. God’s work was and still is important. So must do it. Why again? Because it is commanded of us.

By waiting on tables, the seven were fulfilling the greatest of God's commandments. Do you know what those commandments are? (I think any student who knows this deserves to be congratulated)

You answer: Matt 22:36-40.
How are you fulfilling God's greatest commandments? Do you think you could wait on tables? Why or why not? What else do you think you could do?

Maybe some of us have never considered what we can do for God before – or we think that whatever it is, it won’t be easy. But that shouldn’t stop us from doing what we were created to do (Eph 2:10).

Stephen met with opposition but that didn’t stop him from doing the right thing because he was full of wisdom. We should ask God to bless us with this wisdom too. (James 1:5)

Did you ask for it? Yay!

Here is some wisdom we can receive from God’s word:

Prayer was more important to the disciples than acts of service such as waiting on tables (v4). We should not replace our relationship with God with a relationship with God’s work. Instead we should try to express ourselves both upward and outward. This is in-sync with the first and second commandments. We love God first and then also his people.

The preaching of the word was more important to the disciples than waiting on tables (v2). This suggests that spiritual needs are more important than physical needs. Just as we don’t forget to eat 3 meals a day… how can we forget to pray?

Lastly, notice the word ‘So’ in verse 7. If we receive this wisdom and do God’s work… can there be any doubt that the word of God will spread?

No lesson plan this week. We will have sharing.