Red Letters: The Parable of Pride

Chetkeila @ L56

• Luke 14:7-14 NLT
  When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: "When you are invited to a wedding feast, don't sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited?  The host will come and say, 'Give this person your seat.' Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! "Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, 'Friend, we have a better place for you!' Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Then he turned to his host. "When you put on a luncheon or a banquet," he said, "don't invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward.  Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you."

1. Pride brings humiliation.
   A. You shouldn't think more highly of yourself than you should.
   B. An when you walk in pride, you are telling God that you can do things on your own.
2. You will be humbled.
   A. Humility is about putting others in a higher place than you.
   B. Luke 9:24 NLT...If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
   C. Philippians 2:3-4 NLT...Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
3. Heart change
4. God is our Lighthouses
• Dead ahead, through the pitch-black night, the captain sees a light on a collision course with his ship. He sends a signal: "Change your course ten degrees east.""Change yours ten degrees west," comes the reply.The captain responds, "I'm a United States Navy captain! Change your course, sir!""I'm a seaman second class," the next message reads. "Change your course, sir."The captain is furious. "I'm a battleship! I'm not changing course!""I'm a lighthouse. Your call."

Resisting Temptation: There's An App For That

Every week, I serve some awesome pre-teens at Lakewood Church through Level 56.

Level 56 is our exciting, high impact service designed exclusively for 5th and 6th graders. Our tweens discover an exciting new world where they can hang out with friends, enjoy games and fun activities and learn leadership and social skills through biblical principles that will prepare them for the future.

This month we are ministering on the topic Resisting Temptation: There's an App for That

Bottom line

There’s no better way to escape temptation than to run from it, and the best way to flee temptation is to be prepared for it.

Key Passages

• Genesis 19:10-17

Two men reached out and pulled Lot inside the house, locking the door. Then they struck blind the men who were trying to break down the door, both leaders and followers, leaving them groping in the dark. The two men said to Lot, "Do you have any other family here? Sons, daughters—anybody in the city? Get them out of here, and now! We're going to destroy this place. The outcries of victims here to God are deafening; we've been sent to blast this place into oblivion."   Lot went out and warned the fiancés of his daughters, "Evacuate this place; God is about to destroy this city!" But his daughters' would-be husbands treated it as a joke. At break of day, the angels pushed Lot to get going, "Hurry. Get your wife and two daughters out of here before it's too late and you're caught in the punishment of the city."   Lot was dragging his feet. The men grabbed Lot's arm, and the arms of his wife and daughters—God was so merciful to them!—and dragged them to safety outside the city. When they had them outside, Lot was told, "Now run for your life! Don't look back! Don't stop anywhere on the plain—run for the hills or you'll be swept away."

• Genesis 19:23-26

...The sun was high in the sky when Lot arrived at Zoar. Then God rained brimstone and fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah— a river of lava from God out of the sky!—and destroyed these cities and the entire plain and everyone who lived in the cities and everything that grew from the ground.   But Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

Memory Verse

• James 4:7 

Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Objectives

For students: -To discover the story of Lot -To identify temptation -To develop tools to fight temptation

Summary

There’s no better way to escape temptation than to run from it. But temptation isn’t like a pack of wild animals pursuing us. It comes at us when we least it expect it, and it’s hard to see the danger. We need to prepare ourselves for tempting situations, be ready to give an answer when we are tempted, and be ready to run when there’s no other choice.

*******************My Personal Notes*******************

I think that this is an excellent lesson for our preteens. They are getting to an age where there are a lot of temptations that they have been warned about! This story teaches them to listen, obey without hesitation, keep moving forward, and to love others.

Listen, Obey, Move Forward

Lot hesitated and had to be lead out of the city. Another lesson is to keep moving forward. Sometimes we make the right decision and flee temptation but we keep looking back instead of moving forward. We wonder "what if" and question ourselves right out of doing the right thing. Lot’s wife looked back at the city after the men told her not to do this. She had to pay the price. 

Love Others

Another lesson is that God wants us to help those who love Him. When Abraham found out that the cities would be destroyed he pleaded with God to save his nephew. Many times we know that someone else's decision may lead them to a bad outcome and our love should compel us to help that person flee the temptation to do the wrong thing

Ups & Downs: The Great Adventure

I usually serve with the Kidslife team in Level 56 on Saturdays, but tonight I served with the Lakewood P layers (Drama Ministry) to help the 1st-4th graders learn about love. I did however get the notes for this weekend and decided to do a devotional about what this particular topic means to me. The Level 56 Summer Break Focus Topic has been "Ups & Downs: God's Faithfulness. This weekend we are focusing on the "The Great Adventure" and I'm sure Jonathan did an amazing job teaching this message to the kids! The large bolded italicized text is part of the message that was shared.  The scriptures that I share below ARE NOT NECESSARILY the scriptures the kids heard at service; this is my personal devotional on the topic! 

God has a great big plan for all of us. He has the most amazing adventure already planned out for us! All we have to do is get ready, trust him and and go on this adventure.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

When we plan to do something EVERYTHING in the plan is included to lead us to that desired destination even the things that we see as insignificant. Like David; his work as a shepherd prepared him to defeat Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:34-37But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

In this story, I see Saul as Carl and David as Ellie: some people see the vision and some people don't. David didn't get an attitude, he just explained his case like the next video. David was more than ready to go on a BIG adventure.

The couple in this video was more than ready to go on a BIG adventure.




Point #1


Don't be afraid to dream BIG! 
Now, let's take a look at Carl after he has lost all of his dreams. 


Point #2


God always has good things in store for us.
Level 56 is the Lakewood Church exciting, high impact service designed exclusively for 5th and 6th graders. Tweens discover an exciting new world where they can hang out with friends, enjoy games and fun activities and learn leadership and social skills through biblical principles that will prepare them for the future.

Matthew 19:26 ...with God all things are possible.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  

Ephesians 3:20 [God] is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us

God created the entire universe; the things I want are nowhere close to the universe. Thinking about God as the awesome creator and that he is empowers me to dream big. If he can speak the sun into existence then my dreams are no match for God. I just have to believe.

Sometimes things don't happen the way we think that they should but our ways are not God's ways.

Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”  declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Sometimes the people who we thought would share in a dream leave but it doesn't mean that God won't give me the desires of my heart. Furthermore, even though certain people didn't make it to our dream physically they still helped us get there and we should honor their memory without letting their memory impede our future.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

2 corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” [are] the things God has prepared for those who love him.

It's hard to lose sight of the fact that God has good things in store for us but we have to always remember that he does. I think Psalm 27 is a good representation of this fact. I'm sorry that I missed serving with the Level 56 team this week but I know the kids will be blessed by this message and I hope that you were too.

Psalm 27

The Ups And Downs of Life [Simba from the Lion King]

Remember Who You Belong To:

• Simba had gotten very lost and forgotten who he was…
• Who do we belong to?

“…we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.” -1 John 3:2 

• We are God's child and He is going to take care of us! Even if we stray, don't do what He wants us to, make bad choice that cause us to have some ups and downs, God is always there for us.
• When we remember whose we are, we make it through out downs and head to the ups. 
• Jesus lives in your heart and He is with us to help us every moment of every day!
• You are made for more than just problems and getting into trouble, you are made to be a King or Queen in the Kingdom of God! But, if we let the past define who we are and hold us back... we will never be able to do all that God has for us.

Put Your Past Behind You:

• I love that clip because it is a good reminder to us all about how powerful our past can be on our future. 
• We are all going to have "Ups & Downs" in life, but when we make it through difficult things, we have to choose to move on into what God has for us and not let the painful memories or experience hold us back!
• Have any of you experienced something that was difficult or hard?
• Me too, but the awesome thing about God is He always with us and willing to help get us back up on our feet and help through it onto bigger and better things!

PP SLIDE:

“…I have not achieved it [perfection], but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. – Philippians 3:13-14

-What would happened in Simba's life if he never would have moved on past the past?

• Okay, let's review Simba's “Ups & Downs”... (Ask some of the student to help you)
• Simba's Ups: being born, being a prince, his great relationship with His Dad, meeting Nahla, having friends like Timone and Pumba, etc
• Simba's Downs: Father dying, evil uncle, leaving home, etc..

Closing:

We can all agree that Simba went through both “Ups & Downs”, but he didn’t let life make him bitter, it made him better.

He owned who he was through his father and embraced what he wants meant to do! Rule!

God is going to be there for you no matter what, but you have to do be willing to need him!

evel 56 is the Lakewood Church exciting, high impact service designed exclusively for 5th and 6th graders. Tweens discover an exciting new world where they can hang out with friends, enjoy games and fun activities and learn leadership and social skills through biblical principles that will prepare them for the future.

The Ups and Downs of Life

Hannah @ L56

1. On roller coasters, it's very easy to get scared. Because you can't get off without killing yourself and it's out of your control

• Roller coasters don't care about your feelings: it doesn't matter whether or not you are enjoying the ride, you have to stay on it until the end.
• Sometimes you want the roller coaster to last longer, but once the ride is over you have to get off and get back in line, ride another ride, or go home.

2. Whatever happens in life is something that God allowed to happen.

• A. If God lets a bad thing happen then God also has a way out of the situation: you won't stay there.
• B. Even when good things happen, it's something that God allowed to happen to. It's easy to believe that it was all because of you when it's not. It's something that Got allowed to happen.

3. God is always with you through the ups and downs of life.

• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

evel 56 is the Lakewood Church exciting, high impact service designed exclusively for 5th and 6th graders. Tweens discover an exciting new world where they can hang out with friends, enjoy games and fun activities and learn leadership and social skills through biblical principles that will prepare them for the future.

God's Love

Jonathan @ Level 56

1. We know God loves us becaue He has a plan and purpose for our lives.

• PSALMS 139:13-18 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my bodyand knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.Every day of my life was recorded in your book.Every moment was laid outbefore a single day had passed. ow precious are your thoughts about me, O God.They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them;they outnumber the grains of sand!And when I wake up,you are still with me!

• Isiah 41:13 For I hold you by your right hand—I, the LORD your God.And I say to you,'Don't be afraid. I am here to help you.

• Matthew 28:20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

2. We know God loves us because we are His masterpiece.

• Isaiah 64:8 And yet, O LORD, you are our Father.We are the clay, and you are the potter.We all are formed by your hand.

• Jeremiah 1:4-5 The LORD gave me this message: " knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apartand appointed you as my prophet to the nations."

3. We know God loves us because He sent His son to die on the Cross for us.

• John 3:16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

•Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

-- Sent from JRochelle's Palm