God in Me Week 8

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Delicous Stumble

WEEK 8 - February 20 - 25

Prayer Emphasis - Algeria
People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Africa

Area: 2,381,741 sq km

Agriculture is possible on the Mediterranean coast, in the Atlas Mountains and at oases; 80% is desert.

Population: 35,422,589
Capital: Algiers
Annual Growth: 1.52%
Urbanites: 66.5%
HDI Rank: 104 of 182 (UN Human Developement Reports 2009)

PEOPLE

Peoples: 45 (85% unreached)

Official Language: Arabic and Berber; French and English are widely used, and 25% speak one of the Berber languages

Languages: 22

ANSWER TO PRAYER

The growth of the Algerian Church over the past decade is an answer to prayer. A long road of tearful sowing by a tenacious succession of missionaries and intercessors is bearing beautiful fruit—while impossible to assess accurately, some believe that the number of believers far exceeds 100,000. The large majority are Kabyle Berber in background, but faith is growing among Arabs and almost every other people as well. New fellowships are popping up all over the country. This is in part due to the commitment of Berber believers to move into unreached, Arab areas in order to sow the seeds of the good news.

CHALLENGE FOR PRAYER

Algeria has suffered deeply in the past. From French colonial exploitation to the war of liberation to the more recent brutal civil war that cost over 100,000 lives, its people are familiar with violence and loss. Pray for the following issues:

a) The spiritual and psychological legacies of a land fraught with bloodshed. Fear of murderous attacks by terror groups has lessened, but the violence has never ended. Many people are war-weary and wish for the upheaval to end, but that seems a distant dream.

b) Democracy is enshrined in the constitution but struggles elsewhere to hang on. A single-party state more or less remains, and the freedoms promised on paper rarely materialize.

c) Human rights abuses are widespread. Change to some laws opened the door for further abuse. The Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation is more lenient to the perpetrators of civil war crimes than to the victims; few will be brought to account for the terrible crimes committed (by both terrorist groups and state security forces), and the media will be subject to greater state control. Most vulnerable are non-Muslims.

Week 8 Family Devotion

Read:

• Leviticus 23:26-32
• In the Old Testament, God made a way for sin to be forgiven by setting aside a day every year to fast and focus solely on seeking forgiveness from God for all sin.  This day was known as the Day of Atonement.  Through sacrificial rituals that pictured the transfer and removal of sin away from the people, the people of God witnessed God’s amazing grace and mercy.  These sacrifices pointed forward and were made effective by the coming sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross.  There, Christ fully atoned for our sins through His substitutionary death.  By His intercession, He turned away the wrath of God and became sin for us.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
 
The Bottom Line:  God is holy and has provided a way for us to be holy and pure before Him through His son Jesus Christ.

Questions:
Does God forgive us of all sin?
Can we truly be holy?
How does Jesus fulfill the Old Testament sacrifices?
What is our response to God’s amazing acts of mercy and grace in Christ?

Sing:

He Leadeth Me! O Blessed Thought

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

Refrain

Forever (Chris Tomlin) View in Itunes

Give thanks to the Lord
Our God and King
His love endures forever
For He is good, He is above all things
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
With a mighty hand
and outstretched arm
His love endures forever
For the life that's been reborn
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise

Yeah
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever
Forever

From the rising to the setting sun
His love endures forever
By the grace of God
We will carry on
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Yeah
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever
Forever
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever
Forever
Forever

His love endures forever
His love endures forever
His love endures forever
Forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Yeah
Forever you are faithful
Forever you are strong
Forever you are with us
Forever
And ever
Yeah

Forever you are faithful
Forever you are strong
Forever you are with us
Forever
Forever
You are God.....
Forever
And ever and ever ....

Suggestions:

These suggestions were created to help parents better communicate the biblical truths discussed in the Family Worship Guide.  These activities and questions can replace or serve as a supplement to the questions.  Remember, these suggestions are intended to help parents facilitate God-centered discussions with their children.  Parents should prayerfully use these suggestions, and any other means necessary, to help their children discover the truths of God’s Word and worship Him together.

Preschool (Birth-Kindergarten)

• Before you begin get a fun snack.  Set the snack on the table and tell the children you are going to pretend the snack belongs to someone they know (grandma, friend, etc) and you are not supposed to eat it.  Then say that the snack looks really yummy, and you think you’ll eat it anyway.  Pick up the snack and begin to eat it. Do you think I made a good choice by eating their snack? Did I do what was right?  No, I didn’t.  I made a bad choice.  I ate the snack when it belonged to someone else.  Do you think God would be pleased with my choice?  No, He would not.  Remember we learned that God’s people are supposed to be different and obey God’s laws.  When we choose to do things that we know are wrong, we are disobeying God. Sin is disobeying God.

• God is holy.  That means God never sinned and He never will.  He is different from everyone else.  God loves us so much that He sent someone who can help us turn from our sin.  He sent Jesus.  When we make bad choices and choose to sin, we can pray and ask Jesus to help us turn away from our sin. Next time, if someone tells me that I cannot eat his/her snack, would it be okay if I eat it anyway?  No, it would not be okay.  Remember, God sent Jesus to help us make good choices, so that we can show others that God is holy.

Children (Grades 1-5)

• If possible, have on hand an old ceramic coffee mug. Also have a small bag, a hammer and some glue.

• Show your children the mug and explain that you all are going to pretend.  “We are going to pretend that this coffee mug is your mom’s favorite mug.  Pretend it is expensive and irreplaceable. No one is supposed to touch or hold the mug except mom.” Let everyone examine the mug and highlight the fact that the mug is perfect.  “See what a lovely mug it is?  There are no cracks or holes in it.  It is perfect!  We are also going to pretend that we disobeyed and played with the mug and broke it.”  Ask for a volunteer to the break the mug.  Place the mug in the bag and have the volunteer hit it with the hammer.  Don’t shatter it; simply break it so there are two or three large pieces. “Now the mug is no longer perfect.  We disobeyed the rules and disobeyed mom and now it is broken.  Because of our sin, we are broken before God, just like the mug is broken.

• The Day of Atonement was a time set aside each year for the Israelites to reflect upon and turn away from their sin so God could forgive them.  Rather than go to work or school, the Israelites spent time thinking about their sin and how they could be more like God.  Then they would sacrifice animals to the Lord as a way to pay for their sin. Now go back to the broken mug. “We broke the mug, so we need to sacrifice our time playing outside today to fix it.  We will spend time thinking about our disobedience so we can ask mom for forgiveness for breaking her mug.”  Work together to glue the mug back together. Then say, “Can we make this mug look as if it had never been broken?  No, we can’t.  Even though we have glued it back together, we can still see the breaks.  It is no longer perfect.”

• The good news for us is that Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice (atonement) for our sins so we no longer have to. Because He died on the cross, we can be holy and pure before God.  We will still face consequences for our sins, just like the cracks in the broken mug.  We will still need to reflect upon and turn away from our sins and toward Christ, but the payment to repair our sin has already been made.  When we trust in the blood of Jesus to pay for our sins, we look as if they never happened. Because of this sacrifice, God, who is perfect and holy, sees us as perfect and holy, too.

 

Students (Grades 6-12)

• Have you ever received an insincere apology from someone? How could you tell they were not really sorry for what they had done?  Usually you will know if an apology is sincere when there is a change in behavior because the person is truly sorry for how they hurt you.  Their heart changed, so their actions changed.  Repentance is similar.  When we repent, we turn away from sin and toward Christ.  He changes our hearts to produce an overflow of obedience, submission, and love for Him.

• For the Israelites, atonement (or covering) for their sins happened on the Day of Atonement. It was a yearly practice. On that day, they reflected on their lives, identified and repented of their sins, and offered an animal sacrifice to pay the death penalty for their sins. For us, this process happened when Christ was crucified. He, like the animals we read about in Leviticus 16, was the Atoning Sacrifice for each of us.  If repentance and reflection are part of the atoning process, what are some ways you can incorporate them into your daily life?

• Through Christ, we have received atonement for our sins. In Leviticus 11:44 God says, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy for I am holy.” Repentance should lead us to live lives that are holy (meaning “set apart”).  What are some things you need to separate yourself from if you are going to live a life that is holy? Is your life a reflection of the forgiveness and grace you have received through Christ?

Previous Weekly Devotions

Week 7
Week 6
Week 5
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1