Watch the “Lord’s Day Live!” and “Scripture Explains Itself!” videos then copy the following “Doodle Bible School,” “Application Sermon Questions,” and “Scripture Explains Itself!” questions. Click the “Submit Answers” button below each set of questions and paste the questions into the email. Answer the questions and send them to us. Read “To Keep the Faith” then follow the same instructions to submit the “To Keep the Faith Questions.”
Doodle Bible School
Lesson 10
Were you able to watch the entire lesson?
1. What is the theme of Joshua 11-12?
2. Can you doodle the picture clue?
3. How did Joshua divide the land? (11:23)
4. Can you quote the memory verse?
5. How much of the land did Joshua take? (11:15)
6. What was the length of time Joshua made war? (11:18)
7. Who were the only ones to make peace with the people of Israel? (11:19)
8. Why did no one else make peace with the people of Israel? (11:20)
9. Who was originally commanded to destroy all the nations? (11:20)
10. Have you ever had something that needed to be totally destroyed? Why?
Application Sermon Questions
Lesson 10
Were you able to watch the entire lesson?
1. What was the title of this lesson?
2. What was the first point made within this lesson? (Genesis 15:16)
3. What was the second point made within this lesson? (Joshua 6:25)
4. What was the third point made within this lesson? (Joshua 9:3)
5. What were the three reasons given in the conclusion?
For additional ways to capitalize on the information in the chapter above, click the link below.
Home Church Worship Guide – Joshua 11-12
Scripture Explains Itself!
Lesson 10
Were you able to watch the entire lesson?
1. To whom is this passage written? (Hebrews 3:12)
2. Why are we told to exhort one another every day? (Hebrews 3:13)
3. By what can a brother be hardened? (Hebrews 3:13)
Reading Assignment
Lesson 10
Dependence (Part 1)
Developing Loyalty to the Spiritual Network
The third area that must be developed, in order for our children to keep the faith, is dependence upon their spiritual social network.
I vividly remember the first time this principle affected my life. As a young Christian growing up in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, the social network of our small congregation was essential to my spiritual survival. Churches within our fellowship were very few and far between. It was a common occurrence to drive many miles just to spend a couple of hours with other Christian youth.
Sundays were a highlight of every week. The youth group always sat together during worship service (second pew from the front on the left). We loved to sing and were often depended upon to carry the songs during worship.
Afterwards, the youth group spent the entire day at the building. We played games, did homework, and just hung out. We were family.
High school was especially challenging. I attended a very large public school with all the typical social pressures. Christians were bullied. Alcohol and other drugs were common and teen sex was expected. As a young athlete trying to excel at sports and still survive spiritually, my youth group was like the ultimate support group. Meeting these friends in the lunch room or at study hall was like stepping out of a dark alley and into a safe haven of family. Weekends with the youth group kept me away from the drunken sex orgies that often destroyed other members of my sports teams. My church social network was essential.
Years passed and I encountered this dynamic again.
After graduating from college, I was hired to serve as youth minister for a congregation of more than 700 members. The youth group by itself was larger than many congregations (over 100 young people).
My first challenge was learning how to effectively serve a group that size without neglecting those who needed individual attention. I soon realized there was not enough of me to spread around to all of them. That’s when the power of community and positive peer pressure became evident again. Within this large youth group, God had blessed me with several mature members and I quickly learned to utilize their abilities.
It was during this challenging time that I also discovered the great longing that young people have for a spiritual support group. On Sunday nights, after the traditional services, we would gather at a member’s house for a youth group prayer meeting. As we would sit in a circle, paper and pencils would be distributed. Each person was asked to write down the prayer requests made by other members of the group and to pray about them during the week.
Slowly, we worked our way around the room giving everyone a chance to speak. Many times, young people broke down and cried as they confided in the group the pain they were experiencing. Kids would rush across the room to offer their love. On many occasions, the entire process was paused in order to give young people the opportunity to offer advice and console each other. They were family.
The success of this simple activity was overwhelming. We quickly discovered that teens would often come to prayer meetings when they would not come to events planned with “fun and games.” One Sunday evening, we had over sixty teens turn out for prayer, but a week later, less than half of that number turned out for a party. Young people do NOT require a constant diet of fun and games to keep them loyal. They require a family – a spiritual social network.
Since that time, I became the director of the Missionaries for America Program, an evangelistic training program for young people. Every summer, this important principle played out in the lives of young people who came to us from all across the nation.
As each of the teams assembled then began traveling, serving, and living together for weeks at a time, they learned to invest in each other. They were forced to work through personality quirks and develop group cooperation skills. They shared belongings, did each other’s laundry, mothered each other through sickness, established their own disciplinary peer pressures, and looked out for the younger members of the team. In short, this “live together experience” forced the young people to invest in the success of their unit. They became a family. *
*Borrowed from “To Keep the Faith” by Sonny Childs
Today, we work primarily with the home church along with an online presence. Although the dynamic has changed somewhat, there is still a need for the children to develop dependence upon their spiritual social network which has mainly become centered around adult family members (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, etc.) The time spent together is important to each of us—from the youngest to the oldest—as we learn and grow spiritually, worship, and fellowship with one another. Each person is given the opportunity to express themselves through various means, such as personal testimonies, choosing and/or starting songs, reading and having open discussions about Scripture, praying, and casual conversations about how God was seen during the week. Throughout our conversations/discussions, we have the opportunity to learn how each person served others or was served by others, what they learned from personal Bible study, or why they struggled since the last time we were together. Because we have this personal time together, we are able to invest in each other and encourage one another to remain faithful to the Lord. Not only are we a physical family and close friends, but we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
(“To Keep the Faith” chapter continued)
The church needs more “live together experiences.” She desperately needs to capture the unifying benefits of family networking.
For the church to keep the next generation, she must provide real-time, real-life relevance. The church must become the core of their social network.
Too often we have allowed our children to become social gluttons of the world’s activities. Like limiting junk food before lunch, parents need to dial back their child’s high caloric intake of the world’s social events. Parents must help create within their child an appetite for social interaction with the church family. *
*Borrowed from “To Keep the Faith” by Sonny Childs
In the next lesson, we will take a look at Hebrews 10:25. Please take time to read it and think about its meaning and how it relates to this lesson. We will also look at some suggestions for helping your children change their appetite for social interaction from the things of the world to developing loyalty to their spiritual network—their church family.
NOTE: If you missed the first eight lessons in this series, you can go here (lesson 1), here (lesson 2), here (lesson3), here (lesson 4), here (lesson 5), here (lesson 6), here (lesson 7), here (lesson 8) and here (lesson 9) to catch up.
To Keep the Faith Questions
Lesson 10
1. What is the third area that must be developed in order for our children to keep the faith?
2. What was the “dynamic” that was discussed in this article? Have you ever experienced this within your family or congregation?
3. The church needs more “_____________________.” What is meant by this phrase?
4. What have we allowed our children to become?
5. As a Homemaker Hero, what do you need to do to help your children avoid becoming addicted to the activities of the world?