7-8 grade devotion project by Sydney: Temptation

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Luke 4:1-12 NIV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”  Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

 

This is the story of where Jesus was being tempted by the devil. Jesus was tempted three times. Every time the devil would tempt him he replied with words from the bible.

The first time Jesus was tempted the devil said ‘’If you are the son of God turn this stone into bread.’’ Jesus replied, ‘‘Not by bread alone shall any man live.’’ Jesus doesn’t mean the bread made with flour, yeast, and eggs, and all of those ingredients, he is talking about the spiritual bread, his body.

The second time Jesus was tempted the devil said to him, ‘‘ To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me and I will give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’’ Jesus answered, ‘’ It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’’

The third time Jesus was tempted the devil said to him, ‘’ If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’’ Jesus answered, ‘’ It is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’’

You should try not to be drawn into the temptations of the devil and stay true to the words of God. When we are tempted, we need to trust him to help us with those temptations. Jesus knew the words of God to help him through, and we could also know some of the scripture to help us.

Prayer: Dear Lord, please help me not to be drawn into the temptations of sin. Amen.

7-8 Grade devo project by Mackensi: Are You Ready?

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Luke 12:35-40 ESV

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

When we were all younger, we have all had to wait for something that we really wanted, whether it was saving up money, or standing in a really long line. Waiting is sometimes really hard for people, especially when they have to prepare something prior to what they are waiting for, but in the end, it’s all worth it because you finally get what you were waiting for.

In our text, Jesus talks about keeping our lamps burning and staying dressed for action. In Jesus’s day, the people wore heavy cloaks that fell around their ankles. Whenever they got ready to work or serve, they would lift up the heavy cloaks. When Jesus is talking about staying dressed for action, he wants us to stay ready for his coming.

Next, Jesus talks about two feasts. The first feast is where the servants wait for the groom to come home from the marriage feast. In Jesus’s day, marriage feasts were often long, but they weren’t on a schedule so the servants wouldn’t know when the master would return. Jesus also talks about the coming of the son of man will be like a thief in the night. Jesus is going to come at a time that we won’t expect, so we need to stay ready, and be prepared.

Lots of times in our busy lives we worry about forgetting things, or we just worry in general. Jesus is trying to say, don’t be afraid I will be with you. We can trust and hope that Jesus will come again, and now all we have to do is stay ready and stay awake.

Some questions to ponder:

What are some ways that you can stay awake?

How many times have you found yourself drifting off?

7-8 grade devotion project By Meghan: Running the race

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Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of  God.

Running a cross-country course is like having faith in Jesus. Sometimes we struggle through it. There can be obstacles in the way like trees, hills, temptations, and the devil. There is only one way we can get through; we must look to the finish line. Jesus is the finish line. When we get to the finish line, there is a great cloud of witnesses. They encourage us.

Jesus suffered through the course. He suffered the cross to forgive us from our sins. When we think of Jesus, we will not grow weary. We cannot get rid of the things that weigh us down. We need Jesus to get rid of them. Without Jesus, we would have no chance of completing the race.

Jesus is the founder and perfecter of faith. When he ran the course He had to endure more pain than we will have to. We should always keep out eyes on Jesus.

Questions

  1. How can we keep our eyes on Jesus?
  2. What kind of things way us down?

7-8 Grade devotion project: two weeks of devotions

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20150417_130636Starting Monday April 20th for the next two weeks this blog will be devoted to some awesome kids I work with here at our Lutheran school. This year I worked with our students to write devotions they would share with the congregation and world.  They worked for about two months on these devotions doing research about the biblical text and writing of the devotions. They aren’t perfect but I am proud of these students for stepping out and sharing their faith.  They are an amazing group of students to work with.  I hope they are a blessing to all who read them.

Check back each day for a new devotion through May 2, 2015.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat…Discipleship

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20150413_205916My body wash reminded me of something this morning. Every so often in the morning I want to stay in the shower. Sometimes because it is warm, but mostly because it gives men a few minutes to get my head on straight before I have to deal with the world of two young people and a teenager.  Oh my kids aren’t that bad.  They have their cranky moments and they act like all little sinners some times but I wouldn’t expect anything less. Their dad’s theme song is often chief of sinners though I be. Today I was in the shower and happened to be reading the back of my body wash.  I know I am weird but like I said I like to take a few minutes.  I was blown away as I read the bottle.  Rinse lather and repeat as necessary, it says. As a guy I have never really thought about doing it twice.  Most of the time if I have done it twice it is because I got so little sleep the night before that I forgot I did it in the first place.

When we talk about sharing our faith with our kids, families and for me Youth group, I forget that I need to rinse and repeat more often than not.  I sometimes forget the importance of this process in making disciples of Jesus.  I often think of Jesus and how he taught the same thing over and over again just so he could give them the holy spirit and then they would finally understand. We are a stubborn people in need of constant reminder.  We like the Israelites, disciples, and really everyone else in the Bible have seen God work in great and amazing ways yet we constantly have to be reminded of the things God has done in our lives.

So maybe today you are struggling with teaching your family, your youth group, your Church, your friend or yourself.  Remember we need to hear it over and over again.  Like shower time it isn’t is a one time thing.  The really tough stuff might even take multiple times in one attempt to get it clean. So lets all remember to keep bathing in God’s Word! Rinse, lather, repeat.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9