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Grow in grace and knowledge



Bible Study for April 10 - 16, 2000

Today's scripture:  
 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.                             2 Peter 3:17 - 18

 This is one of my favorite scriptures. It is also the motto I use for this ministry. My goal is to help kids "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ." This scripture is for you guys that have already asked Jesus into your heart. If you haven't already given Jesus your heart, you can still read it! You really need to read the "How to become a Christian page."

Who wrote this? Who did he write it to? Simon Peter wrote it. He was writing to Christians. Probably a church or a group of churches. These churches had a lot of false teachers giving them bad info. They had governments trying to shut them down. They had people in the church trying to change God's law. They had friends and neighbors telling them they were crazy to be following a dead guy, Jesus. Doesn't that sound like today's world?

There are some cool facts in this scripture. We know that Satan wants us to stay away from God. He never wants us to have a personal relationship with Jesus. But if we do, Satan wants to get us back! It's like a football game. When the red team has the ball, the blue team is trying to take it away. The red team tries to get the blue team to throw an interception or fumble the ball. Satan will use anything he can to get us back on the sinning side. Even people in our own church! Since there are people in churches, and people that run churches, and people make mistakes, many people in church have chased others away. Sometimes because they are mean, sometimes they are just dumber than a bean. Sometimes the person who runs away is just too sensitive, or looking for excuses. However it happens, the Devil loves it!

Can a Christian fall away from Jesus? Look at the part that says, "fall from your secure position." Churches argue about this subject. Let's not take any chances! Try to live a Christ like life. Kick the devil's (I'm not talking about your little sister) hiney every chance you get! Peter tells us to stay on guard. He says that we could be carried away (from Jesus) by the "error" of lawless men (by men, he means men, women, and kids). See, Satan will use men to get to you. To separate you from the Lord.

Well then, how do I avoid this stuff? Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. It's really easy to do, but really tough. How can it be both? It's easy to brush your teeth. It's hard to remember to do it after every meal! Or we're to lazy to do it.

Here's what you have to do if you really want to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
1. Read your Bible daily. Just pick it up and read, by a devotional book, look at studies on the Internet, ANYTHING. Just do it every day. That helps you gain knowledge. That makes you a better Christian. It's like playing Nintendo. If you never play, you won't be good at it. You'll never save Yoshi! But if you practice every day, you'll get good at it. Reading your Bible every day teaches you how to get good at being a Christian.

2. Pray often. Not just daily. Many, many times every day. The Bible tells us to pray "continually." You don't have to get on your knees, bow your head, and close your eyes for every prayer (You should do that sometimes, too). Just talk to him. Tell him thanks every once in a while. Ask him for some help. Tell him what is happening with you. Get in the habit of talking to him. Then when Satan tries to tell you to do something, Jesus won't let him get a word in!

3. Hang around with Christians. If you are hanging around the right people, it will be hard for the devil to find someone to tempt you. GO TO CHURCH. Start a Bible study in school. Find Christians to be your friends. If you have friends that aren't saved, then witness to them. If they don't turn to Jesus, don't be a close friend to them. You might lose a few friends, but you will gain new ones. And if you witness to people, and the find out you are a Christian, they will quit trying to tempt you. They will quit telling the dirty stories, or trying to get you to cheat, or quit using bad words around you. Remember, above all else, show them the love of Christ.

Have you been trying to "grow in the grace and knowledge?" Are you easily tempted? Will you work harder or completely change?

This Week's prayer:

Heavenly Father,
 I know I haven't spent enough time trying to know you better. Please give me the wisdom to grow closer to you. Please send the Holy Spirit to guide me to the right scriptures daily. Help me to resist lawless men.
Thank you,
Amen

Fred Red teaches a lesson
This story includes Fred Red, Katie, Joey

 Katie and Joey are walking home from school when Joey asks a question.
 "Katie, you've been a Christian for a long time, haven't you?"
 "Yes I have. Why?" answered Katie.
 "I've been having some problems lately." replied Joey.
 "You don't mean that gas problem again, do you?" Katie joked.
  "NO. I'm being serious. I just don't feel like I did when I first got saved."  he said.
  "Most of us don't." replied Katie.
  "You mean you feel that way, too?" asked Joey.
 "Sometimes. Especially when I don't do the things I'm supposed to be doing." Katie said, honestly.
 " Like what?" Joey asked.
 Katie answered, "Reading the Bible, praying, stuff like that."
 "You mean that you have to keep doing stuff like that after you get saved?" Joey has a lot of questions!
 "Yeah, I guess so." replied Katie.
  "What all do you have to do?" asked Joey.
 "Well, I don't know exactly."
 "Who can we ask?"
 "We can ask MrGene. " answered Katie.
 "That's a good idea. Let's go ask them." said Joey.
 "OK. Let's go!" Katie replied.

 Then they ran off looking for MrGene, or anyone they thought could answer their questions.  They went in separate areas to try to find MrGene and agreed to meet later at the park. An hour later they meet...

 Katie asked, "Hi Joey. Did you find MrGene yet?"
 Joey replied, "Nope. And I've been looking all over for him."
  "Where could he be?" asked Katie.

 About this time Fred Red walked up.

 "Hello human Katie, hello human Joey!"
 "Hi Fred Red. We've been looking for MrGene. Have you seen him?" asked Joey.
 "No, but maybe I can help, human Joey."
 Katie said, "Maybe, but you are a new Christian, too."
 "Yes I am. I am new to God. Why is that a concern human Katie?"
 "Joey was saying that he doesn't have that same feeling that he had when he became a Christian."
 Joey agreed, "Yeah, sometimes I don't even feel saved. And I've been having some problems lately."
 Fred Red joked, "It's not that gas problem, again, is it?"
 "NOOOO." said Joey.
 "I'm sorry, human Joey. Now to your problem. Have you been growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus?"
 Katie had a funny look on her face. "What do you mean?"
 "When I was first saved, human MrGene told me that my coming to know God didn't stop there."
 "Well I thought it did. You ask Him in your heart and then He's there, right?" asked Joey.
 Fred Red replied, "No! If you learn 2 + 2 it doesn't mean you know all math do you? If you learn how to write your name it doesn't mean you can write a book, does it?"
Katie asked, "I guess not. But what do you have to do?"
 " According to the Bible you have to grow in grace and knowledge." answered Fred Red.
 "I guess growing in knowledge is easy. All you have to do is read the Bible." said Joey.
 "Yeah, but it isn't easy. The Bible is huge, and it's easy to get out of the habit of reading it." Katie stated.
 " And that isn't all, humans. You have to go to church so that you can hear human teachers and  preachers  explain a lot in the Bible. Even Jesus went to church as a small human to learn the scriptures."
 " That's right. He did! And he memorized a lot of the Bible. I remember that he quoted scriptures to the preachers." said Joey.
 "He sure did. But how can we grow in grace?" asked Katie.
 Fred Red answered, "Reading the Bible is part of that, too. But the biggest part is prayer. We have to talk to God every day. That's when we grow closer to Him."
 "And I guess that going to church is part of that, too. When we worship in songs and stuff I get a funny feeling, like when I first got saved." said Joey.
 Katie remembered, "You're right! Me too!"
 "So to keep that special feeling we have to read our Bible, pray, worship, and go to church to learn and be with other believers." said Fred Red.
 "And that will make it easier for us to resist temptations!" said Joey.
 Katie said, "I think we've answered our questions."
 Joey thought so, too.  "I'm going to read my Bible right now. Bye Katie, bye Fred Red."
 "Bye guys." said Katie.
 " Good bye human Katie, goodbye human Joey."

How about you? Have you been growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ?

1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Across
 3. Our Lord and Savior
 4. Rhymes with lace
 7. What it is we are doing when we sing to Jesus.
 9. She is in the story.
10. Master

 Down
1. Read the Bible to get this.
5. Where we meet other Christians.
6. God's Word.
8. Wrote the scripture we studied.

Answer to puzzle

Answers for word game April 10 - 16, 2000
1k
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3 J
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4g
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5c
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6b
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7w
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s
h
i
8p
b
c
e
l
h
9k
a
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10L
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d


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Copyright 2000 by Gene Powell