Teacher's Corner
This page is for information for Sunday School Teachers, ideas, about training sessions, or special classes that teachers should attend
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Making Right Choices:
Psalm 119:11 – “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
It’s happened to most of us (to some of us, more than once). As we drive toward a place we’ve never been before, we realize that our directions are at home. The map we need is no longer in the glove compartment! Suddenly, the strangeness of everything around us intensifies. Should we turn here? What was that street name? We wonder.
But imagine that we recognize the problem and do the sensible thing—stop to buy a map, no matter how much it costs. We’ll pay any price for that information! However, as we look at the map, we realize that the street we’re on isn’t even on the map! The map is outdated, incorrect, and unreliable!
That’s a little like life, isn’t it? Spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually, each of us moves through new territory every day. We are all headed for a destination to which we’ve never been before. Is it any wonder that people look confused, worried and unhappy? Often, a map that is touted as a solution to our confusion is held out to us, but as we study it, we realize that this map, like so many others, is not reliable. It only confuses things further! But God loves us too much to leave us wondering and wandering! He gave us his word…the Bible. It is His love letter to all who believe and follow Him.
Teacher Challenge:
Help the students you teach realize that God holds out a set of directions and a map, all found in one complete guidebook…the Bible. It’s the only reliable information for getting us through the unfamiliar territory of our lives and safely to the destination of life with Him forever! (Kind of make you want to hug your Bible, doesn’t it?)
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Devotion for Teachers
The Bible – A Light to my Path:
Psalm 119:105 – “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Imagine how different everything would be without the written word – no books, no signs, no newspapers, or letters. In such a situation, how much information could we remember? Most of us would admit that even on a good day, we remember far less than we wish we could. And if we had no Bible and had to memorize all of the scripture, we know we probably wouldn’t remember it all very accurately!
God, in His mercy, gave His messages to people who could write them in permanent form, so His words could be remembered and reread. The written word allows everyone with the ability to read to discover the gift of His word for them. Through the writing of the Old Testament, He laid the foundation for the coming of the Word made flesh, and the New Testament of the revelation of the Word made flesh, Jesus.
Teacher Challenge:
As children learn to read, their understanding grows quickly. Reading may still seem to be hard work for some in your class. But help them grasp the exciting idea that reading God’s Word leads to understanding of God’s love letter to us!
Making Right Choices:
Joshua 24:15 – “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
People make dozens of choices every day - from what to eat to which car to buy. Whether the choice is insignificant or a matter of life and death, the stock index, advice columns, horoscopes, and talk shows all loudly proclaim “rules” (both good and bad) by which to make “the right” choices. How can we know the best way to choose?
Think about Abraham, one of the great patriarch’s of the Bible. In his life, we see some choices that show he didn’t always consult God first. He got into trouble several times when he “leaned on his own understanding.” However, as Abraham followed God, we see that the overall pattern of his life was one of trusting and consulting God when decisions were made – despite his failures. He chose to leave Ur when there was no reason to do so except that God had told him to; he chose to believe God’s promise that through his descendants, every nation would be blessed (see Genesis 12:1-9). That’s quite a rule by which to live life. And in Romans 4, Paul describes Abraham’s living by the rule of faith in God as righteousness! Abraham was living proof that there is no better rule for making choices than “in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6).
Teacher Challenge:
Help your students understand that there are real ways they can expect God to help them (and you) make right choices. As you teach children/youth, describe ways God has helped you choose wisely as you prayed, read His word or listened to trusted Christian friends and advisors. Your living example of ways you have asked for and received His help in making choices will help your students see that pleasing God and living out His exciting promises is as wonderful today as it was in Bible times!