Family Quest: The Rock (Peak 4, Lesson 4)
LESSON 4: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE
“Be imitators of GOD, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1).
The Bible makes plain that, when we are reborn in Christ, we are called to be “imitators of GOD,” that is, imitators of his communicable character attributes, those attributes GOD “shares” with his adopted children. We can know the character of our GOD because it is clearly revealed in scripture. Among his many qualities we find that God is loving, patient, kind, good, joyful, faithful, righteous, generous, courageous, creative, and, not least of all, forgiving. These are traits we should strive to imitate.
Download Lesson 1– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: The Rock (Peak 4, Lesson 3)
LESSON 3: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE
How can a God who hates sin so much just let it go unpunished? When He looks at his creation and sees how scarred and polluted sin has made it, He is greatly offended. How can He not pour out his anger on the guilty? How can God let wrongdoers go free? It doesn’t seem fair. Unless, of course, I am the wrongdoer and then my math changes dramatically and forgiveness seems a rather wonderful thing. But the questions are still valid. How is it just to leave sin unpunished?
The short answer is, it wouldn’t be just, if that is what God actually did.
Download Lesson 1– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: The Rock (Peak 4, Lesson 2)
LESSON 2: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE
Ben Franklin is quoted as saying, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” I think the same thing could be said about sin. If we attempt to hide sin, to cover it up, to “regard” it in our hearts, it is only a matter of time before it will begin to stink up the place. Numbers 32:23 tells us that we can be sure that our, “sin will be discovered. It will be brought out into the open.” In Hebrews 4:13 we are reminded that, “Nothing God created is hidden from Him. His eyes see everything. He will hold us accountable for everything we do.”
Download Lesson 1– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: The Rock (Peak 4, Lesson 1)
LESSON 1: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE
Over the next several weeks we will walk with our students through the hard truth that even David, a “man after God’s own heart,” failed the test and sinned against heaven. Were it not for God’s promise of forgiveness, this reality could cause us to lose all hope of ever being useful in the hands of our Lord. But the truth is that our God is faithful to forgive for the sake of his own Name and, because He is, we can say to God, just as David did, “Let me hear you say, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Psalm 51:8)
Download Lesson 1– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: The Rock (Peak 3, Lesson 4)
LESSON 4: VICTORY OVER SIN
“It’s an open book test.” Those words can indeed be beautiful to hear in the face of a difficult exam. I remember clearly the first time I heard them in a high school chemistry class. At once my heart jumped because I had not studied well for the test. In fact I hadn’t studied well for the whole year in that class. I thought, “This is a gift!” Sadly, my joy turned to nervous sweat as I frantically thumbed pages and scoured the index of a book I had barely cracked all semester. I quickly learned that, without a good working knowledge of the book, an open book test isn’t much easier at all. I needed the answers now and there just wasn’t time to find them because I didn’t know where to look.
Download Lesson 4– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: The Rock (Peak 3, Lesson 3)
LESSON 3: VICTORY OVER SIN
If he could do it, it would be a personal best. 305 pounds. He had trained at slightly lighter weights and thought he could chest press that much one time, but now, looking up from the bench at all that weight, his confidence was slipping. He was about to get up from the bench and leave it for another day when a human mountain, an offensive lineman, who he had seen press this weight multiple times, stepped up to the bar and said, “Do you need a spot? Come on you got this.”
Our faith may fail. But God’s faithfulness never will. What does it mean to say God is faithful?
Download Lesson 3– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: A Heart of Wisdom, Lesson 11
LESSON 11: WISDOM IS AS WISDOM DOES
Character and a good name are built, not with increasing knowledge, but rather one choice at a time, one action at a time, one day at time. If you’ve ever learned to type you remember the hunt and peck phase. Struggling to not look down at your fingers, wearing out the backspace key, and breaking the auto-correct on your computer. If your work has forced you to keep at it, day in and day out, over any length of time, your fingers are now likely flying over the keys as you bang out emails, reports, and social media posts. You may even be able to carry on a conversation with someone while looking at them and still be typing. How did you get there? You learned to type by typing. Think also of a child learning to walk and then consider the ease and agility of an athlete. Good teaching and a pursuit of knowledge are important, but remember Jesus’ words, “the one who hears these words of mine, AND puts them into action, he is like a man who built his house upon the rock.”
Similarly, you can gain knowledge about prayer, but you will only learn to pray by praying, to share your faith by sharing your faith, to spend time in the Word by spending time in the Word, to serve by serving. Our weak efforts to put his Word into action are taken by God, empowered by his Spirit, and turned into something more. Are we encouraging the young people of the church to actively exercise their knowledge, whether a little or a lot, in a way that honors God? It is through this exercise that they will grow in wisdom and stature, and favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).
I want to leave us with a hard question. Are we leading the children by example? Can it be said of us, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). Can we tell the children, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). By God’s grace I pray that we will not be found wanting, that we will be able to look at our spiritual children and say with the apostle John, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
BIG IDEA: Wisdom is shown in our actions.
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Proverbs 20:11-20
1 Timothy 4:12
Hebrews 13:7
1 Corinthians 11:1
Philippians 4:9
SECTION VERSE:
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. – Proverbs 2:9-10
LESSON VERSE:
Even small children are known by their actions, so is their conduct really pure and upright? – Proverbs 20:11
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Read and discuss Prov. 20:11 and 1 Timothy 4:12.
- What is character? How is it formed?
- Why is important to form good habits while you are young?
- Who helps you to live wisely? Who gives you that power? (2 Peter 1:1-8)
- How can you be an example to older Christians?
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: A Heart of Wisdom, Lesson 10
LESSON 10: A WISE FRIEND
There are two lessons that we’d like to teach the children in this Quest. The first is how to be a friend worth choosing. The second is to choose their friends wisely. One of my favorite examples of
friendship from scripture is that of David and Jonathan. Jonathan proved to be a friend worth choosing. His loyalty, bravery, integrity, and love for David even unto death are characteristics we can all admire and seek to emulate. David chose his friend wisely and did not forget him after he was gone. “Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” – 2 Samuel 9:1. David then took Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s disabled son, and brought him into his house and treated him as family. It doesn’t stretch credulity to think that perhaps David himself shared these words of wisdom with his own son Solomon, “A friend loves at all times,” and “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” as he reflected back on his friendship with Jonathan.
We want our kids to have a godly desire to be, and seek God’s grace to be, that kind of friend. A friend who leads others on good paths, spurs others on to faith and good works, speaks words that edify, is loyal and reliable, looks out for their friends, brings out the best in others, and loves at all times with the sacrificial love of Christ.
Equally important is that our children wisely choose this kind of friend for themselves. How many of us have used this phrase of a young person gone astray: “He/she fell in with the wrong crowd”? Don’t misunderstand, Jesus was a friend to sinners and so should we be. However, there is a qualitative difference between the unbelieving friend, to whom you can be a witness for Christ, and a close friend with whom you have fellowship in Christ, share your deepest struggles, and depend upon to correct you when you need it. The latter must be chosen very carefully. The warnings are plenty.
“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin” (Prov. 18:24), “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person…or you may learn their ways” (Prov. 22:24-25). “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor. 15:33). When it comes to choosing close friends we need to help the children develop a godly vision for choosing wisely.
BIG IDEA: Wisdom chooses friends carefully.
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Proverbs 18:24, 27:5-6, 22:24-25
1 Corinthians 15:33
SECTION VERSE:
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. – Proverbs 2:9-10
LESSON VERSE:
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. – Proverbs 17:17
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Read and discuss Prov. 17:9-22.
- What is a friend?
- Who is your closest friend? Why?
- What does God say makes for a good friend? Not good friend?
- How can you become a good friend? (Spend time with the best friend, Jesus, in His Word and in prayer).
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: A Heart of Wisdom, Lesson 9
LESSON 9: WISDOM BRINGS BLESSING
“What difference can I make? I’m only one person.” I’m not sure if God laughs out loud at this statement or shakes his head in frustration. It could not be a more absurd thing to say. In the hands of a sovereign God, who works all things together according to His will, every life wisely lived in faith is a powerful tool. Let me give one astonishing example of how your life, lived with the wisdom that comes from God, can have staggering impact.
Now I could rattle off a list great people in history who made significant impacts, but that is too easy to argue against because such people are few and far between. I’d rather we look at a person like Edward Kimball. Mr. Kimball was a volunteer Sunday school teacher who in 1855 humbly and obediently exercised his God given wisdom to speak with a wayward teen about Jesus Christ and then vanish into history. That teen gave his life to Christ that day. His name was Dwight L. Moody. Young Mr. Moody then dedicated his life to leading others to Christ. His example so blessed one pastor named F.B. Meyer that he went on an evangelistic tour of America. His challenge at a conference moved another young pastor named Wilbur Chapman to begin conducting evangelistic campaigns of his own. He recruited former baseball player Billy Sunday to join him and Sunday became one of America’s most successful evangelists. A group that came to Christ at one of Billy Sunday’s campaigns, put together their own event and invited evangelist Mordecai Ham to speak. At that event another young man gave his life to Christ. His name is Billy Graham. For me the story doesn’t end there. In 1952 Billy Graham held an event at Forbes field in Pittsburgh. A father and son who were present at that event came forward in response to the gospel and gave their lives to Jesus Christ in faith. Their names are Frank and Richard Meyers. My grandfather and father. So, you see, one ordinary man like us, a Sunday school teacher, simply lived in godly wisdom, and more than 100 years later is still leaving a legacy of blessing.
Never underestimate the power of the witness of your life. God told Abraham, “through you all nations of the earth will be blessed.” Solomon reminds us that doing what is wise will lift up those around us, while the unwise bring only grief and ruin to their family, their community, and themselves. God told
the returning Israelites in Zechariah 8:13 that they had been saved in order to be a blessing among the nations. We were saved for the same reason; to be a blessing. Wisdom recognizes our purpose and lives in it joyfully. Thank you Mr. Kimball!
BIG IDEA: When we do what is right, we bless those around us.
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Proverbs 14:34
Jeremiah 29:7
Psalm 67Proverbs 14:34
Jeremiah 29:7
Psalm 67
SECTION VERSE:
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. – Proverbs 2:9-10
LESSON VERSE:
Doing what is right lifts people up. But sin brings judgment to any nation. – Proverbs 14:34
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Read and discuss Prov. 14:26-35.
- Can you think of a time when you or someone else got everyone in trouble by doing the wrong thing?
- How can your right actions bless those around you? In your family, school, country?
- Mom or Dad, can you trace your history of faith to faithful servants of God? Why not share that story?
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.
Family Quest: A Heart of Wisdom, Lesson 8
LESSON 8: WISDOM DELIGHTS IN THE LORD
Does God really want us to have the desires of our hearts? A quick reading of Psalm 37:4 seems to point us in that direction. Proverbs 13:12 lays out the very common sense principle that a longing or desire fulfilled is a blessing, while hope deferred is discouraging. We can all relate to that. But what of our ungodly desires? Here in lies the danger of reading any scripture in isolation, disconnected from its context and from the whole counsel of God on any subject. Let’s look at Psalm 37 a little closer and then at the words of Jesus regarding this subject.
In its context, Psalm 37 is a call to patience before the Lord when it seems like the wicked are prospering. Specifically the child of God is called to active waiting. “Trust in the Lord and do good” (vs 3), “Take delight in the Lord” (vs 4), “Commit your way to the Lord” (vs 5). Receiving the desires of your heart is set in the context of this attitude of the heart. I will ask you, if you are trusting in the Lord and doing good, delighting in the Lord, and committing your way to the Lord, what kinds of deep desires do you think will take root in your heart, the godly variety or the worldly variety? When we delight in, find our joy in, the Lord, He becomes the desire of our hearts and there is nothing that the Lord wants to give us more than Himself. When we have Him, we begin to share His desires. Jesus reinforces this point in Matthew 6 where he exhorts his followers not to worry about the needs or wants of this world, but instead to desire first God, His Kingdom, and His goodness. The Father will take care of our needs, but He wants to be our one desire. In His presence there is fullness of joy. His presence is the good in the good news.
This is my cry, my one desire
Just to be where You are, Lord
Now and forever it’s more than a song
My one desire is to be with You
Is to be with You Jesus
(Songwriters: Joel Houston, One Desire lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group)
BIG IDEA: Wisdom desires the things of God.
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
Proverbs 13:12
Psalm 37:4-6
Psalm 145:19
Proverbs 11:23
Romans 8:27
SECTION VERSE:
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. – Proverbs 2:9-10
LESSON VERSE:
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Read and discuss Prov. 13:12 and Psalm 37:4-5.
- What are some of your desires?
- What is God’s desire for all of us? (relationship w/ Him, peace, joy, love, purpose,…)
- On what should we base our desires?
- How can you apply what you learned in Quest this week?
– – –
ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader. In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.