Friday, September 17, 2010

The Choices Of Life


I'm very excited about a new series we have just begun in our Sunday School hour.  The series is called The Choices of Life, and is a chapter by chapter study of the book of Proverbs.  As depicted by our  poster above, life is about choices.  Choices about friends, relationships, money, bitterness, alcohol, greed, forgiveness, anger, lust, obedience, child rearing, marriage, and many other topics must be made every day.  Every day, another choice.  Every choice, another consequence.  Often people want a certain destination, but fail to make the right turns in life to reach that destination.  

With God's help, we want to teach our people to live their lives by the wisdom that comes from God and His Word.  Last Sunday we handed out a small picture like the one above to each person to remind them of three things: to come to Sunday School each week, to read their Bible each day, and to make wise choices every day.

We had a great start to the series last Sunday, and plan to stay in this series for 8 - 9 months.  In addition to the weekly outlines of each chapter, we will also be periodically distributing bonus handouts on such topics as:
      -the four main characters in the book of Proverbs
      -the marks of a wise man
      -the marks of a foolish man
      -the battle for the simple man
      -the three calls of wisdom
      -a list of things that are said to be "better"
      -lists of God's wisdom for various situations
      -a list of Biblical proverbs that have a Khmer equivalent
      -and other practical handouts

On the back of each week's lesson, we are including a Bible reading and project schedule for the week.  Instead of the traditional way of moving on to a new passage every day, I am encouraging our folks to slow down and read each chapter of Proverbs numerous times in order to meditate on it and let the Word of God really speak to their hearts.  The weekly schedule looks like this:

Monday:  Read the chapter that was studied yesterday.  Write down one truth you learned in S.S.

Tuesday:  Read the same chapter again.  Write down one verse in this chapter which encouraged you.

Wednesday:  Read the same chapter again.  Write down one verse in this chapter which convicted you.

Thursday:  Read the same chapter again.  Write down one wise choice you can make based on this chapter.

Friday:  Read the chapter that will be studied this Sunday.  How many times do you see the word "wisdom"? (the word we are looking for changes from chapter to chapter)

Saturday:  Read the same chapter again.  Choose one verse that you predict will be emphasized in tomorrow's lesson.

Sunday:  Read the same chapter again.  Go to Sunday School!

We are praying the Lord's blessing upon this effort to impart the wisdom of God to Christians who are eager to make the right choices in life.  Pray for us!

3 comments:

  1. What an exciting study!!! Great ideas for the daily meditating of Proverbs. There is SO much in just that one book of the Bible. Your poster looks awesome and I'm sure the picture handed out will be a great help and reminder to the people. (I may have to make one - in English - to hang in our house) I love the idea of a visual, daily reminder to make right choices.

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  2. It is so important to get people interacting with God's Word on a daily basis. It will be exciting I'm sure to see the spiritual growth of the members of New Hope as they get into the Bible through this study.

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  3. We will be praying that God would really bless this study.

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