Tag: rules

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Competition, Courage, and Honor

two men playing volleyball near red canopy

Photo by Jim De Ramos on Pexels.com Volleyball competition

Competition, courage, and honor are found in all games, including the game of life. Winners of competitions are honored and respected.

Which of these are competitions?

  • chess Yes/No
  • volleyball Yes/No
  • politics Yes/No
  • cooking Yes/No
  • preaching Yes/No
  • ping pong Yes/No
  • reading Yes/No

Games are played by rules. Life has rules too. Thousands of years ago, Moses gave the people many rules from God. Jesus changed the rules. He said people should live by two rules. What are they?

  1. Love __________.
  2. Love_______________________________.

Jesus said Love God and love others… all the Law and the Prophets depend on these two. (Matthew 22:37-39) What do you think this means?

Competition, Courage, and Honor in Paul’s Life

The apostle Paul had a lot of courage. Fill in the blanks with these words:

obstacles opportunities discouraged encouraged opposed compete prison envied

  • The apostle Paul was in _____________.
  • He saw _______________ as ________________.
  • Some people _____________ him.
  • He didn’t get_______________.
  • Instead, he _______________ other people.
  • Some people tried to _______________ with him because they_____________ him.

Paul said: What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel… so that it (the gospel) has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Philippians 1: 13-14

What was Paul’s opportunity?

Paul said: I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1: 19-20

Why was Paul happy?

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New Days, New Ways; Simplified English discussion based on Mark chapter 2

soccer by moonlight
soccer by moonlight

New days, new ways. Soccer can even be played at night now.

Rules for Games

Do you like to play games?

Some types of games are:

  • sports, like football, hockey, baseball
  • video games
  • board games, like chess, checkers, monopoly, scrabble

What is your favorite game?

The rules of the game tell us how to play. Can the rules be changed?

Rules for the game of life

As in games, there are rules for living. Thousands of years ago, God gave rules for living to Moses. We can read them in Leviticus 19. Some of them are:

  • Don’t steal 
  • Don’t lie
  • Don’t harvest all of your garden
  • Don’t eat meat with blood in it
  • Keep the Sabbath
  • Don’t get a tattoo
  • Don’t wear clothing made of two different materials
  • Don’t breed your livestock with another breed of livestock
  • Don’t seed your garden with two kinds of seed
  • Don’t trim your beard or sideburns
  • Honor your mother and father

There were a lot more rules than that. Nobody could follow ALL the rules.

God changed the rules

When Jesus came, he changed the rules. He cancelled all the old rules. He gave us two simple rules to live by:

  • Love God
  • Love people

Jesus said Love God and love others…all the Law and the Prophets depend on these two (Matthew 22:37-39).

How can we love God?

  • By praying? Yes/No
  • By reading the Bible? Yes/No
  • By following the rules in Leviticus, that Moses gave? Yes/No
  • By living like Jesus? Yes/No
  • By accepting God’s grace? Yes/No

How can we love other people?

  • By praying for them? Yes/No
  • By giving them money? Yes/No/Sometimes
  • By welcoming them? Yes/No
  • By agreeing with them? Yes/No/Sometimes
  • By giving them grace? Yes/No

New days, New ways

Jesus didn’t follow the old rules that God gave Moses. What did he do that was different?

Do you think we should follow strict rules? Why or why not?

Should we expect other people to follow strict rules? Why or why not?

“This is a new day, so let’s see it in a new way.  Let’s always try to live under the freedom and grace that Jesus gives, and relate to each other in the Spirit of love and truth.” –quote from Pastor Wayne Snider

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