Christ for Disciplers

This week we give thanks for children.  This episode thanks God for the play of children.

God brought justice to the Egyptians with the Plague of the Firstborn.  That reality of death showed the Israelites how blessed they were by grace.

We today need to let our children know about and deal with death so they can appreciate the life they have in Jesus.

God had his people remove yeast that symbolized sin from their house to get ready for the passover.

Today the disciples we train need to be trained to look for sin and work to get rid of it.

When God came to bring death on Egypt, the blood of the lamb that the adults put on the door frame had God pass over their house.  Today adults are still the ones to lead in making sure the blood of the Lamb, Jesus is between their children and death.

God set up the annual tradition of the Passover meal, so he people would remember how God saw the blood of the lamb and spared them from death.  Jesus set up the Last Supper from the Passover so his people would look back and see how his blood (as the Lamb of God) saves them from death.

We need to train the next generation to understand that picture.

God called his children special.  He made a distinction between them and the Egyptians as he called them out of that country and slavery.  We need to teach our children they are special because God has called them that by the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.

After patient efforts, God finally plagued the Egyptians with darkness.  He would eventually let Pharaoh and his people have it their way.

As parents and teachers we are patient with children but finally we have to let them have it their way -- hoping they will return to us and God some day.

God sent 10 plagues to try and get Pharaoh's attention so he would repent and save his people -- but Pharaoh stayed stubborn.

We normally pray for God to make our life easy but if God knows we or our children are straying we want him to do whatever it takes to get us back with him.

The Israelites suffered with the Egyptians for the first plagues.  God chose that to be a blessing for them all.  How does that guide us when it comes to group consequences for our kids or scholars?  When do we let the "innocent" suffer as part of the group?

The magicians in Egypt tried to counterfeit God's signs but fell short.  Our kids can easily mistake the glory and happiness of this world for what God really wants them to have.  Our task is to help them see the difference.