So Mrs. Gettelfinger came to the Wrap Up a bit of a mess today. Her hair was messy and she still had on her PJs. She was stopped by Mrs. Hamilton and reminded that she hadn't gotten ready for the Wrap Up. When she looked in the mirror, she was shocked to see that she had forgotten to get ready even though she knew God had asked her to "do it." Some of the kids also remarked about how she looked. Once again, she looked in the mirror and was shocked to find that she had forgotten to get ready for the Wrap Up... even though she knew God had asked her to
"do it."
She began the Wrap Up for Lesson 2 of James with a look back at last week's core group time...
How many of you remember what we talked about last week in our core groups?
Remember? We played the trivia game to review our study of Philippians. I have to tell you... the other teachers and I were a bit disappointed at how much we had learned in Philippians and how much had been forgotten. We were also a bit surprised at how many of you didn't want to participate in the review.
Listen... we -your teachers- would NEVER ask you to do something that would embarrass you in any way. God may one day ask you to do something which may cause you to feel uncomfortable (such as... ask someone for forgiveness or go far far away on a mission trip.) God will ask you to do things that may at first cause us to feel uncomfortable because HE knows how much we can handle. He knows exactly what we are ready for and what we are not. We -your teachers- are not God. We would never ask you to do anything that would embarrass you. Ever.
The trivia game was not intended to cause anyone to feel uncomfortable. Nor was it intended to give you bragging rights if you won or make you feel like a "loser" if you lost. It really had nothing to do with winning or losing at all. It had everything to do with helping you REMEMBER what you had learned from the book of Philippians.
It was simply a FUN way to remember.
How many of you play sports or have played an organized sport of some kind? What do you do before you can play an actual game? Yes, practice! That's how you LEARN the sport. You practice. In practice, you learn the rules and guidelines. In practice, you learn strategies and skills to help you succeed in the game. What do most teams do between practice and an actual game? Scrimmage? Even though a scrimmage is considered a "game," it's not an "official" game... winning and losing don't really matter in a scrimmage game.
It's sort of like - a FUN WAY TO REVIEW...
or a FUN WAY TO REMEMBER... sound familiar?
Listen, your coaches would never ask you to do anything in a game you didn't already learn AND DO in practice. Your teachers -me, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Neal- we would never ask you to do something in class you didn't already learn from your lesson. And God -this is the important one- are you listening -God is not going to ask you to do something you had not already heard about in His Word. God is asking you to REVIEW and REMEMBER what you have already learned from His Word. James 1:22 says, "Don't just hear God's Word while you're having fun at CBS or church or youth group. Don't think that as long as you do your CBS lesson each week or go to church each week that you are doing all God is asking you to do. What did you learn from the Word?! Review it! Remember it! Now go do it!"
At this point in the Wrap Up, Mrs. Gettelfinger went back to the mirror and "fixed herself up."
James chapter 1 teaches us life lessons of trials, temptations, pride, and so much more. Seek where God is speaking to your heart. I challenge you to review James chapter 1 this week. Don't be like me and the mirror... I walked away and FORGOT to do what God had already asked me to do. I challenge you to review James chapter 1 this week.
Will you "do it?!"
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