Review from November 14

Hey all,

Hope you are having a great week so far.  Here is a review from last Sunday's Club 56 lesson.  Our topic was "What if I am the only one saying "no"?"  It was the first week of our new unit on peer pressure.  Peer pressure is something very real that we all deal with. 

We started by talking about the future, and what would happen if new laws came to be that made some significant changes that we don't agree with.  Changes like no more schools, lying, cheating and stealing are ok, you can watch, listen to whatever you want and all churches are banned. We had a volunteer take a stand against one of the changes that were happening, and the others in the class pleaded, argued and tried to persuade the volunteer to give up their stand and accept the new rules - and follow them. It is easy for us to say we will take a stand and hold to it - for God, or for what's right, or whatever, but then when we are in the situation, it gets harder to stay strong.

In Discussion time, we looked at the story of Daniel. (Daniel 6)  Jealous rivals didn't like how much the King liked Daniel, and plotted to take him out.  They had the King  - who liked being popular and worried a lot about what others thought of him - sign a law that only let people pray to him.  Daniel knew that obeying God and following Him was more important.  So he broke the law, and kept praying to God after the law was passed.  He was arrested and thrown in the lion's den.  He knew what was right and did it, even though it got him into trouble. 

Matthew 12 was our next stop.   We read the story of Jesus casting out a demon, and being accused of working for Satan.  He finished by sharing our memory verse for the week.  Matt 12.30.  Jesus offers us this challenging verse.  Anyone who is not working with God - is working against God.  That means that, even when we are facing pressure from other people, choosing God's way is the only way.  Caring what others think enough to let it weaken our stand for God is working against God.  What a challenging verse.  I don't want to be working against God.  We can ask for His help in being firm in our stand for Him. 

It was a good discussion, and next week's promises to be, too.  Our topic will be "What if saying yes makes me popular".

Bonus point time:
From Pastor Ivan's sermon.  
  He gave us 3 things to do that demonstrate Authentic Godliness.
Fill in the blanks for the bonus points (1 point for each)

   Bring H___________
   Bring L___________
   Bring G________  to ________