You Can Be Delivered

Welcome

Hand out new devotionals.

Give intro to class.

Series: The God of Deliverance - the value and power that come with a real and complete relationship with God living inside of our hearts.

Today’s Lesson: You Can Be Delivered

Where Do We Begin?

Do you know the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is what when we honor people who have sacrificed and paid the ultimate price for the sake of freedom.

Actually, a lot of other countries have the same kind of holiday.

Australia has Remembrance Day in November.

Canada recognizes their Memorial Day in July.

Many men and women have given their lives for freedom.

And… freedom is not something many people think about on a regular basis. Most of the time, we only think about it when it comes to celebrating a a holiday that specifically revolves around it.

Now why is that? Why is it that we don’t think about freedom that often???

Maybe it’s because we have been raised in freedom.

Think about it this way… Imagine that you have a bird in your house. Most likely, you’re going to keep it in a cage, unless you’re just a strange human being. And the bird is there for your enjoyment, and you want to be able to watch it flutter around the cage and listen to it sing. You open the door to the cage every now and then to give the bird food and water, and you have to clean out the cage from time to time as well. …but most of the time, the door to the cage stays shut.

Now, imagine that in the process of cleaning out the cage, you accidently walk away with the door still open...

The bird is curious, but cautious. He hops up close to the opening, weighing his options. But finally, he gathers up the courage and flies out. And the bird is overjoyed! For the first time in its life, it can fly as high as it wants to fly! It zooms around the room. It darts from perch to perch around the house… the curtain rods, the ceiling fan, then the top of the fridge!

You walk into the room, and you realize what happened. And now you’re desperately chasing your pet around the house… but you’re struggling to catch him. And the reason you’re struggling… is because he has tasted freedom! And he doesn’t want to be caged any longer!

And so here’s the deal: people who have always been free may have a hard time really appreciating freedom. But people who have been in bondage will celebrate being delivered.

Engage

Assign partners and be ready to team up if there is an odd number.

Each student has a pile of Legos and a book or barrier between the partners so they can’t see what the other is doing (think Battleship).

Each pair is to build identical, simple houses. One student gives the commands on what to use and the other student can only do what they are told to do.

The prize goes to the pair with the closest matching houses.

Why is this hard?

How do teaching, learning, and free will work together?

How do they work for people serving the Lord?

Today we’re going to study how blessings come from following God’s plan and directions for our lives.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Hebrews Were Slaves in Egypt

Toward the end of the book of Genesis, we learn about a man named Joseph.

He was one of Jacob’s 12 sons.

He was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.

He was wrongly accused of acting inappropriately toward his master’s wife, which landed him in prison.

And while in prison, he interpreted dreams.

This eventually led to Joseph interpreting a couple of sort of disturbing dreams of Pharaoh’s.

Pharaoh then brought Joseph up out of the dungeon and appointed him second-in-command over all of Egypt.

Under Joseph’s leadership, the land of Egypt was blessed. For many years, the Israelite people peacefully lived in Egypt. But there came a time when all of that changed.

Exodus 1:8 NKJV

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

Exodus 1:8 NLT

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.

You might think of it this way… sometimes, governments forget their history. That is exactly what happened here. Having forgotten about all of the good that Joseph and the Israelites did for Egypt, the new Pharaoh decided to enslave the people and use them for his own purposes.

And this Pharaoh starts thinking about how to weaken and discourage these Israelites. And he orders that all the baby boys 2 and under be thrown into the Nile River. He literally wanted to drown out their hope.

But, there was a woman named Jochebed that could not bring herself to surrender her baby boy. So, she put hum in a basket and put that basket in the river.

And I know this all seems like a big stretch of a decision (it was!), but because of her faith, something miraculous happened. Her baby boy, Moses, was discovered in the river and adopted by one of the most powerful people in all of Egypt. Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses.

Exodus 2:5–10 NLT

5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said. 7 Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. 8 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother. 9 “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. 10 Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”

God had a plan of deliverance for Israel. And it was set in motion by this miraculous set of circumstances.

And the fact is, just as God had an unstoppable plan to deliver Israel, He has an unstoppable plan for you, too!

/// Jr. High Breakout ///

The house is a mess, and no food is ready. Put these steps for preparation in order of importance. The list of steps can be transferred to paper, cut into slips to be organized by each student or team, or written on a white board where students can work together.

Students may negotiate the list, adding Grub Hub for meal delivery, but then challenge them: how will they pay with the money they have available right now in the classroom? Feel free to complicate their simplifying decisions.

Options: Set the table, Decide on the food, Main dish prep, Cut up the fruit and veggies, Clean the bathroom, Tidy the living room, Make your bed, Put away the laundry, Wash the dishes

Why prioritize the steps in a plan?

Did God’s plans for Israel’s deliverance include a timeline?

If you attend public or private school, there are many of them that have a student council. This group is normally made up of people who are elected by their classmates. And the council meets to discuss issues and concerns at the school. They usually come up with ideas to make the school administration.

And the idea here is that the members of the council represent the rest of the students. They aren’t just there to talk about their own concerns and ideas; they are there for yours, as well. And it also works the other way, too: the student council can also be the face and voice of the school administration to the students.

There’s usually a Student Council President, right? And he or she is a representative person; they represent other people.

And, it’s kind of cool… in the Bible, we often find representative people. And we call these types. (Have you ever heard that term?)

In the Exodus story, we see that Moses was a type of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He not only represented the future Messiah to Israel, but he pointed the way to Jesus, as well.

Just like Moses, Jesus was a prophet, and those who didn’t follow Him were being rebellious against God (Acts 3:22-26).

Just like Moses, Jesus built up those around Him by serving them, and He was faithful to them (Hebrews 3:1-6).

But… though Moses was a type of Christ, there is also a very important difference between Moses and Jesus.

John 1:17 NKJV

17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Choosing to serve Jesus is the most important decision that we will ever make. And serving Him doesn’t lead us to bondage. Through Jesus, we can get grace and truth!

And we have to choose grace and truth by choosing Jesus! The law can give us important principles about how to please Jesus, but freedom only comes through faithfully serving Him.

Daily Devotional Insight

The devotional focus this week has to do with deliverance. We do not need to feel afraid. God is watching over us, and His protection is all around us.

Old Covenant and New Covenant

When you look at the table of contents in your Bible, you notice that it’s not only divided into books and chapters, but Scripture is also divided into two distinct sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Why is that???

When we see the word testament, we can simply think to ourselves the word covenant.

The Old Testament is the Old Covenant. It has the law of Moses, and people were considered righteous or unrighteous mostly by how well they followed after that law.

The New Testament is the New Covenant. It’s not about stone tablets, but it is about he law of God being written in our hearts by Jesus’ Spirit.

Now, the Old Covenant is incredibly important. Some people believe that everything that is written in the Old Testament is unimportant and no longer applies to us as New Testament believers. But this is not the right mindset. Yes, there are some things that do not apply, but that is because the New Testament tells us they have been fulfilled!

But, the Old Covenant was never designed to be permanent. It was created to point the way to a new and better covenant.

Hebrews 10:1 NLT

1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.

The Old Covenant was a symbol of things to come. The New Covenant was a fulfillment of those things!

Paul talked about the difference between the Old and New Testaments in 2 Corinthians. He talked about a familiar story.

Moses actually received copies of the law twice, remember? The first time, God wrote the law on stone tablets.

When Moses came down the mountain with those tablets, though, he discovered that all of the Israelites had made a golden calf while he was gone. And in the heat of anger, Moses threw those tablets down and broke them.

Moses dealt with the people, and then he climbed back up the mountain to get new copies. But this time, there was a difference. God made him write the law down himself.

Something else interesting happened up there. Moses prayed for God to show him His glory. God showed Moses part of His glory, and when He did, Moses’ face shone brightly. In fact, his face was so bright that the people actually made him wear a veil, because they were too scared to look at him.

So let’s look at what Paul says about it to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 3:12–18 NLT

12 Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. 14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. 16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Paul was saying that the law was the veil over Moses’ face. You could glimpse God’s glory through the law, but you didn’t experience it face to face like He intended.

So, here’s the deal: for somebody who is trying to make their way to God through their own actions, the law becomes a veil. Just like the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt, they become slaves to the law. And they need a deliverer to set them free.

Jesus came to be that deliverer. But because many looked at Jesus through only the veil of the law, they rejected Him and missed out on salvation. This is what happened with the Jews. He came to redeem them, but they missed out on His freedom.

Freedom can only come through the Spirit of Jesus. We can’t find freedom any other way. Have you ever heard someone say that all religions are equal and that we are all really worshiping the same God? It’s really not true! Religious works might give you a somewhat better life, but the only way to real spiritual freedom is through Jesus.

We have to believe in Jesus so that we can experience from our sins.

John 3:5 NKJV

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:16–17 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Acts 2:38 KJV 1900

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The only way we can experience God’s deliverance is to act on the opportunity He has given us by being born again. He doesn’t want us to perish (or die); He wants us to find salvation in Him!

Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born of water and Spirit in order to be born again. In Acts, Peter told the crowd on the Day of Pentecost how we are born of water and Spirit.

We are born of water by being baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. The only Scriptural way to be baptized!

We are born of Spirit when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We’ll know we received it because we will speak in a new language we never learned (speaking in tongues).

If you’ve never repented of your sins, been baptized in Jesus’ name, or been filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost, today would be a great time to embrace that New Covenant!

Release

The New Covenant, briefly outlined in Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, is a a beautiful plan for us all.

Create a two-column chart (individually or as a group) and label the first column “If” and the second column “Then.”

How does the New Covenant apply to me?

Examples:

If I repent . . . Then I can stop feeling guilty about things I’ve done wrong.

If I get baptized . . .Then I get a fresh start.

If I repent . . . Then I can receive the Holy Ghost.

If I receive the Holy Ghost . . . Then I will have the ability and power to stick with my good decisions.

PRAYER