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Family Blueprint
by Julianne Bell
(A bar graph chart helps teach us along with Aaron and the Israelites not to have any other idols, but to worship God only.)
The Lord gave us the blueprint of His Word to architect our family on Jesus Christ.
Going through the Bible with your family…
Weekly Scripture:
Exodus 32
Story:
"The Golden Calf"
Application:
Have no other gods before the one, true God.
Summary:
Since Moses remained up on the mountain for a long time the people grew weary of waiting and asked Aaron to make gods to lead them. Aaron collected all the gold from the people and fashioned a golden calf. He then built an altar and proclaimed a feast day for the Lord. The Lord saw all that the people were doing and told Moses to go and correct these "stiff-necked people." God was very angry and promised to destroy them. However, Moses intervened and pleaded with God not to do as He said. As Moses came down from the mountain, he threw down the two tablets, on which God had written and broke them.
Focus:
To teach the children how anything can become an idol to us and rob God of the time and worship that is due to Him alone.
Finding Christ:
We see how Moses loves Israel so much that he is willing to be blotted out of the book of Life on their behalf, when pleading with God to forgive them their great sin. We see how our Messiah loved us so much that He asked His Father not to hold the sin of His crucifixion against us and "having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." John 13:1
Live the Lesson:
This week ask your children what their three favorite things are to do, that they have access to do on a daily or weekly basis. If you have a Polaroid or Digital camera take pictures of these items. Make up a chart/graph using the Children’s name and list or glue pictures of hobbies, but leave blank spaces to write in two additional items for each child. For directions on how to make a bar graph www.familyblueprint.org/make_a_bar_graph.htm
During family time, ask each child to give you an estimate of how much time they spend doing each of those three things every week. Mark each item accordingly on the chart and fill in the graph. Ask them if they really love that item since they spend time doing it. Talk about each of your favorite things for awhile and what benefit you feel each of you gain from these items.
Then fill in the chart blank spaces under each child’s name with Reading the Bible and Praying and then ask them how much time they spend each week doing these items. Now is a great time to explain to your children how anything can become an idol if we give it more of our time, talent, heart, or mind than we give to God. Furthermore, figure out if there is a way they can incorporate worship into their favorite things to do.
Memory Verse:
"Have no other Gods before Me." Exodus 20:3
Prayer:
Dear Lord, please help us to realize if we permit anything else in our lives to become an idol and to immediately repent and turn back to giving You all the glory!
Living the Life:
This week discuss with your children all the different things that can be idols and the ways we allow idols to rob God of His glory. Talk to them about ways to worship God in all that we do during the day.
Family Blueprint has come to fruition as a complimentary service for those seeking creative ways to 'teach them (the words of the Lord) diligently to your children...' Deuteronomy 6:7
Julianne Bell is also a consultant for Once Upon A Family at www.familyblueprint.org/once_upon_a_family.htm This allows her to work from home while homeschooling her children and keeping her ministry website resources free.
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