The Lost Scriptures

Objective:

To help us realize that being committed to God includes being committed to staying in Gods word.

Scripture Basis:

2 Kings 22:1-13, 23:1-14, 24-25 (Story of King Josiah)

Activity:

Ask the Students where their Bible is.? Ask them to describe a time when they lost their Bible and where they found it. Give an award for the funniest place the Bible was found.

The BackDoor:

Read the Story of Josiah and what he did when he found the lost Books of the Law (Gen-Duet). Help class focus on some of key events such as;

- Whole nation had forgotten Gods Word

- Josiah was only 18 when he was given the found scriptures

- When he found it he read it all and realized that all of Israel was angering God

- Further he read it to everyone and they all listened

- Josiah then decides to go an offensive and used all his efforts to destroy the elements of idol worship and perversion in Israel. Look at all the stuff this 18 year old kid did. He humbled himself before God and then didn’t just listen but he acted and "invaded" his world for God. This pleased God and God delayed judgment on Israel as long as Josiah lived.

Read John 14:21

Students Teach Students:

Well that was then but what about now - surely the Bible is out of date. Its been almost 2000 years since that last words of Revelation were written down. And what of the Books of the law. Aren’t they obsolete? Why is the Bible valuable today?

Have student research the following verses and concepts -

1. Gods life does not change. Created things have a beginning and an end. God has neither. He always was and always will be.

- Psalms 93:2 & 90:2, Jer 10:10, Rom 1:23, Isa 48:12

2. Gods character does not change. Many things change the character of man. These include age, stress, love and sexual motivations. Gods character is uniform. Now this does not mean God always acts in just one way such as always being loving or always being angry. It means that He reacts consistently to things.

- James 1:17

3. Gods truth does not change. Men often say things that they don't mean. They also have a habit of changing their mind. This is not so with God.

- Isa 40:8 - Psalms 119:89, 152

4. What God likes and dislikes does not change. What He desires and what He hates does not change. God still hates the sins of His people and uses all kinds of discipline to encourage them to be obedient and turn from sin.. God still loves the fellowship of his people and gives them both sorrows and joys that they might seek Him and come to detach their love from things and attach it to Him.

- Matt 5:17, 1 Peter 1:6-9, 2 Cor 1:8-10

5. Gods purpose does not change. God was refining men and saving those who would believe in Him long ago and He is still doing it now.

- Rom 8:28 - Rom 11:25

6. Gods Son does not change. His gift of salvation transcends time. All of the old testament looks forward to Christ and all of the new testament is based on Christ..

- Heb 7:25 and 13:8

Key Message:

God is the same now as He was then. The reason the Bible is valuable for us is that the we are dealing with the very same God as men of Josiahs time and He has not changed his character. Remember this when you read the "old scriptures".

Conclusion/Challenge:

Today, go find your Bible and set a time each week to get alone and read it. Then when you have learned what God loves and what God hates, start cleaning up your world. Perhaps you can start with your room or home. How many of us have items that Jesus would not approve of ? How about or TV habits, what we fill our minds with. Lets do what Josiah did, lets invade our world for Jesus Christ.