Tag Archives: School

Have a Thankful Heart

Read:

A mother and a son lived in a certain forest. One day when they were out a tornado surprised them. The mother clung to a tree and tried to hold her son but the swirling winds carried him into the sky. He was gone. The woman began to weep and pray, “Please Lord bring back my boy. He is all I have. I’ll do anything not to lose him. If you’ll bring him back I’ll serve you all my days.” Suddenly the boy toppled from the sky right at her feet, a bit messed up but safe and sound. His mother joyfully brushed him off. Then she stopped for a moment and appearing a bit frustrated, looked to the sky and yelled, “He had a hat, Lord. Where is his hat?!”

What a reminder about thankfulness. The Lord has so richly provided for us yet sometimes call out for more. We say, “Thank you Lord but where’s the hat?!”*

Reflect

Read Philippians 1:3-5 from your Bible.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. How thankful is your heart? Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry. 

A Final Word

Thank you for letting the Lord use you to make a difference in the lives of kids.

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

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© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*Story adapted from a story told on Preaching Today Cassette number 219 entitled “Thank You Lord” as quoted in A Children’s Leader Devotion (Lake Forest, CA: Saddleback Church), Week 2.

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Encouragement

Read:

In the Fall when you see geese flying south for the winter, they will most likely be flying in a “V” formation. They fly that way on purpose. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately behind. By using this flying formation, the entire flock adds about 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag of trying to go it alone, and quickly returns to the formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the flock. As the lead goose gets tired, he rotates to the back of the formation and another goose flies the point.

You will also hear the geese “honking” at one another. Many believe that this is their way of encouraging those in the lead.*

Reflect

Read Hebrews 3:13 from your Bible.

Respond

This week how can you encourage the students in your class? How can you encourage someone else in the Children’s Ministry? How can you let the Lord encourage you?

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*A Children’s Leader Devotion (Lake Forest, CA: Saddleback Church), Week 13.

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What Matters

Read:

Clovis Chappell, a minister from a century back, used to tell the story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other. Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.*

Reflect

Read Psalm 127:2 from your Bible.

Respond

What really matters in life?

The Rat-Race of Life Philosophy #1: Go to work to have the money to buy the beans to eat the beans to have the energy to go to work to have the money…

The Rat-Race of Life Philosophy #2: Get all you can, can all you get, then sit on the can!

Neither of these philosophies will ever bring satisfaction. They may bring on a heart attack, a dozen other illnesses and an early grave, but not satifaction. Those who run in the “Rat-Race of Life” will end up like the boat above—at the end of the race empty and with nothing to show for it. Only Christ can truly satisfy. So this week, stop running and start relating. Life is about your relationship with God–That’s eternal life (John 17:3). Your relationship with Christ is what really matters.

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.
Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm as quoted by A Children’s Leader Devotion (Lake Forest, CA: Saddleback Church), Week 21.

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Godliness

Read:

We read that in 1677 a licentious man married a licentious women. From that union came 1900 descendants. Of these descendants 771 were criminals, 39 were murderers; only 10 learned a trade and they learned it in prison. They spent a combined total of 1,300 years in prison and cost the state of New York nearly three million dollars. That is what two ungodly people in marriage did for the United States.

But look at the record of the Edwards’ family, the family of Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher. A godly man married a godly woman. They had 1,344 descendants. Of this number 295 were college graduates, 13 were college professors, 65 were college presidents, 186 were ministers, 101 were lawyers, 86 were state senators, and 3 were congressmen. There were also 30 judges and one vice-president of the United States. Not one of these descendants was ever accused of crime. This is what two godly people in marriage can do for the world. *

Reflect

Read from your Bible Deuteronomy 4:6-9.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

The way you live your life not only affects you, but also your children’s children’s children. You will never see in this life the full impact of your life.

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), p. 126.

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Self-Examination

Read:

A woman went into a psychiatrist’s office. She had a fried egg on her head and strips of bacon hanging over her ears. She said to the doctor, “I didn’t come to see you about myself; I came to see you about my brother. There is something wrong with him.”*

Moral: It’s easy to see something wrong with others, while over-looking our own faults.

Reflect

Read Matthew 7:1-2 from your Bible.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

Every time you point your finger, you have three already pointing back at you.
 
Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958) p. 177.

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Confession

Read:

That young man should have turned himself in. Not that he would’ve been acquitted; he robbed a bank. But at least he wouldn’t have been the laughingstock of Virginia Beach.

Cash-strapped and at the age of nineteen, he went to Jefferson State Bank on a Wednesday afternoon, filled out a loan application, and left. Apparently he changed his mind about the loan and opted for a quicker plan. He returned within a couple of hours with a pistol, a bag, and a note demanding money. The teller complied, and all of a sudden he was holding a sack of loot.

Figuring the police were fast on their way, he dashed out the front door. He was halfway to the car when he realized he’d left the note. Fearing it could be used as evidence against him, he ran back into the bank and snatched it from the teller. Now holding the note and the money, he ran a block to his parked car. That’s when he realized he’d left his keys on the counter when he’d returned for the note.

“At this point,” one detective chuckled, “total panic set in.”

The young man ducked into the restroom of a fast-food restaurant. He dislodged a ceiling tile and hid the money and the .25 caliber handgun. Scampering through alleys and creeping behind cars, he finally reached his apartment where his roommate, who knew nothing of the robbery, greeted him with the words, “I need my car.”

You see, the young man’s getaway vehicle was a loaner. Rather than confess to the crime and admit the bungle, he shoveled yet another spade of dirt deeper in the hole. “Uh, uh, your car was stolen,” he lied.

While the young man watched in panic, the roommate called the police to inform them of the stolen vehicle. About twenty minutes later an officer spotted the “stolen” car a block from the recently robbed bank. Word was already on the police radio that the robber had forgotten his keys. The officer put two and two together and tried the keys on the car. They worked.

Detectives went to the address of the person who’d reported the missing car. There they found the young man. He confessed, was charged with robbery, and put in jail. No bail. No loan. No kidding.

Some days it’s hard to do anything right. It’s even harder to do anything wrong right. We’ve done the same. Perhaps we didn’t take money but we’ve taken advantage or taken control or taken leave of our senses and then, like the thief, we’ve taken off. Dashing down the alleys of deceit. Hiding behind buildings of work to be done or deadlines to be met. Though we try to act normal, anyone who looks closely at us can see we are on the lam: Eyes darting and hands fidgeting, we chatter nervously. Committed to the cover-up, we scheme and squirm, changing the topic and changing direction. We don’t want anyone to know the truth, especially God.*

Reflect

Read from your Bible 1 John 1:9 and Isaiah 31:6.

Respond

“Confession” is the act of agreeing with God when you have sinned (and sometimes agreeing with others against whom who have sinned)–agreeing with Him that we have done wrong, being honest with our guilt and laying our shame before His feet. Too many people try to redeem themselves from bad choices which leads to more bad choices, but consider the power of confession: Not only does the Bible show the greatness of God’s forgiveness and restoration but James wrote, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

NOTE: When we first published this story, it included the name of the young man. However, he called us one day and asked us to remove his name. He said that he was young and made a big mistake and didn’t want it to follow him. He also shared with us that he came to faith in Jesus Christ while in jail.

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*Max Lucado. In the Grip of Grace, (Dallas: Word, 1996), p. 120-122.

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Giving

Read:

A minister stood before his congregation and announced: “The Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He only need cowboys to round them up. Will the ushers please come forward for the offering?”*

“When it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing.” -unknown **

“Some people who give the Lord credit are reluctant to give Him cash.”—Jack Herbert***

Reflect

Read from your Bible 2 Corinthians 8:9, 2 Corinthians 9:8.

Respond

When it comes to giving how faithful are you? With your time? With your energy? With your money? Other?

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

“God has given us two hands—one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.” -Billy Graham****

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*Hidden in Christ, (Oklahoma City: Liberty Baptist Church, newsletter, July 1993), p. 3.
**Ibid.
***Ibid.
****Ibid.

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Not of the World

Read:

A certain man had a fine canary whose song was unusually beautiful. During the summer it seemed a shame to keep the bird inside. So his owner placed his cage outside in a tree. Many sparrows frequented the tree, attracted by the cage. At first the canary was frightened, but he soon began to enjoy his feathered companions. Gradually, however, he lost the sweetness of his song. At the end of the summer he had nothing left but the monotonous twitter of the sparrows.

Because he spent his time in the wrong environment, the canary lost the finest thing he had. Today, the Christian who spend his time in a worldly environment and neglects his church attendance, Christian fellowship, and daily living with Christ loses his power to testify for Christ.*

Reflect

Read Romans 2:1-2 from your Bible.

Respond

Right now is there anything in your life that is displeasing to God? If so, what is stopping you from letting go of this sin and fully following Christ? Do you feel like you have been conformed to the image of this world or the image of Christ? What would your friends say? What do you think your relatives would say?

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

“I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!” -Billy Sunday*

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958) p. 350.
**Hutson, Curtis, ed. Great Preaching on Soul Winning, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1989), page unknown.

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Forgiveness

Read:

Mary Khoury, 17 years old, Damour, Lebanon, During the Lebanese civil war, 1975-1992

Mary Khoury and her family were forced to their knees before their home. The leader of the Muslim fanatics who had raided their village waved his pistol carelessly before their faces. His hatred for Christians burned in his eyes. “If you do not become a Muslim,” he threatened, “you will be shot.”

Mary knew Jesus didn’t have to die either, but He chose the cross. So Mary said, “I was baptized as a Christian and His word came to me: ‘Don’t deny your faith.’ I will obey Him. Go ahead and shoot.” The report of a gun from behind her echoed in the valley and Mary’s body fell limply to the ground.

Two days later, the Red Cross came into her village. Of all her family, Mary was the only one still alive. But the bullet had cut her spinal cord, leaving both her arms paralyzed. They were stretched out from her body and bent at the elbows, reminiscent of Jesus at His crucifixion. She could do nothing with them.

More words from the Lord came to Mary. Even though she was now handicapped, she knew God had a plan for her life.

“Everyone has a vocation,” she said. “I can never marry or do any physical work. So I will offer my life for Muslims, like the one who cut my father’s throat, cursed my mother and stabbed her, and then tried to kill me. My life will be a prayer for them.”*

Reflect

Read 1 Peter 2:23 from your Bible.

Respond

Mary could have become bitter, but instead she let the grace of God transform what should have been hate to godly love. This can happen only when a person releases their offenders to God, for Him to deal with them according to His justice, His compassion, and His love. Vengeance is His; not yours and no man can sit on His throne to cast judgment. Has someone hurt you recently? Do you fume every time you think about them or hear their name? How do you feel and what do you think God wants you to do with this situation?

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

Forgiveness is not saying, “Oh, that’s okay.” Forgiveness says, “What you did was wrong. I know it. You know it, and God knows it. But it is not my place to sit on God’s throne and cast judgment on you. Therefore, I commit you into His hands, for Him to deal justly with you.”

“Nothing on earth consumes a person more quickly than the passion of resentment.” -Friedrich Nietzsche**

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*Jesus Freak Youth Devotional, (publisher and date is unknown), p 80.
**Source of quote is unknown.

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Like Christ

Character

To inspire a deeper commitment to godliness

The next ten weeks will encourage you to live like Jesus and to continue developing godly character in your life. As you read this section, spend time examining your heart to see what the Lord desires to do in you and through you.

“God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development.”*

“Your character is essentially the sum of your habits.”**

Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)


Read

Albert Schweitzer was acclaimed in his day as one of the greatest men on earth. He was a missionary in the heart of Africa. He won more honors than any living man at that time. He won the Nobel prize in 1952. On one occasion, when he came to Chicago, a group of prominent citizens came to welcome him. They gathered around him, gave him the key to the city, and told him that they were greatly honored by his visit. The reporters took notes and the photographers were getting many pictures. Suddenly the great man excused himself. He rushed over to a little woman who was struggling with a heavy suitcase and several packages. He picked these things up and told the woman to follow him. He literally ran interference for her through the crowded station, put her on the train, and wished her a pleasant journey. When he returned to the committee, he said, “I am sorry to keep you gentlemen waiting, I was just having my daily fun.” And one of the reporters said, “That is the first time I ever saw a big sermon walking.”***

Reflect

Read from your Bible what John the Baptist said about Jesus in John 3:30.

Respond

When people look at you what do they see? More of you or more of Christ?

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

Think about it: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much are you like Christ?
 
Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

*Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishers, 2002), p. 173, 175.
**Ibid.
***W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), p. 273-4.

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All My Desire…

Read:

In the mid-1700s David Brainerd was used greatly by the Lord to reach the Native Americans with the Gospel. At times he would be found praying for them for hours in the snow. He loved them with the love of God.

In his diary he once wrote, “I poured out my soul for all the world, friends, and enemies. My soul was concerned, not so much for the souls as such, but rather for Christ’s kingdom, that it might appear in the world, that God might be known to be God, in the whole earth…

“I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls to Christ. While I was asleep I dreamed of these things, and when I awoke the first thing I thought of was this great work. All my desire was for the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God.”* 

Reflect

Read what Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 20:9.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

“Is life’s span so dear and are home comforts so engrossing as to be purchased with my unfaithfulness and dry-eyed prayerlessness? At the final bar of God, shall the perishing millions accuse me of materialism coated with a few Scripture verses? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what the course of others may take; but as for me, give me revival in my soul and in my church and in my nation–or give me death!” -Leonard Ravenhill**

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




*Sammuel Tippit, Fire in Your Heart, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1987), p. 24, 81.
**Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1990), p. 161.

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A Call from Within

Read:

From a sermon preached by Jack Hyles in 1974:

I was an introvert when I was a boy. I was still sucking my thumb when I was fourteen. On my 17th birthday I weighed 93 pounds dripping wet and full of bananas. I could not pass public speaking. I was called “Jackie boy.” Nobody took me seriously. When God called me to preach, the angels wept and Heaven’s flag was flown at half-mast for three days!

One day when I was an older teenager, the chairman of our deacon board, Jesse Cobb, met me after the service on a Sunday morning in the back of the auditorium. Jesse was the best lay soul winner I think I ever met. He said, “Jack, will you do something with me this afternoon?”

“What, Jesse?”

“Will you go soul winning with me this afternoon?”

“Jesse, you know better than that! You know I am a timid introvert. I would not know what to say if I went out soul winning. Jesse, I couldn’t do it.”

“Jack, I will make you a deal. All you will have to do is to just go with me. I will do the talking. All you will have to do is listen.”

Well, since I had a Ph.D. in listening, I said, “Now, let us get this straight. You talk, I listen.”

He said, “Well, you may have to say hello.”

I said, “I think I can handle that.”

So that afternoon for the first time in my life, I went soul winning.

Jesse Cobb and I knocked on the door. A big high school football player, tackle on the Adamson High School football team named Kenneth Florence, came to the door. Kenneth looked down at Jesse and at me. Jesse looked up to Kenneth and said, “Kenneth Florence?”

“Yes, sir.”

“My name is Jesse Cobb.”

“How do you do, sir?”

“And this is Jack Hyles.”

I generated all the extroversion at my disposal and said, “Hello.”

“Kenneth, Jack here wants to say a few words to you.”

Stuttering, I said, “Kenneth, will you go to church tonight?”

Jesse said Kenneth said, “Yes, I will.”

And I said, “You will?”

Kenneth said, “Yes, I will.”

I said, “I will come back and get you at seven o’clock tonight.”

At seven o’clock that night I went by to get Kenneth Florence. For the first time in my life I knew that God had given me a soul I had to win. I didn’t know one single Scripture of the Roman Road. I had never taken a soul-winning course. I had no idea in this world what to do.

The sermon was finished. I put my arm around Kenneth’s big, broad shoulders and said, “Kenneth, would…would…wouldn’t you like to be saved?”

He said, “Yes, I would.”

I said, “I can’t tell you how, but if you will come with me, the preacher can. Follow me.”

We went down this aisle. The pastor met me. I said, “Pastor, Kenneth wants to be saved.” I then turned and walked away. I got about two rows back, and the pastor said, “Hold it, Jack. Kenneth, Jack here wants to kneel and show you how to be saved.” No, Jack didn’t!

But I knelt and put my arms around Kenneth’s big, broad shoulders and said, “Kenneth, I do not know how to tell you how to be saved. John 3:16 says something like this: Jesus died for you because God loved you and gave Himself for you. Now, I believe that if you would be willing to ask God to forgive you and trust Him as your Savior, God would save you tonight.”

Thank God, somebody had already told Kenneth how to be saved. So Kenneth Florence bowed his head, and on his knees he began to pray something like this: “Father, thank you that this fellow is interested in me. I know I am a sinner. I know Jesus died for me, and I know that You, God, can save me, and I do now trust You as my Savior.”

While he was praying, something turned loose inside my soul! I tell you, the fireworks of Heaven began to ignite! The lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, the sparklers began to sparkle as I realized that here was something I could do. I couldn’t make the football team, but I could point a person to Heaven. I couldn’t make the senior play, but I could point a person to Heaven. I couldn’t get a date, but I could point a person to Heaven. I couldn’t make the basketball team (I did make the team, but because my legs were so skinny, people laughed at me, and I would not go on the floor); but I could point a person to Heaven.

I got off my knees and said, “Dear God, this is something a little introvert can do. This is something ‘Jackie boy’ can do.”

There is not a man or woman or a boy or a girl in this house tonight who can’t point someone to Jesus Christ…I am saying, there was a call in my breast, a call from within! I am praying that God tonight will give you that call, burning in your soul, and you will leave this place determined to be a soul winner. *

Reflect

Read from your Bible what Peter and John said in Acts 4:20.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

When David Livingstone returned from Africa to England for a visit, he recounted some of the hardships which he had endured. Then he added, “The thing that kept me alive, the thing that kept me going, were the words of Jesus, ‘Lo, I am with you always.’”

Yes, in the midst of the fiery trials of life, we are not alone and even though David Livingstone later died on the mission field, he gave his life in service to the Lord.**

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




*Curtis Hutson, ed., Great Preaching on Soul Winning, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1989), p. 44-46.
**W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958) p. 329.

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How Much Do You Care?

Read:

The following story is taken from a sermon preached by the famous evangelist Billy Sunday:

I will never forget one time in a town in Illinois when I was leaving the tent where we were holding meetings. Among those who went out last was a young man to whom I was especially attracted by his keen, bright appearance. I walked down the street with him, and we engaged in conversation. Presently I put to him the inevitable question, “Are you a Christian?”

“No, I am not.”

“Father and mother alive?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Father a Christian?”

“I don’t know; he is a steward in the [local] church.”

“Is your mother a Christian?”

“I don’t know; she is superintendent of the Sunday School in the same church.”

“Have you a brother or a sister?”

“I have a sister.”

“Is she a Christian?”

“I don’t know; she teaches in the primary department in the Sunday School.”

“Do you have family prayer in your home?”

“No, sir.”

“Ask the blessing at the table?”

“No, sir.”

“Has your father or your mother or your sister ever asked you to be a Christian?”

The tears trickled down his cheeks as he answered, “Mr. Sunday, as long as I can remember, neither my father, mother nor sister has ever asked me to be a Christian.”

Certainly that young man had a right to say, of his own flesh and blood, the mother whose breast he nursed, the father whose name he bore, and the sister he loved, that they didn’t care for his soul.”*

We say we care, but our actions speak louder than words. 

How much do you care that souls are going to Hell?

Reflect

Read what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 9:1-3.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

Sidney Lanier, the great Georgian poet, died at the age of thirty-nine. He said, “I have a thousand unwritten songs in my heart.” When we come to the end of the way, must we also say, “There are thousands of things which I should have done for Christ, but now I must leave them unfinished.”**

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




*Curtis Hutson, ed. Great Preaching on Soul Winning, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers), 1989.
**W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958) p. 329.

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The Difference One Moment Can Make

Read

Adapted from a sermon by Hyman J. Appelman:

I had a friend in seminary…One day as he and I drove to our churches in Oklahoma, he told me of his conversion. He told how he was almost driven away from home because of his drunkenness, how he was kicked out of a Christian school in Mississippi, how he became a traveling salesman, how he went from bad to worse.

Then he told me of a night in a hotel room in Vicksburg, Mississippi, recovering from an awful bout of delirium tremens after a terrible period of drunken debauchery. He made up his mind then and there that there was but one more thing for him to do—commit suicide. Starting towards the Vicksburg bridge across the Mississippi, he walked up on the bridge and stood leaning over the railing watching the swelling, dark, muddy waters of the father of rivers.

Reaching into his pocket and taking out his package of cigarettes, he put one in his mouth but couldn’t find a match. Perhaps he did not have any or was to hazy to find it.

A man came along. This young fellow of my story stopped him to ask, “Mister, do you have a match?”

“Yes,” said the stranger, and gave him a box of matches.

Scratching the match with trembling hands, he tried to light his cigarette. One after another, match after match went out. Finally he succeeded in lighting the cigarette.

The stranger was carefully watching him. After awhile he said to him, “You look kind of sick. Are you?”

“Well, I have been.”

“Let’s go have a cup of coffee.”

Something about the stranger appealed to the man in question. “All right, let’s go.” In his mind he said to himself, I can commit suicide anytime.

After the coffee, the stranger would not let this young fellow go. “Come with me.”

“Where?”

“Never mind, just come along. Come on. You can go home after we’re through.”

They went to church. A revival meeting was going on. The two of them sat in the very back. Somehow, to the befuddled brain of the man in question, there came the story once again of the love of God, of the death of Christ on the cross. Apparently he was impressed, but he made no move.

He went back to his room. He stayed a few more days in Vicksburg to straighten out; then he went home. His people did not seem too glad to receive him.

On Sunday he went to church without saying a word to them. When the preacher gave the invitation, this young fellow walked slowly down the aisle, made a public profession of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then followed the Son of God in baptism. Later the Lord called him to preach, he entered the ministry, became an outstanding religious leader in the United States, leading many people to Christ.

But what if that anonymous stranger on the street had been too busy to notice him? What if he had condemned him for smoking instead of presenting the love of Christ? What if he had not been prepared to give of himself to another? Then this young man, whose name is Charlie, would have died without Christ and would have found himself forever separated from God in the torments of hell. It’s amazing the difference one life can make, the change that one moment on a bridge can bring. The stranger could have passed on by, but instead he stopped. You have the same choice: Are you ready to stop and speak of Christ or will you pass on your way without a second glance? *

Reflect

Read Colossians 4:5 from your Bible.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

How shall I feel at the day of judgment, if multitudes of missed opportunities pass before me in full review, and all my excuses prove to be disguises of my cowardice and pride?–W. E. Sangster**

*NOTE: Dr. Hyman Appelman, from whom the above story was adapted, was born in Russia and was reared and trained in the Jewish faith. After becoming a lawyer he accepted Christ at age 28 in 1925. His Jewish family, then living in Chicago, disowned him. His father said to him, “When your sides come together from hunger and you come crawling to my door, I will throw you a crust of bread as I would any other dog.” Nevertheless, this Jewish Christian made eight or nine trips around the world as an evangelist, authored 40 books, and preached so intensively that he spent only two weeks a year at home. His ministry lasted 53 years.***

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*Hyman J. Appelman, “Paralyzed People,” [July 1946], Hudson, Curtis, ed. Great Preaching on Soul Winning, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1989), p. 128-129.
**Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1990), 68.
***Hyman J. Appelman, “Paralyzed People,” [July 1946], Hudson, Curtis, ed. Great Preaching on Soul Winning, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1989), p. 128-129.

 

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The Hitchhiker

Read:

On one occasion Dr. Bob Gray got so burdened about winning someone to Christ, he prayed early in the morning that the Lord would give him a soul that day. He had that on his heart as he drove to his early morning radio broadcast. As he got out on the expressway in Jacksonville and headed downtown, he saw a fellow sticking out his thumb. The Spirit of the Lord seemed to say, There’s your man. So Dr. Gray pulled over and said, “Jump in, fellow. Where are you going?”

“I’m going downtown.”

As Dr. Gray started back out on the expressway, he said to him, “I didn’t mean, ‘Where are you going today?’ but ‘Where are you going when you die?’”

The fellow said, “I haven’t thought much about that.”

Dr. Gray engaged him in conversation about it. The man listened intently. Then Dr. Gray asked, “Do you mind if I pull off the highway and explain this to you?”

“I’ll be glad for you to,” he answered.

They did so; and Dr. Gray took out his New Testament, showed him some verses and led right up to the point where he said, “Why don’t you bow your head and let’s both pray. Then you can receive Christ as your Savior.”

The fellow did it. Then as he wiped a little tear out of his eye, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a revolver, laid it on the seat and said, “Sir, as I hitchhiked I had determined that whoever picked me up, I would make him pull off the highway. Then I would kill him and steal his car, dump his body and go on my way to another state. So, if you hadn’t talked to me about this, you could have been a dead man by now!”*

Reflect

Read Romans 1:16 from your Bible.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

Live a life worth sharing; share a life worth living.

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




*Tom Wallace, “Jesus, the Soul Winner’s Example,” [1982] Hudson, Curtis, ed. Great Preaching on Soul Winning, (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1989), p. 201-2.

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