SKY VBS Bible Lesson for Grown Ups

(My apologies for taking so long to share the posts about SKY VBS Grown Up Version. Just returned over the weekend from dropping oldest son off at college. *sniff, sniff* This is post two of four covering the lessons from SKY VBS for the Coffee Connection Time. If you missed the first post, you can read it here)

The first day of VBS we offered tours to the parents of all the different stations throughout the church. The transformation of just about every inch of the building was quite astounding. I think the tour helped to reassure new parents by giving them a first hand look at the world their kids would be enjoying and talking about. The second morning between the amazing mini-massages the lesson from John 11 was shared. We had a wide range of women at different places in their spiritual journey and different levels of familiarity with the Bible. My hope was to take away the intimidation factor for women new to the Bible by having them hold, read, and turn the pages in a directed way. The first morning the women broke up into groups of three to read and discuss the passage before I shared the nugget. They read and shared what stood out to them and what they learned about Jesus. The next day I had them each read a verse around in a circle. The idea was to make it easy for women to participate no matter what their religious background. This brings us to the Bible lesson from the third day…

The passage the kids learned was Matthew 26:36-27:31. Yes, it was a long passage. The passage picks up after the Last Supper where Jesus enjoys His last meal with His disciples. Jesus knows the end is near and asks His three closest friends to join Him at the Garden of Gethsemane. They come along but fall asleep. Jesus prays in anguish asking if it was possible to not undergo the excruciating torture and death that awaited. In the end He surrenders, “Thy will be done.” What follows is the mob comes to forcibly remove Jesus and brings Him before the courts and religious leaders. Peter, one of Jesus’ main disciples, after declaring loyalty during the Last Supper, turns around and denies knowing Jesus repeatedly. Three times. Just like Jesus had predicted. The passage continues with the next day with Jesus before the courts, His brutal beating and the long walk carrying the Cross to Golgotha.

Since the passage was long and time was short, I focused in on chapter 26 and from it drew out three little nuggets:

• In Jesus’ darkest hour He brings His closest friends along. Jesus regularly met with the Father alone in prayer (40 days in the wilderness, Mark 1:35 in the early morning, while still dark, Luke 5:16, often slip away and pray). But in His time of need Jesus invited others to be with Him. Most of us find it difficult to ask for help, to express our needs, to show vulnerability in real-time. Jesus models for us the importance of bringing people into our pain and struggles. As we bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) it helps us to carry our own load (Galatians 6:5). How are you at bringing people in?
• Jesus’ prayer “not My will but Yours be done” is the crux of the Christian life. The posture of a heart and life yielded, surrendered, willing to go anywhere, do anything for and with God. We sometimes lose heart and become will-less, or we muster up our own strength to grunt through the Christian life and become will-full, but Jesus demonstrates a heart WILL-ING. A willing heart. May you and I keep our heart in check and follow Jesus’ example of willing. How is your heart? Will-full? Will-less? or Willing?
  • Failure is not “if” but “when.” Peter, impulsive, passionate, rough-around-the-edges, sometime clueless but truly a man with a heart of gold. He experienced failure against the One he loved and left everything for. I find it comforting to read about Peter and know I am not alone in my own failures. And failure is not the end of the story. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is myself. How do you handle failure?

The Bible verse the kids memorized for this day was Isaiah 40:31. My friend, Simone, shared the Amplified version with me and I find it fitting to end this post with such a soul-filling verse:

 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Again, for the ladies who participated in our Coffee Connection time, if I overlooked an important point, please share below. For the rest of you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section and invite you to pass this along if you find it helpful.