Sunday, October 26th, 2008

Prayer Focus:

This weeks prayer focus was Russia. It is the world's largest country in terms of land size. The capital is Moscow & we stressed that it is the former Soviet Union.

We praised God due to the fact that based on statistics 54% of the population "proclaim Christianity" while 31 % claim NO religion at all! - Prayer Points:

• Though the church and Christianity has expanded, the persecution of Christians is still rampant (see next)


• From 1920 - 1990 = it is estimated 200,000 Christians were killed for their faith in Jesus


• From 1920 - 1990 - it is estimated 500,000 Christians were put in prison for their faith


• 90 % of Russians have no meaningful link to a church


• Alcoholics = No country has such a severe alcohol abuse problem as Russia. Official estimates are that 40% of men and 7% of women are alcoholics.

Bible Story: (1 Samuel Chapter 8)

• We reviewed a few stories from the past weeks


• Last week about Samuel the Boy


• Moses - leading the children of Israel out of Egypt


• Joshua - leading the people into the Promised Land


• Judges - different leaders of God's people (the story of Sampson)


• NEW STORY - the children of Israel began to grow tired of having the leaders in their lives know as Judges; they wanted a king like the rest of the nations surrounding them. So instead of doing what God thought was best for them, they did what they thought was best for themselves - they demanded a king...they received King Saul as their king...we then discussed the reign of Saul and how in the end he chose to disobey God and God removed him from being king...(even worse, he partially obeyed him)!....

Focus - we left them with the idea that sometimes we may do this with parents, teachers, leaders, etc....We may disobey them becaue we THINK we know better than them! The idea that both the Children of Israel & King Saul did what they thought was best for themselves and not what God thought was best. That led to disobedience in their lives. We prayed with the Kids that they would walk in obedience to those in authority in their lives - this week!

Review Questions:

• Who led the people out of Egypt? - Moses
• Who led the people into the Promised Land? - Joshua
• What was the name of the first King of Israel? - Saul
• Why did God take away Saul from being King? - Saul disobeyed God

Memory Verse:

"...to OBEY is better than sacrifice..." - 1 Samuel 15:22

Sunday - October 19th, 2008

Prayer Focus: 

This week the country children spent time praying for as a group was "Sri Lanka."  As you can see it is located just off the coast of India in the Indian Ocean.

We prayed about the following 3 things:

*  Salvation -  7% of the country are Christians 

*  Missionaries - illegal to share about Jesus

*  Children - poor country; God please provide

Bible Story:  (I Samuel 2:18 & 19 / I Samuel 3:1-10)

This is a story of Hannah; a woman who couldn't have children.  She  then prayed to God and she become pregnant.  She had a  little boy name Samuel who she dedicated to the Lord to serve in the temple.  So Samuel lived at the Temple (church) and served Eli the priest (pastor). One night, when Samuel was a little boy, he heard someone  calling his name.  He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am for you called me."  Eli said, "Go back to be, I didn't call you."  This happened 3 times until Eli realized it may be God.  He told Samuel to answer the voice like this, "Speak Lord for your servant listens."  Samuel did this and it was God calling Him!  They talked about many things that God wanted Samuel to do and Samuel did them.

Focus - (1) we encouraged them that God  speaks & He wants to talk with them no matter how young they are (2) that God wants obedience (obey parents, teachers, leaders, etc)

Review Questions:

1.  Why did God give Hannah a baby boy? - because she prayed and asked God to

2.  What is the boy's name? - Samuel

3.  Why did he live with Eli? - he was helping to serve God in the temple (church)

4.  Who was calling Samuel's name? - God

5.  What was Samuel's response to what God told him? - obedience

Memory Verse:

"Speak God, [I am listening]..." - 1 Samuel 3:9