POINT #1 – BEING DIFFERENT
Summary (Numbers 14:20-24)
(***Begin by reading this summary. I encourage you to open your bible to Numbers 13 and place the summary inside your bible. We want our kiddos to know that this truly is the word of God, not just a story.***)
***(v. 20-24) Moses asked the Lord to forgive the Israelites for not going to take the land as He had said. The Lord told Moses, “Yes, I will forgive the people as you have asked, but I tell you the truth, as surely as I live and as surely as the Glory of The Lord fills the whole earth, I make you this promise: none of the people I led out of Egypt will ever see the land of Canaan. They saw my glory and the great signs that I did in Egypt and in the desert. But they disobeyed me and tested me 10 times. I promised their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents that I would give them that land. But none of those people who turned against me will ever enter that land! But my servant Caleb was different and had a different spirit. He follows me fully. So I will bring him into the land that he has already seen, and his people will get that land.”
In Numbers chapter 14 we read that God tells Moses that Caleb had a different spirit, a different attitude, and that’s why he was able to enter the promised land later in time. Caleb had an OVERCOMING SPIRIT. Having an overcoming Spirit means that we see things differently, we believe and think about things differently, and we speak differently. It also means that we fully and completely follow Jesus.
Ask: What does being different mean? Explain that being different means not of the same kind. For example: you can have a bag of jolly ranchers. All of the candy in the bag are jolly ranchers, but there are different flavors. There’s cherry, watermelon, apple, blue raspberry and grape. They are all jolly ranchers, but each flavor is different.
John 15:19 tells us that Jesus has chosen us as His believers and followers to be different from other people in the world. He says that we don’t belong to the world, and are different, and sometimes other people in the world won’t like us because we are different. We can’t be afraid to be different, or go against what other people in the world are doing or not doing. We have to be different from them.
Discussion Questions
- Are you different from others? Maybe someone in your family or a friend?
- How are you and that person different from each other?
- Is it good that you and that person are different? Why or why not?
- Do you ever feel like you need to try to be more like someone else? How and why?
- Is it easy to be different from other people?
- How should we be different as followers/believers of Jesus compared to people that don’t follow or believe in Jesus?
Scripture memory verse: “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as it loves its own people. But I have chosen you to be different from those in the world. So you don’t belong to the world, and that is why the world hates you.” – John 15:19 ERV
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for choosing us, and for choosing us to be different from those in the world. Holy Spirit we ask you to help us to be okay with being different from others that don’t know you or don’t live their life for you. We ask you to lead us and show us how we should be different. How we should see, hear, think, act, believe and speak differently. We want to live our lives for you, no matter what the world sees, thinks, or says about us. Help us to be bold and courageous, Holy Spirit. Help us to completely trust in you, Lord Jesus. We love you so much! Amen.