TEACHING GOD'S WORD. By Cheri Shiinoki

SCRIPTURE
13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15

OBSERVATION
Throughout the Book of Corinthians, Paul talks about all of the false prophets that the people were following. What they were saying was smooth and may have seemed logical but was not consistent with God's Word. What happened? Did the false prophets start off being false? Did they intend to serve Satan instead of God? Surely, not all of them started their journey to deliberately mislead people. More likely, they were excited about the word of God, began to preach about it, and eventually became so confident in their knowledge that they "crossed the line," became arrogant, and stopped seeking the guidance of God.

APPLICATION
In the Children's Ministry, we are being trusted to teach children the Word of God. As a curriculum team and as teachers, we need to make sure that we are checking our teachings so that they are consistent with the Bible and that we are listening to God for the messages he wants us to teach. Prayer and discussion with God-seeking individuals about our teaching plans is so important to keep us from crossing the fine line between teaching God's message and teaching our message.

PRAYER
Lord, thank you for cautioning us today about the great trust that we have been given to teach your young children. Please keep us humble, always seeking your message for the children, and always checking ourselves as we plan and teach. Keep us on your path, never crossing the line where we start believing our path of righteousness instead of yours. Thank you for allowing us to teach your children. We realize how much trust has been placed with us and ask you to help us steward that responsibility well, with love and always under your guidance. In your precious name, amen.