chosen to lead Track 1- A Chosen People intro: Welcome to week one of Chosen to Lead. This week and next you will be discussing something that was vital to the way God s people worshiped in the Old Testament. You will be learning about a group of people God chose to set apart for the purpose of leading people into God s presence, much like you do in your worship services. They were called the Levites. God has a plan and a purpose for your student ministry and He wants to use you to fulfill that plan. You will discover together today that you are much like the Levites. God has set you apart for a special purpose. Let s get started. verse: The background for this week s verse is quite a story. It is important to understand in order to catch the context of the focal verses. Share the background with your students before you read the verse. Jacob, whom God re-named Israel, had twelve sons. They multiplied and became the very large nation of Israel (Exodus 1:1-7). A famine in the land led them to Egypt to find food, where they ended up being enslaved by the Egyptians (Exodus 1-2). Israel remained in Egypt for 430 years until God appointed Moses to lead them to a place He promised to give them. God finally arranged for the release of His people by sending plagues on the Egyptians and killing their first born children. From then on, God required that every first born male in Israel would be set aside to belong to Him. While Israel was traveling through the desert, God took Moses up onto Mt. Sinai to give him the laws for the people. When Moses came down off the mountain he found that the people had become impatient in his absence and had begun to worship a calf they had fashioned from melted down gold. Moses, in his fury, smashed the tablets containing the
commandments and burned the golden calf in the fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it (Exodus 32). Read Exodus 32:25-26 aloud together. Moses drew a line in the sand and asked for anyone who was with the Lord to step over to his side. Who stepped up to the challenge? That s right! The Levites stood alone. Now Read Exodus 32:29. In this verse, what did God do to the Levites? He set them apart for Himself. Now turn to Numbers 3:44-45 and have someone read it aloud. Who did God claim as His own? The Levites. God wanted the Levites to belong to Him in place of all the first born males throughout Israel. chorus: Read the illustration aloud. Illustration: Choosing teams How many of you remember what P.E. was like in elementary school? Tetherball was fun. Kick ball was even better. However, one thing about P.E. strikes a fear in the heart of every little kid choosing teams. Who was the guy who came up with such a barbaric way for picking teams? The teacher selects two captains (usually the biggest or most athletic) and then lets them go down the line taking turns calling their friends and fellow-athletes to join them at their sides. One by one, a name is called bringing relief to each person, knowing that he or she will not be left standing alone. There is always that one poor kid left standing at the end. What s up with that? Have you ever felt like the last one to be picked? Aren t you glad God doesn t pick His team based on size, talent, or even personality? God has another way of choosing. God set the Levites apart from the rest of the Israelites as special. In fact, they were not given a land inheritance in the Promised Land. Their portion in the land was the presence of the Lord. They were put in charge of taking care of the tabernacle of meeting where God lived. All the other tribes paid a tithe to help support the work of the Levites. They got to live closer to the presence of God than all the other Israelites. The Levites did the work of the temple so that people could come and offer their sacrifices. They made it possible for people to worship. Sound familiar? God has also had a plan for your life before you were ever created. Much like the Levites, you have a special task. You have been hand picked by God. He has set you apart to serve on a team that prepares the way for students to meet with God. Scripture says that there are good works He has prepared in advance for only you to do. He has drawn a line in the sand and is asking, Who is with me? Are you prepared to step up and be used by God? You are not the last one chosen. Your spot on the worship team was no accident. God knows that there are students who come to your services every week that only you can identify with. Out of all twelve tribes of Israel, God chose the tribe of Levi to be set apart for Himself. He saw their willingness to stand up under the pressure and make a difference among the entire nation. Are you ready to step up and use your musical abilities and your life to make a difference in your student ministry? The Levites calling was a great honor. So is yours.
bridge: This is the time to open things up for discussion. Give everyone a chance to offer ideas and input. You may offer one idea to get the ball rolling and then just wait for a response. It s only the first week and they will eventually warm up to the idea of listening to each other, and just as importantly to being heard. Share with the team how you came to be in the worship band. How would you explain to a friend at school what you do in the student praise band? This questioned is designed to find out how each person views his or her role. This will help them begin to see if they think it s just about music or if it s actually a calling. Help point out to them that their place on the team is more than just a coincidence. God planned it. How do you think your student band is like the Levites? See if they can draw a parallel on their own. Then you may offer some of the following ideas. There could be so many more answers that the students could come up with, but here are a few. The following statements about the Levites are also true of the student band. God had a plan for the Levites. They were considered the spiritual leaders of Israel. They were set apart as different from the rest of the people. They prepared the way for people to meet with God. Their job was to serve. God obviously isn t calling you to kill anyone, like in verse 29, but in what ways can you take a stand for Him when everone else is agianst Him? This would be a great time to discuss how the world worships many false idols, like money, popularity, fame, etc. However, God is calling us to only worship Him. The world also has pretty low standards when it comes to holiness in entertainment. We need to be set apat, no matter what the cost. outro: Take time here to begin breaking down walls between the students through praying together. You may stay together and have different students pray aloud. You could also let them pray in pairs or groups of three. It might be a great time to let everyone share any personal prayer needs as you wrap up. Next week you will continue to look at the Levites. You will see the seriousness of their calling and how that relates to your band. Close out today s study by spending some time praying for these and other important prayer concerns in your group. 1) Pray for God to show you how you are like the Levites. 2) Pray for a better understanding of each other as you open up in the study. 3) Pray that God would use your team this week to prepare the way for students to have a great time of worship during your service. Written by Bonnie Hoover, Brad Parkhurst, Daniel Hoover Edited by Tot Free, Brad Parkhurst Copyright 2005 by WorshipOne, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication strictly prohibited. Reproduction permitted for one time use by purchasing church or organization. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible New International 1997 by The Zondervan Corporation.