Look, Listen & Live 4: Servants of God

Introduction

Good day. God loves everybody and cares for everyone, but He especially cares for those who obey and serve him. Listen to what happened many years ago as it is written in the Word of God, the Bible, and look at the pictures in the yellow book. Turn to the next picture when you hear this music.

Picture 1: A Family Flees from Famine

Ruth 1:1-5

God created all people, but they turned against Him. God chose the people of Israel to know and to worship Him. They had to set the example for all the other nations around them. But at times, the nation of Israel rebelled against God. Then they would worship idols and false gods like the other nations around them. God brought wars and famines against the people of Israel to draw them back to Him.

During one such famine a family decided to go to the land of Moab to find food. They lived in that foreign land for ten years. The father and his two sons died there. Only the mother with her two daughters-in-law were left in that foreign land.

Picture 2: Naomi and Ruth Return to Israel

Ruth 1:6-22

The mother of that family was called Naomi. Her daughters-in-law were Moabites and their names were Ruth and Orpah. Naomi decided to return to the land of Judah. Ruth and Orpah accompanied her on her journey to Judah. Then Naomi said to them, "Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband . . . God has turned against me." So Orpah kissed Naomi and went back to her parents' home. But Ruth clung to Naomi and said, "Don't make me leave you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." So Ruth went with Naomi to Bethlehem in the land of Judah.

Picture 3: Ruth in the Harvest Field

Ruth 2:1-23

After their return to Bethlehem, Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour."

Naomi and Ruth were very poor. She went to a field where the workers were harvesting barley. The owner of that field was a man named Boaz. He asked his workers about the foreign woman in his field. One of them said, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi." Boaz had heard how good she had been to her mother-in-law. He saw that she was a hard worker. So he said to Ruth, "Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls." He told the men who worked for him not to harm her, but to leave grain for her to gather. Ruth told Naomi about the kindness of Boaz. Naomi said, "The Lord bless him!" She added, "That man is our close relative . . . "

Picture 4: Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

Ruth 3:1-18

One day Naomi said to Ruth, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Boaz is our relative. This evening he will be threshing barley. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, . . . When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do." Ruth did just as Naomi had told her. When Boaz woke up and found Ruth at his feet, he knew she wanted to marry him, because that was the practice in Israel those days. When a man died in Israel, his closest relative could marry the widow. Therefore Boaz said to Ruth, " . . . don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character (a good woman)."

Picture 5: Boaz and the Elders of Bethlehem

Ruth 4:1-22

Boaz called ten elders (leading men) together at the gate of Bethlehem. There was another relative who had first the right to marry Ruth, but they all agreed that Boaz should marry her instead. To seal the agreement, the relative gave Boaz his sandal. This was the custom in Israel. So Boaz took Ruth as his wife. They had a son called Obed. Then the women said to Naomi, "Praise the Lord who has not left you without a grandson to look after you. May he become famous in Israel and renew your life and care for you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."

Picture 6: Mary and the Angel of God

Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-7

Many years after Ruth, God chose another woman to serve Him. Her name was Mary. She was a descendant of Ruth. Mary was a virgin. She was promised in marriage to a man named Joseph. But before they were married, an angel of God appeared to Mary. He said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. . . his kingdom will never end."

Mary asked the angel, "How will this be, . . . since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Mary said, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."

Mary became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named Him Jesus. This is how Mary became the mother of Jesus.

Because Mary obeyed God, the saviour Jesus was born to her. When we obey God, He can also do great and mighty things through us.

Picture 7: Hannah Prays to God

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Just after the time of Ruth, there was another woman in the land of Israel, named Hannah. She also served God and wanted to obey Him. Her husband loved her but Hannah was unhappy, because she could not bear him any children. Every year they went to the temple of God at Shiloh. They took offerings and made sacrifices to God. Hannah went into the temple and said, "O God, if you will remember me and give me a son, then I will give him to you for all the days of his life." Her lips moved as she spoke to God, but she made no sound with her voice. Eli, the high (chief) priest, saw her. He thought she was drunk. But God heard Hannah's prayer, and some time later she gave birth to a son. She called him Samuel.

Picture 8: The Child Samuel in The Temple of God

1 Samuel 1:24-28, 2:12-21, 3:1-21

While Samuel was still a little boy, Hannah dedicated him to God. She took him to live with Eli in the temple of Shiloh. Eli taught Samuel how to serve God. Eli had two sons. They were priests but they were wicked men. So God stopped speaking to the people through these priests. One night Samuel was lying down in the temple of God. Suddenly God called his name. Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." This happened three times. Then Eli realised that it was God who was calling Samuel. So he told Samuel to answer God and say, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." God spoke to Samuel many times and he became a great priest, prophet and leader in Israel.

Picture 9: Samuel Prays for Israel

1 Samuel 7:2-14; Exodus 20:2-5

God punished the wicked sons of Eli. They were killed in battle and Israel was defeated by the Philistines. For over 20 years the Philistines ruled over Israel.

Then Samuel said to the people, "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods . . . and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." The Israelites obeyed Samuel. They came together at one place. Samuel offered a sacrifice to God and prayed for Israel. The Philistines gathered to attack Israel. But God sent a great thunderstorm upon them. The Philistines fled in fear, and Israel was able to defeat them all.

Picture 10: Samuel Anoints Saul with Oil

1 Samuel 8:1 - 10:1

God was the real king of Israel and Samuel, under God, led the people. Because other tribes had kings of their own, the Israelites also wanted a man to be their king. Samuel was not pleased when he heard this. But God said to him, "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king." There was a young man named Saul. He was tall and good-looking. One day Saul went to visit Samuel. When Samuel saw him coming, God said to Samuel, "This is the man. He will rule over my people." So Samuel took a flask of oil. He poured the oil on Saul's head. This was the sign that he was chosen to be king. For 40 years Saul ruled as king over Israel.

Picture 11: Saul Tears Samuel’s Robe

1 Samuel 15:1-29

During the time of Saul's kingship, the Amalekites harmed Israel in many ways. So Samuel said to king Saul, "Listen to the message from God . . . attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them." God helped Saul and his army to defeat the Amalekites. But the Israelites disobeyed God. They saved the best of the Amalekites' animals to sacrifice to God and they did not kill the Amalekite king as God had commanded. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king." Samuel turned to leave. Saul grasped Samuel's robe. It tore in his hand. So Samuel said, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbours - to one better than you."

Saul offered sacrifices to God, but he did not obey Him. Samuel obeyed and served God all the days of his life.

Picture 12: Jesus in the House of God

Luke 2:41-50, 1:35

Many years after Samuel, there was a child in Israel with the name of Jesus. Mary was his mother, but God is his Father. Jesus always obeyed God. When He was twelve years old, Mary and her husband Joseph went to Jerusalem. Jesus went with them. On their return, Jesus went missing, so they searched for Him. After three days they found Him in the temple of God. He was talking with the Jewish teachers about God. Mary said to Him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." But Jesus said, "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" When Jesus was just a boy like Samuel, He knew that He had come to serve God. Jesus came to lead all people back to God, for God is the true king and leader of everyone.

Introduction

Some of the greatest men who ever lived were servants of God. This track will now tell you how God made them great leaders of the people. Turn to the next picture when you hear this sound.

Picture 13: David, The Brave Shepherd

1 Samuel 16:1-13, 17:34-35

Saul was the first king of Israel, but he kept on disobeying God. God left Saul and did not help him any more. There was a young boy named David. He looked after his father's sheep. God had already chosen David to be king in place of Saul. David trusted God and he was not afraid of danger. One day a lion caught one of the sheep. David killed the lion and saved the sheep. He also made beautiful music and always sang praises to God. The songs are called Psalms and can be found in God's Word, the Bible. David became the kind of man God wants all men to be.

Picture 14: David and the Giant

1 Samuel 17:1-54, 2:30

There was war between Israel and the Philistines. Amongst the Philistines there was a giant called Goliath. He shouted to the Israelites and said, "Choose a man . . . If he is able to fight and kill me, we will be your servants, but if I kill him, you shall be our servants."

The men of Israel were afraid of Goliath. No one would fight him. Then young David said, "Who is this Philistine to threaten the army of the living God?" David was not afraid of Goliath. He knew that God could help him to kill the giant because it was God's battle. So David went to meet Goliath, took his sling and cast a stone at the giant's head. Goliath fell to the ground and David ran to him. He took Goliath's own sword and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled. The army of Israel pursued and defeated them.

Picture 15: Saul Tries to Kill David

1 Samuel 18:1 - 19:10

At first Saul was pleased with David because he had saved Israel. David became a great soldier and leader in Israel. The Israelites were glad to follow him. But then Saul became jealous of David. One day David was making music for Saul on his harp. An evil spirit came upon Saul and he picked up his spear and threw it at David, but it missed him and stuck in the wall. After that Saul tried to kill David several times. But God protected David by sending Saul's son Jonathan and many other Israelites to help David against his enemies. David still had to flee to distant places to escape from Saul.

Picture 16: David Spares Saul’s Life

1 Samuel 26:1-25; Romans 12:19

Saul and his army went to capture David in the wilderness. One night, while Saul and his men were asleep, David and his friend Abishai sneaked into Saul's camp. Abishai wanted to kill the sleeping king, but David stopped him. He said, "God will punish whoever harms his chosen king." David took the spear and the water jug from beside Saul's head. When they had gone out of the camp, David cried out to awaken Saul's men. He said to Abner, the man who was responsible to protect the king, "You have not protected your master. Look around you. Where are the king's spear and water jug that were near his head?" After this David said to Saul, "As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver (set me free from) me from all trouble." So David went on his way and Saul returned home.

Picture 17: David Becomes King

1 Samuel 31:1-7; 2 Samuel 5:1 - 7:16

The Philistines again came to fight Israel. King Saul, his son Jonathan and his other sons were killed in the battle. Then the people made David king of Israel. He built his palace in the city of Jerusalem. God said to David, "I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. . . Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth." When the Philistines heard that David had become king, they all set out to fight against him. But David trusted God and he did as the Lord commanded him, so he struck down the Philistines. In the course of time he defeated all the Philistines.

Picture 18: David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:1 - 12:20; Exodus 20:14

One day David was walking on the roof of his palace. He saw a beautiful woman having a bath. David wanted her for himself. The woman's name was Bathsheba. She was the wife of Uriah who was a soldier in David's army. Uriah had gone away to fight the enemies of Israel. David heard this news and sent a message to the captain of the army. He told the captain to make sure that Uriah was killed in the war. Then David took Bathsheba to be his own wife. But this did not please God. The firstborn son of David and Bathsheba died, and David had to ask God's forgiveness for the terrible thing he had done. God's Word says, "You shall not commit adultery." And also "You shall not murder."

Picture 19: A Temple for God

1 Chronicles 22:1-19

David sinned against God, yet he loved God and wanted to serve Him. He wanted to build a great temple, where people could meet to worship God. But God said, "You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon. . . He is the one who will build a house for my Name. . . And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever." David prepared many things for the temple of God in Jerusalem before he died, but it was Solomon who built it. It took seven years to complete. It was a beautiful place. The people of Israel worshipped God in this temple in Jerusalem for hundreds of years, and they never forgot that David was a very great king.

Picture 20: Jesus Comes Into Jerusalem

Matthew 21:1-11

About a thousand years after David, Jesus was born. Jesus was a descendant of king David. His mother was a virgin called Mary. His father is the almighty God. On earth Jesus was the greatest servant of God. He taught the people the truth about God. He worked miracles by the power of God. Saul and David and all of us have sinned against God. But Jesus never sinned. One day He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people went out to meet Jesus and shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Hosanna means 'praise to you'. And they also shouted, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" The people saw that Jesus was even greater than David. He is the King above all kings.

Picture 21: The Ravens (Birds) Feed Elijah

1 Kings 17:1-6

After David and Solomon other kings ruled over Israel. One was a man called Ahab. He had an evil wife named Jezebel. She killed many of God's followers, and she forced the people to worship the idols of Baal, a false god. Elijah was a great prophet of God during that same time. He went to Ahab and said, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." So God sent a famine upon the land of Israel. However, God kept caring for his servant Elijah. He sent Elijah to a place called Kerith, where he could drink from the stream, and every morning and evening ravens brought Elijah bread and meat to eat.

Picture 22: Elijah and the Fire of God

1 Kings 18:16-46

In the third year of the famine Elijah told Ahab to call all the people of Israel and the prophets who served the false god Baal, to the mountain called Carmel. He said to them, "If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." Nobody answered. Then Elijah said, "Get two bulls for us. Let the prophets of Baal choose one bull for a sacrifice. But let them not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull, but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord." Elijah said, "The god who answers by fire - he is God." The people agreed with Elijah. All day the priests of Baal called to their god. They danced around their sacrifice and cut themselves with knives. But there was no fire. In the evening, Elijah prepared his sacrifice. He asked the people to pour a lot of water on his sacrifice and on the wood. Then he prayed to God. Immediately fire fell from heaven on Elijah's sacrifice. It burned up the sacrifice and the water. And all the people cried out, "The Lord - he is God!"

Picture 23: Elijah Goes to Heaven

1 Kings 19:1-21; 2 Kings 2:1-14

Elijah killed those Baal priests because they were so wicked. Then king Ahab's wife Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah. He was afraid, so he fled to a distant place in the desert. There God met Elijah. After God had spoken to him, he was no longer afraid. He continued to teach the people to worship only the one true God. At God's command Elisha became Elijah's helper. One day as they walked along together, a chariot of fire rushed in between them and God took Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha no longer saw Elijah.

Picture 24: Elijah and Moses with Jesus

Luke 9:28-36

About 700 years after Elijah, when Jesus lived on earth, He took three of his disciples up a mountain to pray one day. As Jesus prayed, Moses and Elijah appeared. The three disciples saw them shining with glory. Then God spoke from heaven. He said, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him."

Jesus came to this earth and died as a sacrifice for our sins and the sins of all people of all times, because God wants to save all people through his son Jesus. Jesus is our saviour whom God raised from the dead. But God only gives everlasting life to those who listen to his Word, trust in Him and obey Him.