H e l lo ! ! !
We have here for you a very fiery issue! We
start around the fire, as the Gang get ready for
Bonfire Night and we learn lots of lessons from
various fiery stories in the Bible. There’s also a great
fiery picture for you to colour in, and later in the
issue we meet some fire-fighting friends in the book
of Daniel. It’s one of my favourite Bible stories, so I
hope you enjoy it too.
Christmas is getting close (in case you hadn’t
noticed!) and to me this always feels like a fiery
time of year. In the UK, where it’s always cold at
Christmastime, many of us love to sit around a fire
at night. There’s something wonderful about fire:
it’s lovely and warming, and it’s good fun to watch
the flames. But, fire is something that needs to be
treated with care and respect, as it is dangerous
if allowed to get out of control. Just as we need
guidelines about fire safety, so we need guidelines
about some other things. God has given us
guidelines for life in the Bible because He wants the
best for us. So, if you ever feel that there are more
don’ts than dos in the Bible, always remember that
God has put them there for our own good. Can you
think of any?
I’ll leave you thinking while I go and finish
making my Christmas cards and practising carols
on my recorder. Plug your ears, readers!
Merry Christmas to you all. See you in 2010 …
IN THIS .
TOPZ ..
Round the fire
Page 3
Topz to colour
Page 9
Alex comes back
Page 18
Stories Jesus told
Page 24
Topz Bitz: Readers’
Own Club Pages
page 35
Fire-fighting friends
Page 41
Topz at the shops
Page 58
mary’s miracle
Page 61
Answerz an d
Topz Order Form
Page 73
Cert no. SA-COC-1502
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 1
29/6/09 15:52:00
the bible books
OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
MicaH
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
new TESTAMENT
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 2
How to
use
It may be that some of you haven’t looked inside a
Bible very much before. If so, here’s a few helpful hints:
1: Each day in Topz there’s a Bible reading.
It’s shown like this:
Genesis
25 v 2–5
2: To find this, turn to the Contents page near the front of
your Bible and look for the name of the book – which in the
example above is Genesis.
Now find the page this book starts
on and turn to it.
3: Y ou will have to turn on a few pages now
to get to the right chapter.
4: Now look for the verse numbers
which will be in smaller type.
The chapter and verse will
look like this: Chapter
Verse
5: After reading the Bible passage, go back to the Topz page
and see what it says. Each day ends with a prayer and
sometimes an action point too.
To solve the puzzles in Topz you will need a Good News
Bible. If you don’t want to turn to the Contents page of
your Bible all the time, you will see we’ve listed all the Bible
books in order for you (see left). The ones you’ll be reading
from in this Topz are highlighted with a star . Use this
Topz Marker to keep your place in Topz. Cut it out and
stick it to a piece of card to strengthen it.
29/6/09 15:52:02
ROUND THE FIRE
On 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British
king in the Houses of Parliament, but failed. People in Britain
remember this event with fires and fireworks every 5th November.
Topz are getting ready for Bonfire Night ...
John and Sarah are
finding a safe place to put
Gruff and Saucy.
Paul is finding a tin to put the
fireworks in.
Josie and
Danny are
collecting
wood for the
bonfire.
Dave is making a guy
for the bonfire.
Benny is making
bonfire toffee!
We’re going to look at what happened
around some fires in the Bible ...
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 3
29/6/09 15:52:05
SUNDAY
1ST NOVEMBER
Exodus
3 v 1–10
Bush fire
Fir
Sorry. Didn’t
mean to make
you jump!
Boo!
e
3. h
Put the words on the flames in
the right order to see what God
said to Moses.
__ _______ __________ ____
_________ ______ ______
____ _____ ______________.
ard
y
. cr
6
5. people
7. out
2. h 8. to
ave
4. M
y
9.
be
Dave startled Paul! In today’s story, Moses was startled when he heard
a voice coming from a burning bush. Wouldn’t you be startled?!
Fill in what Moses thought:
Join the dots to find out
who was speaking:
__ __ __ __ __ __
__ __ __ __ __ __ __!
(v 3)
1. I
cu e
s
e
r
10.
d.
God was listening to His people. He listens
to us too, and wants to speak to us ...
Talk to God now.
Tell Him what makes you
happy, what worries you,
and what you hope for.
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 4
How do you think
God might speak
to you?
29/6/09 15:52:16
MONDAY
Fire pillar
2ND NOVEMBER
Deuteronomy
1 v 30–33
Look into the ship’s captain’s office.
How many things does he use to guide him? Write them down.
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Topz are playing FOLLOW MY LEADER.
Draw in the missing member of Topz:
God led the people through the desert as a pillar of fire. Jesus now
shows us the way. His life shows us the way to live and through
Jesus we can see what God is like.
Dear Jesus, thank You
that You have shown me
how to live, and that with
Your help I can follow Your
example. Amen.
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 5
Look up and learn:
John 14 v 6.
29/6/09 15:52:25
TUESDAY
3RD NOVEMBER
Deuteronomy
5 v 1–7
Fire mountain
Fir
Finish the picture. Draw in where Moses,
God and the people were.
P.S. Remember
God appeared
as a
fire.
to
t
he
ea
ly
fir
pe
on
G od
e
.
t he
mo o p l
us
u
om
ca
nta e wh
be g f r
a
i
n
t
t
, sayin
o
G
if nd od was saying
as
what God w
top
.
t he
at the
ou
t
t he
went up the mountain to listen
el l
t
Moses was the only one who could
d
there
a
g
The people were
Readaround the mountain
Moses came down the
mountain and told the
people what God had
said. Jesus is the only
One who has ever come
down from heaven to
tell us what God says.
e man
Did you hear about th r?
who burned his ea
Someone
phoned him
while he was
ironing!
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming down
from heaven to tell us how to be saved. Amen.
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 6
29/6/09 15:52:36
WEDNESDAY
Fireplace
4th NOVEMBER
Jeremiah
36 v 1–4, 21–26
Please don’t tell me off in
front of my friends, Mum!
Danny, you’ve been
a naughty boy!
Danny didn’t like getting told off, especially in front of his friends.
King Jehoiakim didn’t like God telling him off in front of his officials.
I left an envelope with £20 in it here.
Have you seen it?
Oh dear! Danny isn’t having a good day, he threw something
important on the fire by mistake. But King Jehoiakim deliberately
burnt God’s words telling him off for behaving badly, and saying he
needed to turn back to God. We need to turn to God, too.
Lord, sorry
Dear
I
am things
I
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 7
wrong
do.
Amen.
for
the
all
It’s never a good
idea to ignore
anything God says.
29/6/09 15:52:46
THURSDAY
5th NOVEMBER
1 Kings
19 v 19–21
Up in flames!
I start playing for a
new football team on
Monday.
Well, Danny, you’ve
really burnt your
boats now!
He burnt his
old kit, not a
boat!?
Benny didn’t get it when I said Danny had burnt his
boats? Did you?
People use this saying when they are starting
something new, and they do something which stops
them going back to what they were doing before.
What did Elisha burn to show he was making a brand-new start and
would never go back to farming?
Jesus gives us a
brand-new start
when we become
Christians.
(Write down
the first
letter of
each object.)
Dear Lord, please
show me if I need a new
start in any part of
my life. Amen.
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 8
If you are a new Christian, have
you read Topz for New Christians?
Go to www.cwr.org.uk to find out
how to get a copy.
29/6/09 15:52:57
HA
to
c olo u r
d
T
H
G
I
N
E
R
I
F
N
O
B
Y
P
P
z
p
HA
o
T
h
– w it
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 9
29/6/09 15:53:05
FRIDAY
6th NOVEMBER
1 Kings
18 v 24, 36–39
Fireproof
He
Let’s see who can find the
most fireworks from last night.
Meet back here in half an hour.
In the
park ...
Half an hour later ...
I win!
!
!
What good boys to
clean up after last
night!
Benny and Dave’s competition wasn’t really fair. Benny knew where
to look! He’d been in the park earlier. Before Elisha joined him, Elijah
had a competition against the prophets of Baal. It wasn’t fair because
Baal didn’t even exist! Elijah knew where to look for help!
When we need help we can turn to God because ...
Colour in the letters with red, orange and yellow.
10
TopzNov-Dec09.indd 10
Shout out: ‘Thank You, Lord, that You are
always there ready to listen to me. Help me to
remember I can always turn to You. Amen.
29/6/09 15:53:16