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Christian Cliques – A Problem to Overcome
What we want and what we get are often two very different things! You would think that inthe church of all places we would easily find community. However, our churches often consist of a large group ofpeople coming together for worship but leaving in cliques. New comers may be welcomed in word while excluded from our conversations and activities. Even Jesus had close friends with whom He spent more time than He did with the large crowds that came to Him for healing or to hear Him preach. Was that a clique? By definition a clique is “a narrow exclusive circle or group of persons; especially:one held together…
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STOP IDENTITY THEFT
I was recently given a list of 301 things I am in Christ. I was blown away by all the things God says about those who follow Him. Then I was reading Lysa TerKeurst’s Blog. She mentioned her favorite gift from a friend was a box of Scriptures typed out with her name in them, things that God has done for each believer. It got me to thinking about many people I know both young and old who suffer from identity theft. I am not talking about the financial kind either. Spiritual identity theft! Satan attacks daily beating down the most vulnerable with his lies about who we are. If…
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GOD’S KINGDOM OBJECT LESSON
God has a kingdom. Jesus came to herald the coming of that kingdom, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.” Luke 4:43 Net Bible. When Jesus sends out the seventy, He tells them to say, “The kingdom of God has come upon you!” Luke 10:9b Net Bible. Interestingly in that same passage Jesus makes this comment as well, “The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” Luke 10:16 Net Bible. Do you…
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WHY IS IT SO HARD TO RAISE UP A GODLY GENERATION?
If as teachers and parents our faith is in Jesus, our text book is the Bible, we’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit and want God’s will for our children, why are so many of our grown up children leaving the church? Why is it so hard to pass on our faith to the next generation? Dr. Paul David Tripp encourages us to look for the answer in the Gospel message, “Parenting is a sinner seeking to give guidance and wisdom and grow a sinner. No wonder it is hard. No wonder we need God!” The more I hear what Dr. Tripp has to say, the more I am convinced that…
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NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS FOR TEACHERS
Many people make New Year resolutions. Some are personal goals but others focus on work and ministry. I would like to challenge us, as teachers, to make one New Year resolution that will empower our teaching. This new method will not only change the lives of our children but is guaranteed to change our lives too, as we hear, believe and live out the truth of our position in Christ. When I was being trained by Child Evangelism Fellowship, I was taught that every lesson should contain a PAS (personal application the saved) and a PAU (personal application to the unsaved). These thoughts are just one sentence of truth drawn…
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A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD BOOK
True believers read the Bible even though ancient texts with foreign cultural perspectives confuse or sometimes bore us. The younger the believer’s age the more the confusion.Nevertheless, those who believe, young and old, novice and mature alike, regularly listen to, read, and memorize Scripture passages. When we are taught to read, we first learn to recognize letters and sound out words. We quickly move on to reading comprehension, learning to retain what we read by filing it in our memory bank under various categories. The enemy of our soul wars against us. He desires that when we open God’s Word we forget those comprehension and retention lessons. He wants to…
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Authority! How is That Working for You?
God blesses His people with authority. But how well are we wielding it? One of my high school teachers was disciplining her children over a broken vase, not sure which one had broken it, she told them that God had been watching and knew which one of them had done it. The daughter told her mom that God hadn’t talked for a long time and she was counting on that to continue. What we think about authority makes a difference in our relationships. 1 Peter 2:12 says that we are being watched.Our actions often result in how others judge God. This is true, especially with children. Look at the human…
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Suffering and All Its Glory
There are several ways to approach teaching God’s Word. There are those who focus on teaching the principles, others on the doctrine, and still others put the focus on the words or the content of the passages. They tell the stories, they highlight the words and they emphasize the historical facts. They carefully teach the who, what, when, where, why, and even the how of the story. I have tended to use this method. Through this form of teaching I learned a lot of the characters, places, and events in the Bible. I have seen how God works and how people respond to His person, power, and promises. After over…
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Teaching Children Safety in Relationships.
A child doesn’t have to be burned to learn that fire is dangerous. It’s not necessary to be hit by a car to learn that a street is not a safe place to play. Children need consistent reinforcement of truth to learn it. For most children, this will be enough to shape their thinking and influence their actions. While they are very young we take them by the hand moving them out of danger while reinforcing with our words, “It’s hot, don’t touch it or it will burn you. It is dangerous to go into the street. That is a no! This is a yes.” Our actions and words influence…
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ASKING QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE LIVES
From the time we are old enough to form a question, we devote all our time and energy to finding the right answers. The devastation a child feels, from having the wrong answer when asked a question in front of their class, clarifies the importance of a right answer. Children ae pushed forward in a pursuit of knowledge as though finding the right answers guarantees success. Answers are necessary. Right answers are preferable. But the right answer is only as valuable as the question is good. How many times did Jesus answer a question with a new question? Answers are important. But nver underestimate the power of learning to ask…
