MONTHLY ARCHIVES: February 2019

Conversation Starters: A Passion to Share the Gospel

Posted by Karah

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE: One of the beauties of life is the uniqueness each one of us brings to it. We are created by God with particular interests, abilities, and personalities. Our individuality is compounded by our history—including our sins, failures, and victories. We are all unique, but God calls us to the same task: to share His gospel. Our individual histories and experiences provide opportunities for us to bring the gospel into the lives of others.

Concept: A Passion to Share the Gospel

Preschool

2 Timothy 1:1-5; 3:14-17

LIFE POINT: On one of his trips, Paul met a young man named Timothy. Paul heard people say that Timothy loved God and Jesus. Timothy had been taught about God by his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. Paul asked Timothy to help him tell others about Jesus. They traveled together and talked to many people. They told them about Jesus and God. Later, Paul wrote a letter to Timothy. Paul wrote that he was praying for Timothy. Paul said, “I thank God for your mother and your grandmother who taught you about God and Jesus. Since you were a child, you have learned from the Bible. Remember, all that the Bible says is from God. The Bible tells us what God wants us to do. It teaches us how to live and helps us make right choices. Keep doing what the Bible says to do.”

LIVE IT OUT: Assist your child in learning 2 Peter 3:18. Say the verse together. Stretch up tall as you say “grow”; point to your temples as you say “know”; make the sign for Jesus (touch each middle finger to opposite palm) as you say “Jesus.” Remind your child she is growing and learning.

Kids

2 Timothy 1:1-5; 3:14-17

LIFE POINT: Paul wrote letters to Timothy. One letter said this: “From Paul to Timothy, I thank God for you, Timothy, every day. I know you were sad to see me leave. I remember that your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice taught you about God. My advice is to keep on in what you learned and what you believe. You have known the Scriptures since you were a child. They teach you about God’s plan to save people. All Scripture comes from God. Scripture can teach what is right. It can show you what is bad. Scripture can correct bad actions. It can show how to do right. These things will help you be ready for good works.” Paul helped Timothy—and people today— know how to live as God wants.

LIVE IT OUT: God desires for people to keep learning about Him. Share with your child how he began learning about God and Jesus at home, at church and at camp. Help your child think of Bible stories he learned when he was younger and still hears now. Suggest that he make a list of favorite Bible stories about Jesus.

Students

2 Corinthians 5:11, 14-21

THE POINT: God calls us to share the gospel.
• What advertising ploys are least likely to persuade you?
• What motivates you to follow Christ?
• What are the basic truths of the gospel every person needs to hear?
• What are some effective ways to share the gospel?
Discuss the following quote:

“God has made relationships His chosen
delivery system for the gospel of hope.” 1
— Ed Stetzer

LIVE IT OUT: Encourage your student to take practical steps to take his or her faith and Live It Out. Here are some ways you can encourage your students to live out their faith with Christ personally, in community, and in their culture:
• CHRIST: In order to be reconciled with God, we must repent of all sin and align ourselves with His perfect standard. Help your student determine if there is any unconfessed sin in his or her life.
• COMMUNITY: Take time to pray with your student over the sin in his or her life and discuss any changes you may need to make as individuals and as a family to be reconciled with God.
• CULTURE: It can be hard for nonbelievers to hear the truth of the gospel. Consider ways you can share in a loving way.

Ed Stetzer, Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2012), 115.


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Conversation Starters: A Channel of Comfort

Posted by Karah

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE: No one is immune from trouble. No one wants to go through hardships, but sometimes life rains on us. Thankfully, God never abandons His children, and we can know the power of His presence in the challenges we face. When we’ve walked through a hard season of life with God’s comforting grace, we can walk with others undergoing the same difficulties. We can encourage them with the love, grace, and comfort of Christ, who they see in us.

Conversation Starters: A Channel of Comfort

Preschool

Acts 18:1-3, 24-28

LIFE POINT: Paul went to the city of Corinth to tell the people about Jesus. There he met a man named Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. They were tent makers. Paul taught Priscilla and Aquila about Jesus while they worked together making tents. Later, Aquila and Priscilla sailed with Paul to a city named Ephesus. In this city, Aquila and Priscilla met a man named Apollos. Apollos loved God and had learned many things from the Bible scroll. He was a good teacher, and many people listened to him. Aquila and Priscilla invited Apollos to their house. They talked with Apollos and told him things about Jesus that he did not know. Aquila and Priscilla helped Apollos understand more about Jesus. Apollos traveled to tell other people what he had learned about God and Jesus.

LIVE IT OUT: Sit and clap with your child while saying, “T – E – L – L, I can tell about Jesus.” Name one person you could tell about Jesus. Repeat the chant, encouraging your child to name someone she could tell about Jesus. Continue to play, adding other family members to the game.

Kids

Acts 21:27-22:29

LIFE POINT: Some men saw Paul in the temple. They said that Paul was saying things against the law. They stirred up the whole crowd. The men grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple. They beat Paul and tried to kill him! Soldiers rushed to the temple to find out what was happening. As the crowd followed, the soldiers took Paul away. When they reached the steps where the soldiers stayed, Paul asked to speak. Paul said, “Listen to me. I learned the Jewish law when I was young. I tried to do all it said. I even tried to put Christians in jail.” Then Paul told everything that had happened to him. The crowd yelled for Paul to be punished. The soldier was about to beat Paul with a whip. Then he learned that Paul was a Roman citizen. The soldier knew he could not harm a Roman citizen. He stopped at once.

LIVE IT OUT: Has your child ever heard a message from you he does not like? Just as a parent disciplines his child, so God disciplines His children. Help your child understand that the Bible is God’s guide for living and following Jesus, even when we hear something we do not like.

Students

2 Corinthians 1:2-7

THE POINT: I can be a channel of God’s comfort to others.
• What’s your favorite comfort food?
• When have you been comforted by God?
• What ways do you appreciate being comforted by others?
• When has God used you to comfort someone?
Discuss the following quote:

“The task of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” 1 —Vance Havner

LIVE IT OUT: Encourage your student to take practical steps to take his or her faith and Live It Out. Here are some ways you can encourage your students to live out their faith with Christ personally, in community, and in their culture:
• CHRIST: Pray with your student that he or she would respond to hardships in a Christ-honoring way.
• COMMUNITY: Our friends are continually facing challenges that need our prayers and community support. Help your student identify friends that may need our prayer and support.
• CULTURE: Discuss ways that people in your church and community may be suffering. Consider ways that you can help and be a comfort to those people.

1 Vance Havner, Grace Quotes [online], [accessed 23 November 2016]. Available from the Internet: http://gracequotes.org/quote/the-task-of-the-preacher-is-to-comfort-the-afflict/


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Conversation Starters: The Gift of Grace

Posted by Karah

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE: Our lives are filled with both joys and sorrows, opportunities we embrace and difficulties we’d rather avoid. We don’t question God’s presence in the good times, although we might when life gets hard. God is with us through it all: good and bad. We are no less in God’s hands or useful as His instruments when we face challenges. God’s grace is always with us.

Conversation Starters: The Gift of Grace

Preschool

Acts 17:16-34

LIFE POINT: Paul traveled to the city of Athens. While there, Paul went to the synagogue and talked to the people about Jesus. Paul went to the marketplace every day and told about Jesus to anyone he met. Some men heard Paul teaching about Jesus. The men asked Paul to go with them to a special meeting place on a hill. People came from all over Athens to the hill. Paul stood up in the meeting and said, “I want to tell you what I know about God. God created the world and everything in it. He made all people, and He loves all people. He wants people to love Him.” Paul told the people about Jesus, God’s Son. Some of the people did not believe what Paul was saying. Some people wanted Paul to come back and talk again. And some people believed what Paul said about God and Jesus. Paul helped people in Athens learn about Jesus.

LIVE IT OUT: Help your child make a gift for a favorite teacher at church. He can decorate a foam or wooden picture frame with stickers. Print, “Thank you for teaching me” on a paper that will fit into the frame. Let your child print his name and decorate the paper. Encourage him to give it to his teacher at church.

Kids

Acts 17:16-34

LIFE POINT: Paul waited in the city for his friends. He saw idols everywhere! Paul even found an idol with a sign “To the Unknown God.” Some of the men liked to hear new ideas. They invited Paul to talk to them. Paul told the men that the God who made everything does not live in a shrine. He told how God did not need anything because He Himself gives what people have. Paul said, “Don’t think that God is like gold or silver or stone that men make into idols.” He told the men how God knew when each person would live and where he would live. Paul urged the men to stop sinning and to turn to the one and only real God. The men listened until Paul told them that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Some people laughed. Others wanted to hear more. Some people believed Paul, and followed Jesus.

LIVE IT OUT: Talk with your child about her teachers at church. Remind her that they are following God’s command to teach about Jesus. Encourage your child to write a thank-you note to one or more of her teachers. Tell her to mention something specific she learned from that teacher.

Students

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

THE POINT: God’s grace allows me to face anything life throws at me.
• If you could have a lifetime supply of any product, what would you choose?
• What are the risks and rewards of sharing our spiritual experiences with others?
• What are some reasons God allows us to go through hardships?
• What are some appropriate ways to respond when God says “no” to our prayers?
Discuss the following quote:

“Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace.” —Karl Barth

LIVE IT OUT: Encourage your student to take practical steps to take his or her faith and Live It Out. Here are some ways you can encourage your students to live out their faith with Christ personally, in community, and in their culture:
• CHRIST: Discuss with your student this week the grace that we receive as followers of Christ. Take time to give thanks for His continued grace.
• COMMUNITY: Grace is necessary for our salvation, and it also empowers us to serve others. Consider ways you and your student may use that grace to serve others.
• CULTURE: God wants to make His grace evident through us. Pray that God would use you and your student as an example to lost friends.

Helmut Gollwitzer, An Introduction to Protestant Theology (Louisville: Westminster Press, 1982), 174.


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