Dear Parents, 

 

Thank you to Alice and Irene Alexander for leading Children’s Church this week. They reviewed last week’s judges, Deborah and Barak. They also made a special poster illustrating the confusing steps the Israelites have been taking in this journey through the History section of the Old Testament. The poster reads, “Don’t Be Confused, Follow God!”  Check out the footprints the children drew. You can find this poster displayed on the wall in our library.

 

In Sunday School, this week’s Bible story, “Gideon,” starts out the same way the previous stories have started: The Israelites once again turned away from God. This time, God handed the Israelites over to the Midianites. The Bible says the Midianites would swarm the Israelites like locusts, devouring all of their livestock and crops. The Israelites hid in caves and were reduced to poverty.

 

 The Angel of the LORD personally delivered a message to Gideon as he was threshing grain in a wine vat to hide it from the Midianites. God called Gideon to deliver His people from the Midianites. Gideon told the Angel that he was the youngest son of the weakest house in the tribe of Manasseh. God had a solution, though: “I will be with you,” He said. (Judg. 6:16)

 

 Not only did God choose an unlikely hero for today’s Bible story, but God also reduced Gideon’s army to only 300 soldiers. People would know God defeated the Midianites, not the might of the Israelite army. In battle, God turned the Midianites’ swords against each other. Gideon and his army pursued the enemy troops. Gideon alone could not defeat the Midianites. In the same way, we aren’t able to save ourselves from sin. Jesus came to save us from our sin because He is enough. Only God, through Jesus Christ, can save us.

 

Just in case the “Family Journal Page” didn't make it home:

 

 Bible Passage: Judges 6-8

 

Big Picture Question: How should we respond to God’s calling? We should obey God and trust Him to help us.

 

 Key passage: “Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, the LORD was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.” Judges 2:18

       

 Christ Connection: The Israelites cried out to God because they knew they could not save themselves. Even Gideon was not enough to save them; God used Gideon to save His people but God fought the battle for them. The people needed someone who was mighty to save. Jesus Christ came to save us from sin because we cannot save ourselves. Only God, through Christ, can save us.

 

 Family task: Gideon needed God’s help to trust God’s plan and obey Him. Gideon asked God to prove His plan. God reduced Gideon’s army from 32,000 soldiers to 300 soldiers. Read Joshua 7:2 and talk about why God did that. When Gideon did what God said, he showed that he trusted God. Share with your children at least one way God has proved that your family can trust Him. Write about that experience.

 

Next week's lesson:  Judges 13-16

 

Check out Charleston Baptist's Gospel Project Blog: www.charlestonbaptistss.blogspot.com 

For more about The Gospel Project, www.gospelproject.com

Words in italic are copied and pasted from The Gospel Project Curriculum

 

VBS is on the way!!! 

“Turn It Up!!” Turn up the power of God’s love!!

June 24-28

8:45-12:30 (mornings only)

Sign Up to volunteer this Sunday, May 19

Look for the “Turn It Up” table describing various positions available. Volunteers are needed before VBS. We are having a closing program on Friday night, June 28. If you work during the day, you don’t have an excuse, there is something you can do. Sign up this weekend.

 

Please note that the church will also be conducting our second annual S.O.S. (Servants of the Savior) Mission project that same week. As part of that, Backyard Bible Clubs will be held in the evenings if you cannot participate in VBS during the day.

Dear Parents, 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms. Hope you had a wonderful day. We talked about moms in Children’s Church and even looked at what the Bible says about how we should treat our moms. Ephesians 6:1-3 says; “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’” We explored what it means to obey and what it means to honor.

Obey- doing what a person wants you to do

Honor- heart attitude about a person’s importance 

As far as the promise to live long, one child had a very good question about that. When a person dies does that mean they were disobeying their parents? That was a difficult question. I reassured them that God takes people home to heaven when He decides it’s time. In most cases, it has nothing to do with our actions. We don’t know why God takes children. I bring up this question because I wondered it any other children were questioning the same thing. I encourage you to talk to your children about what they understand about this verse.  

I shared a Mother’s Day video with the kids on Sunday that I would like to share with you. Enjoy!!

 http://ministry-to-children.com/mom-song/ 

In Sunday School, this week’s story in The Gospel Project for Kids^® was “Deborah and Barak.” After the death of the first judges, the Israelites fell into a continuous cycle: sin, bondage, deliverance, and peace. When the people of Israel were oppressed by the king of Canaan, Deborah was the judge of Israel. Deborah sent for Barak and encouraged him to gather an army and fight the Canaanite army and its commander, Sisera.

Deborah told Barak that God would hand Sisera and his troops to him. Barak agreed to go, but only if Deborah would go with him. Deborah went, but she told Barak that God would use a woman to defeat Sisera. In battle, God confused Sisera and his 900 charioteers and all of his army. Barak and his men didn’t have to fight, they just chased down the Canaanite army as they fled! All of Sisera’s troops died, but Sisera escaped on foot.

Sisera fled to the tent of Jael, whose husband was an ally of the Canaanite king. Jael invited him inside, gave him a drink, and covered him as he slept. Then she killed him! God used Deborah, Barak, and Jael to free his people from bondage. God uses people and events to save us not only from our enemies, but to bring our ultimate good: salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

 Just in case the “Family Journal Page” didn't make it home:

 Bible Passage: Judges 4-5

 Big Picture Question: What is the goal of God’s plan? God’s plan is to bring about His glory and our good.

 Key passage: “Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, the LORD was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.” Judges 2:18

 Christ Connection: God does what is for His glory and our good. (Psalm 115:3; Romans 8:28) God fought for the Israelites and used Deborah, Barak, and Jael to defeat Canaan. In a similar way, God uses people and event to not only save us from our enemies, but to bring about our ultimate good; salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

 Family task: Deborah and Barak sang a praise song to God. Choose a favorite praise song, or teach one to your children. If you like a challenge, make up a song about things God has done for your family’s good and His glory.

 Next week's lesson:  Judges 6-8

 VBS is on the way!!! 

“Turn It Up!!” Turn up the power of God’s love!!

June 24-28

8:45-12:30 (mornings only)

Sign Up to volunteer this Sunday, May 19

Look for the “Turn It Up” table describing various positions available. Volunteers are needed before VBS. We are having a closing program on Friday night, June 28. If you work during the day, you don’t have an excuse, there is something you can do. Sign up this weekend.

 Please note that the church will also be conducting our second annual S.O.S. (Servants of the Savior) Mission project that same week. As part of that, Backyard Bible Clubs will be held in the evenings if you cannot participate in VBS during the day.

May 6th

Dear Parents,  

A Big “Thank You” to Donna Chinnis, Harold Chinnis and Polly Cook for leading Children’s Church on Sunday.  They will continue to lead every 1^st Sunday of the month. I was blessed to be able to attend the 9:30 worship service with my family.  

During CC, they did a variety of activities including singing, games, and reviewing last week’s SS lesson. They reviewed Joshua’s final words to the Israelites. Before SS began, the children, including and especially 4^th and 5^th grades watched the “What’s In The Bible?” vol. 4 video explaining this killing that we have been reading about in Joshua. The battles for the land of Canaan continues through Judges, so we thought it important to go over again. The 4^th and 5^th graders had not seen the video. In light of the story in Judges Chapter 3 about Ehud and what happens to the King Eglon, it was necessary to help the kids understand how serious God is about sin.

This is the video: http://whatsinthebible.com/video/dvd-4-why-did-the-israelites-kill-people/

I encourage you to watch it again with your children.  

In Sunday School, we made it to the book of Judges, the Bible story takes place chronologically after the death of Joshua. The Israelites had God’s laws to help them live their everyday lives, but without a leader they fell into a cycle of sin. They turned away from God and worshiped idols, which led to bondage and oppression by foreign kings. Then they remembered God and cried out to Him. God raised up a judge to deliver them, and finally there was ease in the land. 

 

Today’s Bible story, “The First Judges,” describes how God raised up Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar to deliver His people when they cried out to Him.  As long as the judge was alive, the people followed God and experienced peace and prosperity. When the judge died, however, they would fall back into the cycle of sin. 

 

Today’s lesson focused mainly on Ehud and what he did to the evil King Eglon. It was a pretty gross death. Some of the kids found it interesting, while others were grossed out. It is a short story of a great hero and a very evil king who was in the way of God’s Rescue Plan. When you get in the way of the Rescue Plan, bad things happen. During our study of Judges, we will continue to see the Israelites not keep their covenant with God that they made during Joshua’s time. They were a disobedient bunch, as we are. But every time things got really bad, they cried out for help and God sent a hero, a judge, to rescue them every time. God was merciful with the Israelites and He is merciful with us.

The Israelites needed someone better than a judge; they needed a king who would save them not only from the consequences of their sin, but the sin itself. That was all part of God’s plan. God sent a true Deliverer; His Son, Jesus, died for our sin and delivered us forever from the oppression of sin and death.

Just in case the “Family Journal Page” didn't make it home:

 Bible Passage: Judges 3:7-31 

Big Picture Question: How does God accomplish His plan? God works in the lives of people to bring about His plan of redemption.

 Key passage: “Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, the LORD was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.” Judges 2:18      

 Christ Connection: The judges saved the people from the consequences of their sin, but not the cause of it. God’s plan was to one day send a true Deliverer-Jesus, His Own Son-to be the King of His people. Jesus saves people from sin forever. 

 Family task: Think of one or two believers at church or in the community whom you admire. Talk about why you admire them. Share that just as God works in their lives to accomplish His plan, and just as He did with the judges in ancient Israel, God works in the lives of your family members. Write how you see God using the person you named.

Next week's lesson:  Judges 4-5

April 28, 2013

Dear Parents, 

Studying the book of Joshua, the kids seemed to notice a lot of killing and taking other people’s lands. Someone asked me why God was directing the Israelites to steal and kill. That was a very hard question. I was thankful that Phil Vischer on “What’s In the Bible?” vol 4 answered that question very well. The clip we watched is on www.whatsinthebible.com. Basically, Phil explained that since God actually owns the land, He can choose to give it to whomever He wants. He chose the Israelites to have Canaan. And why did God allow all those people to die, the real question is why haven’t we been killed? You see, because of sin, we all deserve death. So, those people who were going against God and who were preventing the Israelites from fulfilling God’s Rescue Plan, they deserved to die. We deserve to die. Why don’t we get what we deserve? Because of what Christ did for us on the cross. He died for us so we wouldn’t have to. That is God’s Rescue Plan!!! 

We continued with reviewing the next battle in Joshua in chapter 10. This one was about a very big request from Joshua to God. Joshua asked God to stop the sun so they could win the battle. God did it!! That is amazing!! Our Big Question was “What does God do when we pray? He answers us and saves us." Yes, He always answers us. It might be a “YES”, “NO” or “WAIT”; but He always answers us.  

In Sunday School, your kids learned about “Joshua’s Final Encouragement.” Joshua was an old man—120 years old!—but his life was a testament of God’s faithfulness to His people. 

God had promised when the Israelites began the conquest of Canaan that God would be with Joshua wherever he went. (Joshua 1:9) Joshua reminded the Israelites about the history of their nation, from the covenant first made to Abraham to the banks of the Jordan River when the Israelites crossed over on dry ground. Joshua also reminded the Israelites that God fought all of their battles. Not one of God’s promises to His people failed. Isn’t that a pretty awesome encouragement? We serve a God who keeps His promises!

Joshua reminded the Israelites that they still lived among people who worshiped false gods, false gods that could lead the people away from following the one true God. Joshua made it clear: the Israelites could not sit on the fence. They could not worship Yahweh one day and the Baals the next. Joshua drew the line in the sand and told them to choose. Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The Israelites made a covenant to serve Yahweh. Joshua read the book of the Law, and made an altar to seal their commitment to God.

How can we show our commitment to God?  We can serve, worship, and obey God. As you talk about Joshua’s legacy of faith with your kids, point to an even greater legacy of faith. After Christ’s resurrection, He sent His disciples out to tell the nations about Him. Jesus calls all people who trust in Him to tell others about Him.

Just in case the “Family Journal Page” didn't make it home:

 Bible Passage: Joshua 23:1-24:28 

Big Picture Question: How can we show we love God? We can serve, worship, and obey God.

 Key passage: “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15      

 Christ Connection: As Joshua prepared for his own death, he left behind a legacy of obedience to God. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He appeared to the disciples and left them with a legacy: to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. (Matthew 28:19-20)

 Family task: Discover a way your family can serve others during the week. Consider making dinner for a neighbor, babysitting for a friend, visiting a nursing home, serving at a homeless shelter, picking up litter in the neighborhood, and so forth. Share how your service to others shows your love for them. Share some ways you can show your love to God by serving Him.

Next week's lesson:  Judges 3:7-31