Feb
8

A Push in the Right Direction

Kenny on February 8th, 2011
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Hey Kids,

We talked in church about praying to God.  You learned from Tara about how to pray for the people around you before you pray for yourselves.  Sometimes it can be hard to think of a prayer yourself.  Here are a couple of prayers that you can use.

This first prayer is one you can use before you eat.

God is great; God is good,
Let us thank Him for our food;
By God’s hand we all are fed,
Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen.

This bedtime prayer was made by Margaret Kennedy.

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Feb
3

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Jessica on February 3rd, 2011
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Ever heard that saying?

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our heart because everything that we do flows from it. What does that mean?? Ever ran into a grumpy, bitter person? I work at a coffee shop and see a lot of people like that. They give you attitude, talk to you like you are stupid, and don’t show appreciation even though you served them with manners and the biggest grin that fit on your face. It seems like there is nothing you can do to  cheer them up. Their heart is bitter therefore they are going to act bitter towards other people. The things we say, our tone of voice, and our actions say a lot about what is going on in our hearts. Now you’re saying, “Great, makes sense. But what does this have to do with spiritual disciplines??” Glad you asked :)

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Jan
24

Kids Quiz – Using Your Fingers to Pray

Tony on January 24th, 2011
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Do you remember Miss Tara’s lesson about whom to pray for?  Don’t peek, see how many you can remember:

  • Your thumb is the closest to us.  It reminds you to pray for those _____ to you
  • Your pointing finger reminds you to pray for those who _____
  • The tallest finger reminds us to pray for the _____ in our country
  • The ring finger is your weakest finger.  It reminds you to pray for _____
  • An last is our little finger.  It reminds us to pray for _____ last.
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Jan
23

Like Christ…I wanna be like Christ!

PK on January 23rd, 2011
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I remember back in the day when I was in high school and basketball was my “god”. I ate, read, watched, played, slept, and thought about basketball night and day. You see I wanted to be the best I could be, and I put in the time, attention, and effort to make sure that it happened.  I wouldn’t let anything, (ie, time of day, night, or weather), or anyone (ie, neighbors, or school mates) get in the way. I wanted to surpass my limits and one of the best ways was for me to not just talk basketball, or just play basketball on the court. I had to be about basketball off the court as well. One of the ways I did this was that I had a visual goal. I wanted to be like Magic Johnson, Dominque Wilkins, and of course Michael Jordan. It consumed me.

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Jan
17

Stretch A Little More (part 2)

Pastor Robert on January 17th, 2011
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Meditating is when we fill thoughts with truths about God; it is focusing on the Word of God( Ps.1:2). Rather than emptying ourselves, the Christian fills his mind with hope and encouragement from the promises that God has given in his word. When the believer does this he is assured of peace.

Christian meditation is rooted in the Bible. In fact the Bible commands us to meditatein Joshua 1:8. When we meditate on his word something happens; we obey it.

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Jan
16

Meditate on This

Tony on January 16th, 2011
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Were you at church this morning? If so, you heard six great things for you to meditate on this week:

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Jan
14

Meditating on God’s Word vs. Impending Doom

Stacia on January 14th, 2011
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In Pastor’s first sermon on meditation he said that if we know how to worry, we know how to meditate.  He was pointing out that if we can focus our minds on worry, we can instead focus our minds on God’s Word.

Well, I don’t really think of myself as a worrier, but I do struggle with a sense of impending doom.  I don’t think they are quite the same thing.  To me worrying is concern over everday things.  A sense of impending doom is concern over future predictions that others are constantly speaking to me.  For instance, over the last couple of years the school district where I work is constantly sending out memos about budget cuts and how many jobs are going to be eliminated.  Lawyers and doctors have also delivered messages of impending doom to me.

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Jan
12

Be the Change

Jessica on January 12th, 2011
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At Youth Convention this last November, we were challenged to “Be the Change”. On Sunday morning, Megan Hutchinson gave a little acronym for how to be the change:

C – Consult God

H – Honor on another

A – Ask for forgiveness/Admit when hurt

N – Never yell

G – Get help

E – Encourage often

Megan told us that the first step in being the change is to consult God. She said that means to “check or discuss” with God. One way to do that is through prayer (which is one of the spiritual disciplines – a lot of times they go hand in hand with each other) but another way is through meditation.

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Jan
7

Stretch a Little More (Part One)

Pastor Robert on January 7th, 2011
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How do we stretch a little more this year? By meditating on his word. Two major diffences between traditional forms of meditation and christian meditation.

* In traditional meditation, one seeks to empty one’s self; and christian meditation the believer seeks rather to be filled.

* In traditional meditation, the object is self, the higher self; whereas in christian meditation the object is God, who is high above all.

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Jan
4

Break it Down

Jessica on January 4th, 2011
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So discipleship is training and the spiritual disciplines are the tools that we use to train. Great. Awesome. But what the heck are spiritual disciplines?? Sometimes we hear all these “churchy” words thrown around but we’re not sure what they really mean. Well hopefully I can break them down and make it clearer by putting it into our words. There are twelve disciplines (aka tools). We’ll be going through all of them eventually, but the first one is meditation.

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