What Needs to Be Fixed, What Needs to Be Broken
Spiritual Victories: The Shield of Faith
by Julia Taylor
14 September 2016 at Key Women Bedfordview
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Children’s Church Reflection (11 September, 2016)
One of the struggles we fight against is fear. Think of the many things that cause us to fear daily: finances, crime, health, our future, job security etc. It is not difficult to feel afraid in life. The exact same happens with our children. They too become fearful, anxious and uncertain about many things. Knowing this applies to all of us, it is so comforting to know that God says He will be our peace. When we are unsettled by whatever circumstance, God assures us that He will be our peace and help us to display such peace for others to see.
Our Part
Our desire this week was to help our children understand how God is our provider of peace. We looked at some of the things in their life that can affect their feelings; things that can cause fear, uncertainty and insecurity. Those things are real. But then we looked at what Jesus told His disciples in John 14:27. He says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Jesus promises that He will not leave us alone but will give us the Holy Spirit, and in Him we find peace.
We looked at the story in the gospels where Jesus calmed the storm. It must have been a massive storm knowing that fishermen were petrified on the boat. Yet Jesus, in one command, stops the storm and brings peace. He longs to speak such commands into our life and bring peace. Our response is that we need to turn to Him and trust Him in all circumstances.
When we live with peace we can also show it. We also encouraged the children to ask God to help them to show peace to others. Jesus says blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5). We must also learn to show peace to others.
Your Part
Once again this term we want to emphasise that the worries we face are real, but our victory in God is real too. Help your children when they are feeling insecure or fearful to remember who gives them peace. Don’t tell them that help comes from money or a good government or a safe country. Those are beneficial, but ultimate peace that weathers any storm comes from Jesus. There is such great security that our children can live in if we point to Jesus during the storms, however life-threatening they may seem.
This week, my son, Nathan went outside on his own in the dark and I heard him saying, “I’m not afraid because I have Jesus in my heart.” For some that seems menial. For him it was a massive victory. He defeated a fear because he knew Jesus was with him. There are more victories to be had for all of our children.
– Greg, Nicole and the Children’s Church team
Bear Much Fruit: Change
Remembering the Goodness of God
4 SEPTEMBER 2016
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Bear Much Fruit: Hearing God
4 SEPTEMBER 2016
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HEARING GOD
God fills the universe. Therefore when it comes to hearing His voice, the problem is with us and not Him – He is speaking all the time!
Hearing God is not difficult but we have complicated it in many ways. We either complicate it because we don’t like what He has to say and we want to do our own thing; or we complicate it with strange ideas on how God speaks, or strange doctrine we’ve picked up from various sources.
This short booklet aims to give some helpful, uncomplicated guidelines to hearing God’s voice.
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Children’s Church Reflection for 5 September
We have our hope in Jesus as an anchor of the soul. These few words have been ringing in my head and my heart (Nicole) for a few months now. In such uncertain times: the crime stats, terrorist attacks happening in the world, all the political changes locally and in America and all over the world, we can lose our hope. We become so focused on the problems that we take our eyes off Jesus and find ourselves wallowing in fear.
Anchors date back by millennia. The first anchors were most likely made out of rock. Ancient Greeks most likely used a basket filled with large sacks of sand and stone to anchor their boats. It was only in about 1813 where it got the shape which everyone knows these days.
Regardless of how the anchor has been made, its function has always remained the same. It prevents the ship from moving around when the waters are unstable.
Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this as a strong and trustworthy anchor for the souls, a hope that enters us into the inner place behind the curtain. How wonderful that God is our hope. We can put our hope and trust in Him because He keeps His promises.”
Our part
This week we focused on “God is our hope”. He is that anchor that keeps us secure. In our children’s church lesson we looked at many people in scripture who were given a promise by God. Abraham, Daniel, Esther and even the disciples. They were given promises of God’s protection, His promise that He will give us strength, His promise that He sent Jesus to save us. The amazing thing with all these characters is that God kept His promise and He still does. Knowing that God always keeps His promises and He can not lie makes it all so much easier for us to find our hope in Him.
Your part
As families let’s be encouraged to put our hope in God. Where God has given you as a family promises, write them up in your house, remind yourselves of them. Rejoice with your children that God says He will protect us, He will provide for us, He will save us, He will give us boldness and courage. Acknowledge as a family when God answers His promises and when the tough times come, put your hope in Him.
Much love! – The Cornerstone Children Church team
The King and His Kingdom: How Big is the Rock
by Hennie Cronje
2 September 2016 at The Exchange
Part of the King and His Kingdom series
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Children’s Church Reflection for 28 August, 2016
One the greatest gifts given to us is also one of the hardest gifts for us to give: forgiveness. We respond with amazement and gratitude to God when we understand the love, security and genuineness of God’s forgiveness towards us. It is only because God chose to forgive us of our sins that we can embark in an intimate relationship with Him. Scripture says that while we were still enemies to God, Jesus died for all so that we could be forgiven. This was the incredible truth we taught this Sunday at Children’s Church.
Our Part
Scripture is full of stories and explanations teaching us about God’s forgiveness. We focused on the story of the prodigal son. Despite the way the son disrespected and dishonoured his father, the father patiently waited every day for the son’s return. When his hope was made a reality and his son returned, the father didn’t say, “I told you so” or, “I will think about taking you back”. The father accepted his son as his son and chose to love him completely despite what he did. This is our God to us. Our children heard about how God wants to forgive us of sins and will if we ask him.
We taught how we cannot remove our sins despite any of our best efforts. No good works can remove our sins and the consequences of our sins. Only Jesus can remove our sins from us. We used a creative analogy using a mirror to teach this (view the curriculum if interested).
We also taught that we too are to forgive others for things they have done to us. Jesus teaches us to forgive because we have been forgiven. How can we be so graciously forgiven by God and then not forgive others?
Your Part
Living in a family dynamic, we are sure that you are aware that the need to practice forgiveness can be on a daily basis. One of the best ways to teach forgiveness is to practice forgiveness. So, when your children misbehaves in whatever manner, address their behaviour, but then forgive them and let them know it. After that, don’t remind them of their wrongs and expose their errors, but allow them to move forward in the forgiveness you have given.
Help your children to practice forgiveness too. They may need to even forgive you. Don’t force your children to forgive (that isn’t real) but teach them the freedom that comes in forgiving others. Forgiveness can be difficult but God graciously forgives us and also teaches us how to forgive.
We pray that your family will experience freedom living in God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness you display to others.
– The Children’s Church team