October 5 2014 Today's Kids Need Today's Parents (parts 1 & 2)

Today's Kids Need Today's Parents

Memory Verse: “God is the one who made all things, and all things are for his glory. He wanted to have many children share his glory.” Hebrews. 2:10a (NCV)

Malachi 2:15-16 (NCV)“GOD made husbands and wives—to become one body and one spirit for his purpose—so they would have children who are true to God. So be careful, and do not break your promise to the wife you married when you were young. God says, ‘I hate divorce.’”

I AM RESPONSIBLE TO MY KIDS

BUT I’M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MY KIDS

Five TRUTHS you must help kids understand & believe

Five QUESTIONS you must help kids ask & answer

1. TRUTH: I was planned for God’s pleasure.

Revelation 4:11b (NLT)“You (God) created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.”

Isaiah 44:2 (CEV)“I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born!”

QUESTION: What will be the center of my life?

Matthew 22:37-38 (NIV)“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Jeremiah 32:39 (TEV) “I will give them a single minded purpose in life: to honor me for all time, for their own good and for the good of their own children.”

2. TRUTH: I was formed for God’s family.

“Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”

QUESTION: Who will be my companions in life?

1 Corinthians 15:33 (TEV)“Do not be fooled. Bad companions ruin good character.”

Romans 12:5 (NLT)“Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.”

3. TRUTH: I was created to become like Christ.

Ephesians 1:11 (MSG)“It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for...part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”

Romans 8:29 (LB)“For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him... should become like his Son.”

QUESTION: What will be my character?

Philippians 2:5 (NCV)“In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”

4. TRUTH: I was shaped to serve God

Ephesians 2:10 (LB)“It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.”

QUESTION: What will be my contribution?

1 Peter 4:10 (LB)“God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings.”

5. TRUTH:  I was made for a mission.

John 17:18 (MSG) Jesus: “In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world.”

QUESTION: What does God want to say to the world through me?

2 Corinthians 5:18, 20 (NCV)“Through Christ, God has made peace between us and himself, and He gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with Him.... So we have been sent to speak for Christ!”

May 12 2013 Keeping Love Alive In Your Marriage

Keeping Love Alive In Our Marriage

Proverbs 20:14 - Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone.

5 Ingredients For A Lasting Love

1.  Respect.
Ephesians 5:33 - Every husband must love his wire as himself and every wife must respect her husband.

1 Peter 3:7 - Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect.

2.  Responsibility.
Philippians 2:4-5 - Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

3.  Recreation.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 - Enjoy life with the woman you love.

4.  Romance.
Proverbs 3:21, 23 - Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up, an unloved woman who is married.

Proverbs 5:18-19 - Rejoice in your wife.  Let her charms and tender embrace satisfy you.  Let her love alone fill you with delight.

5.  Resolve.
Malachi 2:15 -  Has not the Lord made you one in body and spirit?  So guard yourself in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your affections, for they influence everything else in your life.

Psalm 127:1 - Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain.