God is with Us in FirstLook (September 25)

This week in FirstLook we are goign to be teaching about Joseph.  Here is the HomeFront Monthly and some other great info to help you talk about Joseph in your home!

Through the life of Joseph and his myriad struggles, we can learn about God being with us and working through us. So much so, biblical scholars make a case for Joseph being the Old Testament archetype of Jesus Christ. Both were obedient sons who were beloved by their fathers. Joseph was rejected and sold into slavery by his brothers. Similarly, the Jewish community rejected Jesus and the message He brought. Both were falsely accused and unjustly punished. Yet in the end, both were elevated to a place of powerful position and saved their people from death.

God went before Joseph, preparing the way for the restoration of His people. At this time in God’s grand narrative, His chosen people in Jacob’s family were the faith community. As a result of sin within the family, pain and brokenness permeated it. For Joseph, his father, and his brothers, God used a devastating famine to bring healing and restoration of relationships.

The sin and brokenness within Joseph’s family is present throughout all of humanity. But God Himself is present. He has made a way for all who would receive Him to be adopted into His family. In God’s family we’re part of a faith community that stretches beyond our own lifetime, into eternity past and present.

God is the Lord (part 1) in KidQuest (September 25)

This next Sunday in KidQuest we will be looking at what Pharoah says to Moses when Moses asks him to let the Israelites go free.  Not only that but we will look at the plagues God uses to "change" Pharoah's mind.

Over the past few weeks we have heard God's covenant with Abraham and how God declared himself as the King of King by saying I AM in Exodus 3 to Moses.  However, the Israelites needed to learn more about their great God in order to follow him. They needed to trust him, and know He is the Lord.  Not only did God use the plagues to change Pharoah's mind but also to prove to the Israelites and the Egyptians that He is the only real God (I am who I am).

• When God changed the water to blood, God judged the Nile itself, which had been deified as a god.
• The plague of frogs was a judgment on ancient forms of idolatry in Egypt.
• When “dense swarms of flies poured into every place and throughout Egypt, many assert God was judging the Egyptian god, Uaticht.
• Some of the gods of Egypt were identified with figurines of bulls, cows, rams, and other livestock, hence the plague on the livestock.
• The plague of boils was not only painful, but an embarrassing judgment on the Egyptian obsession with physical cleanliness and beauty.
• Through the plague of hail, God proved there “is no one like me in all the earth” (Exodus 9:14), because He controlled the weather.
• God also proved He had control over the sun in the universe, creating the “darkness that [could] be felt.”

Through all of the plagues, God undermined the relationship between Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and the Egyptians and their false gods. By His defeat, God proved He alone had the right to His people; He alone was worthy of their worship.

God Has the Power to Do All He Promises (FirstLook on Sept. 18)

This will be the second week we talk about Abraham.  Last week, your FirstLook student learned that God promised Abraham as many descendants as the number of grains of sand on a beach. Wow, that is a HUGE family, and your child also learned that we are part of that family! So this week, we will continue telling The Big God Story and introduce another character, the son Abraham has as a 100 year old man, Isaac.  For more direct info into specifics about what your child will be learning and an activity to help you introduce Isaac in your home check out this week's HomeFront Weekly that was emailed to you or you can download it here.

To help you out before you set off to tell your children about this great part of God's big story, let us give you a little more background.

Genesis, the book of generations, documents not only the start of human history, but also the plan for the redemption of all mankind. Some scholars believe that each genealogy within this book contrasts the messianic lineage with a nonmessianic lineage, revealing God’s very specific focus to one particular family through whom the Messiah would be revealed.

Throughout the Bible, God refers to Himself in a number of ways. For instance: God Eternal, I AM, and Yahweh. Each time, He reveals a significant attribute about His character. In the first verse of Genesis 17, just before He renews His covenant with Abraham, God reveals Himself as El Shaddai. In English, this translates to God Almighty. Surely, Abraham was shocked that God would promise him a child at the age of 100. Using this name, God was informing Abraham of His ultimate power; He alone is God. He alone is able to accomplish everything He has planned to accomplish.

This moment holds great weight in our lives. God made an amazing promise to Abraham. His covenant with Abraham led to one of the most significant moments in history: the starting point for the family line of Jesus, paving the way to our own salvation. It is because of this family line that we can have a restored relationship with God the Father. We are ushered into God’s family, grafting us into a faith community that stretches around the globe. We have brothers and sisters from every tribe and nation. This family, our family, has the unique opportunity to walk alongside one another in true worship of God Almighty. We can live in such a way that the world will desire to be in relationship with our God—El Shaddai.

In Genesis chapter 17, God met with Abraham to remind him of various aspects of their covenant. Upon hearing this, Abraham was so moved that he fell facedown in awe. This reaction is elicited in other places in Scripture when God reveals His glory to His people. Abraham’s posture of worship demonstrates reverence and submission before a holy God.

Keri Fox, a worship leader, explains, “Sometimes, positioning ourselves in a physical posture of worship—using our bodies to worship Him—can help to move our hearts to worship God as well.”

This week, before you participate our worship service, ask God to reveal Himself to you. Ask Him to free you from distraction so you may hear His voice. As we join with our faith community in a time of corporate worship, be aware of how God is directing you to respond to Him. What is the posture of your heart? What is your physical posture before Him? How does worshipping together with fellow believers impact your time of worship and experience with the Lord?

God is the Lord (part 1) in KidQuest

Over the next few weeks in KidQuest we will be talking about the life of Moses and we are calling this section of The Big God Story, "God is the Lord." Here is a little background to help you out this week as you talk about Moses in your home. If you want an activity to do with your kids to also help you introduce Moses in your home, check out this week's HomeFront Weekly that was emailed to you or can be downloaded here.

When God revealed His name to Moses in Exodus 3:14, He said, “‘I AM WHO I AM [Ehyeh-Asherr-Ehyeh]. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM [Ehyeh] has sent me to you.’” The word Ehyeh means, “to be” or “to become” and the word Asherr means “who” or “what.” Therefore, Ehyeh-Asherr-Ehyeh means, “I am that I am,” or “I am who I am,” or “I am going to be who I am going to be,” etc.

By making Himself known through the name Ehyeh-Asherr-Ehyeh, God revealed that He exists, has always existed, and will always exist (in contrast to the Egyptian gods who did not exist). But He revealed even more than that. The name Ehyeh-Asherr-Ehyeh also implies liveliness, movement, and dynamism. This is nowhere more evident than in God’s incarnation, when He became a man. The name Jesus (Yeshua) means, “Jehovah is salvation.” Through Jesus Christ, God became what He needed to be for the sake of His people: salvation incarnate. Ehyeh-Asherr-Ehyeh, the God of the covenant, became a man in order to fulfill His covenant promise. Through Jesus, God defeated the ultimate barrier to His people’s inability to live with Him and worship Him forever.

In the New Testament, Jesus indicated that He was Jehovah by calling Himself, “I am.” God said in John 15:1, “I am the true vine,” and in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.” Through these and other confessions, Jesus revealed Himself as the everlasting Ehyeh-Asherr-Ehyeh, who has always been, will always be, and will continue to become what He will be for the sake of His people.

This week's lesson is told through the environment of FAITH COMMUNITY, the thread of worship, and focuses on God as the Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings. God is everything we need, and He is sufficient for us. In Him, we find our comfort, our salvation, our Friend, and our fortress.

Spend some time worshipping the Lord and praying God will reveal Himself as the Lord of Lords in your life—the One who wants you to worship only Him. Pray He will become what you need. Are you feeling anxious? Pray He will be your peace. Are you feeling weak? Pray He will be your strength. Are you feeling sad? Pray He will be your joy. Spend time with God, who is sufficient to meet your every need. Also, allow God to use your faith community to strengthen you. Reach out to others in your church or family, and allow them to be God’s messengers in your life.

Hot Dog Roast and Drive-In Movie

 

On Friday, September 23, KidQuest is hosting a drive-in movie in our church parking lot and we will be showing Gnomeo and Juliet.

Prior to this event, everyone is invited to attend a Hot Dog Roast starting at 6:00pm to meet Caleb Butler, our new worship minister, and his family.

We would love to see you!

Upcoming!!!

Its that time again, school has started! This also means a shift in what your kids are learning is coming too!

Right now in KidQuest, we have finished out study through the book of Acts and in the next two weeks we will be lookingn at cellebrating our future with Jesus and our jobs to spread his word.  In FirstLook we are filling some time with famous Old Testament stories like Jonah and Esther.

Well in September we are going to flip our Bibles back to the beginning! From September 2011 to August 2012 we will once again walk through the story of the Bible or like we call it GOD's BIG STORY!

We are so excited about this and we are praying that your kids will begin to see that God's story is huge and that it includes them!

So keep your eyes and ears open because we will soon be talking about God's creation again!