Weekly Challenge

Does that BIG RED "F" stand for FAILURE or FORGIVEN?

In our discussion of Psalm 130 we demonstrated how God is an indescribable forgiver of sins.  And that He chooses to forgive us so that He will receive honor and reverence.

The follwing question came up: "Are guilt and shame bad things or good things?"  The consensus was that guilt and shame could be either.  Crystal made the point that the way to make that determination is to see if the guilt is drawing you closer to God or keeping you distant.  If it is drawing you in it is good, if it is keeping you away it is from Satan.

The Challenge:
1) Prayerfully determine if there is any sin in your life for which you need to seek and/or receive forgiveness either from God or from a person.  Use Psalm 139:23-24 to pray through if necessary.
2) Scrutinize any guilt or shame you feel.  Prayerfully ask if that guilt is drawing you closer to God or keeping you distant.  If it is drawing you in spend time praising God for His forgiveness.  If it is keeping you from God, offer it up to Him and ask Him to help you receive His forgiveness.

In Him,
Aaron

Weekly Challenge - Oct 20

In the last of our "It Starts At Home" series we talked about the important of developing a future vision for our children - [What kind of person do we want our child to become?].   This doesn't mean what kind of athlete, or socialite, or academic scholar we aspire them to be...it goes much deeper, all the way to the heart.  And the way to attain this "long view" goal is through daily Discipline, the kind that marks out the path and sets the boundaries for our child to follow so they have the best chance of becoming that person.  Always with the end in mind.  We learned in Hebrews 12 that Discipline is much more than a "push button" response to wrong behavior.  Discipline is truly a reflection of a parent's love, just as God loves and disciplines His own. 

The challenge this week is to (a) re-read Hebrews 12:5-11  (b) review the the final It Starts At Home activity (Session 6) with your family, and (c) brainstom with your spouse a future vision for each of your children.  Come to class ready to share!

Have a great week and God Bless!
Kevin

Thanks Crystal for our new bulletin board!  It looks great :)

Weekly Challenge

Great stuff Saturday night.  While the video was great and the teaching therein was very good I think I learned more from those that shared than anything else; a special shout out to Keely, Lori and Gretchen for dropping their wisdom on us.

The Challenge:
This week, once again take a look at the Family Night Activity for Session 5 and come to class with stories to tell.  And as we learned from testimonies in class, it is OK if it isn't perfect...in fact, it might even feel like a failure...let's bring all stories to class.

Secondly, take time to read and pray through Malachi 2:4-6 individually, as a couple, and as a family.  Ask God to reveal how you can model reverence and awe of God in your life as well as how you can walk in peace and righteousness and then teach it to your children.

In Him,
Aaron

Weekly Challenge

Life Group Family & Friends:
We completed week 4 of the It Starts at Home series on Saturday night.  We were challenged to adjust our lense as parents.  Instead of trying to make our children into perfect, obedient soldiers that will not embarrass us; we need to look through the lense of our children are sinners that struggle with seeing the eternally compared to the earthly.   Matt Chandler stated "The Bible is pretty clear that ultimately what's wrong with our children isn't some sort of moral external action, but really a state of their heart..."
Complete the Light Shining handout that we provided in LG.  You can also find it HERE.
Watch the Session 4 family night activity video on the It Starts At Home site.

The challenge for the week is related to the Denial message Todd gave this weekend.  I challenge you to the spiritual fitness of fasting.  It can be a family or individual fast.  You can fast from food for a day, soda for a week, TV for a week, Facebook, etc.  Make it memorable.  When you think about TV, food, facebook, Dr. Pepper, etc., use that as a reminder to pray and to memorize the scripture we have been learning the last couple months. 

Be Intentional.
Travis

Weekly Challenge

Life Group Family & Friends:

We completed Session 3 of the It Starts at Home series.  Our focus was on the relationship with our children. 

Complete the AROMA Therapy worksheet.  Click on this link.  Click on Session 3 and the handout will open as a pdf.

Complete a family time activity this week.  You can find activities HERE

Things to discuss:

Kurt & Olivia said “Children don’t usually reject Christianity because of bad teaching.  They reject it because of weak relationships.”    Is this true?  Why?

Gary Thomas mentioned that sometimes well-intentioned parents make their kids feel like projects.  What did he mean by that?

Gary passed on something he learned from Kevin Leman:  “If the family doesn’t play together when the kids are young, they won’t want to play together when they get older.”  He talked about how we push our kids to excel in soccer, baseball, math, or music – all outside the home – and we can forget to play together at home.

Do you think that is a problem for families in Rockwall?  In our church?  In our LG?  For you?

What can we do about it?

Our relationship with our children is guided by the same biblical principles about relationships with other people.  Read Colossians 3: 12-14

How does this look in your home?

Be Intentional.

Travis