Tina Kerfoot

September 25, 2011

Dear Parents,

This week at children’s church we looked at giving God our best based on the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4: 1-16. We read the story from Scripture and acted it out in a skit, read Romans 12:1 and talked about living our lives as sacrifices for Jesus, and prayed for God to have our minds, our hearts, and our hands as his so he can direct our thoughts, who we are and what we feel, as well as what we do.

To further this learning at home, you could:

1.      Re read Romans 12:1 together and discuss it again as a family.  Ask what it means to sacrifice. You may need to explain that sacrifices in the Old Testament were animal gifts that the Israelites gave to God to thank him, ask for forgiveness, etc.

2.      Try to memorize Romans 12:1. Write it with a dry erase marker on your child’s mirror and erase 2 or more words per night, trying to remember what it said before the words were erased. By the end of the week, you should have it memorized.

3.      Consider coming and volunteering at IHN one night, simply coming to allow your child to play with the guests’ children and you can visit with the adults or play with the children. Remember to teach your children before you come that when we give to those who are less fortunate than us, we are really giving a gift to God. They can come with a good attitude and give their best to God like Abel or they can come with a bad attitude and just give half-heartedly to God like Cain.

4.      Another great option to teach giving God your best uses the same discussion topic starter as option 3- when we give to those less fortunate than us, we are really giving a gift to God- and then taking your child to the Dollar General with $20 or less to spend on filling a shoebox with toiletries, toys, and school supplies for a needy boy or girl for our upcoming Operation Christmas Child collection (boxes will be due early November). If you want more details on that www.samaritanspurse.org/occ has all of the information on what can be included and what not to include in your box. Just remember as part of that discussion to teach your child that the gifts are all for Jesus and that child and don’t allow them to spend the money on themselves.

Partnering with you,

Tina

September 18, 2011

Dear Parents,

This week we looked at the story from Genesis 3:1-24 in children’s worship- the story of Adam and Eve sinning. We compared the holiness of God to our lack of holiness, our sinfulness.

We acted out the story and then I showed them the illustration Billy Graham uses about the chasm sin creates between us and God and the bridge the cross of Jesus made to link us back together if we are willing to walk across it. This week is a good week to talk to your children about if they want to live their lives obeying God or disobeying God; if they think God is real and should be obeyed or if he is just made up. Really take time to engage in conversations about this if your child is willing.

Here are some other activities to work with your child on these concepts:

1. Holiness: Have everyone in your family wear white socks one day. At the end of the day, have a white socks contest and see whose is the whitest. Compare them to a brand new pair of socks that has never been worn and discuss how God’s holiness is perfect and sin mars all of us. Then read Romans 3:23 together and discuss what it means.
2. Reread Genesis 3:24 at some point as a family this week and talk about how Adam tried to blame Eve and Eve tried to blame the snake but it was really both of their faults and both of their choices to disobey. We all have a choice to obey or disobey God. It is no one else’s fault when we make the wrong choice.
3. Memorize Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 as a family.
1. Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
2. Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4. Take two clear glasses or pitchers of water. (Before you begin and without your children seeing, put some bleach in one of the pitchers- maybe around ¼ cup- not enough to discolor it but enough to keep Koolaid from changing it colors) (Test this once without your kids present so you know for sure how much to use)
1. Ask your family members to name sins people can commit or sins they personally have committed that day or that week depending on how comfortable you are admitting your sins to your children (they will learn lots from your honesty if you are willing to do this). For each sin, add a small pinch of a colored powdered drink mix (ie Koolaid, pink lemonade etc) to each cooler. The more you name, the more it will be apparent one is changing color and one isn’t.
2. Explain the one staying the same is God because He doesn’t sin and our sins don’t change him. Our sins change us; they separate us and keep us away from him.
3. Ask if there is anything we can do to get the Koolaid back out of ourselves, or the sin back out of ourselves. (no, of course not)
4. Pour the bleach pitcher in and discuss how God willingly left heaven and came to earth as Jesus to enter our world, break the power of sin, and forgive us and make us clean again. Read Rom 6:23 and discuss it similarly.
5. Give your kids a chance to respond to if they have ever asked Jesus to be Lord of their life. If not, do they want him to be their Savior and their boss?

Partnering with you,

Tina

Yesterday in children’s church, the curriculum was written to have a lesson on Jesus satisfies based on the story of the woman at the well in John 4.  It wasn’t a bad lesson by any means, but I always think about what they have written and decide whether or not it will work for our group and often tweak it at the very least. This week as I thought it through I realized that this is a story I often struggle with teaching our literal, concrete-operational elementary kids because it is the one where Jesus says, “I am the Living Water.” Explaining it to kids can be difficult. 2 weeks ago we looked at Jesus wanting us to be the salt of the earth- to make people thirsty for him, melt icy hearts with our love, preserve the world by obeying and pleasing God, and making the world taste better for those living in it. It was a neat lesson, but I thought it was even cooler when I connected that God said we are the salt and He is the water- our lives, when lived for Him, should make others thirsty for Him. They should want what we have. But we cannot satisfy the thirst we create in them- we are not their Savior. Jesus satisfies- He is the living water!

We had a lot of fun putting together skits in which one actor was Christian and one wasn’t and the non-believer would notice something in the Christian that made him/her thirsty and the Christian got to point them to Jesus.

Ex: “I just saw you speak kindly and calmly to your brother when he was trying to pick a fight. Why didn’t you fight back? I do to my brother.” “Well, I wanted to, but I want to please Jesus more and he says in Matthew 5:9 ‘God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.’”

We did several skits- I wrote one for each of the fruits of the Spirit and we talked about those being the things in us that can make others thirsty. I only hope the kids got as much out of doing the lesson as I got from studying and writing it.

I just find it so cool that Jesus calls us to be salt and himself to be the water.

My original goal this year was to memorize 12 significant passages of Scripture this year (one per month) I did memorize Ephesians 1:3-8 since Jan 1, but my goal was Ephesians 1:3-14. Still, some is better than nothing.
But I have come across something else today that I had a brief glimpse of a few weeks ago on a friend’s photo blog: memorizing the book of Colossians in year! It only takes 2 verses a week and I found a website that gives you printable (and pretty) cards for each week’s new verse assignment and review assignment. I am a pretty good student when I have those kinds of goals in front of me so I think I am switching my memorization plan this year.
If you are interested in trying it yourself, the cards are located at

http://www.aholyexperience.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Colossians53wkNIV1.pdf

and you can read their explanation article at http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/01/the-seven-habits-of-highly-effective-bible-memorization-habit-1-for-a-new-year/
If you decide to do this, too, would you let me know so we can keep each other accountable?

Yesterday at children’s church, we were looking at the part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus gives the beatitudes. I split the kids into pairs or small groups and gave each group a verse to find the attitude in it that Jesus taught that God wants us to have. We then listed the Attitudes that please God on one heart and the Attitudes that don’t please God on the other. My favorite comment of the morning came from Lizzie who pulled me aside and said, “I am just being honest, I have a really hard time being a peacemaker.”  I told all of the other kids what she said and then affirmed that all of us feel that way and really that all of us find it hard to be humble, meek, poor in spirit, and so on. Her honesty really set the tone for the older kids to reflect on which attitude they struggle most with. The lesson caused a lot of reflection and I was thrilled.

It seems with elementary kids that they are either going to do really well with a non-story lesson or get really off track. Yesterday, I was so pleased that God used Lizzie’s honesty to allow others to focus and be honest, too!

We closed the lesson by cutting out and decorating hearts like Valentines but then writing on them which need-to-Be-Attitude God wanted us to be working on in our lives.

So….. I heard a neat discussion on the radio a couple of weeks ago in a holiday wrap-up time discussion on how to put the holy back in holidays. The woman was speaking about how she and her family go around the circle each year and tell what their gift for Jesus will be at the upcoming Christmas. Her husband shared that his gift would be finding one person each day to show God’s love to in a tangible way with encouragement, money, or time. Then Jesus would have 365 people he loved for Him for Christmas the next year. The wife had planned to share something else but thought that idea was so good she could only say, “ditto!”
I thought the idea was so neat that I have decided to do that as my gift for Jesus as well this year. It is helping me to become a little more sensitive each day to watching for needs of others that Jesus would have me to fill. Obviously, I can’t fix everything for everyone, but God can use me to be the comforting friend someone needs to reach out to them with a phone call when they are grieving or the spouse who watches out for Brad’s needs and seeks to fill them instead of looking out for my own needs first.
I have not gotten really good at thinking about this all day, yet, but I am hopeful this gift for Jesus teaches me to have my spiritual eyes turned on the entire time I am awake, looking for opportunities God has for me to use for His glory to show His love.

I don’t know if you have heard or not, but there is a neat movie to be shown this weekend (1/8/11) on Fox. Brad and I have seen a couple teasers for it as we watched television over the past couple of weeks. It caught my attention because it is about a couple that are suddenly given an instant family of children, a few of whom were internationally adopted. (Some of you know that one of my heart’s desires is to someday adopt internationally).
The reason I am even blogging about this movie is that apparently my gut feeling of “I want to watch that” might just be right. I got an email from Family Life and Dennis Rainey today advertising for the film
Here is most of what it said:
“Change of Plans tells the story of a young couple, Sally and Jason, whose lives are turned upside down when Sally’s best friend from college is killed in a tragic accident. Sally and Jason are forced to make some life-altering decisions when they discover that she has been named legal guardian to her friend’s four children, three of whom were adopted from third world countries. Change of Plans stars Brooke White (American Idol) and Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) and according to the official website, portrays how “fulfilling life can be when you look beyond your own plans and invest in the lives of others.” What a great discussion starter for you to engage your kids around issues that are truly important.

To view a trailer for Change of Plans and to read more about the movie, visit the movie’s official website by clicking here.

Immediately following the movie, you can tune in to a live webcast sponsored by Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation that features FamilyLife’s own Paul Pennington, Executive Director of Hope for Orphans, as he and other leaders answer questions about adoption. To learn more about the webcast, click here.

One other thing, you may also be interested in going to www.loveishere.com which will also be featured as part of Family Movie Night. This site, sponsored by our friends at the WinShape Foundation, is designed to give help and hope to marriages and populated with a lot of great articles and resources to help marriages and families. FamilyLife has stockpiled a number of our articles and resources at loveishere.com as a part of our partnership with Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation.

Join me and take some time with your family this Saturday night to watch this important movie. It’s pro-family, pro-children, and pro-adoption – all things that are close to the heart of God. While you’re at it, invite your friends and family to do the same, and make sure you tune in to the webcast afterwards.”
Doesn’t that sound like a great movie?…..
Now if I can only remember to turn it on this Saturday night……..

Quote from Paul David Tripp’s book titled Instruments In The Redeemer’s Hands:
“Every time you love your enemy, you are resting in the sovereignty of God. Every time you speak lovingly and softly in the face of someone else’s anger, you are choosing to rest in the sovereignty of God. Every time you resist the temptation to win an argument at all costs, you are resting in God’s sovereignty. Because he rules, nothing you do in obedience to him is ever futile. Your life has meaning and purpose because you are included not only in the plan of the One who rules it all, but also in his family! (p 31).”
What a powerful thought! This paragraph really made me think about how often I refuse to rest in God’s sovereignty. I am a pretty stubborn person who likes to win arguments if we are choosing to have one. Now, I am better at this now than I was a year ago or 2 years ago or so on, but I am still not good at it.
Why do I think that I need to win, I need to be right? This is not humility. God’s sovereignty means He is in control and He is right. He gets to decide the rules and enforce the rules. He has asked me to speak the truth IN LOVE, to be humble and gentle, to control my tongue, to not sin in my anger, to be kind and tenderhearted and forgiving.
Lord, I used to think I understood your sovereignty, but this little paragraph helped me to realize I may have it as head knowledge, but it has not saturated my heart, yet. Please teach me to rest in Your Sovereignty, to depend on your wisdom, ways, and rule and not my own.

Christ Candle-
As we light the Christ candle this evening, we are celebrating the birthday of Jesus, the Christ, the anointed One, the Redeemer. With the preschool children each December, I teach them 12 Scriptural names of Jesus and we talk about what each of them mean. Tonight, I want to run through them briefly with you as a way to celebrate who Jesus is.
Jesus is Immanuel, God with Us- GOD, the supreme creator, sustainer, author and finisher who chose to come live on earth with us
Jesus is the Door to heaven- if anyone enters through him, they will be saved
Jesus is the Vine- and we are the branches, he gives us everything we need to live if we stay connected to him
Jesus is the Bright Morning Star- He gives us the direction we need to know how to live our lives
Jesus is the Savior – The Father purposely sent Jesus, His Son, to be the Savior of the world.
Jesus is the Giver of Living Water- He enables our hearts to never thirst again
Jesus is the Light of the World – If we follow him, we will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life
Jesus is the Lamb of God- He takes away the sins of the world
Jesus is the Lion of Judah- He is not just a baby that was born in the manger, He is our strong and mighty King
Jesus is the Bread of Life – His words and He Himself satisfys the hunger of our hearts
Jesus is the Good Shepherd- He laid down His life for us, His sheep. He provides for all our needs- food, water, shelter, rest
Jesus is the King of Kings – He is higher, stronger, more powerful than any other ruler has ever or will ever be. He reigns over all.

Hallelujah Candle-
The word hallelujah occurring in Psalms is a Hebrew request for a congregation to join in praise toward God. It can be translated as “Praise God” or “Praise Yahweh, you people”, and is usually worded in English contexts as “Praise the LORD”.[5]
In the Hebrew Bible hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word. The word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song, to boast in God.
The second part, Yah, is a shortened form of YHWH, the name for the Creator.
This morning as we celebrate Christmas together with the choir performing the cantata, I encourage you to make a joyous praise song to God together with us at the congregational singing parts. Let’s celebrate the love the Father has lavished on us that He sent us His Son and calls us His children.