Living life with steps of faith

Astrological signs announced the birth of the Messiah, King of the Jews. The maji responded by seeking this new born king in order to give him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. King Herod responded fearfully and killed all children born near Bethlehem who were under the age of two. God sent an angel an additional three times to give Joseph directions to relocate his family in order to protect the child's life. Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy. He was born in Bethlehem of Judah, as foretold in the prophecy of Micah 5:2-4, which also said that he would have an ancient origin, rule Israel, care for and feed his flock, be recognized as great everywhere, be one of peace, and bear the majesty of God's name. He spent his early years as a child in Egypt. Once Herod died his family moved to the town of Nazareth in Galilee. Thus fulfilling both the prophecy of Hosea 11:1 and the historical type of the Israelites being called out of Egypt, as well as the expectation that t...

Jesus is the embodied history and the fulfillment of the promises made to and through the family of Abraham, starting with Abraham and following the lineage of Isaac through King David, on to Jechoniah (at the time of the Babylonian captivity) and finding its completion in his birth as a child of Joseph. As the embodied history and fulfillment of the promises Jesus is recognized as the Messiah or the Christ and the continuation of the story of God's interaction with God's people as begun in the Old Testament. Joseph and Mary, an engaged couple, were considered righteous in God's sight, and an angel of the Lord informed Joseph that they would become parents not in the usual way, but through a miraculous Holy Spirit conception. He was also told that this male child would "save his people from their sins," and be the promised sign of Isaiah 7:14, which meant that this son would be God's presence amongst them. Big Idea: Jesus is the Messiah--the fulfillment of th...

Scripture: Luke 22:17-20 Topic: When Jesus ate with his Disciples Background: This lesson would be taught during a Sunday morning breakfast club for teenagers. Once a month the youth meet to cook breakfast and then we try to relate the lesson to food. Last time the Middle School breakfast club met a middle school student led his peers in a devotional that went through the various stories of Jesus sharing food with his disciples. This Sunday we are going to focus on one of those stories and how it relates to Easter. Opening: 1. Ask, “Have you ever helped plan a party?” a. Ask the students to share about the various things they did to prepare (send invites, decorate, blow up balloons, set the table, plan games, order food). 2. Say, “For some families, Easter is a time of celebration, a party of sorts.” a. Ask, “What does your family do to celebrate Easter?” (family gets together, we eat dinner together, Easter egg hunt, attend church se...

Can one be converted again and again? I suppose so. This past week I had a conversion experience of sorts. I was driving to work and reflecting upon a reoccurring theme in my life that I found quite frustrating. I asked God to reveal to me what He had for me to learn from these reoccurring experiences, because it seemed obvious to me that there was a lesson to be learned. A year ago there was a day when on several occasions I went out of my way to help people just for the sake of helping people. Throughout that day each kind deed I did was returned with ungratefulness and anger. It was quite confusing. For example, when I waited in line to go through a toll booth, I realized that the person in the vehicle at the front of the line did not have money to pay the toll. As this was a toll booth with a swinging guard arm, the first vehicle and all vehicles in line behind it could not pass through until the first vehicle paid its toll. I decided to get out of my car, walk to the front ...

Driving home from a long weekend of youth ministry, this evening I had an epiphany. Restitution. I always seem to want to pay restitution and I get frustrated when I cannot. I harm someone with my words or actions and I want to make it right. I accidentally break something that belongs to someone else, so I replace it with something better. I seek forgiveness, but in seeking forgiveness it is so much more about what I am doing to fix the situation then it is about my receiving forgiveness as an unmerited gift. Hmmmm . Do I act a similar way in my relationship with God? When I get that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach because I can't make something right, is that anxiousness a sign that perhaps I'm not the One to make it right? What was that question asked in confirmation class tonight, "Whose debt did God redeem?" Well, I suppose it was mine, but then again it was no longer mine when God redeemed it. Yeah, that is right, it somehow became Jesus' de...

Wow! I am not a fan of assessments personally - I usually find that they tell me what I already know. But this assessment is incredible! I had never before really considered that people have different languages of apology and that different people need different types of apology. This assessment showed me why some people's apologies never fully feel acceptable to me (and even at times seem insensitive) while others really speak to my heart and make it much easier to forgive. Here is the assessment: Apology Language Profile It is created by the same person who wrote about the 5 love languages. My results: 9 Expressing Regret 5 Accepting Responsibility 3 Making Restitution 2 Genuinely Repenting 1 Requesting Apology I also re-took the 5 love languages assessment. What I discovered was that my love languages are different for my husband than what t...

Dear Parents/Guardians, For many young people, the tragedy of Japan is their first memorable experience of a major natural disaster. I’m sure that many parents have been asked some difficult questions by their teenage children. I want to encourage you as a parent to be responsive to their questions, even if your responsiveness is a simple, “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand either.” I also want to provide you with some resources that will help you to answer your children’s questions as well as initiate some discussions of your own. Here are a few good websites: http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/parenting/talk-to-kids-media-violence.shtml http://birmingham.patch.com/articles/finding-time-to-talk-learn-during-time-of-tragedy http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=7ZZWYWNX Family Devotion Option: Watch this video: http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=9CC9FFNU (You may want to screen this first to decide if it is appropriate for your children.) Pray together for Japan a...