Archive for November, 2010

Weekly Devotion Nine: You are an Over Comer


Revelation 12:11- And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb….
            Have you ever watched a movie or television show that had a really great courtroom drama in it? The lawyers are battling back and forth about some piece of evidence, the person on trial sits waiting, hoping that their case will be believed, even if they don’t deserve to go free.
            It’s always fun to watch, even more so when we know if the person on trial is guilty or innocent. As you watch, you can almost feel for them every time something goes wrong. And you rejoice with them when something good happens.
That’s sort of  like it is with us.
We were put on trial, and both the defense and the prosecution knew we were guilty. To make matters worse, so did the judge. Really, the trial was just a formality. Nothing we could say could tip the scales of justice in our favor. There were no words, no eloquent speech, and no star witnesses.
            The prosecution was sitting pretty. Satan knew he had us beat. He might be going down for eternity, but he was sure he’d take us with him. So he sat back in his seat and smiled as God the Father—our righteous judge and jury—asked you what you plead.
            You know you’re guilty. You deserve punishment. But you can tell by the look in His eyes that God doesn’t want you to be punished any more than you want to be. So you stand up, look down at the table and whisper softly:
            “I plead the blood of Jesus.”
            The courtroom is in an uproar. The prosecution is objecting on every ground he can think of. Those watching in the audience are mumbling to each other frantically. God the Father takes the notes about all of your transgressions and thumbs through them, then calls both attorneys up to His bench.
            “There is nothing on these pages,” He announces to the prosecution and defense. “The Blood did it, this man is innocent.”
            The devil is furious. He spins on his heal and glares at you. “You know what you’ve done,” he barks. Then he stomps over to his desk and slams his fist down.
            You stand, as court is dismissed. Turning to leave completely free, you stand face to face with your accuser. You smile slightly, the tears streaming down your cheeks as pure joy overtakes you.
            “It’s all covered by my Blood,” you hear your lawyer, Jesus Christ, say. Then you get to go home to be with the Father.
            The greatest courtroom drama of all has yet to occur, but the outcome is already assured. You win.

            Give God praise today for your greatest victory of all: the victory you have through Christ!

DK

2010
11/22
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Parents In Transition


This is a re-post from a mentor of mine in Children’s Ministry. He is an awesome inspiration and has some valuable insights. Enjoy!- DK

Time flies fast from elementary to college age, so get ready to change your parenting habits. Every child seems to move in warp speed toward the teenage years.

I was caught by surprise when a new declaration of personal independence was automatically assumed the day my son got his driver’s license. It was as though I represented an oppressive and extremely unfair regime whenever I tried to enforce any rule. (Whenever I said no to one of my teenage daughters, she would go to her bedroom, close the door and play Britney Spears’ “Overprotected” over and over again for over an hour, loud enough for me and the whole house to hear.) I have to admit, it was difficult for me to transition from parenting children to parenting teenagers. I had worked with teenagers all of my life, but I had never actually had any living in my home. I am still a recovering parent of teens, but here are a few things I have recognized about this chapter of parenting:

It’s a complicated time.
While your children are transitioning from being dependent to independent, you are transitioning as a parent from having authority to leveraging your influence. You can’t parent them the same way you did when they were in elementary school.

It’s an urgent time.

Face it. You know a window is closing fast. Ready or not, in a few short years your children will be leaving home. You are running out of time, and it is easy to feel a little panicked. Everything seems to matter more (grades, decisions, relationships.) And to make matters worse, everything costs more too. Have I mentioned the price of college these days? Feeling better?

Keep fighting for your teenager’s emotional health by investing in relational time with them. Especially during this uncertain season, they need a positive relationship with you more than you or they may realize. Here are a few things to remember that might help you make the time you spend with your teenager more meaningful:

• Find a common activity you can both enjoy.
Go to favorite restaurant, movie, or concert. Discover a hobby or a type of recreation you can do together. Find common interests. It only takes a few.

• Make sure there is no agenda.
They will see right through a masked motive and interpret your effort to hang out as manipulation. Don’t forget. This is about building your relationship. So don’t use this time to deal with issues. Guard the fun.

• Keep it outside the house.
You probably already spend most of your time together in your home. It can be full of duties, responsibilities, and distractions, so get out and do something that is a contrast to your normal routine.

• Do it without friends.
Anyone you add to your time will drastically change the dynamic. Give your teenager individual and undivided attention, without your friends or their friends, and even without siblings.

• Mutually agree to turn off cell phones.
Make at least part of your time a no-electronic zone. Phones have a way of distracting you from meaningful and engaging dialogue.

• Put it on the schedule (but not on a Friday).
Be sensitive to how a teenager wants to organize his or her life. Discover the rhythm that exists in their schedule and agree with them on the best times to hang out.

• Stay flexible (and be willing to reschedule frequently).
A teenager’s world is always changing. They could feel trapped if you are rigid about your scheduled time with them. Don’t let your time with them become a competition with their other interests and priorities. Avoid making them choose between you and something else they really want to do.

• Remember your goal is not to change them.
Avoid getting into conversations where you are trying to correct or improve a behavior. Save those conversations for another time. You can shut down a positive experience if you try to leverage it to fix something.

• Keep working at it.
Learning to communicate with those you love can be awkward at times. Strive to ask the right kind of questions and listen more than you talk. You are not trying to become your teen’s best friend, but you are laying an important foundation for the kind of friendship you want to enjoy with them during their adult years.

• Use it as an opportunity to give your teenager approval.
I’m amazed at how many adults left home without ever really feeling like their parents believed in them. Look for numerous opportunities to encourage their specific strengths and skills.

Having fun and spending quality time together is increasingly important as your relationship with your child changes. This week, find out what kind of activities your teenager likes, and schedule some intentional time together when you can simply enjoy being together.

And if you have other tips you’ve discovered about spending time with a teenage son or daughter, please post them in the comments so we can all learn from our shared experiences.

Reggie Joiner writes more at http://orangeparents.org and http://orangeleaders.com and that you can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/reggiejoiner.

2010
11/15
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The Top 10: Children’s Resources


There are MANY things that can be used in Children’s Ministry. Even at home in a family setting, it can be overwhelming to decide what material you use, what devotion book, or even what worship resource. So, in an effort to provide you with some usable resources, I would like to offer my top 10 Children’s Ministry resources. No company has paid for this endorsement in any way, these are just resources I have used in ministry and think would be helpful, either for other Children’s Ministry folks, or parents at home!

10-Veggie Tales
     These wonderful CGI creations sing, dance, do comedy, and provide great lessons in character that kids young and old enjoy. While the songs can be very annoying for adults, we understand that using Veggie Tales isn’t about our likes, its about conveying spiritual truth to kids in a way they understand and can get it. And I also have been pleasantly surprised by the newest releases, which have been copies of classic tales (Sweet Pea Beauty doesn’t take much brainpower to figure out what story the copied) that have worked better than I thought.

9- Group’s Coloring Creations Bible Activities
     52 weeks of usable lessons for different age groups. What I like about this, for nursery or for home devotion projects with younger children (2-5 years old) is how simple they are. You get a list of the materials you need and told how to do it in bullet points, you get the story to read from your Bible, and the “Ask, Say, Pray” makes it simple how you can drive the point home. You can find the book at most Christian bookstores. Only takes about 5-7 minutes prep time, depending on the ‘craft’ activity and how many kids you have.

8-Resurrection Eggs
     These things are just fun! They are certainly an ‘Easter Time’ thing, but what a fun way, especially with little kids or kids that need to ‘handle’ things, to tell the Easter story and get kids involved. It gives you a little booklet on how to use them (comes in English and in ‘espanol) so you can practice a few times before doing it in front of your own or a group of kids, and even provides little stickers to label the eggs, in case you forget which color is for what! I have fun with these things every year, even telling the story to myself!

7- The Bubble Machine
     OK, go to Target in the spring, but a $8 machine that shoots out bubbles (they have two different versions for $8, at least they did this year- I boughttwo of each!) then go to Wal-Mart and buy the 64 oz bottle of bubbles, put batteries in, fill the machine, turn on, and have a blast. Even more fun with nursery kids if you play some energetic music and make it a game to catch or pop the bubbles. Sometimes you just don’t need to be spiritual, but if you want to you can use it as a devotion and talk about how the bubbles are different sizes, tints, and last for different lengths of time- then relate that to how we’re all created unique and special by God!

6- K! Magazine
    This is a great ministry/leader resource. It has object lessons, devotions, leadership articles, surveys, stuff to think about, ideas for improving your ministry…it has it all. I devour this magazine every time it comes (once every two months) and have copied many articles to use for training workers or parents, and copied many ideas for use as object lessons or ministry concepts. visit www.thekmagazine.com for more info!

5- Stuck In the Middle
     I have blogged about this ministry/website before, so I won’t go into it more here, but it’s great. It is still new and under development, so keep going back to see what new content they add

4- High Voltage Kids Ministry
     In the future I will blog about them more, but this is a great ministry resource that provides DVD based curriculum for Children’s Ministry in series format. Some of the video content is cheesy, but in moderation (as a supplement to your regular material) it can be fun. And the lessons are pretty good because they’ve been developed by a Children’s Pastor who is ACTUALLY using them. This material provides puppet skits, games, songs, the lesson, and the video content for usually between $79 and $99 a series. visit www.highvoltage-kids.com for more

3- Got Questions.org
     This is a great website as a resource. (www.gotquestions.org) and while I wouldn’t take everything as absolute truth (everyone is going to come from a certain doctrinal position, so investigate based on what you and your church believe, and then check what they say for yourself with the scripture) this is a great place to go if you have an obscure question. I was recently teaching a series and wanted to know about specific arguments against evolution without being bogged down. This site boils down the info into a much more detestable synopsis. If your child has a question and you find yourself saying ‘I have no idea’ this is a good place to start!

2- Object Lessons for a Year by David J. Claassen
     Retails for $7.99 at any Christian bookstore, this is great for parents or kids pastors alike. Each lesson uses a simple object (like a watch or a basketball or a pretzel) and has a theme using a single, simple scripture passage. The lesson is easy enough that I can read through it twice and then just go spend between 3-5 minutes teach it. This is perfect for family devotions, for chapel services, or for a nice supplement to your ministry curriculum. Certainly one to pick up!

1- The Sludge Hammer
    You may think this is a joke, but you’d be amazed at what you can do with a sludge hammer and a mirror, or a TV, or a toilet, or a pot, or a watermelon… I pull out my sludge hammer and the kids get extra quite, cause they want to see me whack something, but they also know its a special tool that I only use on certain occasions. We have had some of our best services, where God has really moved, when I’ve smashed something. Don’t be afraid to be a bit creative and make a mess. I STILL have kids that talk about one lesson that I did three years ago. They even remember WHAT I was talking about, not just that I smashed something!

DK

2010
11/10
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Weekly Devotion 8: Walk In Love


Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those that spitefully use you and persecute you, That you may be sons of your Father in heaven;”
            Although I didn’t see it firsthand, I had the opportunity to listen to a sermon by the Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin. His message was a simple one that stemmed out of John 15:7 (If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you) and also Ephesians 6:18 (Pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…). But his message was simply this: walk in love.
            “This is the first thing we’re told to pray about,” Rev. Hagin said about Matt. 5:44. “But in the natural, we can’t do that. Thank God, though, with the Spirit of God in us we can.”
            We have to determine to walk in love, showing others the same love that Christ showed us. That is a constant decision, as Rev. Hagin said: “I determined to walk in love whether anyone else did or not. I passed up some wonderful opportunities not too.”
            “…Faith works by love” (Galatians 5:6). It is so important that we walk in love, for many reasons. But as the Bible says right here, faith works by love. In the message I heard, I listened as Rev. Hagin drove this point home.
            “If you’re not walking in love, you can’t get your faith to work,” he said. “You’re not like the world is, so don’t get down in the mud with them. You’ll get dirty!”
            That really shocked me. All these years I’d wondered why I hadn’t had the spiritual breakthrough I’d been expecting. When I sat down and began to examine my heart, I found it was because I wasn’t walking in love.
            I was harboring anger and resentment against my father for leaving my mom, even though I had a good relationship with him. I wasn’t showing the love of Christ to many others that I knew, including friends, schoolmates and family members. My faith wasn’t working the way it should have been, because I wasn’t doing what God said to do!
            Now walking in love is not any easy task. I have to determine every day that I will love others as Christ loved me, no matter what. And like Rev. Hagin, I have had many glorious opportunities to not walk in love. Early on, I even caught myself reverting back to my old ways. I then had to stop in my tracks and say ‘Lord, that’s not you, that’s my flesh. Take that away now and help me walk in Your love.’
       
           Sometimes that was a daily thing, sometimes it was an hourly thing. But I determined that I wasn’t going to allow myself to be any less then what God wanted me to be because I wouldn’t do what He said. After all, as Christians, we are to be of a different persuasion than that of the world. If we live like them – if we’re wallowing in the mud like them—how can we possibly show them the love of Christ?
            We can’t on our own, it’s that simple. But praise God, Him working through us can!
Check your heart today and ask God to reveal anything that is keeping you from walking in His love. Then determine that you will change. You’re faith depends on it.
2010
11/08
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