5th Sunday Service-November 29th

Next Sunday is 5th Sunday Service. The children will be in the family service in the Sanctuary. Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving week. We will be leaving for a week to Paris to stay at our time share(don't have to pay for rooms):-) we reserved it over a year ago. Rolled our points forward. I know you all will be blessed this Sunday!!! The Following Weds. Sis. Karyn will have the video object lesson cued up...(cars) and I am having the craft prepared and divided into small zipper bags...each child will be making a keychain with beads that has the theme on it. You have the instruction sheet already. If you need another copy we can get that for you. It may take a little extra help for the smaller kids....I will leave them an easier craft. It will be in the office.

Happy Thanksgiving~No Weds. Service~Enjoy your family!

Bible Stories

How To Peel a Bible Story
(roger fields)

Your Bible story is like an orange. You can hand it off to a kid and expect him to tear into it and eat it. Or you can peel it yourself and hand the slices to the kid. It is easier for the kid to eat if you hand it to him in bite-sized, pieces that are already peeled. Bible stories are easier for kids to understand and apply if you break them down and serve them in small parts.“How do I peel apart a Bible story to get out of it something I can teach kids.” This is not the same as explaining how I teach a lesson. This is not about skits, object lessons, games, or other teaching methods. This is about digging into the Bible story for the points that make the story important and applicable.What’s cool about this story?As you prepare for your lesson, read the story pretending that it just occurred.

See it through a fresh perspective. Imagine that it just happened yesterday. Jericho’s walls fell down yesterday. Moses divided the Red Sea this morning. David killed Goliath last night. That will help you FEEL the story. Then it will be easier to see what’s cool about the story that makes it alive. I want to see the story in a way that makes the characters real, displays the conflict in the story, and makes the story compelling to hear.What did the people in the story feel?Put yourself in the story. What do you think you would have felt? Or done?

Make it real. Keep it honest. Don’t get religious? How would you have felt if Moses made a highway through the sea and it was your turn to march between the walls of water? I, for one, am not sure I would have done it. If I did I would have run with everything I had before those walls of water collapsed. I feel creepy when I walk through the glass tunnel at one of those aquarium theme parks and watch the fish swim over my head. Take the glass away and I’ll just wait in the parking lot.

What is in the story I can relate to today?What is in the story I can relate to today? I seldom see a giant standing in my neighborhood shouting insults at God. It has been a while since a snake offered me anything to eat. But, I can relate to problems that seem bigger than life and I know what it is to be tempted to do something wrong. Make a list. What threatening problems do kids face today? What are they tempted to do?What is the transferable action?What did someone in the story do that we can do today? Can we follow an example in the story? What is it?Be careful with this one. Make sure the action is consistent with the Gospel of God’s grace.

There is a difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament the emphasis is God’s law, what we do for God. In the New Testament the emphasis is God’s grace, what God did for us through Jesus. Both were about faith so we can draw from the whole Bible but do not leave the impression that our daily actions determine our acceptance by God. Make sure the Gospel is clear. Jesus died for our sins and rose again to give us His perfect life so that we could have assurance of our destiny with Him in Heaven.

Prayer, worship, Bible reading, loving one another, giving, etc. are relevant truths that impact our lives. Look for them in the story but do not confuse kids by making it seem like the actions earn our salvation.David had the courage to take on Goliath because he believed God would be faithful to His covenant, the deal He made with His people to protect them. We can trust God to be true to His promises today. Joshua and the people had to be quiet as they marched around Jericho. We would often be better off if we kept our mouths shut instead of complaining all the time. Look for the relevant action and milk it. Make it relevant and easy. If it is irrelevant to life today then you missed the point of the story. If it is too hard to live up to then you are making it harder than God intended.What does the story tell us about God?This is the most important step. Ask what the story reveals about God that we might not know otherwise. How does the story tell us what God is like? Nothing is more important in the spiritual development of kids than for them to have a basic understanding of what God is like.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,2 Peter 1:2-3 NKJVI have a simple interpretation of this verse. To me it means that God’s grace, peace and power for living flow from our knowledge of what God is like. If we have a distorted view of what God is like then we can expect a lack of grace, peace and power. If we have a correct view of what God is like we can expect grace, peace and power in our lives.What do some of the familiar Bible stories tell us about God? The story of David and Goliath tell me that God enjoys seeing the weak win in life. Remember David could hardly stand up under Saul’s armor. The story of Jericho tells me that God likes doing great things against big odds. That is a reoccurring theme in the Bible. The story of Paul on the road to Jericho tells me that God sometimes chooses mean people so He can turn them around and do cool things through them. That is the kind of God we have. That’s what He is like. Most of us agree we want to promote kids having a personal relationship with the Lord. If so then there is no better place to start than painting an accurate picture of God, showing what He is like. Far from the distant, mean, uninvolved God conveyed in today’s world, the real God has a magnetic personality. With His unconditional love, limitless knowledge and observable power He becomes irresistible to people who learn what He is like. And kids can grow up being attracted to a God like that.

Tomorrow Is Lesson 3--Crafts in Office

Teachers---you can pick up your crafts in the office. It will be beneficial if you can bring a glue gun as the kids will be working with foam and regular glue doesn't hold well.

Keep On Keeping On!

Keep On Keeping On!
by Joyce Meyer

Various thoughts run through our minds every day—some good, some bad. Our natural temptation is to focus on the bad, so accepting them doesn’t take any effort. The effort comes in being determined to cast down the negative thoughts and take a firm grasp of the positive ones. Positive minds full of faith and hope produce positive lives. The opposite is also true—negative minds full of fear and doubt produce negative lives, which can ultimately destroy your life. Some people have been hurt so many times that they don’t think they can face the pain of another letdown. Therefore, they refuse to hope so they won't be disappointed. Battles are fought in our minds every day.

When we begin to feel the battle is just too difficult and want to give up, we must choose to resist negative thoughts and be determined to rise above our problems. We must decide that we’re not going to quit. When we’re bombarded with doubts and fears, we must take a stand and say: "I’ll never give up! God’s on my side. He loves me, and He’s helping me! I’m going to make it!" No matter how bad the battle rages in your mind, don't give up! Step out and regain the territory that’s been stolen from you. Even if it’s only an inch at a time, make sure you’re leaning on God's grace and not on your own ability.

In Galatians 6:9 the apostle Paul simply encourages us to keep on keeping on! Don't be a quitter! Don't have that old "give up" spirit. God’s looking for people who will find the courage to rise above all the negative and pursue the positive. Whatever you may be facing or experiencing in your life right now, I want to encourage you to stay positive and refuse to give up! God is with you, and He’ll help you make spiritual progress—strengthening and encouraging you to keep on keeping on during rough times. It's easy to quit, but it takes faith to press on to victory. When the battle seems endless and you think you'll never make it, remember that you’re reprogramming a "worldly" mind to think as God thinks. In the same way that computers are programmed, our minds are programmed. From the time we’re born, our minds are like computers that have had a lifetime of garbage programmed into them. But God, who’s the best "computer programmer" around, is working on us every day to reprogram our minds as we cooperate with Him (see Romans 12:2). This process of reprogramming or renewing our minds will take place little by little, so don't be discouraged if progress seems slow.

Don't get down when you have setbacks or bad days. Just get back up, dust yourself off and start again. When a baby is learning to walk, he falls many, many times before he develops the ability to walk without falling; however, the baby is persistent. He may cry for a while after he falls down, but he always gets right back up and tries again.

Learning to change our thinking works the same way. There will be days when we don't do everything right—days when our thinking is negative. But never stop trying. God is gradually bringing us around to His way of thinking. Just don't give up!

Heart Box--this weeks craft

We are in week two of the OMTL series. Your craft this week is the heart boxes and they should be painted before hand--unless you have older children and you don't mind them painting their boxes. Then the lettering for it that says, "My Dream Keeper".....they will each place their dreams in their box for future reference and memories of what God has placed there. Have sequines and diamonds to glue on. If you have a hot glue gun--I think it would hold better to the wooden/painted box. If you would like to borrow one--I have one you can borrow. You may want to keep the boxes in the room for a week or so to refer to--and be sure they put their name on the bottom of it.

One Month To Live~6 week--all church series

Teachers-We will have a brief meeting @7pm Weds. Night in the office to pick up your crafts and get information on how we will be doing the One Month to Live for the kids classes.

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We will have worship in the Sanctuary...then at dismissal we will show the kids a short video clip to illustrate the main point of the lesson in kids wave. Then they will be dismissed to their classes.

**You will have your Lesson/group discussion/memory verse/Journal time/snack time/craft time/game time/closing prayer/clean up....Keep their Journals in a safe place to be used each week.

#1--Green is the color for this 6 weeks. Use it in whatever way you can...wear a green shirt...have green snacks....green stands for the "Grow". Each child will be given a Green OMTL gift bag...in it will be a green bracelet that says...One Month To Live...Encourage them to wear it each week to class. They can only have the gift bag at the end of service as they leave so they can open it at home. There is class decor in the office and you may add to it.

#2--The first craft is a Journal(KEEP IN CLASS UNTIL THE LAST LESSON)....it will last all six weeks. Each week during the lesson...you will give them time to write in their Journal on the appropriate page. You can give them extra things for their Journal(if you would like) pertaining to Bible Reading, Prayer, Faithful Church attendance and personal growth information. They can take it home at the end of December.

#3--Use creative ideas to display your weekly Bible Verse and challange them to learn it. For the older kids....Challange them to read thru the book of Proverbs over the next 6 weeks.

#4--Week 2 craft is a paper mache Heart Box--they will decorate the heart box and put little slips of paper inside of ways to love and encourage others. You can pick up your heart boxes for your students this week in the office.

#5--Each class will be given a board game for OMTL--we will be using Starburst as game pieces. Each lesson has questions to ask to advance in the game. I would recommend NOT eating the starburst until the end of the series.

(REMEMBER-JANUARY WILL BE A "FILL MONTH" NO CLASSES)