Kid's Church: God Is Faithful

This Sunday up in Kid's Church (our Sunday service for grade-school kids) we learned about the part of 

The Big God Story where God delivered the city of Jericho into the hands of His people.  (Joshua 1-6).

We follow the philosophy that every lesson puts God at the center of the narrative:
because God is the main character of every story.

And so, in this part of the Big God Story we learn that God is Faithful.

Consider the situation: God's people could never have crossed the Jordan River at flood time, or made the impenetrable walls of Jericho fall down (from the inside out!) by themselves.  

This part of The Big God Story shows that if we follow God's leading in our lives, He will be faithful   

. . . even if it means doing the impossible.

After our creative teachers shared the astounding events of this part of God's Big Story, the kids spent a few moments personally responding to God:

They love this time of the morning.

They sat expectably in the Presence of God, as the Holy Spirit's timely message was heard:

Kids, God wants to turn your fear into faith.

Remember?  God's people were afraid to cross the River Jordan when first they came to it 40 years before.  Remember? They were afraid to go into The Promised Land because the enemy seemed much too frightening.  Remember? Their time in the desert was a process; 

an intense process of turning fear into faith.  Remember?  This is what God does.

God turns fear into faith.

It was prophesied and spoken over our kids, by two different people Sunday morning, 

that THEY will be  A Generation of Faith - believing and seeing the miracles of God!
And just as it was once before . . .

This generation will be the ones to believe.

As a group, the kids were asked to respond to this word from God.  

We asked God to bring to mind something that makes them feel afraid.

And then they were asked to write or draw it on a sticky note

Stick their note to a brick

And add their brick to the wall.

We prayed over all these areas of fear . . .

We prayed that God would turn them into areas of faith.

And on the count of three . . .

We blew with all our might.  HARD.

And in one great breath, the wall of fear came tumbling DOWN!

Kid's Church: God Is Sovereign

This Sunday we continued in the environment of Out of the Comfort Zone, the Spiritual Environment for the month of October.  Every lesson this month has something to do with how God helps us grow by stretching us out of our comfort zones.

We were following the Israelites this week, as they camped at Mt. Sinai and then went all the way to the edge of the Promised Land. . . and back again!   They had to turn around to wander in the desert for 40 years, all because they didn't believe God!  Instead they complained, whined and didn't trust God when things got hard.  . . . hhmm. . . has that ever happened in your family?  

This part of the Big God Story shows us that : 

God is Sovereign. 

That just means God is all powerful and He's in charge.  What that boils down to is that even when He stretches us into places that are hard, we can trust Him.

After our lesson (which for the 10:30 class involved a hillbilly named Linda-Lou who kept talking about possum hunting), we always end with response time.  This is a time when our kids are given a chance to spend a moment alone with God and to listen and respond to His voice in some tangible way.

This week we asked them to think of something they have been complaining about lately.  We all sat quietly before the Lord and asked Him to bring something to mind.  Once He did, they were to write or draw this complaint on a piece of paper and carry it to the foot of the cross.

   They solemnly laid their complaints down at the foot of the cross.

And left them there; trading their complaints and whining for . . .

                               One of the promises of God.


They reverently carried these promise scrolls back to the worship area, grasping them tightly in their determined hands.   . . . Because these kids know about the promises of God.   They know they just got the better end of this deal.  They know that trading their complaints for the promises of God is trading UP.   And together, we all hold up our promises to heaven, shakily at first, and then more boldly, as a prayer of blessing is prayed over every child, that God's Spirit will remind them always to hold onto the promises of God. 

Because now we know that God is Sovereign.  

And if He is in charge, then we are in good hands.

When we are holding onto God's Word - our hands are never left empty, 

and our lives are always full.

The Environment of Out of The Comfort Zone reminds us that:

God transforms me when I step out in faith.

Don't forget to check out the site below for this month's HomeFront magazine

 full of great ideas to do at home with your kids, 

so you can create the environment of "Out of the Comfort Zone" in your family.

homefrontmag.com

How is God asking you to step out in faith and trust Him this month?