TODAY'S CHURCH

I am second is people just like you, with authentic stories that provide insight into dealing with typical struggles of everyday living. If you visit http://www.iamsecond.org/ you will meet people who overcame destructive lifestyles. You will meet actors, athletes, musicians, and business leaders who have faced pressures of living but who found a life that was full of hope, peace and fulfillment in the person of Christ. Here is one example of the awesome video testimonies that the iamsecond group has put together on their website. You will want to spend an hour or so sometime checking out the inspirational stories that have been captured here. I hope that you are blessed by this, as I was!

OK, this child is not just any child. Nancy, who retells the story of the birth of Jesus is from Ireland. Her accent is strong, so you have to listen closely and you can tell that she shares the story with a bit of Catholic spin. But she is priceless- listen for her editorial on "da mean kids dat don't get holy communion on Christmas mornin'" and what "da three wise kings" must have said when 'dey follow'd da beautiful star up in dat sky to da stable". Thanks to Michael McMinn, a good friend of mine from High School, for bringing this clip to my attention.


So after you watch this cute clip, check with your kids to see what kind of detail from the Biblical account of the Christmas story they recall. If they don't know the story well, consider the opportunity to spend some time as a family reviewing it this year. Practice reading it by yourself first with some appropriate inflection, so you can properly recount the most important story of the season with your loved ones. Make up a game to review characters, the timeline, or other details that make this an amazing story. (e.i. pictionary, hangman, charades, or jeopardy) You could even play for Christmas candy!

As you conclude the Christmas story be clear that Jesus was still just as sinless when He died on the cross as He was when He entered the world as a perfect little baby. We celebrate His birth because His death changes us and gives us purpose in life. That is the gift to share this season.
God Bless everyone. Have a Merry Christmas!

Here is a powerful little story! Has this sort of thing ever happened to you? You can view this at full screen (just click the box at the bottom of the slides)

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Surinder

Unfortunately regret can be a powerful burden to bear in life. Consider this as you contemplate your circumstances and let this be your challenge to present God's grace to those around you. For those of us that have already made some of these regretful choices, see how God seeks to redeem us...

II Cor. 7:9-11 "yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."

What a great video! What would your cardboard testimony be? After you watch, please click on comment below and write your cardboard testimony. You can do so anonymously or you can put your name with it! Praise God for the difference he can make in a life that has yielded to Him!

What part of the body is compared to a rudder of a ship in James chapter 3?

• We know it has to be a small part relative to the body as a rudder is to a ship.
• We know that this part of the body will ultimately determine ones destination in life.
• We know that very small changes in the position of the rudder will affect the vessel greatly over a long period of time as will small things that come out of our mouth.

It is of course, the tongue. If misused, the tongue can cause a great crash in our own life or in the lives of those around us. The tongue can also be as dangerous as the small spark that causes the devastation of a huge forest fire. That spark can be ignited against the simple flint of jealousy, greed, ignorance, or revenge, amidst a conversation in the hallway. The devastation may come in the form of exaggeration, gossip, putting others down, bragging, manipulation, false teachings, complaints, or lies.

This passage in James clearly says that the purpose of the tongue is to Praise our Lord. We should not use the same tongue to bring others down. Try this little exercise this week:

• Practice building others up as they are made in God’s image.
• Encourage them, and expect nothing in return.
• Share the truth (from Scripture) as you visit with friends.
• Exhort friends to do good things and to bless others.

The tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body!! May yours be strengthened as you exercise it correctly!

Coming Dec 12th / 7pm-8:20.

You are invited to a very cool event featuring a live performance from Christian Illusionist Jared Hall! Jared is renowned for both amazing illusions and great humor while presenting the gospel. You will want to invite your nieghbors and their kids! Families may register soon for the cost of only $20 per household. Available at http://www.wrkidz.com/ soon! Check out this promo video:

This will be an Awesome event for sure!
here is another cool teaser:

How would you react if you were thrown into prison for crimes that you did not commit? Would you argue, yell, threaten, or would you withdraw or even cry? What would you do?

Now imagine that you were given an opportunity to escape, but if you take it others would die. Would you take it? After all you didn’t even deserve to be there. Would that be an ethical breach?

What does scripture teach about this type of situation? Does the Bible address this? Yes. Read with me from James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” James does not say if you face trials but when you face trials! This is part of how God allows us to develop into mature and complete Christians.

The roadblocks and hardships in our lives are opportunities for growth and outward expression of our trust in the Lord. This will not only benefit us, but all who witness our situation. That is exactly what happened to Paul and Silas. (Acts 16:16-40) They went to jail for doing the work of God. Here are the words used to describe:
· Seized and dragged to the authorities.
· Stripped and beaten
· Severely flogged, thrown into prison
· Fastened their feet in stocks. (Meaning they could not even move to go to the bathroom!)

All of this was done illegally to Paul and Silas because as Roman citizens they were entitled to a trial before any of this was allowed to take place. They did not commit the crime; instead a crime was committed against them.

Through all of this, how did Paul and Silas handle themselves?
· Throughout the night they prayed and sang songs of praise to God.
· Other prisoners listened to them.
· The jailer, who almost committed suicide, got saved!
· His whole family got saved!
· They all followed in baptism!

If you were thrown into prison for crimes that you did not commit, what would you do? Paul and Silas made it their business to praise God through every circumstance, everyday before this situation occurred. It was a conscious decision that allowed them to bring glory to God! Choose to “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of any kind...”

Click below for an activity to do with your family! Help your kids with this lesson!
http://www.walnutridgechurch.com/PDF/Lesson%202%20(11-02-08).pdf

WRKIDZ main point this week is: God Loves Everyone and So Should I. Is it possible, or are we just too selfish in our sinful state?

There was a show in the 90’s that I used to watch called “Friends”. Maybe you have seen it, maybe not. I remember one particular episode where there was a dogmatic dispute between Phoebe and Joey. Joey alleged that there was no such thing as a selfless good deed. Phoebe was intent to prove him wrong. Let me ask you; do we see selfless good deeds happening today? I would have to say rarely, at best. It seems there is almost always an ulterior motive for the ‘nice’ things people do. Joey's point exactly:


In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus illustrated that not only is this possible, but it is expected of believers.

• Luke 10: 30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' (NIV- biblegateway.com)

Jesus answer to this man was hard for him to hear for two reasons. For one, Jesus painted the Samaritan in a good light and the religious characters in the story in a negative light. People from Samaria were in effect a Jew's enemy because of both racial and religious tension. But who was it that Jesus was talking to? As a devout Jew this expert in the law would have despised a Samaritan.

The other reason I suspect that it might have been difficult for this man to hear the answer; he himself was looking for justification. He had an 'ulterior motive' in just asking this question. He was looking for Jesus to tell him, “friend, you have arrived!”

Well if you saw the episode of 'Friends', you know how it ended, but scripture paints a different picture for us. Jesus lived his life as a completely selfless act; (a sacrifice) even for those who were self-proclaimed enemies of God. He did it for everyone regardless of race or social status. In turn we are supposed to develop in our faith to the point where we, like Christ become willing to offer our 'time, money and talents' as we selflessly love others.

Food for thought- Look up Agape Love; please post your findings!!

As people who work with kids in the ministry (or as parents) we may ask ourselves this question on a regular basis: “Do they ever really get it?” How do you know when it finally takes, because we rarely see the effect our teaching has on them in that one hour we have them at church on Sundays…

Illustration: the other my wife and I loaded up the car with our two boys. Drake is 5, and Parker is 2. Parker sits behind my wife so it is easy to glance back as we are in the driveway getting ready to head out for the day. So I turned on the radio and there was a fun song playing on KLTY. I proceeded do to a funny little dance and encouraged Parker to join me. All of the sudden Parker became like a kid in Jr. High that was just too cool for school (no offense to any Jr. High kids reading this blog). He had that look on his face like “I don’t even know who you are? Don’t expect me to do anything like that now or ever.” He had one eyebrow raise and no hint of a smile. As a child he had been so fun, but now I couldn’t help but think that stage was over. Kids grow up so fast. I tried a couple of times with the same response so I decided to just pull out of the driveway. I drove up our street and turned onto the next street. The next thing I know Drake is cracking up and he says “hey look at Parker!”

Only 15 seconds after I turned away he started to do the most hilarious dance you can imagine (for a kid strapped into a car seat anyway.) With each hand he had an index finger doing the disco point, tilting his head side to side and the silliest look on his face.

I think that happens way more than we know. We teach our heart out and model what God would have us to do, and the kids stare back at us like we are nuts sometimes. But if we are steadfast in all that we do they will wait until we are not looking and emulate everything they have observed to the ‘T’.
So yes many times the answer is yes they do get it. The real question is “will you have the satisfaction of seeing what you have taught them actually being lived out?” Maybe not, but that does not mean you have wasted your time.

*Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Hang in there. They will get it. If it glorifies God, it is definately worth it! Thanks to you, Christianity will be at least another generation away from extinction.

Being unveiled this week: we have a new look to the WRKIDZ buckz. Now featuring Android Pastor Kodi and Android Pastor Jason. Feel free to leave your comments on the new look!

Better yet, make up a story about the Robot Kodi!!

• what is his mission?
• what is he thinking?
• where has he been?
• where is he going?
• what is his favorite food?

Answer these and other questions in your own fun story! Just click on "Comment" at the end of this posting. Your story will appear on this blog.

*Based on Daniel 1:6-20

Daniel the Hebrew teenager found himself in a bad situation. He was basically a prisoner forced into a new way of life at the Kings palace. Easily, he could have focused on circumstances that would have distracted him from being the man God wanted him to be. Instead he clung to God’s way. Scripture was instilled in him from his childhood and the Lord’s teachings were a part of his DNA. Even though he did not attempt to force God’s way upon the other Hebrew young men, he showed them God’s way by example even when it was not convenient.

Holding tight to one’s convictions can be difficult in the world we live in today. For Daniel, it almost resulted in death on more than one occasion. Our convictions must be Bible based convictions. His Word is our sole source for Godly direction in life. Take a look at these key components of “Biblical conviction” as found on http://www.bible.org/:

There is a fallacy that obeying God is about a bunch of don’ts. (like in the video you can have a good marriage by not doing certain things) Admittedly there are some don’ts; this is as plain as the 10 commandments. But the commandments are really more about what we should do. For example, Jesus broke it down for us into two simple parts. Love the Lord your God (first 4) and love your neighbor (last 6).

So disobedience to God is called Sin. Did you know there actually 2 types of sin:

• Sins of commission . This is where we do things that we should not do. Many people go through life; even many church goers; thinking the ideal Christian life is one that is free of these kind of sins. Indeed most of us struggle with this small part of living the Christian life.
  
• The other kind of sin is a sin of omission . This is the type of sin that Jonah dealt with. He knew exactly what God wanted him to do, yet decided not to do it. As we walk closer and closer to God our faith becomes less about what not to do and more about what to do.

The cool thing is that obedience is contagious in some cases. We can see this in the book of Jonah. Once Jonah decided to act in obedience, what happened? The Ninevites also choose to obey God. In the case of the Ninevites we see again that it was not just about stopping their sin. Their obedience also involved acts of repentance.

• Jonah 3: 5 “The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.”

To me this idea is like the conservation of energy. Energy cannot be created or destroyed but merely transferred. God made us to think about and do certain things. When we think about or do the wrong things, just like in thermodynamics there has to be a transformation of our thoughts and actions.

Repentance is active according to Peter. He called it “turning to God” (acts 3). Sin whether by omission or commission is going away from God. The idea here sin is equivalent to walking away from God. Peter suggests that the solution is to stop, turn around, and walk toward God (in obedience). Just as Jonah did as he went to Nineveh.

This is a simple truth. Just because you stop disobeying does not mean that you are obeying. If there is sin in your life that you are struggling to eliminate, it must be replaced by obedience. What is it that God wants you to be thinking about and doing? What does obedience need to look like for you this week?