Big Idea: God speaks to His children, we can hear & trust His words.

Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 1-3

Hannah had prayed for a baby for a long time. When eventually God answered Hannah and gave her a son, Samuel, she dedicated Him to the Lord and he lived with Eli the priest, learning the Lord's work. When Samuel was a boy, he heard the voice of God while He was sleeping. He awoke, numerous times, thinking it was Eli calling him by name. When Eli realised that Samuel was hearing God speak, he told Samuel how to respond. Eli told Samuel to say, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." Samuel spoke these words to God, and God spoke to Samuel. God continued to speak to Samuel and Samuel grew up to lead the people of Israel to know and follow God's ways.

We talked about how our children hear from God. We very seldom hear the audible voice of God, and yet scripture assures us He speaks to us. We know that we can read His words for us through Scripture, that the Holy Spirit 'illuminates' or 'makes clear' His words, and that He often leads us by prompting us through our thoughts and feelings, dreams, visions and other ways too (although these should always be tested against our ultimate authority – Scripture). We learned that as we learn more about our God, the more we can recognise His voice when He speaks. We urged the children to likewise pray to our God, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening," and to expect God to speak to them as they learn more about Him. 

Family Activity

Hold up a blanket and have parents and children hide on either side of the blanket. Have one child or parent call out a name of someone on the other side of the blanket. The person who was called must identify who's voice called their name. Try and challenge each other by talking in funny voices. Explain to children how you know who's voice was speaking because you hear the voice often. It is like this with our God. The more we learn to listen and hear Him speak to us, the more we come to recognise it when He speaks.

See you Sunday!

Big Idea: Jesus is our Redeemer, we can trust in Him. 

Bible Passage: Ruth 

This week we learned about Ruth and her trust in God. At the beginning of the book of Ruth, she is a widowed foreigner from Moab. By the end of the story, she is a member of God's family, who becomes great-grandmother to Israel's greatest King, an ancestor to Jesus Christ Himself with a book in the Word of God with her name on it. An incredible story! Ruth decides to put her trust in Yahweh, God Almighty when she is widowed in her home country of Moab. Together with Naomi, her mother-in-law, she makes the long journey to Israel, where she finds work collecting leftover grain heads in a field. While she's there she 'just happens' to meet the owner of the field, a respected man and a distant relative who ends up being responsible for the welfare of herself and Naomi. Eventually, this man, Boaz, marries Ruth, she has a son and becomes a blessed woman indeed. 

We learn from the story of Ruth that it is always, always worth trusting in our God because He is in the business of taking our faith and turning even the most painful, scary situations into good for our blessing and His glory. We praise Jesus for being our Redeemer, the one responsible for saving us and securing us in God's family forever. Our God is always good, and always trustworthy. We too, like Ruth can say in faith, "Where you go, I will go," to our God Almighty, trusting He will turn our story into a blessed one.

Family Activity

Hide some breadcrumbs in your home and have children pick them up, as Ruth collected grain heads. When they find them, have them bring the crumbs to you and tell you something that has made them feel like they can't trust Jesus, or perhaps a time they have been scared to do what Jesus has commanded. Consider sharing a story of your own when this was a challenge. When children tell you, discuss with them Ruth's story, and the choice she had to make. Remind children that we have the promise of God that He will be with us, all the time, wherever we are, and that He will care for us. He will bless us with His presence, every single time we trust Him in the tough moments. (Hebrews 13:5-7) 

Big Idea: God uses broken people, but calls us to be obedient and trust Him.

Bible Passage: Judges 13-16

This week we learned about another Judge (leader) of the people of Israel. His name is Samson, and he's the strongest man who ever lived. But he's not the hero of the story. At the beginning of his life, Samson is set apart to be dedicated to God. His family are given instructions of how he is to live, and promised that he will deliver the Israelites from the hands of their enemies.

However, every single one of the instructions that Samson is given, he disobeys. The consequences of his disobedience are severe, and he ends up in prison, weak without strength. It is in this dire situation that Samson calls out to God and asks Him to remember him, even in his disobedience, and is able to save the people from their enemies, as was prophesied at his birth.

Samson was a broken, disobedient man and leader. But God used him mightily to save the people from their enemies. We can take comfort from this story knowing that when we too, repent and call out to God, He will remember us and love us and continue to use us for the great work of His kingdom. Because of Jesus- the real hero of this story – the only one who was perfectly obedient to God and able to save us from sin eternally – God looks at us in our brokenness and chooses to love, restore, redeem and purpose us for His glory. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice, and thank you for your faithfulness to us even when we make big mistakes.

Family Activity

In our sin, it is our natural instinct to hide and run from God, or from people who we feel we might let down in our mistakes. Samson's story teaches us that instead we can cry out to God, as he did, and know that God hears and forgives and restores us. Make it a practice this week of intentionally stopping and admitting mistakes to eachother – and stopping for prayer to tell God each time if necessary. In this way, we model the act of confession of our sins – helping children see that we don't need to be ashamed, but honest with our God who sees our sin, and because of Jesus, welcomes us back to Himself every time.

For a fun game idea to get kids talking about strength – play a tug-o-war game with them in your home this week. Let this game lead to discussions about Samson and his strength and his failures, and where we can turn in our own.

See you Sunday!

Big Idea: I can trust God, He is strong and will help me.

Judges 6-8

This week the kids learned about Gideon. He was the youngest man in the smallest family in his tribe. He felt like a nobody, but God called Him to great and mighty things to deliver the people of Israel from their misery. At first Gideon is uncertain, and so confirms time and time again that God is really who He says He is before he obeys Him. When we meet Gideon he's hiding in a winepress working, so His enemies can't find him! He is an unlikely hero and yet God uses Him for His glory and to save His people. Eventually, Gideon (meaning: valiant warrior) goes into war with his army and God tells him to send most of the men home – leaving only 300 men to win the war against thousands of enemies – and they do! God is mighty, and He won the victory for the people so that they would also know He is Who He Says He is.

Our God has promised  "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you," (Hebrews 13:5), so even if we feel small and weak, like Gideon, we can follow wherever God leads. Even if we are afraid, we can know that God will go before us and has won the battle over sin and death for us through Jesus, so He can surely help us with whatever we need!

Family Activity

God said to Gideon to send the men who drank from the river 'by lapping it up like dogs' home from the battle. Play a game with your children and give them a bowl of water. Tell the children to choose how to drink the water – either by lapping it up or drinking it like from a cup. Turn your back and say 'Ready, Set, Go!' and turn around and call out one of the ways. Whichever way you call out – all the children who drank that way are 'out'. Play again until there is a winning child or as long as you like. Talk about how when God sent the men home, there were only few men left, but that God won the battle for Israel to prove He was with them, He was mighty to save them, and they could trust Him. Ask children what they find it hard to trust God with, or what they worry about, and pray together that they would be able to trust God just like Gideon did.

Big Idea: God uses broken people to bring about His plan to save the world.

Bible Passage: Judges 1-3

This week the kids learned about a book of the Bible called 'The Judges'. The Judges were the leaders of the people of Israel after Joshua died. It spans about 250 years, and documents the many failures and unfaithfulness of the people of Israel, as well as the faithfulness of God. God gave the people of Israel a Covenant, and a mission.

 In this covenant, God promises to make the Israelites his treasured possession among all people and "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation", if they follow God's commandments. Unfortunately, the people of Israel did not follow God's commandments. Nor did they complete their mission. They were instructed by God to drive out the enemies from the promised land He gave them, but they did not. Soon they were serving, following and worshipping the false gods of the people living in the land. This brought about a 'cycle' we read over and over again in the stories of the judges. 

Check out this video about the 'Cycle of Apostasy' for kids.

The Judges were leaders that God raised up to deliver the people from their trouble. God raised up His Son, Jesus, as our deliverer for our sin and unfaithfulness. We now live under a New Covenant, that means now, we can turn back to God or repent when we are in trouble, and know that because of Jesus' sacrifice, we are accepted, loved, forgiven and rescued from our trouble. We likewise have a new mission – to go into all the world and tell people the good news of the gospel and help them to follow Jesus, too. 

Family Activity

Watch the video on the link above and talk about what kinds of things make us 'forget' about God. Ask children what makes it hard to remember God's love for them? What distracts them? What's one way they can remember God when they forget? (Deuteronomy talks about writing God's commands on our foreheads- maybe not a great idea for our kids, but a great example of somewhere you would see it everyday!)

Big Idea: Christmas is WILD!

Bible Passage: Luke 2, Isaiah 54:10, Hebrews 13:5-6, Philippians 2:9, John 8:36

This week we talked about Christmas! Our theme for the day was 'Christmas is WILD', focusing on how even though we hear the Christmas story every year, we should never let it cease to amaze us! So many WILD things happened – a virgin giving birth, angel appearances — filling the sky with praises! Stars appearing, wise men visiting a new baby from far away lands. Crazy stuff! Watch this video together if you'd like to see what we heard: https://vimeo.com/70354897

We talked about how all these crazy things happening could only mean one thing: God is at work. He is unstoppable! When we celebrate Christmas, we can remember how much God loves us by remember these 4 things:

Way-maker: God's plan is unstoppable! Nothing gets in His way, and nothing could stop His plan to send Jesus the Rescuer to save us. (Isaiah 54:10)

Immanuel: We celebrate at Christmas that God in heaven came NEAR to His people! He didn't just dwell far away, but He came to BE WITH US. Immanuel is the name given to Jesus because it means: God With Us. Our God is always with us, no matter what we do or where we go! (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Lord: Jesus came to earth to prove that He is Lord over all. Even though He is God, he became a baby! A tiny, weak little baby – to demonstrate that not only is He Almighty God, but He came to live here on earth as we live and to be one of us, so that we can know our God knows and loves us! His Name is above every Name and it's why we worship Him as LORD at Christmas time! (Philippians 2:9)

Deliverer: Jesus is the Saviour we need. There is nothing we could do on our own to make ourselves worthy of God's love. It is all because of what Jesus did on the cross for us that we can be set free from our sin. Jesus is our Deliverer! (John 8:36)

These are 4 awesome, WILD reasons to not get bored by the Christmas story this year, or let it pass by again without stopping to acknowledge just how amazing our God is.

See you next week for our Christmas party!!!

BIg Idea: We are called to be God's big family together.

Bible Passage: Luke 15:3-7, John:1-4

This week we talked about family. We learned that God calls himself our Father, and that all those who turn to trust God as Father and Jesus as Lord are called children of God. We are called 'brothers and sisters' in the family of God and called to love and serve one another as Jesus has loved and served us.

We talked about the story of the Lost Sheep, and how the Shepherd left the 99 to seek out and rescue the one sheep he loved. He carried the sheep all the way home, and when the lost sheep was home, they celebrated with a party. We talked about for those who put their trust in Jesus, it is like 'coming home' to the family of God. We belong to Him, and are safe with Him, and can trust God for all we need. 

Jesus also describes heaven like a house, or a big party, and that one day, all those who trust Him will be with Him to celebrate His victory forever. There is a seat at the party-table of heaven for all the children of God! We then challenged kids to think about who else they could invite to the party. We asked kids to think about someone they could 'make room for at the table'. Making room at our table and helping others belong helps demonstrate the love of God for us.

Family Activity

Over next week or so, design an invitation to a Christmas activity you might do as a family. (Christmas light-looking, carols by candlelight, parades, a special family dinner, or our Christmas Day church service). Then pray and think together who God might be laying on the hearts of your kids, and make an invitation for them to come along with your family. Pray together that you would 'make room at the table' for these people, and that God would use your family to demonstrate His love and bring more people into His Big Family. 

See you next week!

Big Idea: We can see all that God has done and choose to serve Him only. 

Bible Passage: Joshua 23 & 24

This week we came to the end of the book of Joshua. Joshua at this stage is a very old man, and he gives one final speech to the assembled people of God. He reflects over the whole story of God's faithfulness to the people, starting right back at Abraham, and all the way up until their recent victories in the Promised Land. He proves that God always keeps His promises, and shows the people how faithful He has been. He then challenges all of Israel to reflect on who they serve, and commit to serving only God always. 

"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness." 24:14

This is likewise the same for us – we can read the Scripture and see all that our Mighty God has done for us in forgiving us of our sins because of Jesus. We too, can see all these things and commit to serving Him with all faithfulness.

Family Activity

Praise God that we can come together and know His great and mighty acts by reading them in His word. Joshua commends the people to keep their commitment and places a rock near an oak tree. This week, find a special spot in your garden under a tree to take a knee together, and pray a prayer of commitment that God would help your family to follow and serve Him only. Repent together of the times you've gotten it wrong, and celebrate with stories of the times God has been faithful to your family. Then thank Him for His forgiveness and commit together to following Him as a household and encourage one another. 

See you next week!

Big Idea: Nothing is impossible for our God.

Bible Passage: Joshua 9-10

This week we learned about an incredible miracle that our God did for Joshua and the Israelites. A miracle is something that only God can do. Even though Joshua made a mistake and did not consult Him, God still showed mercy to His people and gave them victory in battle. When Joshua called out for the sun to stand still in the sky, God stopped the sun and gave the Israelites daylight until the battle was won. Our God is unstoppable and almighty. We can trust Him to work miracles to acheive His purposes, which He promises are always for our good.

Family Activity

This week, depending on your family schedule, aim to watch one sunrise or sunset together. As you do, imagine together what you could do with a whole day of daylight. Remind children who made the sun, the moon and all the stars, and talk about how big and amazing they are – and how they point to how big and amazing our God is. Ask children what they would ask God for if He could give them anything. Encourage children to think deeply about problems they see in the world, and what they would ask God to fix. Then remind children that God can and will restore all things for good, and that He asks us to be a part of the restoration for the world. Help children pray prayers asking for these miracles (things that only God can do) so that many will come to know His greatness. Remind children that even when they forget to consult or talk to God (like Joshua did) that God is merciful and forgives us and still calls us to be a part of what He is doing in the world. We can ask God for these things knowing that God already performed the greatest miracle for us, in raising Jesus from the dead and forgiving the sins of His people. Praise our almighty God!

Bible Passage: Joshua 8

Big Idea: We come together and celebrate God's victory over sin and death because of Jesus!

This week we learned that God gave Joshua and the Israelites victory over the battle of Ai. The people honoured God for their victory and gave Him glory for the battle. Afterwards, the people gathered together, "The foreigners, and those who were native born there….and the women and children," and worshipped God. They brought offerings, sacrifices and read the book of the Law that Moses gave to the people. There in front of Mt Gerazin and Mt Ebal, the people celebrated God and the victory He gave them, and they promised to obey and be like Him.

We too, come together to celebrate the victory that God has given us. When the people of God gather as the church, we also bring our offerings and worship Him together. We celebrate the victory God has given us through Jesus over sin and death. We likewise, hear from His word and commit to obeying and be like Him. Our gatherings are to celebrate Jesus and the victory we share in Him. Consider baking a cake or some other yummy food to celebrate together our victory in Jesus!

Family Activity

Use this week to hold a 'family gathering' and ask children how they feel about going to church gatherings on Sundays. What are some of the things they enjoy? What are some things they find hard? Talk about the importance of joining together with God's people to hear from Him, and worship Him together, and commit together to be more like Him. Think about how you can do this together in your home as a family. How can you worship/celebrate God together each week? (Prayers, meals, family walks, singing together in the car, holidays, Christmas, birthdays)  What offerings do you bring Him? (Our money, our time, our gifts and talents) When do you gather around or read His word and talk about how to be more like Jesus? Gathering is an important aspect of our faith so that we can grow together to serve one another and be more like Jesus!

See you next week!