March 2014

At this time of year, people in some denominations lead into Easter by preparing their hearts and drawing closer to God through a formal time of prayer, fasting, and giving. But even if your denomination doesn’t formally practice this observance, drawing our hearts closer to God is still a worth-while pursuit. In Matthew 13 Jesus talked about how good soil was key to a good har-vest. A farmer who ignores the soil will have bad soil, but if he works to make the soil good, it will produce a great harvest.

So it is with us. Jesus said that we can “produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted.” That’s both overwhelming and exciting! When we pray, fast, and give, we’re pre-paring the “soil” of our hearts. We’re aligning ourselves with God and his great work. And it’s never too early to teach our chil-dren to work the soil of our hearts. How can your family create soil-strengthening habits?

Preparing Our Hearts

POWERSOURCE ASK GOD: 1. To help you look for ways to

grow closer to him—and not just at certain times of the year.

2. For opportunities to teach your kids how to block out distractions and focus on him.

3. To help you be intentional with the way you lead your kids.

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TEACHABLE MOMENTS

Distractions Have one of your kids volunteer to tell the plot of his or her favorite movie. Once he or she begins, do everything you can to create distractions: jump around; talk over her; play loud music, or crank the TV; clap; repeat everything he says; and so on. Then ask: What made this difficult? What are some of your biggest distractions? Say: There are things that distract us from God, too. We’re “too busy,” or we forget that God wants our atten-tion—wants to spend time with us. Ask: Think honestly about your big-gest distraction. Maybe it’s a cell phone. or video games. or TV. Would you be willing to give up that thing for one month? Pray: God, help us to remove the dis-tractions that keep us from connect-ing with you.

Thoughts On… What some wise people have said about prayer, fasting, and giving.

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you

to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.”

—1 John 3:18

Prayer—“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” ~Martin Luther “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” ~Soren Kierkegaard “If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word—prayer.” ~Charles Spurgeon “Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.” ~Henri Nouwen “Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.” ~George Herbert Fasting—“Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.” ~Andrew Murray “Fasting confirms our utter de-pendence upon God by finding in him a source of sustenance be-yond food.” ~Dallas Willard

“Is fasting ever a bribe to get God to pay more attention to the petitions? No, a thousand times no. It is simply a way to make clear that we sufficiently rev-erence the amazing opportunity to ask help from the everlasting God, the Creator of the universe, to choose to put everything else aside and concentrate on worship-ing, asking forgiveness, and mak-ing our requests known—considering his help more im-portant than anything we could do ourselves in our own strength and with our own ideas.” ~Edith Schaeffer Giving— “No one has ever be-come poor by giving.” ~Anne Frank “Giving is true having.” ~Charles Spurgeon “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on com-forts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.” ~C.S. Lewis

MOVIES Title: Muppets Most Wanted Genre: Comedy/Family Rating: PG (for mild action) Cast: Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Bur-rell Synopsis: The Muppet gang is head-ed around the world on tour, but they’re caught up in an international crime ca-per when Kermit is mistaken for a mas-ter criminal. Our Take: The Muppet movies have always been family friendly, full of fun cameos, and generally absurd. This one should be no different. With Kermit being mistaken for someone he’s not, you could discuss how sometimes we have two sides to our personalities.

MEDIA MADNESS

CULTURE & TRENDS

A new survey from BabyCenter finds that Millennial moms (between the ages of 18 and 32) are confident: 96% describe their parenting style as “loving”—while 92% think they’re “encouraging,” and 90% are “sup-portive.” J. Maureen Henderson, contributor to Forbes

QUICK STATS

Buckle Up More than 1/3 of kids killed in car accidents weren’t proper-ly restrained. A quarter of parents and caregivers drive around with un-buckled kids in the car. (au-toblog.com) Charity Begins at Home Ninety percent of kids between ages 8 and 19 give to charity. Talking to kids about charity has a greater impact on their giving than role modeling alone. (unfoundation.org)  

TV

Title: Brain Games Channel: National Geographic Summary: This TV show digs into the ways our brains can trick us—and the ways magicians, advertisers, and oth-ers can make our brains trick us. You’ll see optical illusions, ways to boost memory, and how we can be distracted even when we know we’re being dis-tracted. Our Take: This is a great show to watch as a family. There’s nothing of-fensive in it, it’s full of ah-ha moments, and there are lots of opportunities to talk to your kids about how we can be fooled.

Games, Sites & Apps

Yoshi’s New Island This installment of the classic franchise finds Yoshi and Baby Mar-io exploring a rich, clever world in search of treasure and fun. While you can’t play as a family, it’s a great game for all ages. Rating: E; Nin-tendo 3DS

timeforkids.com This companion page to Time Magazine has arti-cles from both adults and “kid reporters,” on topics that include na-tional interests, science, entertainment, and just-for-fun.

Gabbit app Whether you’re at the kitchen table, waiting at the doctor’s office, or on a road trip, this app will give you lots of thought-ful questions designed to get your family talking. And there are plans for Road Trip, Couples, Dinnertime, and Youth editions. Available in the App Store.

This page is designed to help educate parents and isn’t meant to endorse any movie, music, or product. Our prayer is that

you’ll make informed decisions about what your children watch, read, listen to, and play.

March SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 200th Anniv.

Dinner/ Concert

5pm

2 Worship

9am &10:45am

KiC 5:30 – 7pm

3 4 5 Mom’s in

Community (MiC)

9:30 – 11am

6 Women of the Word

(WoW) AM: 9 – 11

PM: 7 – 8:30

7

8 Men’s

Breakfast 8 – 9:30am

9 Worship

9am &10:45am

KiC 5:30 – 7pm

10 11 12 13 WoW

AM: 9 – 11 PM: 7 – 8:30

14

15 Family

Missionary Service Day

at Children's Haven

7am-4pm 16

Worship 9am &10:45am

KiC

5:30 – 7pm

17

St. Patrick’s Day

18 19 MiC

9:30 – 11am

20 WoW

AM: 9 – 11 PM: 7 – 8:30

21 22

23 Worship

9am &10:45am

KiC 5:30 – 7pm

24 25 26 27 WoW

AM: 9 – 11 PM: 7 – 8:30

28 29

30 Worship

9am &10:45am

KiC 5:30 – 7pm

31

Get your next volume Family App for The Gospel Project – we will begin Vol 7 on 3/23 Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gospel-project-for-kids-family/id561426629?mt=8 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lifeway.tgpparents&hl=en

 

  PRETEEN KiC In March we will spend some time exposing our Preteens our youth group. On March 2nd some of the Junior High and their leader will help lead KiC with others learning right along side your preteens. On March 23rd, the preteens will join the JH Youth Group to fully experience what it is like, building excitement for their upcoming transi-tion. I hope your preteens will be able to join us for these important nights. As we move into our next unit “Decisions” our preteens will recognize that they have the freedom to choose – wisely or poorly – and the knowledge to know the difference. • 3/2: What are my options? • 3/9: How do I do this? • 3/16: Am I on my own? • 3/23: Visit JH Youth Group • 3/30: Does what I say really matter?

 

  KiC 3yrs–3rd Grade We continue learning our Christian beliefs. Our verse is “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16. At the end of the month kids are encouraged to share with others about Jesus. • 3/2: We believe that Jesus died and

came back to life • 3/9: We believe that Jesus is the head of

the church • 3/16: We believe that Jesus will return • 3/23: We boldly tell about Jesus • 3/30: We help others know Jesus Junior High joining KiC on 3/2! They will lead KiC and start getting your kids excited about Youth Group & how much fun it is.

Children’s Church Update

We have been spending a bit of time in the prophets over the past few months. Even though God’s people continued to rebel, God gave a mes-sage of future hope. Our timeline now bring us to Judah’s exile. 3/2: The prophets warned Judah for years that God’s judgment was com-ing. Judah did not listen and was taken into captivity. God punished Ju-dah’s sin but kept His promise of a king to David. God punished our sin through Jesus, our King forever. 3/9: The people of Judah refused to be righteous before God; Ezekiel saw a vision of God’s glory leaving the temple. Sin separates people from God. Jesus died to take our punishment for sin. Through Christ, we can enjoy God's presence. 3/16: God showed Ezekiel dry bones to show Israel’s hopelessness. God told Ezekiel to speak a message of hope and restoration. God showed Ezekiel dry bones to show what we are like when we sin. Jesus alone has the power to give us eternal life.

Despite captivity, God used faithful people to continue His plan to provide salvation through Jesus Christ. We begin to look at the exile through Daniel’s eyes. 3/23: Daniel and his friends chose to obey God no matter what. God blessed Daniel and his friends. They were smarter than all the other young men in Babylon, and the king recognized their gifts. Daniel wasn't perfect, but he reminds us of someone who was. Jesus obeyed God perfectly and He always pleases God. We please God when we trust in Jesus..

3/30: Only God could rescue Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire. Jesus is the only One who can save us from our sin. On the cross, people mocked Jesus: “He saved others; He cannot save Himself!” (Mark 15:31). Jesus was not physically unable to save Himself; He chose to do the Father’s will. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross provided the way for us to be rescued and have eternal life.

The Gospel Project Family App Now available on Android (Vol 7) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lifeway.tgpparents