Strange Place to Find Children's Resources

When you think of gathering material for Children’s Ministry, one does not think of looking to John Stott or someone connected to Charles Spurgeon. The picture that comes to mind is one with very deep messages using big words and heavy concepts that are hard for adults to understand not to mention children. Fortunately, I came across two gems when I was searching for resources for our next series on animals.

The first resource is written by John Stott called The Birds Our Teachers. It is a small book and I paid just over 11 dollars for it from Christianbook.com including shipping but it is filled with simple truths that are related to the behavior of birds. Stott was an amateur bird watcher and spent quite a bit of time obeying God’s command in Matt 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air”. He has 11 chapters where he ties either a trait of a specific bird or a general characteristic of birds in general to a biblical truth. Not to give away his thunder, he uses the fact of migration in certain birds and how they return to the same place year after year to our needing to repent and return to Christ after we sin. Simple enough for a child to understand but a profound lesson that anyone can benefit from considering. After reading some of his writing in Seminary, I was pleasantly surprised how accessible this book is and how easily it can be used for our Children’s Church.

The second resource is written by a preacher named Richard Newton (1813-1887). He was born in England but came to America early in his life. He spent most of his time in America in Pennsylvania with attending the University of Pennsylvania and pasturing there as well. He wrote a book called Bible Animals and Lessons Taught by them for Children. It is really a collection of 16 sermons that he preached to children on different animals that are found in the Bible. Again, instead of being too high-brow, he is gentle and speaks the language of children. It is easy to see why the great Charles H Spurgeon called him “The Prince of Preachers to the young”. For example, he teaches about the goodness of God by discussing the way the camel was distinctly made for walking in the desert for long periods of time. I do need to say that some of what he said about the physical makeup of the camel was incorrect and he continued the thought that in talking with the rich young ruler, Jesus used “eye of a needle” to mean a small city gate. While those are important, the greatest thing I received by reading his book is the lessons and insight he had to relate the animals to God’s truths.

One never knows from where great material will come. I hope these resources can help bring God’s big message to the little hearts to which we minister.

Latest Reflections on Col 1:28-29

Colossians 1:28-29

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

In my daily reading, I came across these verses again. I am not sure when I first noticed these verses but they have become some of my ministry verses. After Paul talks about how he struggles for some of the other churches, he says this:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,  rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Col 2:6-7)

Today, I read an article talking about 4 teachings of Jesus that Christians ignore (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandan-robertson/4-teachings-of-jesus-that_b_6343320.html). It sounded interesting and it was somewhat true. The author and I do not see eye to eye on all of the four points but he does make some interesting comments. For example, he states that people are not saved by believing the right things but by doing the will of God. While I would point to John 3:16, he points to Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. He alludes to the two greatest commandments: Love God and Love your neighbor. Sometimes, we simplify things too much and forget that God is to be our LORD or master and not just someone we believe in (James 2:14-26 and Col 2:6-7).

After reading this article, I decided to read some of the comments. I know that this is dangerous but I did it anyway (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/opinion/sunday/this-story-stinks.html). There is an interesting back and forth that happens particularly with religious articles on Huffington Post but it occurs many other places as well. You get the “defenders of the faith” (I have been known to do this from time to time). These people see it as their duty to correct the misinterpretations of either the Bible or the Christian faith. Then you get the other side where they feel that anything to do with God is a fairy tale or a lie and cannot be believed let alone base your life upon it. Within each side, there is a wide spectrum of views/arguments as well. Some Christians take the approach that “God says it, I believe it, that settles it!” The comments they make do not help the conversation and more times than not, they cause splintered threads in the comments when others take exception to those “baseless” comments. You get similar ones from the other side like, “Everything in the Bible can be disproven.” First of all, this can never be proven (in fact, it is pretty easy to be disproven) and secondly, this does not help the conversation. To address all of these is like chasing rabbits all over the place. It is exhausting and not very helpful.

On the other hand, there are some on both sides who are ready to engage in a discussion about these topics in a rational, logical, and constructive manner: Christians who know that many do not hold Scripture in as high regard as we do and skeptics who are willing to walk through their objections with the Christian faith. These are the people with whom I want to interact. These are the people that make me question the “what” and the “why” of my beliefs. I am not the best at making logical arguments and having a good back and forth with these people, help me understand better and also how better to communicate what I believe.

Lately, I have been reminded in various ways that there are many people who do not understand the claims of Christ. We as the church need to be “struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” to be “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom” the wonderful truths of God. Like I told the Awana kids on Wednesday, the purpose for learning the verses is 1) so we can learn about God, 2) so we can act more like Him and 2) so we can tell others about Him. Sometimes, I get caught in 1 or 2 but God calls us to do all three. How are you living out all three?

Jesus is more needed than DOMA

While the news that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional is disappointing, I am not surprised nor am I discouraged. If we look at other governments throughout history of the world (and many even today), American Christians are better off than many others. Many have been imprisoned or killed just for having a Bible. We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and “bloom where we are planted” both in our location and our point in history. Besides, as the song goes: “This is not our home, we are just passing through.” God did not promise us that our road on earth will be easy. In fact, he said it would be just the opposite. We need to realize that America is not the promised land and it never was.

What the world needs is not DOMA but Jesus. Hebrews 11 lists Old Testament saints that heard the Word of God and acted on it. Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Samson, David, and Samuel: those names help us recall their stories of faith and victory by the hand of God.  At the end of the chapter in verses 36 and 37, the writer of Hebrews lists out many things that happened because people believed in God. After reading that list, ask yourself this question, have I ever endured those types of persecutions? Would you be willing to suffer like that for the sake of the Gospel? I look in the mirror and feel convicted because I feel awkward about telling others about Jesus so I don’t. Some people are killed for telling others about God but still do it. Those people are more aware of what is at stake than we are. If we truly believed that they were going to hell because they do not know about Jesus, we would shout it from the rooftops. But we don’t.

So, I have some more questions for you and me to answer. What does being a Christian mean to you? Does it mean that you are a fairly good person and you “don’t drink or chew or go with guys that do”? Does it mean that you go to church when it is convenient for you? How does being a Christian affect your life? Do you know more and spend more time talking and reading about a sports team than the Bible? We are called to love people that are different from us. We are called to watch what we say about others. Are these qualities present in your life? There are many areas in my life that I need to work on. I urge you to pick one. Pick one area that God has been waiting for you to give to him. That may be pride, how you talk about others behind their back, lack of prayer time or time in the Bible, your temper or your laziness. Whatever it is, God is asking for you to trust that He knows what is best for you. You can give it up and He will help you through it.

What difference does being a Christian make in your life? Today, make sure you show someone what difference it has made in your life and can make in their life.

What good can come from this bad week?

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

The lesson for this past Sunday in Children’s Church was that God’s purpose for His plans is for His glory and our good. Some of the kids mentioned some of the hard things that they need to do: chores, school, and waking up were top on their lists (Oh, for the simple life of a child). While these may seem small to us, they are big to them. Also, the lesson still applies no matter how big or small the hardship is.

Whatever the difficulty, God is using it to shape you and mold you into the person that he wants you to become. If you think that you are too old to change, God promised to finish the work that he started in you. He started making you perfect. Are you there yet? If not, God still has work to do and you never know when God will use you to minister to someone else. Many times, we can catch a glimpse of how God is growing us. School and chores are not always fun but we grow in responsibility, in knowledge, in learning habits, and in submitting to authority. These may not be on our minds when we go through them but one can easily see the end results.

There are other times where we cannot think of any possible good result to come out of a difficult situation. As many of you know, my wife has been battling chronic pains in her stomach for years and it has flared up again lately. When I see her in pain, it is a helpless feeling. When I see tears in her eyes, I think, “God, why? What good will come of this?” Here are a few thoughts on how God can use these times for his glory and our good:

1. These are the times where we are driven to our knees. We are weak and we need God. If you are in a hole, the only way to look is up. Sometime, we are the ones that dig the hole and sometimes, we are put into a hole that is there. Regardless, God is there at the top waiting for us to pray to Him.
2. This is a test of our faith. James 5:11 says, “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” I have thought it would be easier to go through this if it was because of persecution from people and us taking a stand for our faith. But if we think of the story of Job, he endured sickness and deaths in his family because God was proving a point to Satan, which Job knew nothing about. Job has confidence that God was “compassionate and merciful” not just in general but to him specifically. That is why he was able to be steadfast.
3. We are called to be witnesses. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” In all we do, people are watching us. We claim that our God can handle all of life’s problems but do we live it when the problems are ours? There is a quote from St. Francis of Assisi that many preachers are criticizing that goes “Preach the Gospel and if necessary, use words.” Without getting into what is necessary for the Gospel, this quote applies when we go through trials. We need to show others how big our God is and that he can help us through our struggles before we tell others that God can help them through theirs. Without this demonstration, it is just words to them, empty platitudes.

Trials are not fun. James 1:2-4 says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Since we will never be perfect this side of heaven, God has work to do in all of us. Faith is trusting in the character of God through the dark times when we do not see the good that will come out at the other end.

Christians and Halloween

Every year in the Fall, there are discussions about what the church’s involvement should be with Halloween. There are the people that say the church should have nothing to do with “the  devil’s holiday” and there are people that try to use Halloween as an outreach opportunity. Then, there are different ways to use it as an outreach opportunity: Fall Festival, Halloween Party, Haunted Houses, and Judgment Houses to name a few. Some people are adamant for one way or the other. Like other disagreements in the church, we need to give and receive grace. This means, we need to explain our view and truly listen to the other side.

As I was growing up, my parents let me go trick-or-treating a couple of times but most of the years, we had a family night. We would go out to eat and then go to a movie. Most years, that was the only movie that my dad would go see in the theater. My parents tended to view Halloween as evil but not as strongly as others. They point to Satanists doing rituals on this night and the origin of the holiday as proof that it is not a harmless day. I know people that hold this view and I respect their decision. They did not come to this decision lightly.

For me and my family, we have taken another approach. If one looks at the origins of Halloween and Christmas, both are very non-Christian. Why do we celebrate Christmas but reject Halloween? I am not saying that Halloween should become the third most holy day for the Christian (after Christmas and Easter but just above Mother’s day). What I am saying is that the church can use Halloween like it uses July 4^th or the Super Bowl. These events are things that our neighbors are talking about and are special to them because they do things differently on these days than every other day of the year. The church can use these days as a way to introduce the church, and ultimately God, to their communities.

At Crestwood, we decided to have a Fall Festival the Saturday before Halloween (Oct 27^th). The purpose for this is to provide a safe environment for families to come and have fun. We want our community to know that we are real people that care about them and want to minister to them. Part of that is having events that families can come to and enjoy together. To stay away from the extremes, we did ask that no one wear scary costumes. Since our event is open to the public, we have no control over what others wear but we try to make sure that our workers do not have weapons or portray scary characters (that is why Cardinals are fine but Wildcats are not).

There are other options, also. One church in town is having a haunted house and Judgment Houses are also popular. I have not been involved with those in the past and I have heard good and bad reports about their effectiveness. Neither of those options are attractive to me because I do not like to be scared. So my objection is purely a personal preference and not a theological one.

My purpose is not to tell you what to think about Halloween but to remind you that whatever we do, it should be as a witness to God about what he has done for us through Jesus. Those who reject Halloween are making a stand for Christ and do get ridiculed by those inside and outside the church. Those that have no problem with Halloween should make sure we are a light in this dark world. Jesus commands us to be “in the world but not of the world.” Consider how you celebrate Halloween.  How much do they reflect the world and how much do they show that you are made different through Christ?

Sports Part 2 - Valuable Lessons

In part 2 of my thoughts on sports, I will tackle (get it? Tackle…football…sports) the life lessons that can be learned from sports. In the book “A Guide to Biblical Manhood”, Dr. Randy Stinson lays out his list of life lessons that he learned from baseball that he has shared with his children. While I would have picked a different sport (soccer or golf), many of these ideas are true in all sports. Here are the ones that I think are the strongest lessons from sports:

 

• Authority – If you ever notice, the umpire or referee always wins the argument. Regardless of the sport, the umpire/referee has the authority to eject anyone he thinks have gotten out of hand. Thus, the life lesson is that you accept the ruling without arguing. Another aspect of this is that you do not blame the outcome of the game on the umpire/referee since they are part of the sport you decided to play. This does not mean that the person doing the officiating is perfect. They will make mistakes and we will be treated unfairly. Guess what? Jesus was treated unfairly and he showed love and forgiveness to those who mistreated him.

 

• Self-sacrifice – When you play a team sport, the individual players need to think as a team. This means that sometimes, certain players need to “take one for the team”. In other words, a player might need to do something that they do not want to do in order to help the team. The life lesson here is that we need to think of others before ourselves. Since the coach has the responsibility to guide the team, this also means that when the coach asks you to do something, you need to obey. Again, there are times where the coach’s ideas will not be the same as yours. In the garden before Jesus was arrested, he pleaded with his “coach” if there was another play that would be run. His “coach” told him no and Jesus then went and was obedient. He ran the play that ended up killing him because he knew that was the best for us.

 

• Failure and Humility – In my one year of HS baseball, my batting average was .000, in other words, I did not get a hit all year (I was on the team for my fielding). While I failed all the time, even the best hitters fail 2 out of 3 times at bat. Whether it is a batter that is in a slump or a pitcher that cannot throw a strike, sports makes us face our failure. How will we react? Will you get mad? Will you blame others? Will you work hard so it doesn’t happen again? Peter failed Jesus when he denied that he knew Jesus and he left crying. Did he give up? No, he learned from his mistakes and was the leader of the church after Jesus went to heaven.

 

• Grace, Mercy, and Honor – Your opponent is someone that God loves and is made in God’s image. When they are cheating or playing in a way that you do not like, it is hard to see that. Regardless of our opinion of them, we are called to honor and respect them. Sportsmanship is a lost art these days. Too many times, the trash talking and taunting are accepted as normal but they show a lack of respect for the other players. You never know what opportunities may come up. Maybe that other player may visit your church. Did you show them respect and honor in the game? Please hear me: this does not mean you do not play hard! This means that you play hard but you do not insult them, humiliate them, run up the score, or get “chippy” when they are winning. Bottom line is that the people on the other side are more important to God than winning. There is no problem with playing to win but what is more important?

 

Stinson outlines more in the book and I do recommend it to you to read. This section is pages 90-96 in the book. The book has sections on how to be a Godly Father, a Godly Husband and a Godly Leader. One lesson that this book makes clear is that in all that we do, we are to become more and more like Christ. What would Jesus do…in our families? In our marriages? In our jobs? In our fun times? And in our sports?

Sports Part 1 - Dangers of Sports

Sports have been a large part of my life for as far back as I can remember. From being a lifelong Minnesota Vikings and Twins fan, to scorekeeping for the church softball team when I was 12 years old, playing softball and broomball (think Field Hockey on ice with no skates - best sport ever!) with my brother and his friends, to coaching Bryce and Tyler, and many more. I enjoy sports. 

As with anything, there are good things and bad things about sports and competition in general. This week, I want to talk about some of the dangers of sports/competitions and next week, I will be talking about the Godly lessons that can be learned through sports. 

1. Win at all cost – The first danger is when winning the game is all that matters. There are many examples of this: a coach telling his team to play dirty, a player getting mad at his teammates when they make a mistake, a fan whose day is ruined when his team loses, and others.

As a Christian, we can play to win the game but the way we play is more important than the outcome. If we look at the competition, does it really matter? Is it worth losing your Christian witness over? This also applies to parents. Here is a test to see if your behavior is appropriate: If your son or daughter was sitting next to you doing what you do, would you stop them? Would you act that way if your pastor/teacher/boss/mother was sitting by you? Remember, it light of eternity, it is just a game. Let’s treat it that way.

2. Revenge – many times when someone does something to a player on the other team, either that player or others on the team will try to get back at them. In Baseball, the pitcher is “supposed to” hit the batter with a pitch in certain situations. In Hockey, they have “goons” that are on the team for their ability to fight. If any of the star players get hit hard, these goons go after the other team as pay back. You hear about games getting “chippy”. This means that teams are taking turns doing something to the other team and each play is getting worse and worse.

As a Christian, the Bible says that vengeance belongs to God. Also, Jesus commands us to “turn the other cheek”. But the best verse for this is Romans 14:12 “So then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God.” How silly does it sound for a little child to say: “He started it!” If that does not work for kids, it will not work for us before the Almighty Creator God.

3. Disrespecting other team, coaches, and/or referees – This is the one that I see most often. Parent’s and the some fans feel that it is acceptable to insult, call names, and be rude to anybody that disagrees with them. “Idiot”, “retarded”, “buffoon”, and “cheater” are all things that I have heard this year said to referees and the other teams. At one game this year, I saw one team’s fans stand up and turn around when the other team was introduced. To some extent, trash talking and /or taunting falls into this area as well. 

As a Christian, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. We need to remember that everyone is made in the image of God and since God loves them, we are supposed to also. Is this easy? No but God did not say life would be easy. He said that He would help us do the impossible…including loving that “jerk” on the other team.

There are more but these are the three dangers that I see the most and are the most harmful to the Christian. The Bible tells about sports and how they are similar to our life as Christians. The biggest warning I can give is that we need to watch our witness for Christ in the stands or on the field. God is watching you and you never know who else is watching. Will you be able to tell others about the love of Jesus after the way you behaved at the game?