Pray Like Jesus

Our church is embarking on a summer series called "Pray Like Jesus," and we are anticipating some wonderful fruit to come from this time together learning to pray in the same way that Jesus instructed His disciples. Parents at MSBC, here is some information you will need to know as we dive into this time together:

• Have each of your children bring a single subject notebook or drawing tablet along with crayons/colored pencils each week. (It would be fun if you made it “dedicated” for the summer series. I’ve attached the logo for the series, in case you’d like to also incorporate that in some way.) Each week the kids will be given an “assignment” to do during the message portion of the service which will be incorporated into the following week’s service. Be sure to come for all the details!
• Each month, our Sunday school has committed to $40 in support for the girls at Strong Tower Orphanage. We will still be collecting that offering during the summer. If you have anything to contribute, place that offering in an envelope marked “Sunday School STO” and it will get to the right place!
• We will be having communion on July 7th. Sometime this week, I encourage you to have a conversation with your child about what communion is all about. This blog post will help you with some ideas on how to have that conversation: http://shootsnrootsministry.blogspot.com/2013/01/kids-and-communion.html

Above all else, my prayer is that through this series you will find wonderful opportunities to talk with your children about prayer, to actually have great encounters of prayer with your family, and to continue to train your children in the way they should go.

Jesus IS King

When you think of Jesus, how do you envision Him? Do the innumerable "Sunday school pictures" play a slideshow in your mind's eye? Shoulder-length hair. Brown eyes. Robe and sandals. Or some variation of these characteristics. Over the past few years, my thinking has been challenged to consider Jesus as He IS, not as He WAS when He walked this earth.  He IS the risen Savior...right now...at the right hand of God the Father. Right now! Isn't that incredible?

Revelation 19:11-16 has an amazing depiction of what John saw as he got a glimpse into heaven.

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: 

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

THIS is Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Chief Cornerstone, Immanuel, the Living Water, the Bread of Life, our King. Honestly? My finite mind cannot conceive all of that. But one thing I know is that Jesus is worthy of my adoration and my whole-hearted devotion.

I have to wonder if we are doing a good job at making sure young people know who Jesus IS. In our families, do we ever "allow" Jesus to grow up beyond the baby in the manger? How would our families, our homes, our churches change if each believer started to truly recognize and worship Jesus as "King of Kings and Lord of Lords"? What does adoring Jesus look like in your life or in your homes?