A New Winter Quarter begins Sunday!

Our new quarter starts this weeks.

The first five weeks of the quarter have a Christmas theme:

The lessons on December 6 and 13 are God promises to send a Messiah.

The lesson on December 20 is God send John the Baptist.

The lesson on December 27 is God reveals the Messiah.

The lesson on January 3 is the wise men worship Jesus. 

Then on January 10 we get back into our "Through the Bible" study with Genesis 21 where God sends a promised child, Isaac.

To see our schedule for Bible stories, memory verses, missionaries and ministries, click on the picture or link below!

www.emmanuelbaptist.com/images/File/children/winter1516.pdf

The quarterly guide will be posted soon.
Part of the quarterly is an explanation of what we are doing in our children's ministry.  Here is this information.

We want families to evaluate every time commitment in light of God’s plan for you, your children and your family.  We want to equip parents to point their families and others to Jesus Christ. 

In our EKIDZ ministry, we purposefully do less so that families can do more for the glory of God

The following articles explains this “less for more” in more detail  www.timothypauljones.com/2013/10/21/family-ministry-doing-less-so-that-parents-can-do-more/ 

Weekly Family Devotions 

http://ekidzministry.blogspot.com/2015/06/family-devotions-once-week.html  We want to encourage families to gather once a week gather together for family worship, which might include Bible reading, prayer and singing.  You can also order a family devotional guide 

Kids in Church 

At least twice a quarter, we have kids 1st grade and older in the service.  For more about these Sundays check out  http://ekidzministry.blogspot.com/p/kids-in-church.html

Thanksgiving (11.29) take home sheet

This week was a Thanksgiving lesson for the kids.

Teachers were able to choose a Psalm and thanksgiving lesson of their choice.

Here is a link the teachers had with various Psalm resources.

Advent Ideas for this year!

Here is a review of last year's advent days we used last year.
This can help you get an overview of the 25 days that we will be begin posting on December 1st.

http://ekidzministry.blogspot.com/search/label/Advent

The Greatest Human Tragedy & Sodom & Gomorrah

This Sunday, November 15th, Dr. Jason Lee from Cedarville, will be preaching this Sunday on the Greatest Human Tragedy (2 Thess. 1:5 - 12).
This week in our EKIDZ lesson we are at the tragic story of Sodom & Gomorrah.

So, with the 1st - 3rd graders we are going to watch Dr. Lee's sermon in the children's chapel and help the kids learn how to attentively listen and take notes during the service.

The live feed of the sermon is ready.
The white board to help with notes is set.
All we need are the kids (Parents, you are more than welcome to come in the children's chapel with your child).
We plan and promote times like these to help you disciple your children.  This is specific part of our Kids in Church training time.

Here are a couple of things you could do to help your child and yourself get ready for this Sunday.

1.  Read some passages about Man's sinfulness and God's judgement to your children.  Here are some to read

• 2 Peter 2:4 - 10 connects Bible stories we have covered and will cover to God's judgement and grace.
• 2 Thess. 1:5 - 12 is this Sunday's passage.   For believers now (5 - 7a); For non-believers (7b - 9);  For believers when Christ returns (10)

2.  Pray that you and your child would truly hear what God has to say in His Word about the seriousness of sin.

3.  Spend some time this upcoming week talking about sin and its consequences.  The Family Devotional guide has some great talking points.  Click HERE to find out more about these devotional guides.  Here are a couple.

•  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah violated not only hospitality but also God's design for marriage.  The verdict was clear:  Sodom and its neighboring cities deserved to be destroyed.  
• God showed compassion on Lot by sending the angels to force him to leave.  Compassion is feeling bad for someone who is hurt.   God exemplified justice as a compassionate judge and God showed the severe consequences of sin.
• Day 5's devotional is "Jesus will one day punish with eternal fire (Jude 5-7).  The final question for the week is "How should believers respond to the fact that Jesus will one day punish with eternal fire?"

4.  Learn this week's memory verse together.  "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."  1 John 4:4.  Here is a great talking point.  All this talk about judgement can be scary and it is IF you are not a child of God.  IF YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD, you don't need to fear this judgement because you are on the winning side.  God is THE WINNER!!

Emmanuel Christian School: Self-Control & Humility

I have had the opportunity to speak in chapel twice this year and have used this times to speak about two of the character qualities in the book Time for the Talk.

Zollos writes that the talk is not a specific one time conversation you have with your son.  It is  "a process that takes many years and can be profoundly rewarding." 

The book lists 6 character qualities that need to be clarified so you can develop an open discipleship relationship with your son.
Hopefully these definitions can help you help your child.

At the bottom of this post is the Psalm 34:10 song we sang.

This blog post and previous post  are designed to help parents develop a discipleship relationship with their sons and prepare for the talk.

On September 10th I spoke at the ECS elementary chapel.  

My main point was self control.

The verses used were 1 Peter 5:8; Proverbs 25:28; Galatians 5:22, 23

To pursue self control means to live according to the Spirit of God, choosing to glorify God with our lives and deny the sinful nature when tempted to do otherwise.

The big idea was "My life is not my own"

Self-control:  I do what is right even though I don’t feel like it.

Today, November 12th, I spoke again

My main point was humility.

The verses used were Psalm 34:10; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Ephesians 2:4 - 5.

To pursue humility means choosing to accept the fact that your knowledge and abilities are limited and in light of that, you are regularly seeking help and graciously receiving advice and correction.

This idea of humility was connected with this month's theme of thoroughness ("I complete the job all the way.").

To get the job done, we all need help.