Bear Much Fruit: Hearing God

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4 SEPTEMBER 2016

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BEDFORDVIEW MORNING

Marcus Herbert


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HEARING GOD
God fills the universe. Therefore when it comes to hearing His voice, the problem is with us and not Him – He is speaking all the time!

Hearing God is not difficult but we have complicated it in many ways. We either complicate it because we don’t like what He has to say and we want to do our own thing; or we complicate it with strange ideas on how God speaks, or strange doctrine we’ve picked up from various sources.

This short booklet aims to give some helpful, uncomplicated guidelines to hearing God’s voice.

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Children’s Church Reflection for 5 September

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We have our hope in Jesus as an anchor of the soul. These few words have been ringing in my head and my heart (Nicole) for a few months now. In such uncertain times: the crime stats, terrorist attacks happening in the world, all the political changes locally and in America and all over the world, we can lose our hope. We become so focused on the problems that we take our eyes off Jesus and find ourselves wallowing in fear.

Anchors date back by millennia. The first anchors were most likely made out of rock. Ancient Greeks most likely used a basket filled with large sacks of sand and stone to anchor their boats. It was only in about 1813 where it got the shape which everyone knows these days.

Regardless of how the anchor has been made, its function has always remained the same. It prevents the ship from moving around when the waters are unstable.

Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this as a strong and trustworthy anchor for the souls, a hope that enters us into the inner place behind the curtain. How wonderful that God is our hope. We can put our hope and trust in Him because He keeps His promises.”

Our part
This week we focused on “God is our hope”. He is that anchor that keeps us secure. In our children’s church lesson we looked at many people in scripture who were given a promise by God. Abraham, Daniel, Esther and even the disciples. They were given promises of God’s protection, His promise that He will give us strength, His promise that He sent Jesus to save us. The amazing thing with all these characters is that God kept His promise and He still does. Knowing that God always keeps His promises and He can not lie makes it all so much easier for us to find our hope in Him.

Your part
As families let’s be encouraged to put our hope in God. Where God has given you as a family promises, write them up in your house, remind yourselves of them. Rejoice with your children that God says He will protect us, He will provide for us, He will save us, He will give us boldness and courage. Acknowledge as a family when God answers His promises and when the tough times come, put your hope in Him.

Much love! – The Cornerstone Children Church team

The King and His Kingdom: How Big is the Rock

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by Hennie Cronje
2 September 2016 at The Exchange
Part of the King and His Kingdom series

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Children’s Church Reflection for 28 August, 2016

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One the greatest gifts given to us is also one of the hardest gifts for us to give: forgiveness. We respond with amazement and gratitude to God when we understand the love, security and genuineness of God’s forgiveness towards us. It is only because God chose to forgive us of our sins that we can embark in an intimate relationship with Him. Scripture says that while we were still enemies to God, Jesus died for all so that we could be forgiven. This was the incredible truth we taught this Sunday at Children’s Church.

Our Part

Scripture is full of stories and explanations teaching us about God’s forgiveness. We focused on the story of the prodigal son. Despite the way the son disrespected and dishonoured his father, the father patiently waited every day for the son’s return. When his hope was made a reality and his son returned, the father didn’t say, “I told you so” or, “I will think about taking you back”. The father accepted his son as his son and chose to love him completely despite what he did. This is our God to us. Our children heard about how God wants to forgive us of sins and will if we ask him.

We taught how we cannot remove our sins despite any of our best efforts. No good works can remove our sins and the consequences of our sins. Only Jesus can remove our sins from us. We used a creative analogy using a mirror to teach this (view the curriculum if interested).

We also taught that we too are to forgive others for things they have done to us. Jesus teaches us to forgive because we have been forgiven. How can we be so graciously forgiven by God and then not forgive others?

Your Part

Living in a family dynamic, we are sure that you are aware that the need to practice forgiveness can be on a daily basis. One of the best ways to teach forgiveness is to practice forgiveness. So, when your children misbehaves in whatever manner, address their behaviour, but then forgive them and let them know it. After that, don’t remind them of their wrongs and expose their errors, but allow them to move forward in the forgiveness you have given.

Help your children to practice forgiveness too. They may need to even forgive you. Don’t force your children to forgive (that isn’t real) but teach them the freedom that comes in forgiving others. Forgiveness can be difficult but God graciously forgives us and also teaches us how to forgive.

We pray that your family will experience freedom living in God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness you display to others.

– The Children’s Church team

Swing the Sickle for the Harvest is Ripe

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29 AUGUST 2016

By Richard Preston

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BEDFORDVIEW MORNING

Part 1


BEDFORDVIEW EVENING

Part 2


 

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Spiritual Victories: The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

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by Adele Herbert and Others
24 August 2016 at Key Women Bedfordview

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Children’s church reflection for 21 August 2016

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It comes as quite a shock how, in society today, so many people struggle with depression. People are constantly searching to be happy and sadly they seek happiness in temporal sources. We are aware that our children face the same struggles and therefore our focus this week is how God is our Joy. God gives us joy that is greater than a temporal happiness and that cannot be taken away.

Our Part

We explained to the children how the joy that God gives to us is far greater than the emotion of happiness. Some days we may feel sad, we feel insecure or angry, but when we find our joy in who God is and what He does for us, despite how we are feeling, that joy cannot be lost. We have grown up hearing fairy tales ending with, “And they lived happily ever after.” We explained how this belief is often misunderstood. We looked at Paul in the New Testament as an example. From a sinful life he is miraculously saved and as the myth goes, “And so he lived happily ever after.” This however was not true. Paul faced prison, shipwreck, abuse, and more. That doesn’t sound so “happily ever after”. However, Paul does claim to be full of joy, knowing that his joy is found in Jesus. He was a great example of how despite what life throws at us, our joy in Jesus cannot be taken away. This joy is our salvation, our relationship with Jesus and our hope in all of His promises.

Your Part

Be aware of the emotions that your children experience and as we have taught throughout the term, remind your children who God is to them. When they are afraid, God is their courage. When they are unsure, God is their faith. When they are sad, God is their joy. Keep reminding your children who God is. As your children are challenged with emotions, help them see what it is and apply how God helps us find life and strength to move forward. And remind your children how God’s joy can never be taken away.

We hope that your joy will be made more alive in God as you see your children live in God’s joy.

– Children’s Church team

 

Bear Much Fruit: Destiny

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21 AUGUST 2016

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BEDFORDVIEW MORNING

Marcus Herbert


 

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Rich Towards God

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A biblical, balanced view of money.

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Children’s church reflection for 14 August 2016

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Earlier this year as a church we felt God encourage us to challenge the effect of fear in our lives and how we should respond to fear by keeping our eyes and faith on God and His promises. The reality is that children are challenged with fear all the time. Have you ever wondered where we actually learn the idea of fear? God doesn’t tell us to fear. So this week our focus was on how God is our courage.

Our Part

On Sunday we addressed some of the fears that our children are facing. Fears are real, they exist and so we need to address them. We showed a clever object lesson that helped the children see how in God we can overcome our fears and handle them.

We then looked at some of the characters in the Bible who clearly faced fear but by keeping their faith in God, they overcame their fears and saw incredible victory (think of David’s many stories, Joshua, Daniel and his friends). We focused on how God is greater than our fears. God promises that He will watch over us and care for us, and so He won’t let our fears have victory over us. With that, the focus of our craft and stories all tried to encourage our children that when they feel afraid, they can remember that God is all-powerful and He will give us courage when we need to gain the victories for God.

Your Part

When your children display fear, address the fear they are experiencing and then point to Jesus. Remind your children constantly how God loves them and longs to protect them and so he will give us courage to overcome fear. Keep encouraging your children with God’s promises that they feel confident and when fear comes again and again, your children can face their fear head-on with their faith in God and His character and promises.

– The Children’s Church team
Please don’t forget that you can download the curriculum to view all of our content for this term.
Children’s Church team