Jan 1 2023

Happy New Year

This week's Fighter Verse is Joshua 1:9

 

Toddler
David loved God
God wants us to love Him.
1 Samuel 16:1-13
1 Jn 4:11

PreK/ K
Jesus is worthy of sacrifice
Jesus is worthy of our sacrifice and service
Matt 2:12
Lk 2:11

1^st  SS
Jesus was praised
Jesus came to earth to provide redemption for sin
Luke 2:21-38
Luke 2:11

2^nd-3^rd SS
God is true
God is the only true, living God
Ex 7:14 – 10:29
Ps 86:8

4^th–5^th SS
Abraham’s Call and Covenant
God faithfully keeps his promises
Gen 11:1 – 12:8
Gen 12:1, 3

1^st–5^th  CC
Jephthah:  Rejected & Selected
God values our willingness to serve Him.
Judges 10:6 – 11:28, 32, 33
Judges 10:15, 16

God wants our service but doesn't need us and our service.

While Japhthah service was not perfect, throughout his life, he knew God was the one who did the work!

New song we are introducing to the kids.

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas!  

Each of the lessons is obviously Christmas-based.
and
Each child should be going home with a brown bag with a couple of gifts.

The brown bags contains a couple of gifts

• a wooden Christmas ornament  
• a glow stick bracelet
• a bookmark
• a candy cane

(1st through 5th graders didn't get their bags.  They will be going home on 1/1/23)

While it is not much, each item is meant to help your child celebrate Christmas, 

older kids' bell ornament - proclaim the good news of Jesus

younger kids' snowman ornament - remember the things of this world won't last forever

a Bible focused bookmark.

a J shaped candy - JESUS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Dec 24 2022

 Matt 2:1-12

¹¹ And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 23 2022

Wednesday's reading was about unexpecting shepherds.

Luke 2:20 - And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.  

Today's reading is about two people who were expecting the Messiah.

Luke 2:22 – 38

There is another unexpected Christmas passage about expectations.

The Dragon - Revelation 12:4

"His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child he might devour it.   

Here is a video, A Dragon In My Nativity, that looks at the victory Jesus has over sin and Satan.  The content is creative but may be intense for some kids.  Parents, preview the video before showing it to your children.  

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 22 2022

 Lk 3: 23 – 38

Luke's genealogy is a line to Jesus' divinity.

³⁸ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God 

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

For more about the graphic below, go to www.challies.com/visual-theology/visual-theology-awaiting-the-messiah/

Dec 21 2022

 Lk 2:8-21

¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 20 2022

 Matt 1:1-16

 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

Here is a song of the genealogy by Poor Bishop Hooper.

 

Great article to read and consider, after reading the genealogy in Matthew 1:1-16.  If you are reading with your children, read through the article first.

www.gty.org/library/blog/B171206/knots-in-christs-family-tree-a-tale-of-four-outcast-women

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 19 2022

Lk 2:1-7

7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 18 2022

The Prophecy

Luke 1:57-80

⁷² To show mercy to our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant

In today's sermon Pastor Jason reminded us of the unlikely Savior.

This passage reminds us that there was an Unlikely Prophet Announcing an Unlikely Savior.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 17 2022

 Lk 1:39 – 56

⁵⁴ He has given help to His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,

A Christmas Carol for the Weak Luke 1:46-55 - drodgersjr.blogspot.com/2020/12/dec-1-2020.html

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.  

Dec 16 2022

The Prophecy: Luke 1:26 – 38

³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

Advent Conspiracy - www.adventconspiracy.org/devotional6/

If Mary had any concerns about the scandal or costs of being pregnant and unwed, she could look to her cousin—humiliated for much of her married life, but never left or forsaken.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 15 2022

The Prophecy: Micah 5:1-6

2 But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His times oof coming forth are froml long ago.  From the days of eternity."

Significance of Insignificance article about Micah 5.

Very Detailed studies of Micah using Look at the Book videos --  https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/micah/5/labs

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 14 2022

 The Prophecy:  Isaiah 9:1-7

⁶ For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders;  And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace

From adventconspiracy.org/devotional24/

No matter how good a government may seem for a time, it’s clear that mere humans, even with the best intentions, have never been/will never be able to accomplish this sort of ideal civilization. It’s impossible. Only God could accomplish this.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 13 2022

The Prophecy: Isaiah 7:10-25

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel

Some awkward reading.

If you are reading the passage with children out of the NIV verse 20 may cause some awkward giggling - "to shave your head and private parts."  If you are reading another version, many commentators say the shaving of the legs or the feet could be a euphemism (a nicer way) to say shaving private parts.   

Here is how you can handle this.  

After a defeat in war, the victor would want to embarrass and humiliate the defeated one.  One way this was done was by parading the losers through the street naked.  In a sense, this shaving shows that the people were at the mercy of the victors.  The defeated nation had NO CONTROL,, not even over their bodies.  

Because of wicked of kings, like Ahaz, the jews were going to be defeated by the Assyrians and they were going to be punished in other ways.  

In the midst of these bad kings and foreign nations, there is a promise of a son, God with us.  

This Advent devotional, https://adventconspiracy.org/devotional9/, shares this reflection point

I would hope in the midst of the chaos of this fractured world you could settle in your heart that Jesus is God’s answer to you and me. Our only response and our ultimate response is to worship the God who is with us. He’s not afraid of our brokenness. We are not so messy that the Master doesn’t want to commune with us. He comes to us as the God who will and can help us get back to right standing.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 12 2022

Promise - The Promise of a Savior

Ps 2:1-12         

⁸ Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth as Your possession.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

A Gift of Gods Word

If your Christmas shopping is all done, may I suggest to you a couple of other things?

If your Christmas shopping is NOT all done, may I give you some gift ideas?

Krista and I heard about a Christmas gift plan and we did it for many years.

Something you want.
Something you need.

Something you wear.

Something you read.  

We gave them these gifts and tried to teach them some lessons about gifts.

Sometimes God blesses us with so much more than we need.  We might get something we want.

God does provide for our needs, real needs, in so many different ways.

God provides clothes. See Matthew 6:30.

For the something-to-read gift, we gave them something to help them get into God's Word.

This year consider getting each person in your family something to read that will get them into God's Word.  

Here is a list of sites, ideas, and resources:

• Website:  Truth78  - www.truth78.org/giftguide - The More Than A Story books are very good resources.
• Book Review:  Jesus Storybook - www.challies.com/articles/the-bestsellers-the-jesus-storybook-bible/
• Music:  The Ology - sovereigngracemusic.org/music/albums/the-ology/
• Article:  The benefits you receive from reading the Bible to your children.  www.challies.com/sponsored/three-surprising-ways-bible-reading-with-my-kids-has-changed-me,

This article, Children's Bible Recommendations, contains some basic principles and specific recommendations.

Dec 11 2022

Promise - The Promise of a Savior

2 Samuel 7:1-17

¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.

So much of the promise involves kingdom talk, which is why during the New Testament time and Roman occupation, many people in the Gospels were looking forward to the Messiah and had a very different idea of who that Messiah is.  

Jesus, the Messiah came to seek and to save the lost. The issue is people had a very different idea of what they needed to be saved from.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 10 2022

Promise - The Promise of a Savior

Dt 18:9-22

¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen."

Moses is like Jesus.
He reveals and represents God to God's people.

He also was going to die.  The accounts and messages in Deuteronomy are at the end of Moses' life.  He was going to leave the people.

But their is another coming (Deut. 18:15).  Through Moses, God promised it.

How was Moses like Jesus?
How was Jesus so different than Moses?

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 9 2022

 Promise - The Promise of a Savior

Gen 49:1-27

¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

How Judah's Scepter Connects to Christmas & Jesus' Return is a devotional to help you understand the connection between a scepter and Christmas.  There is a good illustration for families.

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

If you use the youversion Bible app, you can get each day's reading by going to Events and clicking on Trinity Baptist Church.

Dec 8 2022

Promise - The Promise of a Savior
 Gen 12:1-9

Question to ask:

How was God going to bless Abram?

³ And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Quote to consider:

"All initiative, traced from creation to redemption, lies with God, and an obedient response to His call and purpose can have an impact far beyond what we can see. Abram ventured forth on a journey of faith in complete trust, committed to God’s purposes for him."  Aistair Begg

For info about Advent, check out these links:
What is Advent?
Why Advent?
How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 7 2022

Promise - The  Promise of a Savior

Gen 3:14-24

15 And I will make enemies of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 6 2022

The final day of The Problem - The Need for a Savior

Today's passage, Romans 3:9 - 20, was the key passage of Pastor Dave's sermon on December 4th.

The key verse is Romans 3:1

¹⁹ They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, There is not even one.”

¹⁰ as it is written: “There is no righteous person, not even one;
See Psalm 14:1 and 53:1

¹¹ There is no one who understands, There is no one who seeks out God;
See Psalm 14:2 and 53:2.

¹² They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, There is not even one.”
See Psalm 14:3 and 53:3

13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues, they keep deceiving,”

“The venom of asps is under their lips”;
See Psalm 5:9 and 140:3

¹⁴ “Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
Psalm 10:7

¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Proverbs 1:16

¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths,
Isaiah 59:7, 8

¹⁷ And they have not known the way of peace.”
Luke 1:79 contains the  opposite of this verse.

¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Psalm 36:1

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 5 2022

Problem - The Need for a Savior

Today's Bible reading, Ps 51:1-19, is David's confession and repentance.

The Key Verse is Psalm 51:5.

Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, And in sin my mother conceived me. 

What differences do you notice between David's response to his sin and Adam, Eve, and Cain's response to their sin?

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 4 2022

Problem - The Need for a Savior

Today's Bible Reading, Gen 6:1-8,  shows the spread and the seriousness of sin.

The Key Verse is Gen 6:5

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.

Read this Advent devotional based on Genesis 6:5.

www.paultripp.com/wednesdays-word/posts/advent-a-story-of-love

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 3 2022

 Problem - The Need for a Savior

Today's Bible Reading, Gen 4:1-16, shows the spread of sin to Adam and Eve's offspring.

The Key Verse is Gen 4:8

Cain talked to his brother Abel; and it happened that when they were in the field Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

How is the process of Cain's sin similar to Adam and Eve's sin?

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 2 2022

 Problem - The Need for a Savior

The Christmas Story:  God meets the rebellion of sin with the only thing that has the power to defeat it; the birth of his Son.

Today's Bible reading, Gen 3:1-13, is the account of man's first rebellious response.

The Key Verse is Gen 3:6

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

What was the process of sin in this passage?  (3:6-10)

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?

Dec 1 2022

Each Day's Bible reading will be posted.

Problem - The Need for a Savior

So, what is the problem with Christmas?  You are.  I am.  We are.  Our sin is the problem.  Christmas is not a testament to the goodness of mankind but rather a commentary on our human condition and a proclamation of God’s grace.  The first six Advent readings show us our need for the Christ of Christmas.

December 1:  Gen 1:1-31

Gen 1:31
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day

What does this passage and specifically verse 31 say about God?

What does the phrase "God is sovereign" mean?

For info about Advent, check out these links:

What is Advent?

Why Advent?

How and Why are we being intentional about Advent this year?