Advent Day 31 - DIsease

 Jesus was born to this world because what he came to do was desperately needed and could be done any other way.

For further study:  1 John 1

For parents and children:  Ask your children what they think it means to be sick.  Ask them if they know what a disease is (a disease is a sickness that keeps the body from doing what it's normally meant to do).  Tell them that when we are sick, we either need a doctor to help us or we need medicine that will make us feel better.  Then tell them that on Christmas Jesus came because we all suffer from the same disease and that disease is called sin.  Because we are all sin-sick, we cannot do what God created us to do.  Jesus cam because he is the only medicine that can cure our sin sickness and make us spiritually healthy.  That's something worth celebrating.

Advent Day 30

 God became a child so that through his life, death, and resurrection, we might become the children of God.

For further study:  1 John 3:1 - 3

For parents and children:  Ask your children to tell you what a story is.  Ask them to tell you what their favorite story is and why it is their favorite story.  Tell them that one of the reasons we like stories is because they help us understand the story of our own lives.  Ask one of your children to tell the story of his life as if no one in the room knew him.  Then tell him that the Christmas story is the most important story ever and that because it is, it is meant to be the story of our lives.  God's story tells us who were and who God is, and it tells us of the new identity, "the children of God,' that he gives everyone who believes in him.

Advent Day 29 - Abundant Life

 Jesus was born to die in our place so that we who were dead would be born again to new life.

For further study:  2 Peter 1:3 - 9

For parents and children:  Help your children to understand that Jesus didn't come to earth to give us just eternal life, but abundant life right here, right now where we live every day.  Ask them if they know what what abundant means and then define it for them (it means filled to overflowing).  Help them to see that Jesus was born so we would have life to the fullest - not just in the future, but right now.  Help them to see that the birth of Jesus is God's promise to us that he will fill us with every good thing we need until we are finally home forever with him.

Advent Day 28 - Hunger

 The baby in the manger came because the world was (and still is) groaning, waiting for its final redemption.

For further study:  1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26

For parents and children:  Ask your children what it means to be hungry and how they know that they are hungry.  Ask them what their favorite food is or what their favorite Christmas food is.  Then help them to understand that we all experience two types of hunger:  physical hunger and spiritual hunger.  Help them to understand that not only do our bellies get hungry, but our hearts are hungry as well.  Just as our bellies groan when they are empty, our hearts groan when they are empty, our hearts groan to be filled too.  Then help them see that Jesus was born to be the only spiritual food that would ever satisfy the hunger of our hearts.  Tell them that the Christmas story is about the coming of the Bread of Life so that our hearts would be hungry no more.

"The birth of Jesus is an invitation to the best, most satisfying dinner ever."

"Jesus, in his life and death, paid the price that we could never afford to pay so that we could sit at the banquet table of his grace and finally be satisfied."

Advent Day 27 - Alive

The coming of the child who would give his life means abundant life and eternal life for all who put their trust in him.

For further study:  Galatians 2:19 - 21

For parents and children:  Ask your children how they know when something is dead and how they are sure that something is alive. Help your children to understand that apart from what Jesus came to earth to do, we are dead in our sins.  That means that what we were created to be and to do, we have now the power to be and to do.  So Jesus was born in that manger in order to give life to dead people.  Help them to see that  Jesus makes us alive so that we can know him, trust him, and have the power to serve him.

"Because we were dead in our sins, we were completely without any ability to rescue ourselves.  We were stuck in our sins and trapped in a cycle of rebellion against God, slaves to our passions and objects of God's wrath."

"The birth of Jesus told the world of dead people that God was not going to act in anger but in mercy."

"The One who is life died for the dead so that the dead would have life forever."

"The birth of Jesus is a sure sign that God will act where we cannot act, and he will act with life giving grace."

Advent Day 26 - Sovereignty

The coming of the sovereign Savior means the end of self-rule and a welcome to submit to the plans and purposes of One greater.

For further study:  Philippians 2:1 - 11

For parents and children:  Define sovereignty for your children (it means that all things are under your rule and control).  Get them to talk about places in their lives where they want sovereignty (don't want to be told what to do, don't want to share possessions, don't like it when someone is in their way).  Help them to understand that there is only one sovereign ruler in the world, and it will never be us.  Help them to see that the Christmas story is about a sovereign King, Jesus, coming to earth, not to rule, but to suffer for our sakes.  Then help them to understand that Jesus was willing to do this so that he could set up his rule in our hearts.

Advent Day 25 - Foolishness

The Wonderful Counselor lay in that manger, bringing heart-changing, life-giving wisdom to all who would their trust in him.

For further study  Titus 3:1 - 11

For parents and children:  Ask your children to tell you what they think a fool is or what it means to be foolish.  In the Bible, a fool is someone who thinks he's so wise that he does not need God's Word or God's help.  Help your children to grasp that Jesus came to earth on that Christmas night to rescue fools.  Let them know that one of the names of Jesus is Wisdom.  Help them to see that sin turns all of us into fools who want our own way and resist God's help.  Then tell them that at Christmas God sent Wisdom to rescue us (fools) from ourselves.

“So here is another way to think of the Christmas story: our God of wisdom sent his Son, who is wisdom, to shed his grace on fools so that by his grace they would be rescued from themselves and become wise. A fool has no ability whatsoever to rescue himself from his own foolishness.”

Advent Day 24 - War

God entered the world, took on flesh, and defeated the Devil so we would no longer be defeated by the world, the flesh, or the Devil.

For further study:  Ephesians 6:10 - 20

For parents and children:  Ask your children what they think war is.  Then tell them that the Christmas story is a war story.  Help them to understand that Jesus came as a warrior king to do battle with the enemy, Satan, and to win a victory that we could never win on our own.  Remind them that the first man, Adam, battled with Satan and lost, so God sent Jesus to battle with Satan and win.  Help them to see that Jesus came to earth to do this for us so that when we battel with Satan, we can win too.

"The Christmas story is God responding to the cry of the world, now damaged and darkened by sin, for a second Adam."

"Tomorrow, when you celebrate Christmas Day, remember to celebrate the birth of the Great Warrior. He won the victory that you and I could have never won. That victory is our hope in this life and in the one to come."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 23 - The Songs We Sing

What better reason to sing than this:  the Savior is born to live, die, and rise again to fix what sin had broken.

For further study:  Psalm 95

For parents and children:  Tell your children that God commands us to sing (Eph. 5:18-19; Col 3:16).  Then ask them why God would think it's so important for us to sing that he would command us to do it.  Help them to understand that singing focuses our hearts on what makes us laugh, and what we think is important.  Ask them what their favorite Christmas song is, and sing a couple of their choices.  Then help them to understand that there is nothing more wonderful to sing about than the birth of the One who came to earth to give us new life.

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 22 - Guarantee

The incarnation of Jesus Christ is God's clear demonstration that he will always make good on all of his promises to us.

For further study:  Romans 8:18 - 39

For parents and children:  Ask your children if they know what a guarantee is (an unbreakable pledge to do something for someone).  Help them to understand that the Christmas story is God's guarantee that he will also give us everything that we need (not everything we want).  If he gave us the amazing gift of his Son, Jesus, we can be sure he will give us all the others we need to be what he wants us to be and do what he's called us to do.

“What sense would it make for God to go to the extent of sending his Son to be born for our sake, and then to abandon us along the way? Since God was willing to make such a huge investment in his grace, isn’t it logical to believe he will continue to invest in his grace until that grace has finished its work?”

“If he gave us the amazing gift of his Son, Jesus, we can be sure he will give us all the other things we need to be what he wants us to be and do what he’s called us to do.”

“If God was willing to send his Son to restore our relationship of love with him, you can be sure that he will not let anything separate us from his love.”

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 21 - Self-Righteousness

 The incarnation of Jesus Christ is a gracious rebuke to all who put their hope in human righteousness, wisdom, and strength.

For further study:  Philippians 3:1 - 11

For parents and children:  Help your children to understand the concept of self-righteousness - that we all tend to think that we're better than we are and that we all tend to excuse our wrongs.  And when we do, we tell ourselves that we don't need help.  Help your children to understand that the Christmas story confronts our belief that we are so good, we don't need help.  God sent his Son because he knew that we are desperately needy and unable to help ourselves.  Help your kids to understand that it makes no sense to celebrate the birth of Jesus while denying the reason for his birth and their need for what his life and death offers.

"The Christmas story confronts our delusion that we can live healthy and wholesome independent lives.  If we were capable of being what we're supposed to be and doing what we're designed to do, and if we were able to solve our deepest and most foundational problems, then there would have been no need whatsoever for Jesus to take on human form, to be born as a baby, to live, die, and rise again."

"There are only two ways of living.  You are either confessing that you were created by God to be dependent on his wisdom, power, and grace, OR you are believing that you have within yourself everything you need to live well on your own."

"The birth of Jesus destroys the logic of human independence."  

"If you are a human being, the Christmas story confronts you with the depth of you need for help.  But the Christmas doesn't just confront you with your need; it also introduces you to the ultimate helper."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 20 - Self-swindlig

Because sin has tragically infected all of us, the presence, work, and grace of that baby in the manger is what we all need.

For further study:  James 1:22 - 24

For parents and children:  Define swindling for your children.  (To swindle means to lie or deceive to get something that you want.)  Talk to your children about how we all lie to ourselves in order to think we're okay.  Help them to understand how we swindle ourselves by blaming the wrong things we do on other people or other things.  Ask them where they tend to minimize or deny the wrongs they do.  Help them to understand that when we deny our wrongs, we deny our wrongs, we deny our need for what Jesus came to earth to do for us.  Help them to understand that celebrating Christmas begins with confessing our need for the forgiveness that Jesus came to earth to give us.

"It really is possible to live in a state of Advent schizophrenia, where you celebrate the birth of the Messiah while actively denying your need for his birth, life, death, and resurrection."

"Four ways that we all tend to swindle ourselves into believing that we don't need the rescue that Jesus was born to provide.  (1)  We all tend to minimize our sin.  (2) We all tend to doubt the wisdom of God's law.  (3)  We all tend to be more concerned about the wrongs of others than our own sins.  (4)  We all tend to deny what's in our hearts."

"Exuberant rejoicing begins with brokenhearted weeping.  Only when sin breaks our hearts will the coming of the Messiah excite our hearts."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 19 - Hope

 The incarnation tells you who God is (perfectly holy, bountifully loving) and who you are (sinful, unable to escape).  Believing both = Hope

For further study:  Romans 5:1 - 5

For parents and children:  Get your children to talk about what hope is.  Ask them what their hopes are.  Help them to undunderstandesrstand that most of the things we put our hope in will fail us.  Tell them that the Christmas nevers story is a hope Christmas.  Help them to understand that Jesus came to give hopeless us hope that would never disappoint us

"The Christmas story reminds us that hope will never be found if you look horizontally.  True hope is found only when you look for it vertically."

"The Christmas story preaches to us both the holiness and the love of God."

"To say that you're a sinner is not just to confess to some wrong behaviors, but also to admit that you have a condition."

"The Christmas story confronts us with our inability because if we had any ability whatsoever to save ourselves from sin, the birth of Jesus would not have been necessary."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Lessons for December 19

This week’s missionaries is the Mayo's

The lessons and memory verses…

• Toddler - Angels celebrated Jesus - Luke 2:11
• Kinder - Mary praised Jesus - John 3:16
• 1  S.S. - Christ’s royal line continued - Deut. 7:9a
• 2/3  S.S. - Ahab paid for stealing - Hebrews 13:5
• 4/5 S.S. - The Word chose followers - John 1:36, 37
• 1th – 5th C.C. – A Very Necessary Gift – Romans 5:19 - see talking points below

Don’t forget to check out
The Christmas Info post for class information
and
The Advent posts.

1th – 5th C.C. Notes on A Very Necessary Gift Lesson

This lesson is very similar to the sermon preached in the morning service.

The text is Romans 5:12 - 19 and the memory verse is Romans 5:19.

Here is what the kids did in Children's Church 

this morning.

Here are a couple of things you can talk to your 1th – 5th grader about.  Actually you can talk with all the kids about these things.

Gifts

• Talk with the kids about gifts.
• Gifts that you were very excited about receiving.
• Gifts that you were not sure what they were when you received them.
• Gifts that you were not excited about at first but then grew to love.
• Gifts that were necessary.  (Clothes, school supplies)
• The difference between gifts you want and gifts you need.

SOME of the sin problems between Adam and Moses (this is a review of what we have studied in children's church since September):

• What is the sin problem in Genesis 3, the Fall of Man?  Not believing and doing what God said “Don’t eat from the one tree.”
• What is the sin problem in Genesis 4, Cain and Abel?  Killing someone.
• What is the sin problem in Genesis 6?  Evil thoughts and intentions (Gen. 6:6)
• What is the sin problem is Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel?  Making a name for themselves instead of God.  (Gen. 11:4)  Being more concerned about themselves than God.
• What is the sin problem in Job?  The problem here is the death and suffering that is in the world because of sin.

TWO BIG IDEAS:

• We sin because we are sinners.
• There are a lot of things you want.  There are a lot of things you think you need.  There is only one thing that is VERY NECESSARY – JESUS.

An activity you can do is a scavenger hunt related to the sin study

• Fruit – genesis 3
• Fruit and meat – genesis 4
• boat or animal  – Genesis 6
• Building block – Genesis 11
• Mask, band-aid, other objects that show sickness, suffering – the book of Job 

Advent Day 18 - Destination

The Son left his place in heaven so that God's sons and daughters would be guaranteed their inheritance in heaven.  Amazing Grace!

For further study:  1 Peter 1:3 - 5

For parents and children:  Help your children understand what a destination is.  Ask them to choose one destination that they would want to visit.  Tell them that Jesus made earth pearth his destination so that our final destination would be with him in the most wonderful destination

place ( new heaven and earth, where there will be no sin, sadness, or suffering) forever and ever.

"If Jesus hadn't been willing to make the earth his destination, we would have no hope whatsoever of the new heavens and the new earth being our final destination."

"Jesus did what he did not because of something special he saw in us, but because of something holy and pure that was inside him."

"In most gift-giving, there is something in the receiver of the gift that propels the giver...  But there simply was nothing in us to propel such a radical choice, such a radical gift that the creator gave to the creatures who had turned their backs on him."  

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 17 - Selfishness

The coming of the infant King means the gracious destruction of the kingdom of self and a loving welcome to the kingdom of God. 

For further study:  James 4:1 - 10

For parents and children:  Get your children to talk about what it means to be selfish.  Ask them if there is any place in their lives where they think they are selfish.  Talk to them about how sin causes us all to live for ourselves.  Tell them that the Christmas story is about God, in love, sending his Son to rescue selfish people from themselves.

"When we are angry, it's seldom because the people around us have broken God's law; most often we are angry because people have broken the law of our happiness."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 16 - Suffering

The suffering of Jesus didn't begin on the cross; it began in his straw bed and continued through to the cross, all for our redemption.

For further study:  Luke 24:24-25; 46-49

For parents and children:  Ask your children to talk about what it means to suffer.  Ask them why we all do everything we can to avoid suffering.  Then tell them that the Christmas story is about Jesus being willing to come to earth to suffer, not because he deserved it, but because he loves us and was willing to suffer for our acceptance and forgiveness.

"Since ge came to rescue sufferers, it was essential that he suffer too.  And his suffering wasn't reserved for the cross; it started the moment he was born."

"Jesus exposed himself to our world, to live as we could not live, so that as the rigtheous One, he could pay the penalty for our sin and give us not only peace with God, bua ticket to a future where suffering would be no more."

"Commit yourself this Christmas to be a sad celebrant.  Let your joy at what your Savior has gifted you with be mixed with grief at what it cost Jesus."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 15 - Prophecy

The prophecy was our hope before we were born.  A child would be born - Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

For further study:  Isaiah 7:14 - 15

For parents and children:  Define prophecy for your children (a prophecy is God's promise of what is to come).  Talk to them about how many prophecies of Jesus' birth were made long before that first Christmas night.  Help them to understand that the fact that all these promises about Jesus came true means that we can trust all the promises that God makes to us.

"Sin reduces all of us to fools.  In our foolishness we see the world inside out and upside down.  We look at what is false and see truth.  We look at what is foolish and see wisdom."

"Sin renders us unable.  So Jesus came to do by divine power what we would not do for ourselves."

"God will unleash his almighty power and authority to guarantee that all that was promised in the birth of Jesus would be delivered to each one of his children."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 14 - Demandingness

When Jesus was born, the angels sang.  When he died, graves opened.  He lived to die.  He died so we'd live.

For further study:  2 Corinthians 5:14-16

For parents and children:  Get your children to talk about what it means to say someone is demanding.  Ask them how and when they think they're demanding.  Talk to them about how and when they think they're demanding. Talk to them about how, if Jesus had demanded what was his right, he would never have been willing to come to earth and be born in that manger in Bethlehem.

"Without Jesus living in the same surrender to which he now calls us, there would be no hope of the defeat of sin and no reality of eternal life for all who believe."

"It is true and valuable to remember that the gospel of Jesus Christ teachers us that the most wonderful things in life come to us not as the result of demand and control, but through sacrific and surrender."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html

Advent Day 13 - Marching

History marched toward his birth; that baby's life would march to his death, all so grace would march, with life and hope, into our lives. 

For further study:  Galatians 4:4 - 7

For parents and children:  Get your children to talk about what a march is and why people march.  Help them to understand how God was marching the events of the world toward the coming of Jesus, and how from his birth in the manger the life of Jesus was marching toward his death on the cross to purchase our forgiveness.

"The Bible is one grand, theologically, annotated story.  The core content of the Bible is GOd's march of redemption accompanied by God's essential explanatory notes."

"The Christmas story is about a God of glorious grace on the march, invading human history with the grace of redemption."

For the month of December, there will be daily posts based on Paul Tripp's Advent book Come Let Us Adore Him.
You can also read more about this book and Advent at
https://tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2021/11/advent.html