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The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 3, Section 4, Lesson 3: Are You a Reproducing Disciple?

Jesus had the twelve disciples. Paul had Timothy and Silas and Luke. Barnabas had Mark. The master had grasshopper, and Yoda had Luke Skywalker. Seriously though. Who are you pouring your life into? Are you passing along all that He commanded you?

When Jesus said, “teach them,” He did not, I think, have in mind a classroom setting, or a man standing in a pulpit. That was not His primary method after all. Jesus made disciples by walk- ing with them, where they lived, teaching them lessons about the Kingdom based on their earthly life experiences. He set an example for them, ate with them, healed them, comforted them, laughed with them, mourned with them, prayed with them and for them, cried in front of them, gave them sound doctrine about this life and the next, called them friend, challenged them, and then laid down His life for them. A close examination of Paul’s disciple making and church planting ministry looked much the same. Barnabas as well.

This is not a New Testament command either. Deuteronomy 4:9 tells us to teach the things of God to our children and their children after them. In Genesis, God tells Abraham, “In you all families of the earth will be blessed,” and He called Israel a light to the nations that they might bring His salvation to the earth.Nor was this a command for a select few disciples. Most scholars agree, there were as many as 500 disciples gathered in Galilee for this commissioning. If you are a disciple then this is a command for you. Don’t pass up the blessing of disciple making. Don’t lose sight of your mission.

Bring glory to the Father by making disciples.

“We’re not to wait for the world to come to us. Rather, we’re to go to the world. “Go ye” could be better translated “having gone.” It isn’t a command; it’s an assumption.” – John MacArthur

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS OUR TEACHER. “He will teach you all things and bring all things to your memory.” – John 14:26

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

John 17:28 | Acts 20:27
Duet 4:9 | 1 Tim 1:18; 4:6-16
2 Tim 1:1-14 | John 17:6-26

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 3, Section 4, Lesson 2: It Takes One to Make One

Before Jesus called us to make disciples, He called us to become His disciples. He says in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” If I think back on my best teachers, I find a few commonalities. For one, they didn’t live in the theoretical world. They either had or were living what they taught. Practical, real world experience is critical. Otherwise we wouldn’t have the expression, “well at least that’s how it works in theory.”The other thing that set apart these exceptional teachers was their passion for the subject they taught. It was a passion born of their own commitment to pursuing knowledge and understanding of their area of expertise. And it didn’t end. For them it was a life-long quest.

How do these common characteristics of excellent teachers relate to making disciples? If we are not passionately committed to our relationship with Jesus Christ, if we are not daily taking up His yoke and learning from Him, then we will never be worthy disciple-makers. If we are not living out the commands of Christ in our own lives, our call to others to believe and follow our Lord will ring hollow. Even the youngest students can quickly see through the charade if you are simply teaching theory that has never been applied or stories about God without the passion that comes from a relationship with the King of kings.

So let us each be a disciple first and always, then let us also be gentle and humble in heart so that others might follow us as we follow Jesus.

“A disciple is someone who confesses Christ as Lord and Savior, believing that God has raised Him from the dead and declaring that belief publicly through baptism.” -
John MacArthur
Disciple – maqhteu/w (koine Greek) Transliterated – matheteuo
1. to be a disciple of one
    a. to follow his precepts and instructions
2. to make a disciple
    a. to teach, instruct

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS OUR TEACHER. “He will teach you all things and bring all things to your memory.” – John 14:26

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

2 Tim 2:15 | Matt 11:28-29
Matt 8:21-22 | Matt 16:24
John 15:14-16 | Matt 23:27
Acts 23:3 | Mark 1:17 | Mark 8:34

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 3, Section 4, Lesson 1: The Antiques Roadshow – Appraisal is the Key

Have you ever watched the Antiques Roadshow? I’ll admit I have paused, on a few occasions, to see what the fuss is all about. Personally I don’t get it. Paying lots of money for other peoples’ old stuff? What foolishness. Or is it? I look at these items and I see them and make a judgment… junk. However, someone skilled in appraising antiques looks at the same items and makes a very different judgment. I think there is a lesson for us here.

Scripture tells us that the things of God, God’s Word, are foolishness to the “natural man” or the unbeliever. Does this mean that they can’t understand the words? Does it look like Greek to them? I’ve heard complete heathens articulate the gospel message very clearly, so that cannot be what God meant. So what is it? The difference is in the appraisal (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). When the unregenerate man, the natural man, looks upon the truths in God’s Word he sees rubbish. He sees foolishness. So how do those who belong to Christ look at the same words and see truth, life, and eternal worth? Who is the expert we have in our corner? Who do we have with us at the road show that allows us to make the right judgment on the worth and truth of God’s Word? Who is the witness that testifies to the truth of what we are reading? The Holy Spirit of God. For the Word of God was given by the Spirit of God. And who knows the Spirit of God better than God Himself?

So we should be encouraged, and encourage the children, to carefully study the Scriptures, to meditate on them, and to humbly appropriate the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit that we might properly value and apply what God has spoken to us in His Word. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” – John 16:13

“… the testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For God alone is a fit witness to Himself in His Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaim what has been divinely commanded… By this power we are drawn and inflamed, knowingly and willingly, to obey Him, yet also more vitally and more effectively than by mere human willing or knowing.” – John Calvin

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS OUR TEACHER. “He will teach you all things and bring all things to your memory.” – John 14:26

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

John 14:23 | Acts 5:17-32
John 14:17 | 1 Cor. 2:13-16
John 15:15 | John 16:13

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 2, Section 3, Lesson 2: The Weightier Matters of the Law

“You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” – Jesus the Christ

Think back to your days on the school yard. What was the law of the jungle? The weak kid, the overweight kid, the kid dressed poorly, the different kid, was ignored (at best) and in many cases the object of abuse. If you’re like me, you might be feeling some shame right now as you think back on those times. Good. Now let’s help our children be “other than” when it comes to their treatment of the defenseless and needy.

What is one sign of a life surrendered to Christ? That we more and more reflect His love for mercy and justice in our every day lives. This is something so real to the children we minister to. They don’t need to stretch their imaginations to picture this. They live it. And for a child it’s more out in the open and obvious. We adults have learned to mask it.

Every child of God should be a minister of mercy and justice. This should be reflected in the friends we keep, the way we spend God’s money, the way we spend the hours God has blessed us with, and the way we use the spiritual gifts and talents that we have been given.

Giving from a distance doesn’t cut it. It’s not the way Jesus worked and it’s not the way His body, the church should work either. We are called to personally stand up for the defenseless, care for the needy, the orphan, the widow, the oppressed. This starts in our family, moves into our family the church, and then to the world around us. Through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, this should be the hallmark of our lives. If it is not then God says we can keep the rest (Amos 5:23-24).

“The key to evaluating any individual church or nation in terms of its use of material possessions (personally, collectively or institutionally) is how well it takes care of the poor and powerless in its midst, that is, its cultural equivalents to the fatherless, widow and alien…People always take priority over prosperity.” 
- Craig Blomberg

IMITATE GOD – DEFEND THE DEFENSELESS AND THOSE IN NEED. “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

 

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

James 1:27 | Amos 5:15
Ps 82:3 | Zechariah 7:9
Matt 23:23 | Ex 22:21-22
Lev 19:34

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 2, Section 3, Lesson 1: Doctors Who Make House Calls

What if Jesus had stayed in the temple courts or the synagogue teaching? What if He never ventured out into the community, never called old Zach down from the tree, never ate with tax collectors and sinners, never touched the sick and hurting?

Why don’t doctors make house calls these days? I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it be interesting if suddenly people stopped going to a doctors office or hospital when they were ill? What if they thought that was the last place to go to be healed? How long would it take for the docs to begin making house calls again? Not long I suspect. Is the church today, the body of Christ the great Physician, staying in the hospital building waiting for the sick to show up? Or, worse yet, are we staying in the hospital talking about the remedy but secretly hoping that the sick stay away?

I think Jesus was less like a physician as we know it today and more like a field medic or a country doctor of days past. He went out looking for the lost sheep. Let’s help give our children a heart for the lost and pray that the Lord would use them to make Christ known in the world!

“Jesus is providing an acted parable, an illustration of what He has come to do! Jesus has come to bring sinners into fellowship with God, and these dinner scenes are but little pictures of this bigger picture.” 
– Pastor Fred G. Zaspel

JESUS LOVED THE UNLOVEABLE LIKE US – SO SHOULD WE. “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

 

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Matt 9:10-12 | Luke 5:29-32 | Luke 7:36-50 | Luke 15:1-7 | Ps 25:8 | Ps 25:8 | Ps 68:18 | Ps 51:13 | 1 Tim 1:15

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 2, Section 2, Lesson 3: Encourage & Share

The Bible mentions “one another” or “each other” some fifty times to give the body of believers instruction on how to live together. Contrary to what many of us have always thought, these passages are not directed at how we relate to the world but rather how we should relate with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like God gave the nation of Israel the law in order to make them stand out as “other than” in the world, He has given the church the “one anothers” as a means to bring Himself glory in the world through us.

Today we’ll look at two of these: encourage one another and share with one another. The word for encourage used here means “to come along side” and was often used by Greek writers when speaking of military reinforcements. What a wonderful picture for the Christian life! As fellow soldiers (Philippians 2:25), we are commanded to be available to reinforce, come alongside, encourage our comrades in arms. And what does a military unit on the front lines need along with reinforcements? Supplies. Sharing in the home that starts with toys, food, or valued time with mom or dad becomes sharing, or supplying the needs of (Acts 4:34-35) your fellow soldiers. Whether it be money, time, talents, skills, or other assets… bring it to the battle and share it with one another.

“One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement… It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers. We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.” 
- William Barclay

“Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” – John 15:12-14

 

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

1 Thess 5:11-14 |  Acts 20:2
Romans 12:8

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 2, Section 2, Lesson 2: Forgive & Pray

The church is made up of people. As people being transformed into the image of Christ, we are by definition not finished products. This leaves us open to mistakes or offenses committed against one another. The question is not whether we offend one another but rather when it happens how do we respond in a way that is not of this world?

Forgiveness and prayer – this is the model we have in Christ. If we behave as the world behaves, we diminish our witness to the lost, inflict pain on the body of Christ, and damage our own walk with the Lord. As we take a look at the topic of forgiving one another and praying for one another, take personal inventory of your relationships in the church. Are you actively praying for those with whom God has brought you into relationship within the body? Are we keeping short accounts with our brothers and sisters in Christ? As you prepare for this week with the children, I encourage you to read the two articles on forgiveness and prayer, keep your kids before the Lord on your knees, and ask the Father to continue your extreme makeover in this critical area of our spiritual lives. (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLES.)

Thank you for giving to the Lord by serving His children. Your offering is making an eternal impact.


”Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship.”
 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” – John 15:12-14

 

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Acts 4:33-35 | Phil 2:25
1 Corinthians 16:13-18

The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend.  We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.

EXTREME MAKEOVER, Unit 2, Section 2, Lesson 1: Serve One Another

“You Should Do As I Have Done For You” – Jesus

The dusty and dirty conditions of the region necessitated the need for foot-washing. Although the disciples most likely would have been happy to wash Jesus’ feet, they could not conceive washing each others’ feet. This was because in the society of the time, foot-washing was reserved for the lowliest of menial servants. Peers did not wash one another’s feet, except very rarely and as a mark of great love. Luke points out (22:24) that they were arguing about who was the greatest of them, so that none was willing to stoop to wash feet. When Jesus moved to wash their feet, they were shocked. His actions serve also as a symbol of spiritual cleansing (vs. 6-9) and a model of Christian humility (vs. 12-17). Through this action Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service that was supremely exemplified by His death on the cross.

The foot-washing was an example, a pattern. Many groups throughout church history have practiced literal foot-washing as a church ordinance. However, present culture in many lands does not call for the need to wash dust from the feet of one’s guests. Whereas the Lord’s Supper was practiced by the early church, it apparently did not practice foot-washing as an ordinance in church gatherings. This passage emphasizes inner humility, not a physical rite. A Christian widow’s practice of “washing the feet of the saints” (I Tim. 5:10) speaks not of her involvement in a church ordinance but of her humble slave-like service to other believers. Not to follow the example of Jesus is to exalt oneself above Him and to live in pride. “No servant is greater than his master” (cf. John 12:26).

Take this time for some introspection. Have you ever, consciously or unconsciously, considered yourself “better” than someone else? Would you gladly clean the toilets in the church building or are your gifts or your “position” above that sort of thing? What was Jesus’ perspective on this subject? If we are His body then this is critical information.

Recommended Resource: Manners and Customs of the Bible by J.I. Packer & M.C. Tenney.

“Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” – John 15:12-14

 

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Galatians 5:13; 6:2
Romans 12:2-3 | James 2:1-12
Philippians 2:1-7