Blog

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, Section 2, Lesson 1: With All Your Soul

When we talked about loving God with our heart, we referenced our personality and passions. That’s pretty deep. When we talk about loving God with our soul, that’s deeper still because our soul is the innermost part of who we are. It is used as a synonym for life, our life, our  essence. It’s the part God created to last for eternity. Sadly, sin introduced death into the world, and that includes the human soul. We are eternally dissatisfied until our soul finds rest in Him. Why? Because before we accepted Christ, our soul was dead in its trespasses and sins. We were longing for Him, for a perfect leader in this quest called life. After we know Jesus, our souls can rest because we have “returned to the shepherd and guardian of our souls”. (I Peter 2:25)

King David was Israel’s Poet King. He often spoke about His soul, “my soul is greatly dismayed…I will lift up my soul…my soul may sing praise…my soul will rejoice…” King David knew there was more to him than his mind and body. My soul is my immaterial essence. It is the eternal part of me that worships God best and also the part that can be separated from Him if I choose to put myself on the throne of my own life. As a Christian, I desire a makeover that will reform my soul so that I can love and put God at the center of everything. God has promised this makeover in Romans 8:29. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Everyday God is reshaping me to resemble Jesus – and that includes my soul.

“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation, He is my fortress – I will never be shaken.”    -Psalm 62:1-2

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Psalm 63:1-5 |Matt 10:28 | Ecc.12:7 | Ezk.18:4 |Luke 16:19-31 |Mark 8:36 | Matt 16:26 | 3 John 1:2

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, Section 1, Lesson 3: My Gift of Love

“So what’s on your heart this week?” Hopefully you have taken some time during our study to reflect on how to use your interests and passions for God. But what about when you see things in yourself that fall short of God’s standard? Do we assume we’re a lost cause and of no use to God? We cannot hide our good qualities or our failures from Him. He “alone knows every human heart.” (1 Kings 8:39). But be of good cheer, the ungodly things I find in my heart bring me to Him in a special way, a humble way. I wish I could bring to Him a Great Commandment Christian, fully assembled and ready to serve. But I came broken, and though I’m not a slave to sin, my flesh still fights against my makeover. When I recognize this and grieve my sin, then I am in a position for God to transform my heart. Yes, it’s uncomfortable, but the Lord promises that He is near to the brokenhearted.

In Psalm 147 we are reminded that it is fitting to praise God. The best way to praise God is to think about His actions and his attributes. The Psalm tells us:

God heals the brokenhearted. He names the stars.
He sends rain to the earth.
He delights in those who fear him.
He has unfailing love.
He sends us his protection.
He shares his commands with us.
He controls all nature.
He communicates his word to Israel and eventually to us!
Praise the Lord.

Loving God has many facets, praising Him for all He has done is one of them. Aligning our lifestyles with His word is another. What kind of heart does God want me to have? A pure heart, a clean heart, a kind heart and of course a heart that loves Him above all else. The kind of heart that Jesus displayed for us.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for
everything you do flows from it.”    -Proverbs 4:23

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

1 Kings 8:61 | Joshua 22:5
Psalm 37:4 | Psalm 57:7!
Luke 6:45 | Psalm 51:10

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, Section 1, Lesson 2: God’s Gift of Wisdom

About two years ago, I started using a Mac laptop instead of my old PC. One thing that prompted that switch was the problems I was having with viruses on my PC. As it turns out, the Mac operating system is much less prone to virus problems. It does a better job on its own, without the expense of extra virus protection services, of keeping out unwanted and damaging material that could slow down or freeze up my machine.

Last week we talked about the good passions and desires that God has put in our hearts – let’s call them the pre-loaded software. We also talked about guarding our hearts from storing up ungodly things – let’s call them malware or viruses. The human heart was made for loving and glorifying God. Sin has corrupted that heart, but by faith in Jesus we can have our hard-drive (heart) wiped clean of sin and reinstalled with God’s programs, so that it is free to function as it was intended. The problem is that we still live in a sinful world where there are new viruses around every corner. That’s where God’s heart operating system comes into play: WISDOM. Wisdom comes from God and is the atmosphere in which all of your pre-loaded heart software works best. It is also highly resistant to viruses and will prevent unwanted items from piling up in your heart and slowing down or freezing up your system. If our kids want to love God with ALL their heart, then they need the right operating system… wisdom. “Whatever else you get, get wisdom.” (Prov. 4:7)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for
everything you do flows from it.”    -Proverbs 4:23

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Prov 2:1-11 | Jer 33:3!
James 1:5 | Psalm 19:7
Prov 10:8 | Prov 16:23
Prov 2:10

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, Section 1, Lesson 1: Start With Your Heart

When Jesus gave the greatest commandment, He was responding to a scribe who was asking the most important question for someone who believes in the all-powerful God of the Bible. “What does God want from me?” Jesus was glad to answer. He quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5. The answer was simple but profound… if you want to know what God really wants from you, the answer is love – practical, everything-I-have-and-am love. And it starts with your heart.

God has created each of our hearts differently, with different passions, different likes and dislikes. He intended each of these to be used in love for serving Him and others. But our hearts are not a closed-loop system. Things come in and out of our heart. Jesus teaches us in Luke 6:45 that, “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” The abundance of the heart includes both the good things that God has placed there as well as the things, either good or evil, that we have “stored up” there. This is why it is so important to both know what is in our hearts already (Psalm 139:23), so we can ask God to remove anything that doesn’t glorify Him and store up good things there instead, but also to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23) from letting in those things we don’t want to store up.

In order to keep our hearts in tune for loving God, we should do this check-up regularly in prayer and in the Word. How is your heart this week? Let’s do a self-check first and then we can help the children to do the same. David was man after God’s own heart. This doesn’t mean he was sinless, but that he had a heart fully devoted to God. Let’s ask with him this week, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:10)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for
everything you do flows from it.”  -Proverbs 4:23

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

1 Kings 8:61 | Joshua 22:5 !
Psalm 37:4 | Psalm 57:7!
Luke 6:45 | Psalm 51:10

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, Introduction: The Great Commandment

Thanks for joining us in this quest to educate and challenge the children of our church. We want to give you a preview for the upcoming lesson. Any hiker worth his Gatorade looks over the map before he heads out. Our ‘Trail Guide Devotional’ gives you an opportunity during the week to think about the Big Idea and to look for ways that God is using these lessons in your own life.

What would you say is the most important thing in life? Jesus was asked that very question. He answered that it was to love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength. Now that’s a big idea! His answer is now known as the Great Commandment, and we would like to be known as Great Commandment Christians.

By the end of this unit, we want our students to know what it’s like to live as a ‘Great Commandment Kid.’ Here is the good news – children all over Reston Bible Church will be hearing about becoming a Great Commandment Kid. The bad news, however, is that none of us can do it on our own. How can we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength when we spend most of our time loving ourselves? We need a makeover.

Over the next several months, the kids will learn how to use all the faculties, resources, and power that God has given us to live the Christian life. No one does a makeover on anything that is fine the way it is. Makeovers are caused by a need, a deficiency or some kind of flaw that needs to be remedied. Let’s show our students that they can go to God and get cleansing for their hearts, growth for their souls, truth for their minds and purpose for their strength. We don’t need a little sprucing up – we need an extreme makeover!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new
creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  -2 Corinthians 5:15

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Rom 8:28 | Eph 4:23-24
Col 3:9-10 | Rev 21:5
Phil 1:6 | Rom 12:2
Eze 36:26 | Matt 7:24-26

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.

SOUL SHERPA, LESSON 4: The Holy Spirit is Our Guide

How many times have you heard something like this? “God first, others second, I’m third” or “God, country, family.”  Maybe you’ve even said something similar or worn the t-shirt.  I know I have.  At first glance, it seems like a godly enough thing to say, and it sure feels good to think we have our priorities straight.

Unfortunately it is not at all what God’s Word teaches us.  God’s place isn’t first in a list of other lower priorities. He is the center and essence of every priority. We need to make sure that our children are not subjected to this wrong thinking. Whenever love for God is mentioned in scripture, it is with all-encompassing phrases like, “with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” or “in all your ways acknowledge Him,” or “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all,” or “all things have been created through Him and for Him.”  There is no sacred and secular for the Christian.

“If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11)

Now matter what we do, we are called to do it as a representation of Christ.  What would Jesus be like as a schoolteacher, a lawyer, an IT professional, or a manager?  What would Jesus be like as a parent, a son or daughter, a husband or wife, brother, or friend?  In all our ways, in all our decisions, in all our activities, in all our roles and thoughts, acknowledge Him.  This is not an acknowledging in the shallow English meaning either. The Hebrew word means to know intimately by experience.  Search your heart this week.  Are you knowing God intimately by experience in all your ways?

“So eat and drink and do everything else for the glory of God.”  -1 Corinthians 10:31

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

1 Peter 4:11
Mark 12:30
Ephesians 4:5-6
Colossians 1:16, 3:17
Psalm 34:8

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.

SOUL SHERPA, LESSON 2: The Holy Spirit is Our Guide

My mother is infamous for her sense of direction.  Or should I say, lack thereof.  She once followed a car for some distance out of her way because “they looked like they knew where they were going.”  She has driven almost out of state before realizing she had taken a wrong turn.  Mom was sure she was going in the right direction.  She even thought she had recognized some landmarks.  It took some time but Mom has learned to lean not on her own understanding when it comes to directions.  Nowadays she makes sure she either rides with or follows someone who knows the right path.

How many times have you headed down a path that you were sure was right and wise only to find out that you were on a road to heartache?  When we depend on our human discernment and worldly understanding they will fail us in the end.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

We can contrast two great men of scripture in this regard. Saul, the first anointed King over Israel, when pressed, did what he discerned to be the wise thing when Samuel was delayed and an attack seemed imminent.  He took it upon himself to sacrifice to the Lord.  It might seem to us, on the face of it, to be an intelligent move.  Samuel hadn’t shown up on time, they were in great danger, and they needed God’s favor.  But Saul had been told to wait.  He did not inquire of the Lord and he did not trust the command he had been given by the man of God.  He was leaning on his own understanding.  By contrast his successor, King David, inquired of the Lord for almost every big decision he made, with the exception of a few that famously went badly for him.   God has given us a trustworthy spiritual GPS system; his Word and his indwelling Holy Spirit, ever present to guide us.  Inquire of the Lord and He will make your paths straight. He is our trustworthy teacher and guide. This is a promise of God.

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? – 1 Corinthians 1:20

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”  -Traditional Hymn

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Proverbs 14:12
1 Corinthians 1:20
1 Samuel 13
1 Samuel 23:4

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.

SOUL SHERPA, LESSON 1: The Holy Spirit is Our Guide

The work of the Holy Spirit is to manifest (make known, show) the active presence of God in the world and especially in the church.

Isn’t GPS a great thing?  It amazes me that a satellite high above the earth can see me, and when combined with digital mapping software, can tell me how to get from point A to B in the quickest way possible.  It amazes me even more to consider that this system can see if there is heavy traffic or an accident along my route and re-direct me around it.  If I take a wrong turn it quickly notifies me. “Rerouting.”  But as amazing as this system is, it is only as good as its underlying data.  How many times have you followed your GPS directions only to find out that its map data is incorrect and you are at a dead end or the address data is incomplete and you end up in a business park when you wanted to be at a friend’s house?  Even when the data is good, it isn’t foolproof. An overcast day or poor cell coverage can knock your GPS out completely.

But there is a guidance system that is 100% trustworthy, 100% of the time.  Its data is perfectly reliable.  It works no matter how dark it gets because to it, “darkness is as light.”  It is an integrated system that lights your path, turns your darkness to light, guides you on the best path possible, reroutes you when you make a wrong turn, and even provides roadside assistance when you break down along the highways of life.  That is our triune God.  God’s living Word, breathed out by the Father through the Son is its database.  It is empowered by his Holy Spirit whose job it is to make known the active presence of God in the world and especially in his children by guiding us into all truth.  Our students need to learn early that they can depend, with ALL their hearts, on their fail-safe guidance system.

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16)

“Guide me in Your truth and teach me…”  -Psalm 25:5a

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Proverbs 3:5-6
Isaiah 42:16
John 8:12
Psalm 119:105
Psalm 23:1-3

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.

SPOTTER, LESSON 3: God is Faithful to Forgive

 “Be imitators of GOD, therefore, as dearly loved children”  Ephesians 5:1 (emphasis added) The Bible makes plain that, when we are reborn in Christ, we are called to be “imitators of GOD,” that is, imitators of his communicable character attributes, those attributes GOD “shares” with his adopted children. We can know the character of our GOD because it is clearly revealed in scripture. Among his many qualities we find that God is loving, patient, kind, good, joyful, faithful, righteous, generous, courageous, creative, and, not least of all, forgiving. These are traits we should strive to imitate.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Forgiveness is sweet and grace is a great virtue when we are on the receiving end.  It is something to rejoice over.  But how things change when we are the “offended” party.  Suddenly justice takes center stage and we begin to entertain thoughts about whether the offender “deserves” our forgiveness.  We focus on our wounds and wallow in our injuries.  We think that the kind of forgiveness Jesus offered his enemies on the cross, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” is impossible for us to imitate.  After all He is God.  But this excuse falls apart when we look a few pages further on into the book of Acts and we see Stephen imitating his Lord in the face of a brutal death by stoning.  “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”  Can we hope to attain to this level of forgiveness?  I’ll let Jesus answer that one.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  With God’s indwelling Holy Spirit all things are possible.

As we close out this section on forgiveness, we should seek to help the children understand that on this side of heaven, we are striving to imitate Christ, knowing we will stumble and fall, trusting in his forgiveness when we do, and letting Him pick us up and urge us on to continue the climb He has called us to.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”   Phil.3-12-14

“Help me now to do the impossible:
Forgiveness.”  -Matthew West

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Ephesians 4:32, 5:1
Matthew 6:8-14
Matthew 18: 21-35
Phil.3-12-14

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.

SPOTTER, LESSON 3: God is Faithful to Forgive

Propitiation (Greek – hilasmos, meaning an offering to appease an offended party.)

How can a God who hates sin so much just let it go unpunished?  When He looks at His creation and sees how scarred and polluted sin has made it, He is greatly offended.  How can He not pour out his anger on the guilty?  How can God let wrongdoers go free?  It doesn’t seem fair. Unless, of course, I am the wrongdoer and then my math changes dramatically, and forgiveness seems a rather wonderful thing.   But the questions are still valid.  How is it just to leave sin unpunished?

The short answer is, it wouldn’t be just, if that is what God actually did.  But sin has been punished.  The sins of God’s people going all the way back to Adam accumulated and accumulated.  All the while God in his great mercy withheld punishment, looking forward to a day when One would pay for it all and wipe out the debt once and for all for those who believed in his coming.  “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.”   (Romans 3:25)

The best news is that, not only did Jesus receive the just wages of the sins of all who went before Him,  He also made available that credit of righteousness to all who would believe and receive Him in faith in the future.  He became our Passover Lamb.  The Lamb was slain, that work is done.  It is a historical fact that happened completely outside of us and was purely an act of God.  The only question that matters now is have you, by faith, applied the blood of the Lamb to the doorposts of your life?  Have your students?

“Jesus paid it all

All to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow”

(Elvina Hall, Jesus Paid It All)

“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  -Robery Lowry, Nothing But the Blood

MEDITATING ON THE WORD:

Romans 3

Psalm 86:5

Ephesians 1:7

Hebrews 10:12, 17