Note to Parents & Reactions to Christ

Dear Parents,
As you may know, we are in the process of making our own THP Wednesday Night Curriculum. While we work on it we will be doing a study on the book of John. The information I will be sending home with the children comes from a blog called Eternal Disciples.

Eternal Disciples is a blog started by Brandon McAnelly and I, some time ago. It started off as a way to help him to gather his thoughts and communicate what he has learned from the scriptures. You can view this blog by going to www.eternaldisciples.wordpress.com. You are also invited to make comments on it.

Each week I will select one of the commentaries off the site and reformat it for a take home study guide. This will be a great tool and resource for you and your child’s personal study time. I would like to encourage you to take time out of each week to sit down with your child to read through the chapter and then go over the home study guide.

Be Blessed during this great journey through the book of John!

~~~~~~~~~~~

This weeks’ Reading Challenge

(5/9/12 – 5/16/12)
John 1

Lesson

Everyone has a reaction to Christ. Some positive, some negative. John chapter 1 shows a variety of responses to the new that Jesus is the Christ. The first two men immediately followed after hearing that Jesus was the promised messiah. In Andrew, the news of the Messiah instantly birthed a spirit of evangelism in him. Some like, like Nathan, are skeptical at first and must have a firsthand experience with the Lord to believe.

Notice it was nothing that John or Phillip did that made their friends/disciples saved. It was simply testifying and pointing people towards the Christ. Too often we as Christians carry such a heavy burden about the salvation of those around us. Yes we should be mission oriented and share our faith every chance we get. Yes we should be concerned about our friends and family. But remember this; it’s NOT your job to get people saved. It’s the work of the Holy Ghost that saves men. Your only job is to share the truth.

Discussion Questions

What was your first reaction to the gospel?
Why do you think some people have a hard time believing in Jesus?
How would you tell people about Jesus?

Break the Mold Sunday teaser 2

Break the Mold Sunday Teaser vid 1

UPDATE!

 

This weeks’ Reading Challenge

(3-28-12 through 4-4-12)
Philemon 1:17-20

Lesson

Many of us have been hurt by people we love.  They could be our parents, siblings, or even close friends. This often causes us to remain bitter and resentful towards them. Usually, they are the hardest to forgive, because of how much we love them. However, the gospel provides us with the power to forgive the hardest of people, especially those we love. When we look at the cross of Christ, and we see how our sin placed Christ there, we will see ourselves no bet­ter than those that have hurt us. By understanding how much we have been forgiven, we will be able to share that same forgiveness with others, even those that have hurt us most.

Discussion Questions

 

How does the gospel give us the power to forgive?

Why are some people harder to forgive than others?

Who are some people that you have continued to hold bitterness and a grudge against? How can you go about restoring that relationship?

Attention Christian Rock bands, Techno Artist, Hip Hop Artist, Folk bands, Jazz Bands, Reggae Bands, and whatever other styles that is out there! How would you like to have free exposer, win $100, and help raise money for a kids’ camp called Hero Academy!?

Hero Academy is a kids’ camp in Shreveport, LA aimed to reach local kids with the love and power of Jesus Christ! What’s one thing every kids’ camp needs? Music! We are looking for original up beat fun, exciting, and biblically sound music to play during Hero Academy. We will be selling a CD of all the tracks submitted to us. The CD will have information all the bands who submit music with links to websites, twitters, and facebooks!

The band that submits the song that’s voted number 1 on our Hero Academy Website will get $100! As an added bonus if the band is located in the Shreveport/Bossier City area we will make a free music video for you!

If you are interested contact me at dallas@thpshreveport.com and I will email you back ASAP! Deadline for all songs is June 14th 2012!

Gospel Forgiveness

This weeks’ Reading Challenge

(3-21-12 through 3-28-12)
Philemon 1:8-16

Lesson

The book of Philemon presents the perfect picture of what gospel forgiveness is. Just like Philemon was Onesimus’ master, God is our master. When Onesimus sinned against Philemon, he could not come back to Philemon on his own terms. The same is true with us. Because we have sinned against God, we cannot come back to God on our own terms. Therefore, Paul steps in as a mediator between Philemon and Onesimus and pleads with Philemon to receive Onesimus back. Paul is even willing to pay back the debt that Phile­mon is owed. In the gospel, Christ serves as our mediator, bringing us back to God, and paying the debt that we owed.

If were to overlay this example to our own lives, God would be Philemon, we would be Onesimus, and Jesus would be Paul.  We owe God a debt due to our sin, a debt that results in death (just like Onesimus’ debt). God has every right to collect on this but like Paul, Jesus stands between us and God taking on our debt for us.

Discussion Questions

How is the book of Philemon an example of the gospel? Who does each person represent?

Why cant Onesimus come back to Philemon on his own terms? Why can’t we come back to God on our own terms?

How does Paul represent what Christ has done for us?

God Forgives

This weeks’ Reading Challenge

(3-14-12 through 3-21-12)
Philemon 1:4-7

Lesson

In our culture today, forgiveness is not seen as an admirable attribute. It’s often looked upon as a weakness that is to be avoided. Many times, we are more concerned with proving a point, rather than restoring a broken relationship. We rather hold on to our anger instead of displaying forgiveness to those that have done us wrong. It’s hard for us to forgive because we are sinners by nature. As human beings we are selfish, and in order to forgive, we must put self aside for the sake of the others.

As we look in the book of Philemon, we see the story of how one has the ability to forgive, because of the fact that God has forgiven us. Until we have experienced forgiveness through Jesus Christ, it is difficult to understand what true forgiveness is. Philemon is a great picture of how God’s forgiveness towards us, allows us the ability to forgive others. Without seeing our need for forgiveness before God, and how we have been forgiven, we will find it hard to forgive others for the wrong they have done to us.

Discussion Questions

Why is it so difficult to forgive others?

What is the true reason why we don’t want to forgive? Why is that?

How does the fact that we have been forgiven by God, help us to forgive others?

Last Night in The Deep

This is a clip of our kids worship last night in TheDeep we were singing Faith Like That by Jonah33

The Weekly Shorts Episode 69: The Not So Subtle Hero Academy Ad