Family Devotions - That They May Believe

This morning we read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11.  We were so moved as we read the story and the great love of our Lord as he wept with Martha and Mary as he came to their house after Lazarus had died.  A miracle like this had not been performed before where someone had been dead, in the grave and was already beginning to decay.  This miracle was performed shortly before Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.  Jesus said this miracle was done so that the people may believe in Him.  Here are a couple of videos that we watched.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/3sDrS0eR8a8 

Here is one that our daughter enjoyed.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/sMMQLcVBVV4

We also sang a couple of songs.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/pd57EXqXRhc

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/oN77HjfAc8k

We closed in prayer for our dear friends in the Followship and all those whose hearts are hungering for the truth.

Family Devotions - Feeding the Five Thousand

This morning Rich picked the story out of  Luke 9:10 - 17, Jesus feeding the five thousand.  After reading the story we watched a video on You Tube.  Our daughter found this one very interesting and she really like dad reading the story from the Bible.

 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/DE3CYADFg98

Here is a song from You Tube 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/QYtQI8-SaFs

As our usual practice we all held hands and lifted up our dear friends in the Followship and those coming to the truth of the Gospel.

Family Devotions - Victory in Jesus

Our daughter picked the story today.  It was Elijah and the prophets of Baal told in I Kings 18:1-39.  We read the story out of the Bible and then we watched this illustrated story on You Tube:

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/YNxRMo6FPqU

We also sang Victory in Jesus

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/vcIoFdSC-jA

We then ended in prayer for all those in the Followship and for the new friends that's hearts are drawn to the truth that we have been sharing with this week.  So very exciting and encouraging!

.................................................Waiting on the Lord..........................................

Waiting can be a hard thing, especially when we are young, as time has that tendency to drag in our early years.  The famous sayings come to mind when thinking about waiting, like, "Good things come to those who wait."  and "Time flies when you are having fun."  Sometimes waiting comes in hard times and you are not always having fun but if you are waiting on the Lord, you can count on good things to come.  I would like to relate a story, a story of my life that will hopefully be an encouragement to those who might be finding themselves in a waiting mode, a time of wondering and questioning what might be unfolding.

Family Devotions - The Triumphal Entry of Christ

Today we studied the account of Jesus' coming into to Jerusalem on a donkey.  
We read Matthew 21: 1-17

We talked about the people waving the palm branches.  This was a practice done during the Feast of Tabernacles and not done at the Passover.  Why this time of year, right before the Passover were they doing a Feast of Tabernacle practice?  We told Mary, our daughter, that the Feast of Tabernacles was the celebration remembering their coming out of wandering in the desert in tents and coming to dwell in the Promise Land.  So they were remembering back and also looking forward to the day they would enter into their rest with God being their King and he would rule over the nations.  So when Jesus came into Jerusalem, they were thinking that he was coming to rule physically there and set Israel above all the nations of the earth.  The thing they did not pay attention to was that Christ was riding on a donkey and not a white horse, which is what he will be riding in his second coming to rule over the earth.   So, the people were thinking that this was his time of physical rule and they did not realize that he had come as the Passover lamb to die for the sins of all mankind.  We also told Mary of the miracle of the donkey, that is was colt that had not been ridden before.  She has read lots of horse stories how the young colts did not like to be ridden on at first and had to be broken and gentled.  So, the disciples brought the donkey colt to Jesus and he had no trouble riding it.  She asked, "How did he do that?"  We told her because Jesus is the Lord of all creation and all things are under his control.  She thought that was really amazing.

We also played this video for Mary of the cartoon of the donkey's perspective.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/2-JXL3W2gFo

We also watched this informational video on why Jesus rode on a donkey.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/evtOaOl1XSo

(Just a note about these videos, we are only interested in what the video is showing we are not endorsing the ministry that put them up there.)

We sang this song, "Hosanna in the Highest" 

 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/E1X-VDCMyAc

We closed in prayer.  We are so encouraged by those who have showed interest in our family devotions.  We know that this is a very powerful but simple time for our family.  This is not our only time of talking about the scriptures to each other.  We have unplanned moments that turn into wonderful opportunities to teach and to share.  Last month we had a wonderful talk with Mary after breakfast one day about Jesus's coming as a baby and coming lowly and poor in the material things of the world, and the importance of moving away from wealth.  We also talked about Him coming to save us and how we grow old now but one day, if we follow Jesus by accepting the salvation He has freely given us, and keeping His words, that we will be in heaven with Him and we will live forever.   

We encourage you to talk with your children daily about the truths of the scriptures and talk with your friends and family members about the truth and see what happens.

What to do with the Holidays?

What are we, as Christians, to do with the holidays?  Are we to avoid them, follow Old Testament holidays, go full bore into all the holidays and all of the trappings that go with it or can we make them our own.

Family Devotions - The True Spirit of Christmas

We talked about the true spirit of Christmas this morning.  We started out by reading her a little book we had telling about who Santa Claus really was, his name was Nicholas and lived in Myra in Greece.  She enjoyed the story and then we found a short video on You Tube with the history of St. Nicholas that we found interesting.

    

Here is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/59L_lt4U59A

We then talked about the important thing in Nicholas' life was that he loved God and he gave up his possessions, gave sacrificially to help the poor and did it in secret.  He wanted his giving to glorify God and not himself.

We sang the hymn, "I Surrender All" and then read this scripture:

Philippians 2: 2 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This scripture pretty much sums up what Christmas is all about.

Note:  We feel a need to clarify some things as we have had some feed back on this post.  We do not believe that Jesus Christ was born on December 25th.  The exact date of his birth is not important, just that he came as He did to save us from our sins. The  date, December 25th, was a pagan holiday that was adopted by the Roman Catholic church.  

We do not believe that Nicholas of Myra was a Saint that is to be prayed to and above other people.  He was a man just like you and I.  He was a Christian when Rome persecuted the Christians.  He was in prison when Constantine lifted the persecution against Christianity.  Constantine did not make Christianity a state religion, he just established tolerance to Christianity. Emperor Theodosius 1 made Christianity the state religion of Rome.  We do not promote the myth of Santa Claus coming and bringing gifts at Christmas to our daughter.  She knows that it is a fairy tale made up by men. The only thing we tell her is that the fairy tale came from some truth, that he was a man and only emulate the example of giving to the poor.