We had the most fantastic time at the Lake House retreat with the guys from Next Door Bible Study! We (the guys-I cooked/cleaned/taught...)swam, fished, played tennis, ping pong, etc. We painted the lake house deck and even had devotionals with the Skit Guys every day. Charlotte, Dusty and Dakota joined us on Saturday. I hope they lived up to the theme of the weekend "Wise Guys". I know they learned some things they'd never heard. They even surprised Mrs. Faye by planting flowers underneath her mailbox and they are making her a sign that says "Faye's Refuge" to hang at the entrance to the driveway.
We studied Spiritual warfare, cleaning up our mouths and making our walk match our talk. We ended up the weekend with learning to run the race. It was pretty cool! We had a scavenger hunt each day relating to the lesson where the discovered a treasure for each young man to keep and the last scavenger hunt was a race with the winner recieving a CD from Need To Breathe. Tee Shirts with our logo was another gift. Wonderful weekend!
This week the Next Door Bible Study met again. Renee had the awesome pleasure of leading someone to the Lord over Facebook! She called me at midnight to tell me. She was so excited. That is what this ministry is all about, discipleship, teaching these kids the truth of Christ and how to pass it on. We are planning the girl's trip to the lake and then we will back in Genesis next week.
The UP Bible study met this week. We are talking about storms in our lives. We have studied, "Why Me?" Why would God choose me to do something. This week and next week we are studying "Why Now?" The story of Esther who was chosen for "...such a time as this." We are also chosen for such a time as this. God has specific calls on all our lives and He has equipt us with the tools we need to get the job done. Then He stategically places us in the arena where that gift is to be used, though sometimes we may not be the most willing participants. Fear of the unknown and discomfort and unwillingness to change are enemies of God's plan . We must array ourselves in the armor of the Spirit in order to see success. We are listening to the song "We Live" by Superchik. The kids asked us to play it a second time and they sang with it. It was great!!!
I would ask you to pray for these children. All of them are going through hard time right now. Pray specifically that God would open up their ears and their minds to the things of God and that they might be saved.
No King's Kidz this weekend. We are lakebound to list the service projects for the girls. We will resume next weekend. Pray for us as we seek the Lord in prayer and ask for specific guidance. We hope to have some breakthroughs! God bless you all this week.
To God be the glory!
Jamie
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Amen!
Wonderful, Counselor, Almight God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace! To God be the glory for tonight! UP Bible Study tonight~!~ Amazing! Bobby opened the lesson- we listened to the song "Everlasting" and talked about the words in the song, the attributes of God. Bobby explained the difference between mercy and grace-Mercy-not getting something from God that we really deserve (God withholding the punishment from us that we deserve like death and hell) and Grace -getting from God what we don't deserve (like forgiveness when we deserve death). My Bible quotes Jesus as saying, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me." John 12:32 And so He did tonight at this Bible study! The kids began to pepper off question after question and to testify about what God had done for them. They asked foundational questions about Baptism and fighting vs turning the other cheek. They learned that only Jesus has the right to judge motives and about loving your neighbor as yourself and how our hearts are deceitful. They learned about spiritual warfare and the list goes on! We toured verses from Ezekial, Jeremiah, Romans, and more. We touched on so many topics I cannot remember all of them and I wish I could. We barely got a breather before it started again! What a way to honor God! I would to God that more and more they would just pour out their hearts and beg for answers! The Holy Spirit guided the answers and they were solid! What a night! All of the leaders were encouraged, excited and exhausted!
Wednesday at The Next Door Bible Study we talked about Genesis 31 again and how the murderous mob of Laban's family came upon Jacob and his family. God protected them from harm although Rachel had done a very stupid thing and stole Laban's idols. We talked about how being a child of God means His protection even when we mess up! There is such a thing as consequence, but thank God for mercy and grace, just as we discussed tonight.
We still have King's Kidz to go in the morning but I was so excited I couldn't wait to tell you about tonight! When you pray tonight please keep these kids in mind. Satan hates that they are learning and he will surely try to drag them down, but we will pray for God's protection! Praise God for these children and His love for them. "Suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." Mark 10:14.
Enjoy the pictures of the Easter Egg Hunt outreach on my Facebook page and on the Mercy Abounds Facebook page. You can also pull up greenacresbc.com and view them on a slideshow.
To God be the glory!
Jamie
Wednesday at The Next Door Bible Study we talked about Genesis 31 again and how the murderous mob of Laban's family came upon Jacob and his family. God protected them from harm although Rachel had done a very stupid thing and stole Laban's idols. We talked about how being a child of God means His protection even when we mess up! There is such a thing as consequence, but thank God for mercy and grace, just as we discussed tonight.
We still have King's Kidz to go in the morning but I was so excited I couldn't wait to tell you about tonight! When you pray tonight please keep these kids in mind. Satan hates that they are learning and he will surely try to drag them down, but we will pray for God's protection! Praise God for these children and His love for them. "Suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." Mark 10:14.
Enjoy the pictures of the Easter Egg Hunt outreach on my Facebook page and on the Mercy Abounds Facebook page. You can also pull up greenacresbc.com and view them on a slideshow.
To God be the glory!
Jamie
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Easter Outreach
Today was a wonderful day! We had our Easter Egg Hunt Outreach and 47 precious children attended and some parents.
I had to laugh at the beginning,the boxes were being unloaded and I saw the potential for error and said,"Make sure you keep all the boxes of the different age groups together, don't mix them up!" and I must have said it a bit sternly because a brother of mine said, "And Jesus loves you, Ms Jamie doesn't, but He does!" I had to laugh about that (I'm such a Martha sometimes)and just think about the REAL reason for the outreach; not to have everything right, although He is a God of order, but to show Christ. How funny that we can be attempting something wonderful for Christ and be His worst representative! Yep-it can happen to anyone if we lose our focus-and it doesn't take long! God is loving to rebuke us! I knew then that He was in control of the situation and He was big enough to handle any problem coming my way. I love the verse, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11:30. Once we take all the steps of obedience and step out to do what He's called us to do, He takes it from there-and so He did! We told the Easter Story, played games and hunted eggs. There were testimonies given and an explaination of salvation. What a wonderful time!
We had such a wonderful group of people at the event, the kids are talking about the story time now (I've heard from some parents this evening) and talking about "some man was ressurrected"! That was the plan! Thank God that He showed up. John 12:32 "And I, if I be lifted up,will draw all men unto Me." Now each child has a Bible and some Bible stories or for the oldest kids, Bible activities.
Please join me in prayer that these families will now have a curiosity about the Man who was ressurected and that they might even come to church! Not to boost attendance numbers, but to learn about the One who died for them. It's all for His glory and honor and for their salvation.
May you have a blessed Easter celebrating the defeat of death for us all through the Risen One! He is the Amen!
To God be the glory!
Jamie
I had to laugh at the beginning,the boxes were being unloaded and I saw the potential for error and said,"Make sure you keep all the boxes of the different age groups together, don't mix them up!" and I must have said it a bit sternly because a brother of mine said, "And Jesus loves you, Ms Jamie doesn't, but He does!" I had to laugh about that (I'm such a Martha sometimes)and just think about the REAL reason for the outreach; not to have everything right, although He is a God of order, but to show Christ. How funny that we can be attempting something wonderful for Christ and be His worst representative! Yep-it can happen to anyone if we lose our focus-and it doesn't take long! God is loving to rebuke us! I knew then that He was in control of the situation and He was big enough to handle any problem coming my way. I love the verse, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11:30. Once we take all the steps of obedience and step out to do what He's called us to do, He takes it from there-and so He did! We told the Easter Story, played games and hunted eggs. There were testimonies given and an explaination of salvation. What a wonderful time!
We had such a wonderful group of people at the event, the kids are talking about the story time now (I've heard from some parents this evening) and talking about "some man was ressurrected"! That was the plan! Thank God that He showed up. John 12:32 "And I, if I be lifted up,will draw all men unto Me." Now each child has a Bible and some Bible stories or for the oldest kids, Bible activities.
Please join me in prayer that these families will now have a curiosity about the Man who was ressurected and that they might even come to church! Not to boost attendance numbers, but to learn about the One who died for them. It's all for His glory and honor and for their salvation.
May you have a blessed Easter celebrating the defeat of death for us all through the Risen One! He is the Amen!
To God be the glory!
Jamie
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