Select Your Words Carefully

Over the past two weeks we have discussed the reason it is important to have self-control.  Week one we discussed that God can give us the power to control ourselves and that we not be like the man in Proverbs 25:28.  Last week we talked about how important it was that we pause before we lose our tempers, Proverbs 16:32.  This week our focus is to choose our words carefully.

 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:18.

Throughout this week keep in mind the power that words have in the life of your child.  On a regular basis I have to remind myself of this important truth.  The words I use towards my child will either build them up or tear them down.  While words can cut like a laser they can also be a lifeline to those who are hurting or in need.  Remind your children that we have to practice self-control and choose our words carefully before we speak even when we are upset or hurt.

As a possible family activity for the week, spend some time thinking about someone who might need some encouragement and use carefully selected words to tell them how much they mean to your family.

Want more info about this month’s lessons?  Check Out the Parent Cue and email me to get yours.

Winning Wednesday!

A few weeks ago I reviewed The Jesus Storybook Bible.  If you missed that article you can check it out here:  Book Review:  The Jesus Storybook Bible – Every story whispers His name.  This is an incredible tool that I have used with my own preschool children, ages 1, 2, and 4.  Each Sunday we start a new story for the week (there are a total of 46) and we read that story every night before bed.  We do the same story for the entire week because we want them to really understand what they story is saying.  We want the stories of the Bible to become familiar to them and we want to emphasize that Jesus is present in each story.

In the story of the Fall of Man we see the promise of Christ’s return.  In the story of Noah, our children were able to understand that before the beginning of time God had a plan to send His own Son, the Rescuer.  In the story of Abraham and Sarah they were able to see the promise of Jesus’ coming through the promise of Isaac’s birth.  In each story we are able to see the beautiful hand of God working His plan for redemption.

This wonderful book is perfect for anyone with a child ages 2 – 5.  Because I love this book so much we are giving you an opportunity to get it for free.  Here’s the way it works:

• Like Us on Facebook (if you havent already) and comment on our wall to Enter.
• We have 3  Jesus Storybook Bible‘s to give away so we hope to see at least 30 different people comment, so SPREAD THE WORD!
• Give-Away ends at 3 pm CST, 1/5/2012.

Good Luck and Happy Commenting!

What if?

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without wall.

Proverbs 25:28

Take a few minutes today with you children and talk about what it would be like if you were to move their bed into the back yard. At first they may think that this is a good idea. How fun would it be to have a sleep over in the back yard and in their very own comfy bed. Explore the possibilities for a few minutes then begin asking the “What if…” questions.

What if it gets cold? What if it starts snowing or raining? What if the bugs get too bad? What if it gets too dark? Ask them what things would make them want to come back inside where there are doors, walls, and windows to protect them from those things? God’s Word tells us that self-control is like having the strong walls of a house to protect us from things that could hurt us. Let them know that God wants to help them stay safe and be strong by giving them the power to control themselves.

Remind them that self-control is choosing what they should do, not just what they want to do.

We have a Winner!

Congratulations Jennifer Higginbotham, with 37 percent of the vote you have won a free copy of Marty Machowski’s Long Story Short – Ten-Minute Devotion to Draw Your Family to God.

In addition to our poll winner, our True Random Number Generator Winner is…Kristin Courtois.

I look forward to hearing how this book helps you in your pursuit to pass the gospel story on to your children and cultivate Christ into their lives.  For those that didn’t win this week make sure to come back soon and see what we are giving away next time.  If you have a second, check out this video from Marty Machowski as he talks about Long Story Short.

If your interested in purchasing a copy of  Marty Machowski’s Long Story Short – Ten-Minute Devotion to Draw Your Family to God you can get it Here, Here, and Here.  I got mine Here.

2 Ways to Live – The Choice We All Face

Vote for a Winner!

All the comments are in and our first 10 candidates are as follows:

1. Kristin Courtois
2. Tina Golden
3. Libby
4. Jamie Stiles
5. Kimberly Rene
6. Kristen Morgan
7. Wayne Bell
8. Heidi
9. Jennifer Higginbotham
10. Stephanie C

One of these people will win a Free copy of Long Story Short-Ten Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God by Marty Machowski.

Below you will find a poll which will allow you to cast a vote for who you want to win.  You can only vote once so don’t try to be sneaky.  The goal is to get as many people as possible to visit Vote For a Winner  in the next 24 hours and vote for you.

For those of you who don’t win or didn’t make it into the top ten  if you commented before 11:00 am on December 28th 2011 your comment will be assigned a number and all the numbers will be added to RANDOM.org’s True Random Number Generator and if your number is picked you too will receive a Free copy of Long Story Short.

January Parent Cue! A Free Tool to Help You Cultivate Christ Into the Life of Your Child

Have you ever been so completely frustrated that you just wanted to scream as loud as you possibly could?  Or maybe you were driving along when someone cut you off abruptly and you felt like you could just run them off the road?  We all experience anger at some point in our lives.  But take just a few seconds to think about what the world would be like if everyone acted out on their anger.  Or if you said what you are thinking when you are angry.  What if every person on the planet acted like a two-year-old and threw themselves down on the floor and pitched a fit every time they got upset?  Sounds like that would be a pretty frightening place to live.

The Bible makes it pretty clear that we are to have self-control.  Having self-control is more than just resisting the urge to act out or cut up.  Self-control means choosing to do what you should do—and not what you want to do.  That’s something that is hard for all of us, especially adults.

The great grace of God is that he doesn’t ask any of us to do anything on our own.  God’s Word tells us in 2 Peter 1:3 that He gives us everything we need to lead a godly life.  In Galatians 5:22-23 we see that self-control is in the list of fruits that we are to bear as a Christian.  If we have God in our lives, He is constantly present to help us take control of our thoughts, words, and actions.

Children’s Church in January is all about Self-Control.  So as we walk with you through this month, teaching your children about self-control let’s lead by example.  The next time you need a little self-control to help you hold your temper, to choose your words, or to eat only one of your favorite snacks, take a moment to pray and ask God for wisdom and help.

Want more information about what we are learning in Children’s Church this month?  Sign up for our Parent Cue!  Just send me an email (creinolds@fbc-millington.org) and put ‘Parent Cue’ in the subject line.  At the beginning of each month you will recieve and email which highlights everything we’re learning and provides you with tools to start conversations about each of the lessons.

Check Off Your 2012 New Year’s Resolutions for FREE! Comment and win!

Hard to believe that we are only a couple of days away from a brand new year. This is the time that most everyone is putting together a list of goals that they have for 2012. Here are a few from 2011 that some of you may have had on your list to do:

1. Help People
2. Get Organized
3. Lose Weight
4. Get In Shape
5. Spend Less, Save More
6. Learn Something New and Exciting
7. Spend More Quality Time with Family
8. Read More Books, Watch Less TV

So with the setting of 2011 and the rising of 2012 my question to you is, are you setting goals for the upcoming year? Maybe number the 7 on the list really stood out to you because it is something that you have had on your list previously but were not sure how to execute on “quality” part. It may be that you have a great desire to spend more time with your spouse and your children in family worship but you don’t feel adequately equipped to do it. Well in an effort to help you with that goal for 2012 we are going to have a little competition and you are going to need your friends to help! First of all, let me tell you what you will win:

This is an incredible book for your family worship experience. While there are a great deal of books out there that proclaim themselves to be gospel centered this book actually hits the mark. This family devotional book chronologically works it’s way through the Old Testament stories and then connects it with Jesus. The purpose is to teach kids the redemptive plan of God throughout the history of the Old Testament. This is a must have for families that need their family worship time streamlined.

This is an easy-to-use devotional book that in, literally, just ten minutes a day, five days a week, parents can be empowered to give their children the most vaulable treasure the world has ever known, The Word of God.

So here’s how the contest works:

• The first 10 people to Leave a Reply (located at the bottom of this page) on this page will be entered into a poll tomorrow morning, December 28th 2012, at 11:00 am CST. For those of you who comment after the initial 10, your comment number will be entered into a random number generator for a chance to win an additional copy of Long Story Short as well.
• Then it is up to you to get people to visit chrisreinolds.wordpress.com and give you the most votes on that poll. The person with the most votes within 24 hours wins.
• You can use Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Blogger, WordPress, Email, Telegraph, Telephone, etc. to get the word out for people to vote for you!

Here’s a sample of the Pole:

The Story that Changed the World

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.’”) And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made him known.
(John 1:1-18 ESV)

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the form of an infant. The Word of God that began all of Creation in Genesis 1:3 came down from Heaven and dwelt among us in a manger. The same Word that came from the mouth of the Father, that does not return empty, came into the world, in the form of a child, to accomplish the purposes which the Father sent Him out for. He was not majestic or attractive by the standard of His day because His generation was blind. This little baby would grow up to be hated and rejected. His little hands and feet, although tiny and gentle, were destined to be nailed upon a tree. His body, albeit tender and small, would be wounded and crushed under the weight of the judgment of God, on our behalf (Isaiah 53). This is the Christmas Story.

The purpose for our celebration during this time of year is Jesus Christ. It is the manifestation of the Word of God through the person of Jesus Christ. While we remember the details of His birth during this Christmas season, let’s focus on His death, which is the reason why He came. This is the best gift that anyone could ever be given. God, by means of Jesus Christ, calls out to us in our darkness and tells us to come out into the light because of the sacrifice that he made for sinners; if we accept Jesus as God and our Sacrifice and our Treasure then His death and righteousness counts as ours and we will be granted life eternal. This is the Christmas Story.

We are looking forward to what God is planning to do over the next year and we are excited about the possibilities. We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and may God bless you and your homes.

With Love,
Chris, Rosalind, Micah, Kinsey, and Noah Reinolds

Book Review: The Jesus Storybook Bible – Every story whispers His name

One of the reoccurring questions that I have received lately is what type of Bible would I recommend for someone’s child. Well, at least for me, that is a difficult question to answer because of the various types of Bible’s that are out there and the differing ages that those Bible’s are geared towards. Ultimately your child’s Bible has to be one that fits them and where they are at in life. The last thing that you should look for is a Bible that can span the gap of 2 years old to 22-years-old.

For the younger child, ages 2 – 5, I would recommend The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. This book contains 46 stories from the scriptures that provide children with a firm understanding that from the beginning God was working out His story of ultimate redemption. In each story you will see that Jesus is in the center of God’s process of salvation. It is beautifully worded to provide understanding to children and wonderfully illustrated to create excitement when they open up the pages. It is also important to remember that you are the one that provides them with the opportunity to read the scriptures. Spend sometime worshiping with your family and reading this wonderful book. You can get this terrific Bible here, here, or here. I bought mine here.