June 9, 2013
Morning Service

Mat 18:3-6  (Jesus) said, Truly I say to you, Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.  (4)  Therefore whoever shall humble himself like this little child, this one is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven.  (5)  And whoever shall receive one such little child in My name receives Me.  (6)  But whoever shall offend one of these little ones who believes in Me, it would be better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck, and he be sunk in the depth of the sea.

• Jesus knew the importance of little children.  They represent our future.
•  This is very obvious here in our fellowship as the one time VBS kids are now the VBS leaders.

 

2Ti 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

• We are also encouraged to have the humility of little children.  They believe every word you tell them without questioning.  Our faith needs to be just as strong.

 

Mat 19:13-14 Then little children were brought to Him, that He should put His hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.  (14)  But Jesus said, Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.

• It is our responsibility, not only as a parent but as a church family, to place a great level of importance in raising and teaching our children the things of the Lord.
• We have done that very well over the years and this year was no different.
• We had lots of fun with Cheetos and shaving cream and had some wonderful food, but we also shared in praise and worship and challenging lessons.  Our theme verses came from Mark 12:29-31.

 

Mar 12:29-31  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;  (30)  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment.  (31)  And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

• The last song the kids sang was titled “The Most Important Things.”
• The first thing we pulled out of this passage was that “It is not about me…it is about Him.”  God expects to hold one position in our lives and that is first place.

Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

 

 

• That scripture is a commandment to us, but it comes with a promise.  If we put Him first, He will take care of the rest (all these things will be added to you).  We adults tend to complicate that verse and think God needs our help.  We try to accomplish things on our own, rather than trusting Him for them.  Children take you at your word.  If you tell them not to worry, you are there to protect and guide them; they have great faith and let us do it.
• Back to the memory verse.  Why do we do this in the first place?  Why do we want to follow His commands?  Jesus said this;

John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.

• Is that hard to understand?  We show our love for our Savior by keeping His commands.
• He has commanded us to put Him first and love our neighbor as ourselves.  When we do this we show our love for our Savior.

 

The application part of VBS was to put the second part of the verse into action.  Love our neighbor as ourselves.  It was to show us that life is not about me, it is about Him.

•   JOY- Jesus, Others, Yourself. 

• The lessons focused on showing our love for God, by serving our family, neighbors and our community.  Each lesson came with a service project that they did not take home for themselves, but gave away to others.
• In our world today, we all need reminded to look around at the needs of our neighbors.  We cannot allow ourselves to be “too busy” to help others.
• An example of that was here on Friday night.  We had 32 kids attend and we had 16 adults volunteer their time to be here and help in some capacity!
• Jesus commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  If we love Him, we must love them.  Love is an action verb.

 

1Jn 3:17  But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother having need, and shuts up his bowels from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?

• As we love our neighbors, we are not only showing our love for God, but we are setting an example for our children to follow.

 

1Cor. 11:1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

 

We, as the church, and as individuals have a great responsibility to live our lives in such a manner that we also imitate our Savior.

 

Mar 12:30-31  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment.  (31)  And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

 

May our love for you be given with everything we have.