We are moving!

Ridge Kids has decided to simplify how we communicate as a ministry.  We are moving all of our blogs to: Ridge Kids Family Connections.

Being in God’s Presense

As Christians, we experience God’s presence in a unique way when we come together to remember and celebrate God’s faithful deeds. Did you know that God didn’t intend for us to be live this life alone. From the very beginning, God intended for humans to live and work together. I can’t imagine doing life alone. I love being around my friends and my family.  “You make known to me the path of life: you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand”  This is from Psalm 16:11.

How can you take some time being with your faith community and not doing life alone? This week take some time to seek others in your faith community. Ask a friend over for dinner, or go out for coffee or give someone a day, or even better yet go out for ice cream. Ask what God is doing in your friends life and tell them what is going on in your life as well. Pray for one another. Ask God to increase His presence in your lives. Rejoice in the way God blesses His people with His presence.

So there you go. You have homework for the week!!

http://www.ridgepoint.org/parents/

Praying Boldly

Many of us take time to pray at the customary times, meals, bedtime, and worship services. But how many of us really take the time to pray boldly to God, interceding for our spouses, our children, their future spouses, their friends, our leaders (both spiritual and governmental), our neighbors, our country, and the list goes on and on. I have to admit; I have just begun to pray in the way that Daniel shows us to pray in Daniel 9.

I have a wonderful friend who shares her prayer life with me and God used her to grow my prayer life. I t never occurred to me to pray for my children’s spouses, they are just kids, but she does. I would not pray boldly for God to show himself and act, NOW, but she does. To me prayer was just something that a “good” Christian did, something to check off my to-do list at the end of the day. But through this friend, God has shown me that prayer is so much more than just a task! He has shown me that I need to pa attention to the world around me, not just my family, and pray boldly for Him to bring justice, wisdom, healing, mercy, forgiveness, and grace to the whole world.

As Christians, we need to allow God to mend and soften our legalistic, wounded, hardened hearts so we can see outside of ourselves. In doing this, our hearts can be awakened to the world around us, so we can care for others how Jesus did. It gives us the strength and support to relinquish our selfishness, bitterness and pain so that we can truly bring God’s love to the world around us.   We need God to “break our hearts for what breaks His”. We need to stop the crazy rush of the day, get on our knees, and pray boldly, incorporating scripture in our prayer time, to cry out like Daniel did in 9:19, “Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act!…”

Do not let fear stop you! The devil uses this fear to stop you from truly living the life of freedom that God has promised you. It is like chains that bind and the only one who can set you free is the Lord, Jesus Christ. My challenge to you is this, pray for God to break the chains that are holding you back from a life of freedom, and then use that freedom to boldly serve Him in every way! Invite your children into the process. Can you imagine if our children could learn to pray boldly while they are young? That the fear we feel in standing out like Daniel (and facing the lion’s den) would never be an issue for them? Now that is a legacy to leave!

This week, make a prayer a priority. Make a prayer list or start a prayer journal, write down the scripture that comes to you as you pray, date your prayers. Then you can look back and add how God has answered your prayers. Our god is real and He wants us to spend time in prayer, knowing that our prayer time is a special gift, not just another chore that needs to be done!

May you know that God is real, that He hears your prayers and that He has given you power to pray boldly in His name.  May you feel His presence deeper and deeper and you strengthen you prayer life.  Ms. Melissa

This weekend in the Big God Story, we will be learning how God Is Real us through the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den, from Daniel 6.

Here are some questions from TRU that you can ask them to spur conversation!!! For more information and other Parenting Resources , click here for Ridge Kids Parent Page.

God saved Daniel from the lions’ den because Daniel trusted God and believed that God is real. Because of this, God showed His power in an incredible way. as a family open your Bibles and read the suggested passages.

• Why didn’t the other leaders like Daniel? Daniel 6:1–4
• How was Daniel’s situation similar to the fiery furnace?
• What did Daniel do after he heard about the king’s decree? Daniel 6:10
• How did Daniel’s time in the lions’ den prove to the king that God is real? Daniel 6:19–22
• Why do we pray to God?
• What do you think it means to be bold in prayer?
• What types of things did you pray for today?
• What types of things do you still want prayer for?

God Is Worthy Of Worship

In this time of easy access to everything we want or need, I find it truly difficult to stop and worship God for everything I have.  I tend to focus on the things “I” have accomplished and have worked for, it’s is all about me, isn’t it?  From my perspective that is how a lot of people are.  But our God is a jealous God, He alone is worthy of our worship!  No one, not ourselves, government officials, celebrities, professional athletes, and no thing, not money, knowledge, technology, or earthly possessions should be worshipped instead of God!  But that is easier said than done sometimes.  It has to be a life change, a mind set.  We need to leave all we know behind just as Abram did in Genesis 12 and fully follow and trust in God, only then will we be able to fully receive all He has promised.  In Genesis 11, we read about the tower of Babel and how God confused the languages of the people because they wanted to be their own gods and were building a building to call attention to themselves, not the One True God.  But God knew it would take more than confusing their languages to save the human race, and we will eventually see that trough the family line of a man named Abram, God would send a redeemer for all of mankind! 

May you remember this week that God is worthy of your praise and worship.    Miss Melissa

This week, read the full story with your children (Genesis 11-12 & 15) .  Here are some questions from TRU that you can ask them to spur conversation!!! For more information and other Parenting Resources , click here for Ridge Kids Parent Page.

• How did the first people break their perfect relationship with God? Genesis 3:6
• How did God restore this relationship? John 3:16
• What did the people in Shinar decide to do to make themselves famous? Genesis 11:4
• What did God do to stop the people from building the tower? Genesis 11:7–8
• What are some ways people today worship themselves?
• Why did God call Abram to leave his family? Genesis 12:1–3
• Why does God give us the desire to worship Him?
• How can we worship God together?
• How can we worship God by ourselves?

God Fights for His People

Equip 1.11 from TRU

We often think of the ten plagues as God convincing Pharaoh to let the people go. But that was not the case. Each time Pharaoh agreed to let the people go into the wilderness to sacrifice to Him, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to not let them go—so that He would be able to perform these incredible signs, so that His people would know that He was the one true God (Exodus 10:1–2).

After they left Egypt, they would have to endure terrible struggles and trials, and the temptation would be for them to go back to what they were familiar with, namely, the animistic worship that the Egyptians would have forced upon them. While in Egypt they were not allowed to openly sacrifice and worship God, and so God needed to show them who He was and how He wanted to be worshipped. The first step in this, and the purpose of the plagues, was to display that He was the only one with power, and not the false gods of the Egyptians.

God chose specific plagues that corresponded to the primary deities of the Egyptians. The Egyptians worshipped Hapi, the spirit of the Nile and Khnum, the guardian of the river’s source—so God turned all the water into blood. The Egyptians worshipped Heqt, a frog goddess of birth, so God gave them so many frogs they were drowning in them. The third plague of lice showed God’s power over Geb, the god of the earth: the fourth plague of flies over Uatchit, god of the flies, and so on. Each plague God used to overpower the pretend gods of Egypt. The ninth plague destroyed confidence in Amon-Ra, the sun god. And the tenth plague overcame Osiris, the Egyptian giver of life—and demonstrated that God does indeed own the firstborn of every creature (Exodus 13:1–2).

The plagues did demonstrate to the Egyptians and to the world that God was the one true God (Exodus 7:5), but more than anything God was demonstrating to His people that He was God and that He would fight for them.

Environment of IDENTITY

This environment highlights who we are in Christ. According to Ephesians 1, we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed, and given an inheritance in Christ … all of which we did nothing to earn. This conviction allows children to stand firm against the destructive counter identities the world will offer.

The 10 Environments guide us in creating a climate that puts God on display. Encourage your families to discover more about creating the environment of IDENTITY in their homes by checking out HomeFront: A Spiritual Parenting Resource and Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony.

God Reveals Himself

Equip 1.10 From TRU

God revealed Himself to Moses in an amazing way. Moses lived no ordinary life—during his early years, Moses participated in three cultures: Hebrew, Egyptian, and Midian. As a Hebrew, he was condemned to death; as an Egyptian, he was the adopted son of the princess of Egypt (and watched his kinsmen slave away in the hot sun); as a Midianite, he was an outlaw who married into a foreign tribe.

Certainly there must have been days, or years, when Moses was greatly distressed about his identity. He even named his first son Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land” (Exodus 2:22). But all along, God knew who Moses was—a Hebrew, one of God’s chosen people. But Moses was also a Levite, a descendent of the priestly tribe of Levi, one of Jacob’s sons. Wow!

Moses was a direct descendant of Abraham and God’s covenant promise. Moses began to understand who he was the moment God revealed Himself in the burning bush. God called Himself the God of Moses’ father and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By saying this, God reminded Moses of his heritage—physical and spiritual.

God called Moses to be the hands and feet to bring about His incredible plan to reveal Himself to His people and save them from bondage. Moses would have remained an alien in a foreign land had God not revealed Himself and reminded Moses of his heritage, and given him his true calling: service to the one true God. Truly, Moses found his identity in God.

Environment of IDENTITY

This environment highlights who we are in Christ. According to Ephesians 1, we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed, and given an inheritance in Christ … all of which we did nothing to earn. This conviction allows children to stand firm against the destructive counter identities the world will offer.

The 10 Environments guide us in creating a climate that puts God on display. Encourage your families to discover more about creating the environment of IDENTITY in their homes by checking out HomeFront: A Spiritual Parenting Resource and Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony.  .  Available electronically at http://homefrontmag.com/

God Saves

Equip From TRU

God saves. He saved the life of Joseph, only one of two major characters in the Bible about which nothing negative is mentioned (the other person is Daniel). Just about every other person in The Big God Story had some kind of flaw or issue they were dealing with. But it seems Joseph really knew who he was. He was confident in his God and knew that God saves. Even the arrogance some attribute to him in his youth can be seen simply as youthful honesty and naïveté.

At every opportunity where Joseph might have fallen, he reaffirmed his faith in the power, sovereignty, and salvation of God. One lesson he would learn through life experience is that the road to glory leads inexorably through suffering and trials—it is the way God grows our faith. Throughout Joseph’s enslavement, he knew that God saves. Throughout all the false accusations and imprisonment, Joseph knew God saves. And throughout the severe famine, Joseph knew God saves. Through these trials, Joseph was learning obedience and endurance.

It was this confidence in who he was (and whose he was) that helped Joseph avoid the temptation of sin with Potiphar’s wife, of taking credit for the interpretation of dreams, and of taking revenge on his brothers when they learned who he was. Joseph knew God’s plans are higher than ours. When we trust in who God made us to be, and we trust that He is the One who saves, we can learn that suffering is not always bad. It is a tool God can use to shape and refine us for His use. And we can learn that regardless of our circumstances, God is in control and He is working for our good and His glory (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28).

Environment of IDENTITY

This environment highlights who we are in Christ. According to Ephesians 1, we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed, and given an inheritance in Christ … all of which we did nothing to earn. This conviction allows children to stand firm against the destructive counter identities the world will offer.

The 10 Environments give us ways to create a climate that puts God on display. Encourage your families to discover more about creating the environment of IDENTITY in their homes by checking out HomeFront: A Spiritual Parenting Resource and Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony.  Available electronically at:  http://homefrontmag.com/

God Redeems

Teaching: This coming weekend, the Holy Spirit will be teaching us through Genesis 37& 39-41; Joseph’s journey from favorite son, to slave, to prison, to Pharaoh’s 2nd in command. All through Joseph’s life, God is his redeemer.

Equip from TRU:
God redeems. In the life of Joseph, we see him being captured by his brothers, sold into slavery, framed by the wife of Potiphar, forgotten in jail—and yet God redeemed him out of every one of these situations, no matter what role Joseph played in each one.

Throughout this story we see Joseph wearing many different garments; most of which are stripped away in mean and forceful ways before he can put on a different one.

First, Joseph wore the coat of many colors given to him by his father, Jacob. Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved Joseph’s brothers because Joseph was the firstborn son of Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel. The first garment change occurred when Joseph’s brothers took the coat from him, tore it into pieces, and soaked it in goat’s blood to convince Jacob that Joseph was dead.

But we see in Scripture that “the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success” (Genesis 39:23). Because of this, Joseph was appointed to be an attendant instead of a slave in the house of Potiphar. So he changed his clothing from that of a slave to that of an overseer. This garment was taken from Joseph when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. He left his garment in her hand when he fled from her advances.

Next, Joseph wore the garments of a prisoner. Later, after he interpreted the Pharaoh’s dream, Joseph was rewarded and put “in charge of the whole land of Egypt” and “dressed … in robes of fine linen” (Genesis 41:41–42). God not only redeemed Joseph from his imprisonment but also dressed him in fine robes and gave him a position of responsibility. What a change from the days of wearing the garb of a slave!

As God’s children, we’re clothed in Jesus’ righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). God sees us as redeemed, although we sometimes can’t see ourselves that way. No matter what we may think or feel, Scripture says “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). God sees us as holy—like Christ. The redemption we have received from Christ is extravagant; it is redemption we do not deserve and did not earn.

Prayer: Dear loving heavenly father, please help us as parents to look past our mistakes and our children’s mistakes and see ourselves as your redeemed. Thank you for redeeming every aspect of our lives by the blood of your son. Thank you for our children, for specifically choosing us to be their parents. Lord please give us the wisdom, strength and patience we need each and every day. Help us to let go of what happened yesterday and grab onto the promises of today and the hope of tomorrow. We love you Lord, amen.
Engaging in Missions: Bring in your picture and biography of the child (from www.mare.org) that your family has committed to pray for until they are adopted. We pray for these children during our worship response time. Ridge Kids offering is going towards the adoption fund, please fill those baggies with change and return to Ridge Kids by the first week of November.
Ridge Kids Rock Wall: This is our way of rewarding individual students (they get to add their rock(s) to the wall during large group) and each grade (they work together to fill their bin and receive a special reward) for participating in Ridge Kids and creating habits that strengthen their relationship with the Church, the Word, their family, friends, community and the world. Learn more on our Family Ministry’s website.  Right now the standing are: 3rd grade in first, followed by 1st grade, then 4th grade, with 2nd grade bringing up the rear. Check out the Rock Wall page on my blog for all the ways your child can earn rocks!

The Wonder Wall: Check out the answers to your children’s questions on the Wonder Wall page.

Worship Songs: For the songs we are singing, check out the Worship Songs page.

God is Faithful

Teaching: This coming weekend, the Holy Spirit will be teaching us through Genesis 27:41-28:17; 32-33. It is the story of Jacob’s life after deceiving Isaac for the birthright and fleeing in fear from Esau. Through all of Jacob’s “screw-ups”, God remained faithful and continued to fulfill his covenant with Abraham through Jacob.

I love the promise of this story; how it relates to my life in general and as a parent. How many times do I try to make my own way instead of waiting for God and trusting in his perfect timing; which ultimately makes things way worse? More times than I care to admit! How many times do our children bulk our well thought and hard earned advice and direction? They try to make their own way, and in the process make things worse! (Almost every day it seems.)

Funny how we still can act like children isn’t it? I would like to tell you that when my children ignore me and make their own way that I always respond in love. Like God does in this week’s story (and to me), but let’s be real; I get angry, lose my temper and hurt the tender hearts that God has given me to care for. It is in these moments when I am convicted by the Holy Spirit to stop getting angry, take a step back, pray and ask for guidance, then look at the situation through the veil of God’s love. I love Matthew 7:1-5 (KJV) for times such as these “’Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’”

These verses help me to remember not to judge my children too harshly, because I disobey God and fight for control, just as they disobey me and fight for control. He loves me unconditionally in spite of all of my faults, and I need to love my children unconditionally in spite of their faults. God provides loving correction, wisdom and direction to me, and when I stop, pray and ask, he gives me the ability to provide loving correction, wisdom and direction that my children need.

Prayer: Dear Loving Father, please forgive us for judging our children harshly. Please give us the ability to see them as you see us. Help us to love them with a never ending always and forever love like yours. Give us the wisdom and patience to either provide loving correction or to allow natural consequences to happen. Help us to walk in your ways each and every day. Amen

Engaging in Missions: Bring in your picture and biography of the child (from www.mare.org) that your family has committed to pray for until they are adopted. We pray for these children during our worship response time. Ridge Kids offering is going towards the adoption fund, please fill those baggies with change and return to Ridge Kids by the first week of November.

Ridge Kids Rock Wall: This is our way of rewarding individual students (they get to add their rock(s) to the wall during large group) and each grade (they work together to fill their bin and receive a special reward) for participating in Ridge Kids and creating habits that strengthen their relationship with the Church, the Word, their family, friends, community and the world. Learn more on our Family Ministry’s website. Right now the standing are: 3rd grade in first, followed by 1st grade, then 4th grade, with 2nd grade bringing up the rear. Check out the Rock Wall page on my blog for all the ways your child can earn rocks!

The Wonder Wall: Check out the answers to your children’s questions on the Wonder Wall page.

Worship Songs: For the songs we are singing, check out the Worship Songs page.

Remebering and Celebrating God as Deliverer

I am so excited, we are almost to our FIRST remember & Celebrate weekend! This coming weekend we will be celebrating the Passover. There will be opportunities this week for kids to remember through items they have created, through sharing their stories and through ZONK, a fun game we will play to review what we have learned the last 5 weeks!

We will also be “breaking bread” together in celebration of all God has done.

Below is information about this lesson from Tru Curriculum:

Jewish Festivals
In ancient Jewish culture, children participated in seven festivals every year where they were able to enjoy the faith community in all of its richness. They ate delicious food, learned and joined in on cultural dances, and shared a common experience with people they hadn’t seen in perhaps months—cousins, friends, and family members from all over the region. They’d come together to celebrate sometimes for somewhere between seven and ten days!
Those days together in the faith community were rich markers of faith development. It would have been a spiritually shaping experience for children to live in that type of communal expression of worship. Today, we need to be diligent to ensure we’re creating an environment that offers this kind of community for our children.
(excerpt from Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony)

Equip 1.6
Every 6th and 13th lesson, we pause to remember and celebrate, just as God instructed His people to do.
Passover: A Feast Celebrating God as Deliverer
During Passover, the Israelites celebrated their deliverance from the Egyptians as well as God as their deliverer. Each portion of the Passover feast symbolizes a part of the narrative of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. The meal includes lamb to symbolize the slain lamb whose blood marked the Hebrews’ doorposts on the night of the 10th plague so that God would “pass over” those homes and death would not come to them. In the New Testament, Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb of Passover to offer deliverance from sin for people from every age.
Old Testament Significance
Several times a year, the Israelites gathered for a festival. In Leviticus 23, the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts … which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.’” The seven annual festivals are Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First Fruits, the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths). In addition, the Israelites celebrated the Festival of Jubilee on the 50th year following seven cycles of seven sabbatical years. They also gathered weekly to celebrate the Sabbath. During these celebrations, the Israelites took time to remember what God had done for His people and to celebrate His goodness. The entire faith community gathered without the burden of work to simply worship and celebrate. They ate, danced, sang, played instruments, prayed, and offered sacrifices to God.
New Testament Significance
The Feast of Passover was fulfilled by the death of the Messiah, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled by His sinless sacrifice, and the Feast of First Fruits was fulfilled by His resurrection. The Feast of Harvest began with a great harvest of three thousand souls by the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, who continues to harvest souls today. The Feast of Trumpets will announce Christ’s return, the Day of Atonement will usher in His judgment of the nations, the Feast of Tabernacles will begin the journey to our new home in a new heaven and earth, and the Feast of Jubilee symbolizes our eternity in heaven with our Lord and Savior—living in perfection, free from the debt of sin.