prayer
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts

May The Peoples Praise You

Psalm 67:1-7

1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. 5Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

We introduced a song couple weeks ago called “May the Peoples Praise You” written by Keith and Kristyn Getty, Staurt Townend, Ed Csh, and David Zimmer. I have learned to appreciate songs that have been written by multiple writers. The depth of Biblically based lyrical content combined with a singe-able and beautifully written melody shows that the song has been labored over, prayed over, and written from the perspective of multiple different sources. This song comes directly from Psalm 67 and gives the call to proclaim the name of the Lord because we have “been called out of darkest night”. (Romans 3:23) The purpose of our redemption is to make Christ known! What a challenge to make praise the name of the Lord and work towards making His name known throughout all the earth!

Here is a link to the song so you can continue to listen to it! I am looking forward to singing this song with you again on Sunday!

 

Keith & Kristyn Getty - May The Peoples Praise You (Live)

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6 Ways to Teach Your Kids the Bible by Jon Nielson

My one year old daughter loves to read. What I mean by “read" is more just flip through pages, look at all the colors and animals, and mumble through her favorite words. Every night we try to read a book before she goes to bed, and often times we read through a Children’s Bible that does a great job depicting the biblical stories and relating them to the gospel. It has caused me to think of how I will continue to teach my children the Bible. I know this can often be a struggle for parents. A lot of words can be difficult to understand, the chapters and can be long, and the parent’s may not have a full understanding of what a passage means in order to articulate it in a clear way. This article by Jon Neilson gives some very helpful and practical ways we can do this. Enjoy!

 In Christ, 
Brandon H.

6 Ways to Teach Your Kids the Bible

The Gospel Coalition · by Jon Nielson · July 26, 2017

 I’m a father of three young kids. I can’t think of many things more important for them than regular exposure to the living Word of God. If you’re a Christian parent of young children, I assume you share the same conviction: Your kids need to hear from God, and you long for them to listen carefully to his good Word.

 But it’s hard. Life is busy, kids are lively, and reading the Bible often struggles to compete with the Disney channel, Legos, and the newest phone app.

 Here are six tips my wife and I have found helpful in our rhythm of Bible reading with our young kids (currently 6, 5, and 3).

1. Pick a regular time and place for Bible reading.

In general, children tend to love a routine—a regular, anticipated time with Mom and/or Dad associated with a particular activity. Sporadic and random Bible reading may not engage your children in the same way a regular, planned, prioritized “special” time will.

 In our home, we’ve chosen the chunk of time before bed for Bible reading. Our two older children know that, in the 15 to 20 minutes before bed, we’re going to gather in their room to read a Bible story, discuss it together, and pray. They’ve come to look forward to it, and it’s become as regular and natural a process as brushing their teeth. It may even help them sleep better, as many bedtime routines seem to.

2. Read short chunks.

Some of us will have to guard against being overly ambitious in the beginning. Since we believe in the power of God’s Word, we want our children exposed to as much of it as possible. So we read two full chapters from Genesis each night. Needless to say, a 5-year-old’s eyes will probably start to glaze over.

 I encourage you to pick manageable passages, chosen based on thoughtful criteria. You may decide to begin in Genesis, and move through the Bible sequentially. The key is to not rush it, and to think ahead of time about the right “chunks” for each day.

3. Stop to explain and gauge comprehension.

Even if the passage for the day is only one chapter, that can be a lot for a young child to absorb if read all at once. It’s incredibly important to stop often along the way, explain things, ask questions to gauge comprehension, and ensure your kids are following along and grasping what the passage is saying.

4. Think of age-appropriate questions for discussion.

This aspect has become my children’s favorite part of our nightly time together in God’s Word. I’ve begun thinking of a few basic questions for each of them that will help them do three things with the passage we’ve read: (1) solidify their comprehension of the passage, (2) connect it to the Bible’s overall story, and (3) apply it to their lives.

 When you ask simple questions, you’re doing much more than “quizzing” them to ensure they were paying attention. You are actually leading them, interactively, in a time of interpreting and applying God’s Word. And you are preparing them to engage the Scriptures directly on their own in the years to come.

5. Connect each passage to Jesus.

Jesus makes an amazing—even shocking—statement to the Pharisees in John 5: “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life. But it is they that bear witness about me.” He is saying, in no uncertain terms, that the Scriptures are centered around him—his incarnation, his life, his teaching, his death, his resurrection, his return.

 What does this mean for daily Bible reading with our kids? It means if we’re trying to help them understand any part of the biblical storyline, we must give them a sense of how that part connects to the major character—and great climax—of that big story.

6. Let Bible reading lead to prayer.

Listening to kids who are learning to pray can be humorous. If yours are anything like mine, their prayers can be hilarious in their simplicity and self-focus. God has heard prayers in our home for dogs, movies, imaginary people, and, of course, coveted toys.

 If we’re honest, though, our children’s prayers often are really just “kid versions” of our own. We can easily resort to praying only for our needs and wants, rather than spending time praising and adoring God, and asking for his Spirit’s work in the lives of others. One way to grow in our prayer lives, then, is to intentionally tether our prayers to our reading. We can help our kids “talk back” to God daily, based on the ways he’s speaking to them through the Scriptures.

 Parents, press on. Daily, prayer-fueled exposure to the Word of God is the best gift we can ever give our kids.

 Reprinted from The Gospel Coalition, Inc.. Copyright 2017 Find the original article here at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/6-ways-to-teach-your-kids-the-bible
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Before The War Series by Brian Loveless

Everybody will go to war this week with something.  There is going to be some obstacle for you and it's going to be a fight just coming face to face with it again.
- Brian Loveless



"The Fights Too Big For You" Brian Loveless Sermon on June 25, 2017 at Calvary Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas. Part 1 of the series "Before The War"
 

** Part 2 "Standing On Your Knees" was not recorded due to technical difficulties.

"The Armor Of Identity" Brian Loveless Sermon on July 9, 2017 at Calvary Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas. Part 3 of the series "Before The War".
 

"The Armor Of Surrender" Brian Loveless Sermon on July 16, 2017 at Calvary Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas. Part 4 of the series "Before The War".
 

"The Armor Of Intercession" Brian Loveless Sermon on July 23, 2017 at Calvary Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, Texas. Part 5 of the series "Before The War".
 

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Meditating on Scripture

Meditating on Scripture 

I read a statement the other day in a devotional book by Robby and Kandi Gallaty that was simple, yet powerful. It said, “prayer is the most effective tool we have against any opposition or temptation we face, both in our personal lives and in our church today.” I truly believe prayer is vital for the life of the Christian and for the church. Because of this, I believe that understanding what prayer is and how to pray is also vitally important. There is a spiritual discipline that is a vital step before prayer that many Christians tend to leave out, and that is meditation on the Scripture. At its most basic level, meditation on Scripture is getting the truth of the Word of God from your head to your heart. Meditation literally means to “mutter”, to work out, or to work through. Doing this allows the Word of God to become real to you and allows you to commune with God at a deeper level.


Timothy Keller, in his book, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy With God, gives some helpful questions to ask when approaching the Scriptures that allows you to work through the Scriptures and move it from the head to the heart.


  1. Is there any example for me to follow? 
  2. Is there any command for me to obey? 
  3. Is there any error for me to avoid? 
  4. Is there any sin for me to forsake 
  5. Is there any promise for me to claim? 
  6. Is there any new thought about God himself? 
  7. Am I living in light of this? 
  8. What difference does this passage make? 
  9. Am I taking this seriously? 
  10. If I believed and held to this, how would that change things? 
  11. When I forget this, how does that affect me and all my relationships? 
Over the past couple of weeks, I have done my best at working through these questions and it has really helped my understanding of the Scriptures. I hope this helps you as well in your pursuit of seeking after God.  
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All In - Forty Days of Prayer: "Like A Child"

Take your bibles this morning if you would turn to Luke 18. I imagine some of you the moment I came up on state probably took your eyes away from the video for just a moment see what on Earth I was up to. A lot of you no doubt recognize the chairs I have on stage this morning.  These chairs go all the way back to the beginning with this church. 

[Indicating larger char] A lot of these chairs (this will mean something to some of you) go back to the J. Frank Norris days, the seminary days, and all of that.  When this church got its launch, these were the chairs God's people were sitting in when they heard the word, they grew in Christ, and started reaching their community.
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Church Family by Weston Winter

Weston and Barbara Winter began attending Calvary Baptist Church in 2004 and have been faithful attendees the Prime Timers Sunday school class ever since. In November 2016, Wes and Barb’s son, Jace, was suddenly called home to be with Jesus at only 42 years old. When the news came their Sunday school class was quick to respond. 

Church Family by Wes Winter 

It is amazing to me how fast members of the Primetime class were at our house. It meant so much to Barb and I that they would drop everything to be there, support us in prayer, and comfort us. The "world famous" Primetime class came through with meals until we eventually had to ask them to stop bringing them; it was more food than we could eat. That was such a blessing.

The cards and prayers are still coming! My dear, sweet wife is trying to answer those cards but she is overcome with grief every time she starts doing them. Please continue to pray for her. Pray for me as well. I try to restrain my emotions the best I can but we have our ups and downs. I know am not alone in this. Friends like David & Sharon and Gary & Sheryl, who have gone through this kind of loss, the loss of a son, have been so helpful to us.  Please continue to pray for us.

If you are not in a small group or a Sunday school class, please join one. The love, the fellowship, the bond that you have in that class is immeasurable. I don’t know how anybody functions through life, with all of its ups and downs, without a church family. You are closer than blood. All of you are close to us. We can call on you any time and you’re there. It is a great support and a great feeling to know that you have a family, a church family that is that close.

The Primetime class will always be family and all the rest of you that aren’t in Primetime, I’ll just call you cousins OK?
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