We wanted to write a little on a great opportunity for all ABC teachers called the FOCUS Conference. Whether you teach adults, youth, or children this conference is for you! The dates are Friday night, April 17 and Saturday morning, April 18 so it's not a lot of your time, but we really believe that it will be worth it to you to come as we spend some time in fellowship and in training. One of our main goals with this conference is to equip you in your classrooms as you teach and to be sharpened together as teachers!
We'll eat dinner together on Friday night and then have one large group session altogether. Then we'll break out into our age-appropriate sessions. Here's the schedule for the weekend:
Friday 17th
6:00 – 7:00 Dinner in the Fellowship Hall
7:00pm – 7:45pm Combined Group Session with Dan Cook
7:45pm – 8:00pm break
8:00pm – 9:00pm Age-Group Track Session 1
Saturday 18th
8:30am – 9:00am continental breakfast
9:00am – 9:45am Age-Group Track Session 2
9:45am – 10:00am break
10:00am – 11:00am Age-Group Track Session 3
We've got some great folks coming in to teach and to train and they'll be covering some really good topics. Some examples of what we'll be talking about in the children's teachers breakouts are: discipline in the classroom, age-appropriate story-telling, games, songs and other tools that you can use in your classroom.
Feel free to email Nathan with any questions, but we really hope you'll sign up and join us that weekend! Click here to sign-up today!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Forgive Them
Tim Shaw
Adult Education Pastor
As spring is in the air causing the trees to bud and flowers to bloom, my thoughts are more on the approaching Easter season than the calendar season. The whole basis of our faith is the Cross of Christ and His resurrection!
When Christ was crucified, He made seven profound statements while He hung on the tree before He breathed His last earthly breath of air. As I think about Jesus Christ and what he went through on the cross, the word "amazing" dominates my mind. We can learn a lot about Christ's character from these few statements that I believe to be truly amazing. Of those seven, the one that I find the most convicting was the first. "Then said Jesus, 'Father forgive them; for they know not what they do'." Luke 23:34
Jesus, having just been nailed to a cross, was in the process of dying by the most painful method of execution that has ever been devised by man. In the midst of His agony, Jesus looked down from the cross at the people responsible for His suffering and offered up a prayer requesting that God forgive them. If you think as I do, you read this and thought, "Wow, that's amazing!" And from our human reasoning it is. But should it surprise us that He would offer such a prayer? After all, this forgiveness if the very reason that He chose to lay down His life!
There is debate among theologians as to whom Christ was referring when He said "they know not what they do." Is He referring to the Romans who were responsible for carrying out the execution or to the Jews who failed to recognize their Messiah? I believe He was referring to the Jews, for they made a serious mistake and failed to recognize God's plan for their nation. As Paul later wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:8, if they had known who Christ was, they would not have crucified Him. Regardless of which group He was referring to, all the participants in His death were included in the prayer for forgiveness.
This same forgiveness that Christ prayed from the cross is available for everyone. However, one must accept it before salvation can be claimed. How about you? Have you ever come to the point in your life where you realized that you were a hopeless sinner and that you stood in need of a Savior? Have you ever asked that Savior, who loved you enough to lay down His life for you, for forgiveness of the sins you have committed? Have you ever placed your faith and trust in that Savior as the only means by which you can have hope and eternal life? If you have not, there is no better time than right now.
If you have received Christ as your personal Savior, are you living by the example He set? Do you love your enemies? Do you offer or withhold forgiveness from those who have caused you pain and suffering? Amazing, astounding, miraculous -- choose any descriptive word you like. Then choose to live for Christ, and extend the mercy, grace, and compassion He has shown you to other people.
Adult Education Pastor
As spring is in the air causing the trees to bud and flowers to bloom, my thoughts are more on the approaching Easter season than the calendar season. The whole basis of our faith is the Cross of Christ and His resurrection!
When Christ was crucified, He made seven profound statements while He hung on the tree before He breathed His last earthly breath of air. As I think about Jesus Christ and what he went through on the cross, the word "amazing" dominates my mind. We can learn a lot about Christ's character from these few statements that I believe to be truly amazing. Of those seven, the one that I find the most convicting was the first. "Then said Jesus, 'Father forgive them; for they know not what they do'." Luke 23:34
Jesus, having just been nailed to a cross, was in the process of dying by the most painful method of execution that has ever been devised by man. In the midst of His agony, Jesus looked down from the cross at the people responsible for His suffering and offered up a prayer requesting that God forgive them. If you think as I do, you read this and thought, "Wow, that's amazing!" And from our human reasoning it is. But should it surprise us that He would offer such a prayer? After all, this forgiveness if the very reason that He chose to lay down His life!
There is debate among theologians as to whom Christ was referring when He said "they know not what they do." Is He referring to the Romans who were responsible for carrying out the execution or to the Jews who failed to recognize their Messiah? I believe He was referring to the Jews, for they made a serious mistake and failed to recognize God's plan for their nation. As Paul later wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:8, if they had known who Christ was, they would not have crucified Him. Regardless of which group He was referring to, all the participants in His death were included in the prayer for forgiveness.
This same forgiveness that Christ prayed from the cross is available for everyone. However, one must accept it before salvation can be claimed. How about you? Have you ever come to the point in your life where you realized that you were a hopeless sinner and that you stood in need of a Savior? Have you ever asked that Savior, who loved you enough to lay down His life for you, for forgiveness of the sins you have committed? Have you ever placed your faith and trust in that Savior as the only means by which you can have hope and eternal life? If you have not, there is no better time than right now.
If you have received Christ as your personal Savior, are you living by the example He set? Do you love your enemies? Do you offer or withhold forgiveness from those who have caused you pain and suffering? Amazing, astounding, miraculous -- choose any descriptive word you like. Then choose to live for Christ, and extend the mercy, grace, and compassion He has shown you to other people.
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