Over the remainder of Term 4 we will post some devotions you can do together as a family. There are three per week (20 in total) based on the book The Family Reading Bible: The Christmas Story. These will give the big picture of God's grace in sending Jesus, our Saviour to live on earth and walk among us.
Families are important to God and yours matters to Him very much. He wants your family to be a safe, loving haven where you can raise your children to love and obey Him and believe in His Son, Jesus.
As parents, God gives you the awesome job of teaching your children about Him and His Word. We help you with that but you are the one who has the mandate from God. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:4 - 9: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
There are also the following extra sections you can use with each devotion if you want to look them up:
Just the Facts: Straight-forward questions with concrete answers. Some are easy for younger ones and some are more challenging for older ones.
Let's Talk: These are discussion questions and may have more than one right answer, or be open-ended with no answer. They are not necessarily connected to a verse. Use this to encourage your children to think about what God wants them to learn from the story. Some may be too difficult if you have young children.
Why This Matters: Kids often ask "Why do I need to know this?" This helps answer that question.
Points of Interest: This highlights something surprising or little known.
Devotions
I wanted to background the early Bible times leading up to these devotions but I couldn't give it justice without missing out on some pretty important parts of history. So let me just encourage you to keep dipping into your Bible and studying it for yourself. Our students do this throughout their years at Matamata Christian School too. So we are going to pick up the story from the time of King David, Israel's second king and a man God described as having a heart after His own heart.
Families are important to God and yours matters to Him very much. He wants your family to be a safe, loving haven where you can raise your children to love and obey Him and believe in His Son, Jesus.
As parents, God gives you the awesome job of teaching your children about Him and His Word. We help you with that but you are the one who has the mandate from God. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:4 - 9: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
There are also the following extra sections you can use with each devotion if you want to look them up:
Just the Facts: Straight-forward questions with concrete answers. Some are easy for younger ones and some are more challenging for older ones.
Let's Talk: These are discussion questions and may have more than one right answer, or be open-ended with no answer. They are not necessarily connected to a verse. Use this to encourage your children to think about what God wants them to learn from the story. Some may be too difficult if you have young children.
Why This Matters: Kids often ask "Why do I need to know this?" This helps answer that question.
Points of Interest: This highlights something surprising or little known.
Devotions
I wanted to background the early Bible times leading up to these devotions but I couldn't give it justice without missing out on some pretty important parts of history. So let me just encourage you to keep dipping into your Bible and studying it for yourself. Our students do this throughout their years at Matamata Christian School too. So we are going to pick up the story from the time of King David, Israel's second king and a man God described as having a heart after His own heart.