Put On Love: Common Courtesy

I went to a revival last night and really got stirred up. There were probably about two thousand people there and the preacher kept on yelling out about how God is going to make a revival in Atlanta. All the people there were so excited shouting "uh-huh," "oh yeah," "amen" and some "come on!" I could not help but think that all these people were there expecting God to just start up the revival. However, God does not work that way - He could if He wanted to because He is God, but that is just not His mode of operation. In order for there to be a revival in Atlanta, we cannot just go to some long worship fest and have it happen. If the people of Atlanta want an effective revival to happen, that is absolutely filled with God and is unquenchable, we have to have a revival within ourselves first and we have got to get back to basic common courtesy.

I cannot help but wonder how many "Christians" have Jesus plastered across the bumper of their car, then proceed to be a jerk in the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant? How many "Christians" actually hold the door open for people that are behind them when walking into a store? How many "Christians" are polite when talking to other people, older or younger? Christ-followers get a bad label because it seems like "Christians" cannot manage to even show the slightest bit of common courtesy. (As parents, you get to see a little bit more of my real side.)

Sunday we are going teach the kids that Jesus wants us to be nice to everyone (Colossians 3:12-14). The best way that we can practice that is by doing it on an everyday basis (common courtesy). We will demonstrate a few different things they can do to be courteous on a day to day basis.

There will be a challenge for them in this coming week (June 1-7). The challenge will be for the kids to use as much common courtesy as possible. These courtesies include: Opening the door for someone else, Picking up something that someone dropped and handing it to them, Saying things like "Hello" "have a nice day" "thank you" "your welcome" "yes mam" "no mam" "yes sir"and "no sir." Take notes on how much they actually do and who ever has more than 15 of any of these, in any combination will get a treat the following week. You have to sign off saying that they did it for them to receive the treat.

I know some of this may sound silly, but you would be surprised how many kids and adults do not do this stuff. Maybe you don't do it- my challenge is also for you to try it for one week. I guarantee if we all did these things, we would improve the image of the Christ-followers.

Grace and peace,
Brantley

Put On Love

I have a t-shirt in my drawer at home...actually that's a lie - it's in a laundry basket at home. I have had it since I was in eighth grade. It is an orange University of Tennessee t-shirt that has severely faded over many washes, the sleeves are torn off, it has holes all over it and it is so comfortable it's not even funny. My parents begged me to trash it before I got married and now Hannah has also asked me to throw it away. The hard part is that I have become so attached to it and it is so comfortable.

I'm sure that for most of you, at least most of the guys, you have had a shirt that has been washed, trashed and resurrected many times and you love it. Nothing feels quite as comfortable as that shirt.

When we were saved, God gave us a shirt like that. He gave us a shirt that no matter how much we try to mess it up or how many times we are told by the world to get rid of it - it is perfect and as a Christian it is the most comfortable shirt we could ever wear. In Colossians 3:14 we are told to "Put on Love." The previous verses give us some kind of idea of what the attributes of Love are. Over the next couple of weeks we are going to take a look at aspects of love that Colossians talks about ("Heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other.").

[Children's Translation] - Being nice to everyone, serving, patience and forgiving.

I will have this Sunday's overview up tomorrow.

Love and God's Prosperity,
Brantley

Happy Memorial Day

I worked this morning and hung out by the pool the rest of the afternoon. I hope nobody got too sunburned and now I get to go do school work.

Peace and good food,
Brantley

Prayer Math

I am safely back on land! We will have no projector tomorrow because it is broken. This means normal worship and fun images will not happen tomorrow. So, Let's get to it!

Colossians 4:2 says "devote yourselves to prayer." We can find this word "devote" in relation to the word "prayer" all throughout the New Testament. As a result, I figured it would be one of those fundamentals that your children should know about. Every Sunday they come in, they pray out loud in front of their small group. I will explain an easy process and I hope that you can help your child practice this at home, so that they become more comfortable in their prayer life - both private and public.

Check it out: The book of John was written to believers of all kinds. Most of the time when a person comes to Christ, most people recommend reading John first. Why? It shows fundamentals of Christ-following. The main thing I want to focus on is that in John 14:13, 14:14, 14:26, 15:16 and 16:23 they all talk about prayer in JESUS NAME. This is crucial and we will come back to it in just a minute, so tuck that in the back of your mind.

I will be teaching the kids how to pray a basic prayer using what I will call "Prayer Math." I think all of the kids in there know that 1+1=2 and probably even 1+1+1+1=4. Using that and Matthew 6:9-13 (The Model Prayer), I will show them how to pray a basic prayer.

Jesus started with "Our Father in Heaven." He identified whom He was praying to - God.

Dear God + ________

Then He said, "hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." He gave worth or praise to God. For the sake of children we will translate this as "Thanks."

Dear God + Thank You for... + _________

"Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Jesus Prayed for what He needed/wanted.

Dear God + Thank You for... + Please help us/give us + ___________

Finally, we come back to John and praying in Jesus name. Jesus, in the Model Prayer did not pray "in Jesus name," because... well He's Jesus. However, we are told by Jesus to pray all things in His name. So, that is the conclusion to the prayer.

Dear God + Thank You for... +Please help us/give us + In Jesus name, Amen

These four components added up equal a basic prayer you and your children can pray. Now then, tomorrow morning...or I guess at this point it would be this morning, I will teach your children this "Prayer Math." Their assignment for this week is to teach you the "Prayer Math" and pray with you.

Something I would encourage you to do, something Hannah and I are bad about doing (so I am encouraging myself as well), is make sure you pray with your family.

May peace and mercy flow abundantly through your home,
Brantley

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Well, Thursday I will be getting on an airplane for the first time ever! I'm scared. Yes I know I am a wimp. Anyway, my lovely wife and I will be headed to Ohio for her brother's wedding. We will not be coming back until Monday. This means that I will not be there to teach. However, Mrs. Wiseman will be there to entertain your children with KidMo. The newer kids have no idea what this is. It is basically a DVD that teaches the children.

I know this is baseball season for some of the kids and I am sure there are other things going on in your child's life. So, if you would like for us to come to a game or whatever it is - shoot us an e-mail with a schedule of games and we will try to make it to one.

Peace and Love,
Brantley

May 11, 2008 Sermon overview

Last week we talked about Yahweh (God) wanting us to become tangled in Him. Once we accept Christ, God puts a spiritual leash on us - so to speak - and does not want us to run away from Him, but run into Him. Much the same as you might be walking your dog and he/she decides to be so close to you that he/she gets tangled in your legs with the leash. God also wants us to Get tangled in His legs. He desires for us to want to be close to Him.

This week we want to show the kids exactly what it means to be tangled in God and and to become tangled in God.

When Yahweh created man, He desired a relationship, a personal relationship - one that would allow Him to walk with Adam and Eve on an evening basis. This was shown in Genesis 3:8 "They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." However, after the fall of man, God would no longer be walking through the Garden to talk with Adam and Eve, and we would not be able to have that type of relationship with Him either. So, did His desire for relationships with mankind die with the fall of man? No. But how are we supposed to have that relationship with Him if we cannot walk with Him?

There are two pieces to this answer. The first of which is that He put something amazing inside each of us. He put His characteristics inside of us. In Genesis 1:26 the word for "image" closely translates to "Representative figure." If we look at the way we form relationships here on earth we can also figure out how to form a relationship with our ultimate best friend, Yahweh.

First, we need to know His name - Yahweh.
Second, we must learn about Him - through the Bible.
Finally, we must continue to talk to Him on a day to day basis. Yes, He already knows everything, but He desperately wants us to talk to Him. He desperately wants us to get tangled in Him.

There is a second crucial piece to the answer of how to get tangled or how to have a relationship with God.

We have to accept Christ as THE/OUR Savior and the Son of God. That Opens the door for the rest of the beautiful relationship.

Grace and Peace,
Brantley

Migraines Stink

Welcome to Kidz Live! I woke up and received a migraine from God this morning. Praise His name. If I did not get one i would have spent my time probably working out and doing something far less constructive with my time. Seeing as how finals are tonight and tomorrow, I need most of the time today to focus on school. As soon as I am done with this, I will take some medicine and take a final in Theology... nothing like take finals on drugs! I will start updating this pretty frequently for all my parents out there who want to know what the heck is going on in Kidz church. I know the music is loud, the kids are crazy and I do things a little unorthodox, but by golly, by the time they get to Pastor Robby - they will know how to get a hold of God and know the fundamentals. Grace and Peace, Brantley