The Rock Church

This summer we have a great opportunity for children in our community! Every child that is 3 years old to those who attended the 5th grade in the 2009/2010 school year are invited to attend The High Seas Adventure VBS at The Rock Church. This 5 day experience is packed full of fun, team building, games, crafts, snacks and positive messages!

This VBS begins on Monday July 12th at 5:30pm and will end at 8:30pm and runs every night at the same time until Friday, July 16th and it is completely FREE! We will have a big finale at Lake Tye on Sunday July 18th following our services. There will be tons of activities that day including a boat race, comprised of boats your kids teams will build!

We want to invite every child in our community to attend, so spread the word to all your friends and family! While this event is free, children must be registered by June 30th to attend. Families can also register here, so sign up today!

The Results of Giving

Have you ever wanted something really bad and your parents told you that you could get it if you saved for it. So you save and save for it and then the day comes that you can finally get it! You are so excited when you finally are able to have it in your hands. The thing you get to have is a result of you saving on a regular basis. You now have something to show for it. It is the same with giving to God. In the Bible, it says we are going to have amazing blessings if we give to Him. He says He will pour out a blessing so huge that we can not even receive it! The best thing
about this is that as we give to God, people all over the world will be able to hear about God’s love for them and His gift of Jesus!

Malachi 3:10-11 NLT
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

Today’s Activity:

Think about ways you and your family can give to make heaven even more full of people! Talk to God and ask Him how He wants you to help.

People Give

What a great story about giving, let’s see how this applies to you and me. By sharing this story, Jesus is not implying that He wants all of us to empty our bank accounts, our cabinets, pantries and refrigerators and give away everything we have. What Jesus wants us to see is that this lady gave because she loved God. In another story, Jesus talked about people who make a big show of what they give so that they would look important. But this lady quietly gave everything she had, and Jesus noticed her because she was given from her heart. Giving money to God is important, because when we give to God, He uses it to spread the message of Jesus to other people. But we can also give other gifts to God too.

For example:
Our Time: Spending our time with someone because we love them is like giving a gift to them. Do you like to spend time with Mom and Dad just because you love them? You could also give of your time to God.
Our Obedience: As a kid, you can obey God by being kind and loving to others, and obeying and respecting your parents.
Our Self: Some of the most famous people in the Bible only had themselves to give to God, like Paul, who spent his WHOLE life traveling and teaching about Jesus.

Luke 21:1-4 NLT
1 While Jesus was in the Temple, He watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. 3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

Today’s Activity:

Think about other ways you can give to God. Write them down, and give them from your heart:

God Gave

John 3:16 NLT
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

When the Bible says that God loved “the world” He not only meant the earth itself, but most importantly, every person in it. That means every person that has been born, or ever will be born – ever! He loves people that make good choices, and people that make bad choices. He loves people in churches and people in jail, rich people, poor people, and He even loves people who don’t believe in Him. He loves me, and He loves you. In fact, He loves us all so much that He gave us the most precious part of Himself…His Son, Jesus to save us from our sins so that we could spend forever with Him. Even though Jesus was the greatest gift God could give us, He didn’t stop there…He continues to give to us every day!

Today’s Activity:

Take some time to think about things that you are grateful for and write them down. Then, spend some time in prayer just thanking Jesus for them. Examples: Food; clothing, shelter, friends, teachers…

Great Servants of God

Daniel tells us that the greatest service we can do for God is to “lead many to righteousness”, which means telling people about Jesus. There are a lot of people in the Bible who told people about Jesus. Peter and Paul are just two. Look in the New Testament and see how many you can find: There are also many people in the Old Testament who taught about Jesus even before He was born. They didn’t know what his name would be, but they knew God was going to send someone very special to save His people and bring them back to having a friendship with God. That’s how they “lead many to righteousness”. There were people like Abraham and Moses, for example. How many more can you find: Are there any people you know who “lead many to righteousness”…people like your pastor, for instance:

Daniel 12:3 NLT
3 Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.

Today’s Activity:
As you pray today, give God thanks for the people you know that share the message of Jesus with others. Ask God to bless them.

Jesus Wants Us To Serve

Matthew 25:35-36, 40 NLT
35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’…. 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

In this scripture, Jesus points out how important it is to Him that we serve one another. When we show love and kindness to others, we’re are also showing Jesus that we love Him. That’s why He says that service you do for others is service to Him. The examples of caring given in this list cover all the basic needs of every person. We all need food, water, friendship, clothes, care when we’re sick, and somebody to talk to when we’re in trouble.

Today’s Activity:
Go through the list with your parents and talk about how you can help someone with that need. Try to be specific. First, here’s an example:

Someone who is hungry: We can keep canned goods in the car and give them to the homeless people we sometimes see.
Someone who is thirsty:
Someone who is a stranger:
Someone who needs clothes:
Someone who is sick:
Someone who is in trouble:
Ask God to help you be aware of the needs around you, and the ability to help.

Jesus Served

To serve is to do something for someone so that they won’t have to do it. In Jesus’ day, an inexperienced servant was given the task of washing guests’ feet, because it was considered a very dirty job that no one else wanted to do….kind of like having to clean the toilets every day. Even though Jesus was the Son of God, He didn’t think He was too good to wash His disciples feet. In fact, He considered it the most important job He could do at that moment. Jesus had been doing a lot of other things to serve people, like healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching people about how much God loved them. Even though He was acting as a servant, His disciples didn’t understand that. Jesus wanted His disciples not only to see what He was doing to save and help others, but He wanted them to know how much He loved them by taking care of them too. By doing this, Jesus was setting an example for them that they must love each other and take care of each other.

John 13:35 NLT
4 So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.

Today’s Activity:

Talk with your parents about the greatest thing Jesus did to serve us. Do you know what that was?

The Life

God’s Word is full of life. How can words printed on a page be alive and full of life? As we begin to read and learn God’s Word every day, we begin to learn different things from the same story, and then we find ways to apply the lessons we learn to things we might be going through at the same time. Here’s an example: In Luke 19, we read about Zacchaeus, a tax collector in Jericho. He was a short fellow who had to climb a tree to see Jesus pass by. But Jesus called him by name to took him to his house for dinner. Maybe you’re feeling like no one ever notices you, but by reading this story, you can learn that when you look for Jesus, He sees you. You could read this same story another time and realize that Jesus likes to spend time with you, all you have to do is invite Him in. The words haven’t changed, the meaning hasn’t changed, but how it relates to your life has changed. God’s Word is just one of the ways God speaks to us every day. He opens our hearts to see what He wants to tell us in his WORD about how he LOVES us and is CARING for us.

John 14:5-6 NKJV
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Today’s Activity:

Read the story of Zacchaeus tonight with your parents, and see if there is anything else that God might want you to learn in this story.

The Truth

When Jesus was arrested, the Roman governor, Pilate, asked Him if He was a King. John 18:37 tells us that Jesus answered him, saying “ You are right in saying I am a King. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” So, what is this truth that Jesus is talking about? It’s the truth about who God is, what He is like, how much He loves us and that He wants to have a relationship with us. We learn all these truths by reading God’s Word. Here are a few other things the Bible tells us about God: He is Love, Eternal, the Beginning and the End, and our Creator.

John 14:5-6 NKJV
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Today’s Activity:
Talk to your parents tonight about all the cool things that God IS! Ask God to show you even more cool things about Himself.

Show Us The Way

Have you ever looked at a roadmap? It shows all the different roads in an area or city. If we want to go somewhere, we can look at the map and find which road will take us where we want to go. Without it, we can get lost, but by following our map, we can stay on the right path. The Bible is a lot like a roadmap for our lives. Through the stories in the Bible, we can see examples of how God helped people find their way through difficult situations. By reading about these, we can learn how to go down the right path in our lives too.

John 14:5-6 NKJV
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Today’s Activity:
Do you have a favorite Bible story? Read it tonight and write a little bit about what this story means to you.