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Family Devotional: God’s Covenant with David The path to Israel’s throne was not easy for David. Saul had tried multiple times to kill him, and David had to flee for his life, leaving behind his good friend Jonathan. But God had appointed David to be king, and God was faithful. Leading up to 2 Samuel
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Family Devotional: David Showed Mercy David’s relationship with King Saul was complicated. Early on, David served the king by playing the lyre for him whenever he felt unwell. After David killed Goliath, he became good friends with Saul’s son Jonathan. But David’s success made Saul jealous. Saul could see that David was rising in popularity.
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The Ark Was Captured Family Devotional The ark of God (also called “the ark of the covenant”) was an important symbol in the lives of God’s people. Not only was the ark the original container for the Ten Commandments, it symbolized God’s presence with His people. In Exodus 25, God gave Moses instructions for creating
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Hannah and Samuel Family Devotional The time of the judges was turbulent for God’s people. The Israelites had conquered the promised land of Canaan, but after Joshua’s death, they fell into a cycle of sin. This was the culture in which Hannah and her husband Elkanah lived. They were ordinary Israelites—Elkanah, a devoted worshiper of
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Ruth and Boaz Family Devotional Only two books in the Old Testament bear the name of a woman: Ruth and Esther. Ruth’s story occurs at the time when judges ruled over Israel. God’s people were characterized by rebellion and immorality. At a time when the Israelites desperately needed a king to lead them back to
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Gideon Devotional Last week, your kids learned about Deborah and Barak. This week, Judges 6 starts out in a familiar way: “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” The period of Judges was not a good time for the Israelites. Their cycle of sin, bondage, deliverance, and peace clearly showed
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Crossing the Jordan Family Devotional Thank you for choosing to use the Gospel Project for Kids. You and your children have been learning about the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness. Forty years later, it was time for the next generation to enter the land. Only one geographical barrier separated the Israelites from the promised land
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The Bronze Snake Family Devotionals Last week, kids learned that the Israelites believed the discouraging report of the land of Canaan instead of Joshua and Caleb’s good report. As a result, God punished the Israelites for their lack of faith. The Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness when they complained to Moses and to
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Rules for Sacrifice Family Devotionals The tabernacle was complete. God now had a place where His glory could dwell without causing the Israelites to fear death. God had given His people laws from the mountain, and He gave them more rules for living and worshiping Him in the tabernacle. These rules are recorded in the
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The Tabernacle Was Built Family Devotionals Thirteen of the last sixteen chapters of the Book of Exodus contain instructions for building the tabernacle. The word tabernacle means “dwelling place.” The tabernacle was a portable tent where God met with His people. God wanted to dwell among them. (See Ex. 29:45-46.) Moses had been on the
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The Golden Calf Family Devotional God led His people into the wilderness, but He did not leave them there alone. The Lord was with His people. He provided meat, bread, and water. He guided them to Mount Sinai, where He met with their leader, Moses. The Lord came down on the mountain in fire, and
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The Ten Commandments Family Devotional As the rescued people of Israel traveled toward the promised land, God gave them laws to guide them in how to live and to help them understand God’s perfect holiness. God’s laws covered every part of their lives and were summed up in the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments can
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Jethro Helped Moses Family Devotional Moses and the Israelites had experienced a harrowing journey from Egypt into the wilderness. They made their way toward Midian, a land familiar to Moses. As a young man, Moses had fled from Egypt to Midian after he killed an Egyptian. (See Ex. 2:11-15.) Exodus 2 describes Moses’ first interaction
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Family Devotional: Bread from Heaven The Israelites’ future looked bright. The Lord, through Moses, had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He fought for them, displaying His power by parting the Red Sea and subsequently destroying Egypt’s army. God was working out His plan to bring the Israelites to the promised land, the land God
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The Red Sea Crossing Family Devotional The crossing of the Red Sea is an event in history that displays God’s grace, remembered for generations as God’s mighty redemptive act. God had clearly shown His power in Egypt through the plagues; now He was about to do something even greater. Instead of leading the Israelites into
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Moses Was Born and Called Family Devotional Moses was born into a culture that hated his people. If you remember, the Israelites—descendants of Israel (Jacob)—had set up their home in Egypt when a famine forced them to seek out food. They became so numerous that Pharaoh felt threatened and forced them into slavery. But their
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Joseph Saved His Family Family Devotional Last week, kids learned that God had a plan for Joseph’s suffering. The land of Egypt enjoyed seven years of plenty before a famine struck, just as Pharaoh had dreamed. During that time, Joseph gathered all the excess food and stored it in the cities. The famine was severe
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Another church within our network of churches has this in their description of their mission and vision – and I think it’s the perfect intro for what I want to communicate in this email. In Jeremiah 29:7, God commands His people who have been exiled in Babylon to “work for the peace and prosperity of
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A Realistic Approach to Video for Church Plant and Church Planters This week I was contacted by a good friend who is starting a new church about how we do video. After spending several hours compiling a list of options and then writing a long email explaining the options, I realized that this is information
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A “No-So-Much Book Review: Emotional Intelligence 2.0 I was told very early on in ministry that “Leaders are readers”. Since that day I have been trying to be the kind of reader that lives up to the leadership I have been gracefully afforded. Most of the time I read books on theology or leadership. Today
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C.S. Lewis on Preaching Just read a great article that I ran into while preparing for an upcoming message that I had to post – if for any reason just so I have a place I can come back and read it. As a pastor of one of the churches in Minnesota, I feel that
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How Great Churches Fall – “Leadership Learnings” Part 2 …a company can indeed look like the picture of health on the outside yet already be in decline, dangerously on the cusp of a huge fall…that’s what makes the process of decline so terrifying; it can sneak up on you, and then – seemingly all of
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Everyone Is Not A Leader – “Leadership Learnings” Part 1 This past Fall I began a graduate level course on Leadership from a Christian perspective and I thought I’d share some of my favorite leadership learnings that I came across along the way. Today I literally want to share a direct quite from one of
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Sermon On The Mount – What He Said The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) is the most important sermon of all time. This is not true just because Jesus was the one who gave it, but this sermon was the foundation that Jesus set for what a life fully submitted to him looks