The Green Room Sessions: The Lord Our God
This Sunday, we’ll introduce the song The Lord Our God. In the latest edition of the Green Room Sessions, Erik Palmer and Paul Goodnight discuss healthy food options for the band, cultivating a culture of worship, songwriting, and the personal impact this song had with Erik’s family.
The Green Room Sessions are a sneak peak into the heart of the worship ministry at Reston Bible Church. We have a huge desire to communicate God’s Word through song and respond to the Spirit, freely worshiping when we’re together. Our hope is that these short videos will provide an extension of the community at RBC and supply your home, car, and office with great songs about the greatness and love of our incredibly able God.
See more Green Room Sessions here: http://rstbl.ch/PrUkYS
Children’s Ministry at RBC: Raise the Bar
As we begin the new school year and look at our schedules and our priorities, I would like to propose a challenge for you to consider.
Foreign language training, math tutors, sport specific training, piano lessons, science camp… sound like the line-up for a sophomore in college? It’s actually a small sampling of the academic and sporting pursuits common amongst elementary school age children here in Northern Virginia. So many of the experts say it: “children have an amazing capability to learn at a very early age.” Very few of us would disagree.
Why is it, then, that so many parents are satisfied if their children can do little more than recite some basic facts about Noah and the flood, the birth of Jesus Christ, or the account of Daniel in the lion’s den – but can tell us nothing of what we learn about our God or our relationship to him through these accounts? Why are not more parents alarmed that many of our children can’t explain, in simple terms, the gospel of salvation beyond repeating back the lingo they’ve grown up hearing? Ask a child what they mean by “having Jesus in your heart” and you may be shocked by their response (or lack thereof.)
During my years in ministry I have had my eyes opened to an astonishing fact: children have an amazing capacity to learn the deeper things of God, to serve Him, and to have a vibrant spiritual life. In many ways, they are better equipped to bear fruit (Matthew 18:2-4) than we adults are. They are far less inhibited by personal baggage, held back by self-consciousness, or plagued with doubt than the average adult. The Holy Spirit is not age-limited in His work. Sadly, many Christian adults do not expect as much from their children in the spiritual arena as they do in the academic or athletic. Let this not be said about us at Reston Bible Church. Raise the bar! Help your child, no matter how young, begin to learn the basic doctrines of the faith. Help them live out their faith by taking them along while you live out yours. Serve with them, share your faith with them. “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:19)
As new things begin to happen in Children’s Ministry at RBC, it will be helpful for parents and volunteers alike to have a context within which to place them. With that in mind, I would like to invite you, whether you are parent of young children or not, to take a moment and look over the Vision, Mission, and Guiding Lights of Children’s Ministry at RBC. Click here to download a PDF of our ministry vision, mission and guiding lights statement.
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). May God forbid these words be uttered about our legacy.
Raise the bar. Leave a legacy that will last.
To learn more about Quest and Children’s Ministry at Reston Bible Church, visit www.restonbible.org/kids or email Mike Meyers, Director of Children’s Ministry at RBC.
Nicaragua Bike Project
A couple weekends ago, we announced that through our SACS Thrift Store partnership, we are planning to send bicycles to the Casa Bernabe Orphanage in Nicaragua. We will do this through Verbo Ministries, a church-planting and disciple-making ministry who have partnered with the orphanage to develop a thriving bicycle shop, where orphans are discipled as they learn bike repair, sales and customer service. Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, where 60 percent are underemployed or unemployed. The training they receive in the bike shop serves the orphans well when they enter the job market.
Here’s a sample email we received in response:
Betsy,
I totally get it. We have spent a lot of time in Uganda serving at orphanages and we have 2 boys from Uganda. Empowering people with knowledge and a sense of self worth is an invaluable asset in overcoming poverty. This ministry is a perfect fit. I love it through and through. My husband Mike had to keep telling me to be quiet during service last week when i was reading the flyer, he said my excitement was a distraction to others 🙂 I have already gotten one bike delivered! I am going to spend the afternoon making room in the garage for more. I believe that God is going to bring many more!
On Sunday, September 15, we will be accepting bike donations for the orphanage. Bicycles can be any size, in any condition. Please bring your bike donations to the rear of the main RBC building anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. that day. Look for the cones near the Food Pantry storage shed, where a volunteer can help you unload your bike(s). Donation receipts for tax purposes will be available.
If you have three or more bikes to donate, but can’t bring them to the church, please contact Betsy Madden at betsymadden@restonbible.org or (703) 404-5034 to arrange pick-up at your home.
Sunday Rewind | 9.1.2013
MUSIC & SCRIPTURE
Sing, Sing, Sing (Psalm 47:6-7) – Hello Love by Chris Tomlin
Blessed Be Your Name (Job 1:21) – Sacred Revolution by Matt Redman (Passion)
By Faith (Psalm 145:13) – Awaken the Dawn by Keith & Kristyn Getty
As It Is In Heaven (Psalm 149:1) – Overflow by Matt Maher
I Lift My Hands (Psalm 46:10) – And If Our God is For Us… by Chris Tomlin
TEACHING: Getting to Know Scripture, Part 1
After His resurrection, Jesus rebuked two of His disciples for disbelief and “interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:27). The Old Testament is full of prophecy, foreshadowing, and models that point to the Messiah who was to come, all of which should build our faith in Him and the Bible that speaks of Him.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SERMON AUDIO/VIDEO
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SHEPHERD GROUPS
- Did this message encourage your faith in the Scripture? How so?
- Pastor Mike mentioned the narratives of Noah and the ark (Genesis 6-8), Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 17,21-22), Joseph (Genesis 37,39-49), Jonah, the Passover (Exodus 12), and the tabernacle (Exodus 25-26). Take one or two of these and discuss some of the ways in which they foreshadow Christ. Are there any other models or types of Christ in the Old Testament that come to mind?
- Why do you think the disciples on the Road to Emmaus failed to recognize Jesus as He talked to them?
- Read Luke 24:13-25 and Acts 8:26-39. What seems to be the response when someone “gets to know” the Old Testament? Is your response the same?
- How would you answer someone (or how have you answered) who tells you that the Bible is just a bunch of stories written “around a campfire”?
- Are there areas where you feel your understanding of Scripture is lacking? Spend some time as a group talking about and praying over ways you can grow in those areas.