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LESSON 3: TRUST IN GOD’S WISDOM

Spiritual G.P.S. The God Positioning System. Just like our geographical GPS requires three parts to function correctly, a satellite system, a receiver, and a reliable digital map, so does our spiritual GPS. It begins by having a connection to our heavenly Father through his Son, Jesus. The next piece is the indwelling Holy Spirit to quicken our conscience and open our spiritual eyes. Finally we need a reliable map; God’s living and powerful Word. With these 3 pieces our guidance system is complete.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 2: LISTEN TO THE WISE

What is one of the most often lamented or joked about attributes of youthful thinking? We all know the old adage, “The older I get, the wiser my father becomes.” The foolishness of youth leads us to believe that we know everything and that our way is better. “The way of a fool is right in his own
eyes.” Sadly, this foolishness, if not lovingly corrected in our children, often continues on into adulthood and creates ever increasing heartache along the way as the consequences of our foolishness grow more serious.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 1: SEEK WISDOM

What is wisdom? Where does it come from? What are its benefits and how can it be acquired? These are all questions worth answering from a biblical perspective. So worthwhile is this pursuit that an entire class of books in the Bible are dedicated to the topic. We are told that “wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” This is our Quest for this Summer. So what are we seeking?

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: OUR GOD IS GOOD AND SOVEREIGN

From where I’m standing
Lord it’s so hard for me to see
Where this is going
And where You’re leading me
I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can’t control

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 2: LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING

My mother is infamous for her sense of direction. Or should I say, lack there of. She once followed a car for some distance out of her way because, “they looked like they knew where they were going.” She has driven almost out of state before realizing she had taken a wrong turn. Mom was sure she was going in the right direction. She even thought she had recognized some landmarks. It took some time but Mom has learned to lean not on her own understanding when it comes to directions. Nowadays she makes sure she either rides with or follows someone who knows the right path.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 1: GODLY GUIDANCE SYSTEM

Isn’t GPS a great thing? It amazes me that a satellite high above the earth can see me, and when combined with digital mapping software, can tell me how to get from point A to B in the quickest way possible. It amazes me even more to consider that this system can see if there is heavy traffic or an accident along my route and re-direct me around it. If I take a wrong turn, it quickly notifies me. “Rerouting.” But as amazing as this system is, it is only as good as its underlying data.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 4: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE

“Be imitators of GOD, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1).

The Bible makes plain that, when we are reborn in Christ, we are called to be “imitators of GOD,” that is, imitators of his communicable character attributes, those attributes GOD “shares” with his adopted children. We can know the character of our GOD because it is clearly revealed in scripture. Among his many qualities we find that God is loving, patient, kind, good, joyful, faithful, righteous, generous, courageous, creative, and, not least of all, forgiving. These are traits we should strive to imitate.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE

How can a God who hates sin so much just let it go unpunished? When He looks at his creation and sees how scarred and polluted sin has made it, He is greatly offended. How can He not pour out his anger on the guilty? How can God let wrongdoers go free? It doesn’t seem fair. Unless, of course, I am the wrongdoer and then my math changes dramatically and forgiveness seems a rather wonderful thing. But the questions are still valid. How is it just to leave sin unpunished?

The short answer is, it wouldn’t be just, if that is what God actually did.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 2: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE

Ben Franklin is quoted as saying, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” I think the same thing could be said about sin. If we attempt to hide sin, to cover it up, to “regard” it in our hearts, it is only a matter of time before it will begin to stink up the place. Numbers 32:23 tells us that we can be sure that our, “sin will be discovered. It will be brought out into the open.” In Hebrews 4:13 we are reminded that, “Nothing God created is hidden from Him. His eyes see everything. He will hold us accountable for everything we do.”

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 1: GOD IS FAITHFUL TO FORGIVE

Over the next several weeks we will walk with our students through the hard truth that even David, a “man after God’s own heart,” failed the test and sinned against heaven. Were it not for God’s promise of forgiveness, this reality could cause us to lose all hope of ever being useful in the hands of our Lord. But the truth is that our God is faithful to forgive for the sake of his own Name and, because He is, we can say to God, just as David did, “Let me hear you say, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Psalm 51:8)

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 4: WHO IS ON THE THRONE?

How many times have you heard something like this, “God first, others second, I’m third,” or, “God, country, family.” Maybe you’ve even said something similar or worn the t-shirt. I know I have. At first glance it seems like a godly enough thing to say and it sure feels good to think we have our priorities straight. Unfortunately it is not at all what God’s Word teaches us. God’s place isn’t first in a list of other lower priorities. He is the center and essence of every priority.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 4: VICTORY OVER SIN

“It’s an open book test.” Those words can indeed be beautiful to hear in the face of a difficult exam. I remember clearly the first time I heard them in a high school chemistry class. At once my heart jumped because I had not studied well for the test. In fact I hadn’t studied well for the whole year in that class. I thought, “This is a gift!” Sadly, my joy turned to nervous sweat as I frantically thumbed pages and scoured the index of a book I had barely cracked all semester. I quickly learned that, without a good working knowledge of the book, an open book test isn’t much easier at all. I needed the answers now and there just wasn’t time to find them because I didn’t know where to look.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 3: VICTORY OVER SIN

If he could do it, it would be a personal best. 305 pounds. He had trained at slightly lighter weights and thought he could chest press that much one time, but now, looking up from the bench at all that weight, his confidence was slipping. He was about to get up from the bench and leave it for another day when a human mountain, an offensive lineman, who he had seen press this weight multiple times, stepped up to the bar and said, “Do you need a spot? Come on you got this.”

Our faith may fail. But God’s faithfulness never will. What does it mean to say God is faithful?

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 10: ALPHA AND OMEGA, THE GREAT I AM

Sovereign, independent, and forever the same. This is an attribute we do not share with God in
any sense. He alone is eternal. He is outside of time, He created time, and is therefore sovereign
over it. He does not exist in a succession of moments but instead He simply and simultaneously exists always. He is unlimited by the confines of time and unchanged by the passage of it. In fact, to God, all of his existence is somehow present.

Such an existence is hard for us to imagine simply because it is so utterly different from our own. There is nothing we can see in nature that allows us to make an adequate metaphor.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.

LESSON 9: THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW

What does Scripture mean that God is “immutable” or unchangeable? Simply put it means that God cannot change in regard to His person, His purposes, His promises, or His perfections. God does act in time and space of course. He created both and is Lord of both time and space. It is also clear that God feels emotions differently in different situations. Neither of these however constitute a “change.”

As clear as these facts are in Scripture you may wonder, why spend time on it at all? What possible impact does this truth have on me and my faith? A big one. Let me explain and then leave you to meditate on His Word instead of mine.

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ABOUT FAMILY QUEST: At Reston Bible Church, we firmly believe that parents are a child’s first and most important spiritual leader.  In order to support you that mission, we have created a parent devotional and some discussion starters to go along with each lesson your grade school age children are learning at Quest on Sundays. Our hope and prayer is that this material will help you to engage with your children around the topics they are learning on Sunday mornings, answer their questions, go deeper with them, and find real, day-to-day applications. We are honored to be able to partner with you in the critical task of sharing Christ with the next generation.