TRAIL GUIDE: Daddy’s Got You
The “Trail Guide” devotional is used by our adult leaders of grade school groups in Quest as a way to prepare their hearts and minds for the topics we will be covering with the children on the weekend. We have made them available here to help our parents of grade-schoolers engage with their children around the topics we are discussing and also for anyone else that might be blessed by following along.
ON BELAY, LESSON 1: Jesus saves and no one can take you from Him
To live a truly eternal life, eternal both in quality (in God’s eternal presence and with His eternal purpose) and in duration (we will never perish), we must understand and place our confidence in God’s assurances to us. An assurance is God’s pledge, His guarantee for His children born of the Spirit through Christ. While there are experiential or subjective ways for us to get a clue as to our salvation and place in God’s family, our love for the church and the things of God (1 John 2:15, 3:14), and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) among them, it is only God’s “testimony,” His solemn declaration through His Word, that stands as our objective proof of the assurance we have that, when we have believed and received His gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus, we are secure in his hands.
Why is it so important to know we are firmly held in the Father’s hands? From our childhood most of us can remember hearing these words, “Come on, Daddy’s got you.” If you are like me you probably associate those words with an experience like standing on the edge of a swimming pool that seemed like a bottomless sea or sitting at the top of a slide that seemed like Mount Everest. As we looked down at those outstretched arms we did some very quick calculations. What has my experience been with this person up to now? Can I trust him? If our father was a trustworthy and loving father who had shown himself to have powerful arms (at least compared to ourselves) capable of catching us, we most likely took a deep breath and jumped. Experience shows us that over time our confidence level in this person grows and makes each subsequent jump easier until finally we are flinging ourselves, carefree into his arms. When Jesus says of the Father, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand,” He is saying, “This is my Father and, through me, your Father as well and He won’t let you fall. Jump. Daddy’s got you.” All of our other assurances in God are built upon this cornerstone. Confidence in God’s faithfulness begins here.
No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. -John 10:29b
MEDITATING ON THE WORD:
John 10:28-30
1 John 5:11-12
Psalm 145:13
Hebrews 10:23
Psalm 18:2, 62:2,6-7
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
Next Generation Project Update – July 2013
Last Sunday, June 14, 2013, Pastor Ed and Pastor Mike give a report on the progress of the Next Generation Project, which we started last November.
You can learn more about the Next Generation Project and get involved at www.restonbible.org/nextgeneration
myRBC: Choosing a Profile Picture
As part of a committed effort to enhance churchwide communications, RBC utilizes myRBC (formerly called Church Community Builder, or CCB). MyRBC is an online web-based tool that is modeled after popular social networking sites. This secure, online system allows regular attendees to easily interact with each other and enables more effective communication to and from church staff, volunteers, and leadership. MyRBC gives you access to discussion forums, event calendars, a pictorial directory of RBCers and allows secure online giving.
If you consider RBC your church home, we encourage you to sign up, update your profile, upload a profile picture, and utilize the many benefits of CCB.
If you are not a member of the RBC Online Community, but would like to sign up, please click here to request a login. You will be taken to an online form where you can fill out some basic information about yourself. We will enter your information into our secure database and send your login info to you as quickly as possible.
If you have any questions about giving online or the RBC online community, please contact Dale Peak, RBC Administrator or call our offices at 703-404-5010.
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VIDEO CREDIT: We shamelessly stole this idea from Lakeland Community Church in MO. Thanks, LCC!
youtube.com/watch?v=BrjrQw_WZXI
MUSIC CREDIT: The Cantina Theme composed by John Williams, performed by Charles Laurita.
youtube.com/watch?v=34dzDqC2Mns
The Green Room Sessions: Forever Reign
Here’s the latest installment of The Green Room Sessions, introducing the song Forever Reign, from Hillsong. We’ll be introducing this during worship services on Sunday, January 27. Enjoy!
Alistair Begg & The Abundant Life Conference
We want to extend our appreciation to the many volunteers (including RBC Staff) who worked together as a team to help the Abundant Life Conference featuring Alistair Begg run so smoothly. This includes the people during the conference who came by and extended their services in any way we needed help. To all of you – THANK YOU!!! We were truly blessed by the magnitude of so many servant hearts.
It was also exciting to see so many people coming from many areas/states joining together to hear the Word of God proclaimed. We’d also like to extend a special thanks to the people at Alistair Begg’s Bible-teaching ministry, Truth for Life, who provided the information kits for the conference.
Blessings,
Diane Sheldon & Sue Illari, event coordinators
on behalf of the Men’s & Women’s Ministries of Reston Bible Church
THE AUDIO & VIDEO FROM THE ABUNDANT LIFE CONFERENCE FEATURING ALISTAIR BEGG IS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE! CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO ACCESS MEDIA FROM INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS.
VIDEO: Winston Smith on Marriage Matters
In this video, CCEF counselor Winston Smith discusses the premise of his book, Marriage Matters, which will be the basis of this year’s marriage conference.
Join us on May 4 and 5 at Reston Bible Church for our Spring Marriage Conference, featuring Winston Smith. Winston Smith, M.Div., is an author, counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation(CCEF); he has extensive experience as a marriage and family counselor, and teaches seminary students how to counsel couples.
Winston will draw on his extensive experience as a marriage counselor, and share a simple yet powerful prescription for changing your marriage. He will show us how examining the everyday disappointments and irritations in your marriage will help you understand yourself, your spouse, and your need for God’s love. Interactions that used to devolve into pointless annoyances and fights can become an opportunity for God’s activity and love to become increasingly evident and powerful. These principles can take your marriage to extraordinary places and lead you into a deeper relationship with an extraordinary God. Don’t settle for an ordinary marriage; learn to live out God’s extraordinary love in your most intimate relationship.
GET INFO & REGISTER HERE
VIDEO: Winston Smith on Healthy Marriages
Join us on May 4 and 5 at Reston Bible Church for our Spring Marriage Conference, featuring Winston Smith. Winston Smith, M.Div., is an author, counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF); he has extensive experience as a marriage and family counselor, and teaches seminary students how to counsel couples.
Winston will draw on his extensive experience as a marriage counselor, and share a simple yet powerful prescription for changing your marriage. He will show us how examining the everyday disappointments and irritations in your marriage will help you understand yourself, your spouse, and your need for God’s love. Interactions that used to devolve into pointless annoyances and fights can become an opportunity for God’s activity and love to become increasingly evident and powerful. These principles can take your marriage to extraordinary places and lead you into a deeper relationship with an extraordinary God. Don’t settle for an ordinary marriage; learn to live out God’s extraordinary love in your most intimate relationship.
GET INFO & REGISTER HERE
Josh McDowell Audio from RE:NEW 2012
Thank you to everyone who attended our RE:NEW 2012 Conference featuring Josh McDowell. We pray the conference was fruitful for your growth in Christ.
Where’s the audio from the conference? Because of our contract with Josh’s ministry organization, we were only able to make the conference audio available for up to two weeks after the event.
You can find audio/video media and lots of other resources from Josh on his website, www.josh.org.
How to Pray for Missionaries
An many of our missionaries point out each year during the missions conference, without faithful prayer support from their sending churches, much of their labor is in vain. Prayer fuels the fires of the Gospel as it goes forth into the nations.
Yet, you may ask, “How do I pray for missionaries? What are their needs? How do I pray for someone so far away whom I do not know and perhaps may never see?” Below are some helpful suggestions for how you can generally pray for our missionaries.
WAYS YOU CAN PRAY FOR OUR MISSIONARY FAMILY:
1. Pray for the missionaries’ personal relationship with God.
2. Pray for the missionaries’ physical and emotional needs. Pray against discouragement, depression, loneliness and homesickness.
3. Pray the missionaries can make the necessary adjustments to living on their fields of labor.
4. Pray that God will open doors of ministry, blessing partnerships and friendships and that those who serve will be led by the Holy Spirit and recognize open-door opportunities.
5. Pray for revival in each nation and region of the world.
6. Pray that the Spirit will provide them with words that commuicate effectively in other cultures and languages.
7. Pray that the missionaries would find favor in the eyes of those in high places that can help to further the kingdom.
8. Pray that the missionaries will have the boldness to overcome the fear of embarassment or failure.
9. Pray for the freedom to preach the gospel and that the people will be responsive
10. Pray for strength and stamina as missionaries encounter antagonistic spiritual forces.
11. Pray that God’s Word will indeed spread rapidly and be honored.
12. Pray that God will change the hearts of those who are resistant to His Word.
13. Pray that God will keep Christian workers safe from those who seek to hurt them.
14. Pray that the missionary’s ministry and attitude will be worthy of acceptance.
15. Pray for good relationships among co-workers and the national workers.
16. Pray that the Lord will help the missionaries develop good national leaders that will multiply their efforts.
17. Pray for clear guidance from God regarding travel decisions.
18. Pray for protection and provision during their travels and for necessary permissions to travel.
19. Pray that God will provide opportunities for missionaries in lonely areas to spend time with other believers.
20. Pray that God will provide times of peace and relaxation to refresh His workers.
EMAIL PRAYER CHAIN: If you are interested in receiving periodic e-mail prayer requests from missionaries and those within our local congregation, send an email to prayerchainatrbc@gmail.com and put the word “Join” in the subject line. You will then be added to our email distribution list to received regular updates of prayer requests.
MISSIONARY PRAYER GUIDE: You can also stop by the Welcome Desk during weekend services and pick up a Missionary Prayer Guide. The Missionary Prayer Guide is an excellent resource that has a comprehensive list of our missionaries, including photos and personal prayer requests.