Family Night Startup, Part 1

The faith@home Family Night is something new that we encourage every Christian family to begin as soon as possible.  The hardest part about starting something new is just that...starting.  We hope to simplify this for you by sharing some practical tips for launching your very own Family Night.

The faith@home Family Night is an effort to redeem three nights each month in which your family will gather for a time of fun, interactive and intentional learning together.  Biblical truths and principles are the foundation for this time, yet fun family activities such as games, movies, and outdoor attractions are the natural venue for spending time together.  It is a structured family Bible study time using fun and engaging object lessons in a flexible, easy-to-use format.  It is a modern technique with an ancient foundation...Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  Christian parents are commanded to:

• Love the Lord 
• Teach our children - impress God's truth onto the hearts of our children, more formal/structured
• Talk with our children - "faith talks" and "God moments" with our children. more informal/impromptu

The faith@home Family Night delivers all three:

• Parents love the Lord by obeying His commands; the Bible, God's Word is the foundation for the central lesson or principle/theme upon which the evening is planned
• Provides a brief formal time for teaching our children
• Lays a foundation for "faith talks" and "God moments" upon which you can discuss throughout the evening and the weekend in casual conversation and real life

Part One is...Read & PRAY.  That's right, read Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and talk with God about what He says to you through His word.  Pray about how God would have you implement your own faith@home Family Night, and stay tuned, because we will be sharing Parts 2-4 in the coming weeks.

What do you believe about Easter?

That may seem like an odd question, but have you ever been talking to someone who believed differently from you - and weren't sure how to answer questions about Jesus' resurrection?

While there is no doubt that we are saved by grace, through faith & faith alone (Eph 2:8-9) - did you also know that there is a lot of external historical evidence for the resurrection?  The following article by Lee Strobel contains a few highlights that I wanted to share with you this Easter season.  So whether you are talking to friends, co-workers or even your own children - hopefully you can be even more confident in knowing what you believe and why. 

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  ~ Philippians 3:12

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Why I'm Celebrating my 30th Easter

By Lee Strobel

How do we know Jesus rose from the dead? Here's a snapshot of the kind of evidence that led me to abandon atheism and embrace Christ

I had seen plenty of dead bodies as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, but I never saw anyone come back to life. That's why I was a skeptic about Easter - until my agnostic wife's conversion to Christianity prompted me to spend two years investigating the historical evidence for Jesus' resurrection.

What I encountered turned me from atheism to faith - and what I've learned since then has only cemented that decision:

First, there's persuasive evidence Jesus was executed. In addition to multiple early reports in the ancient records that make up the New Testament, we also have confirmation outside the Bible. Atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann called Jesus' death by crucifixion "indisputable."

Second, there are resurrection accounts that date back so early they can't merely be legendary. A.N. Sherwin-White of Oxford said the passage of two generations was not even enough time for legend to grow up in the ancient world and wipe out a solid core of historical truth.

Yet we have a creed of the early church (recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:3ff) that confirms Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose and appeared to named eyewitnesses, including skeptics. This creed dates back to within a few years of Jesus' death - and therefore its underlying beliefs go back even further. It's like a historical news flash!

Concluded historian James D. G. Dunn: "This tradition, we can be entirely confident, was formulated as tradition within months of Jesus' death." To me, this devastates the claim that the resurrection is simply a legend.

Third, there’s the empty tomb, which is implicit in the early creed and explicit in the earliest Gospel.

Scholar William Lane Craig said that the site of Jesus’ tomb was known to Christians and non-Christians alike. Therefore, if it weren’t empty, it would have been impossible for a movement founded on the resurrection to have exploded into existence in the same city where Jesus had been publicly executed just a few weeks earlier.

Also, the unanimous testimony that the empty tomb was first discovered by women argues for the authenticity of the story, because in that culture a woman’s testimony was considered untrustworthy. If the writers were merely making up the story, they would have claimed men made the discovery, thus boosting the credibility of their tale among their first-century audience.

Moreover, the empty tomb was implicitly admitted in the claim that the disciples had stolen the body. Why would Jesus’ opponents manufacture a cover story like that unless they were trying to explain away the inconvenient truth that the tomb was empty?

Nobody had a motive for stealing the body, especially the disciples. They wouldn’t have been willing to die brutal martyrs deaths if they knew this was all a lie.

Finally, historians Gary Habermas and Michael Licona have summarized multiple sources confirming the apostles’ conviction that the resurrected Jesus appeared to them:

• Scholars agree Paul wrote First Corinthians. There, Paul says he met with the apostles and confirmed they, like him, had encountered the risen Christ.
• The early creed confirms the disciples (and 500 others!) saw the risen Jesus; indeed, many scholars believe two eyewitnesses cited in the creed, Peter and James, were the ones who gave the creed to Paul.
• Most scholars concede that Acts summarizes the teaching of the early church. Acts describes Peter telling a crowd in Jerusalem just weeks after Jesus’ execution that “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” Acts reports that 3,000 people agreed and the church was born.
• The Gospels confirm Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. (Even if you discount the ending of Mark as being a later addition, Mark still reports a resurrection, features an empty tomb and foreshadows Jesus’ appearances.) New Testament scholar Craig Evans, who has lectured at Oxford and Cambridge, told me: “There’s every reason to conclude the Gospels have fairly and accurately reported the essential elements [of the resurrection].”
• The early church father Clement knew the apostles, having been ordained personally by Peter. In a first-century letter, he said the apostles had “complete certainty” about the resurrection.
• Another early church leader, Polycarp, who studied under the apostles and was appointed by John, repeatedly referred to the resurrection and affirmed “the apostles loved Jesus who was raised.”

So convinced were the disciples that they were willing to die for their conviction that Jesus had risen — not because they had faith in it, but because they were in the unique position to know for sure that it was true.
Even atheist Lüdemann conceded: “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.”

He would claim these were hallucinations or visions, yet I don’t find that credible. Hallucinations occur in individual brains, like dreams, yet Jesus appeared to groups three different times – including 500 people at once.

Were these visions prompted by the apostles’ grief over their leader’s execution? This wouldn’t explain the conversion of Saul, an opponent of Christians, or James, the half-brother of Jesus and a skeptic. Neither was primed for a vision, yet each died proclaiming Jesus had appeared to him. Besides, if these were visions, the body would still have been entombed.

My books analyze the various objections that skeptics have raised. None, in my view, overcome the affirmative evidence. So I reached the verdict that the resurrection really happened – and that this event vindicated Jesus’ claim that he is the unique Son of God (John 1:12).

That’s why this year I’m celebrating my 30th Easter as a follower of Jesus.

Easter@Home

On Easter Sunday, we remember the pinnacle of our Christian faith: Jesus' resurrection from the dead.  His victory assures us of forgiveness from sin and eternal life in heaven - two things worth celebrating!  You can use the Easter message as a backdrop to share the good news with your kids and grand-kids all year long.  Let your kids or grand-kids know that Jesus is a "friend that sticks closer than a brother" and lets them live forever in heaven with Him if they will believe.

Here are some simple tips to carry with you throughout this very special holiday:

• Realize that kids understand God - and Easter - in vivid, literal images.  Don't dismiss tough questions.  Instead, read the Bible together.  Start with Matthew 28.
• Tweak your traditions.  Turn your usual Easter celebrations into opportunities to learn more about God and His Word.  If your family enjoys a sunrise experience, reenact the morning that Jesus' friends came to find the tomb empty.  For your egg hunt, fill plastic eggs with Scripture verses or Bible story pictures as well as candy.
• Know that it's never too early to share the good news of the Gospel.  Don't wait until your kids can communicate to tell them about Jesus and all He has done for us.  Remember that children can discover God from infancy (see 2 Timothy 3:14-15)

Here are some other insights to keep in mind at this very important time of year:

• In a 2010 survey, two-thirds of Americans said they knew that Easter is a religious holiday.  But only 42% connected its meaning to Jesus' resurrection.  And only 2% said they would describe Easter as the most important holiday of their faith (Barna Group).
• Another Barna Group study found that children are most likely to become Christians for a lifetime from ages 5 to 13.  In addition, children's moral development is largely complete by age 9.

For some great ideas on how to celebrate Easter with your family, please check out Celebrate Easter: A Family Guide for Holy Week

Let's take time this Holy Week to impress the truths of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ onto the hearts and minds of our kids and grand-kids.  May His good news reverberate throughout our homes and cities this joyous holiday...He is risen!  Happy Easter!

Rediscovering Worship as a Family Activity

Charles Spurgeon once said “If we want to bring up a godly family, who shall be a seed to serve God when our heads are under the clods of the valley?  Let us seek to train them up in the fear of God by meeting together as a family for worship” (C.H. Spurgeon, “A Pastoral Visit” 362-363).

Scripture has many examples of parents and grandparents setting an example of worship in the family:

• Genesis 22 - Abraham worshiping God, even willing to sacrifice Isaac
• Deuteronomy 6:4-9
• Psalm 78:1-8

The broader definition of worship goes beyond singing songs. Worshiping God includes all acts dedicated to thanking God for who He is—prayer, reading the Word, singing, giving, bowing before, etc.  Acknowledging God in all your ways is a form of worship. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will direct your steps” (Proverbs 3:5,6).  Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice is the ultimate expression of worship and surrender to His lordship.   "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:1-2)

Webster defines worship (noun) as: “worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, worthiness, respect; reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power ; an act of expressing such reverence; extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem."  Webster also defines the word worship (verb) as: "to honor or reverence a divine being or supernatural power; to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion."

Worship is not only an act, it is a lifestyle.  

What better place is there for children and grandchildren to learn this lifestyle than from their own family at home?  Why not start this weekend on Saturday or Sunday evening.  All it takes is for someone in the home to take charge and lead the family in a simple time of reading the Word, prayer, and maybe even a quick song of praise.  We recommend the  Family Reading Bible by Zondervan publishing. You can find a copy in our faith@home center.  This is a great family resource for family worship times. 

“All the ends of the earth
   will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
   will bow down before him”  Psalm 22:27

“Children are living messages that we send to a time we will not see.” (John Whitehead)  What message will you be sending into the future?

“What happens at church is important.  What happens at home is even more important.” What are you doing at home to demonstrate this truth?

“They will already have been worshiping God as a way of life the previous six days in both private and family worship, and public worship will be a natural outflow.” (Jerry Marcellino, “Rediscovering the Lost Treasure of Family Worship, p.6)  

Is worship truly a way of life for your family?  If not, why not?  Begin to lead your family in rediscovering worship as a family activity today!  You will find it time well spent and an investment that will deliver rewards for generations to come.