Dear Kingdom Kid & Family: As We Prepare to Celebrate
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Dear Kingdom Kid & Family: As we prepare to celebrate what God has done through children’s choirs at our musical concert, be sure to prepare your hearts to “sing with thankfulness in your heart.” You will do that by being in God’s Word every day. That is the purpose of this devotional book. We call it “NO LIMITS” because with God, there is no limit to what He can do with and through you. Use this book to read the Scripture God has given us for this concert. Learn the “foundation” (scripture verses) so that God’s Word will “dwell” in you. Each week is broken into days. You may do these individually, or make it part of your family worship time. If you finish a week or even the book early, go back and read it again. It’s okay to read scriptures over and over; that is the key to learning and understanding what God wants you to learn. Everyone in choir will receive a special collectors pin to commemorate this special year. Each person that completes the devo book will receive a special collectors pin specifically for the NO LIMITS Devo Book. Also, each person who completes the book will have a special “Party w/ Pastors” on June 3 from 5:30-6pm. This is going to be a very special musical and I am as excited about the lessons we will learn in the next few weeks as I am about musical night itself! That will just be the culmination of all you have learned. Determine now to be in God’s Word everyday and ask Him to show you what HE wants you to learn as we prepare for this musical. In Christ, Mrs. Teri WEEK 1: HYMN TREASURES MEDLEY Colossians 3:16 • Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. God’s Word commands us how we are to worship Him. God doesn’t DAY 1 start with the teaching and singing. He first tells us that His Word needs to be in us. How do we put God’s Word into our lives? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The Word of Christ (God’s Word) II Timothy 3:15 • And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 4:12 • For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Richly Dwell “Dwell” is a fancy word for “living in” or “thinking about, be obsessed by.” What do you think of when you hear the word “rich?” ___________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Maybe LOTS OF ? _______________________________________________ Well, if we are to “let God’s Word richly dwell” in us then that means we have to read it and know it and talk about it. Yes? That is the reason for this devotion book. We want you to know God’s word and what God says about singing and worship. Deuteronomy 6:6 • These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. Psalm 119:11 • Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. John 15:4 • Abide in Me, and I in you… (vs5b)… apart from Me you can do nothing. The last part of Colossians 3:16 gives us the command, “singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” I Thessalonians 5:18 • in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Ezra 3:11 • They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.” Psalm 33:2 • Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. We see in these scriptures that we need God’s Word in our hearts. We also see several times where we are told to give THANKS. One of the best ways to hide God’s Word in our heart is through song. And one of the best ways to give thanks to God is to sing back to Him His Word and His truth. We will do this at our musical concert. Dear Jesus, Thank You for giving us Your Word so we can learn more about You. Please help me to read it every day so that Your Word will richly dwell within me. Help me to give thanks to You every day for all You do for me. Help me to praise You with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Use Your Word to prepare me to give You praise and glory during our musical concert! Please help many people come to hear the great things You have done and are doing and will do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. DAY 2 Tell Me the Story of Jesus & Trust and Obey (Taken from Hymn Treasures curriculum by Diane Dawson) Hymns are poems that are set to music (hymn tunes). That is why they are written in “stanzas” or have a “refrain” instead of chorus. The “refrain” is a repeated line or number of lines in a poem, typically at the end of each verse. This week, we are going to learn about the hymns we are singing— who wrote them and some of the story behind the poem. Tell Me the Story of Jesus Words: Fanny Crosby Music: John Sweney This hymn tells the story of Jesus’ life and death. It is a story that we learn and remember because it is so important. Do you have the story of Jesus written on your Heart? We learn the stories of Jesus by reading and hearing God’s Word. What are three of your favorite stories about Jesus? Ask your parent to read you one of them. Think of a way that YOU can share a story about Jesus with someone else. Trust and Obey Words: John Sammis Music: Daniel B. Towner Written: 1886 Daniel Towner was raised in a musical family. His father taught him to sing and to read notes before he was old enough to read the alphabet. He served as music director in several churches. He became associated with Dwight L. Moody (a famous evangelist). Mr. Towner became the head of the Music Department of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL. He wrote more than 2000 songs. Mr. Towner must have become familiar with Dwight Moody’s formula for successful living: • The Blood of Jesus alone makes us safe • The Word of God alone makes us sure • But Obedience to God alone makes us happy. The inspiration for this hymn comes from an evangelistic meeting, when a young man gave a testimony and said, “I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.” Mr. Towner wrote down that sentence and sent it to John Sammis (a Presbyterian minister) who wrote the words to the song. God used a simple man, with a simple phrase to give a songwriter the idea of a powerful song that we have been singing for over 100 years! Can you say today that you will trust and obey? In doing so, surely you will want to tell someone the story of Jesus? Who will you REACH this week? Dear Jesus, Thank You for giving us songs to tell us Your story. Thank You for songwriters who believed in putting truth into a format easy to sing so that we can hide these truths in our hearts. Please help me to trust You and obey You. Please help me to share the story of Jesus with someone this week. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. DAY 3 My Jesus I Love Thee & Jesus Loves Me My Jesus I Love Thee Words: William Featherston Music: Adoniram Gordon Written: 1876 This beautiful hymn poem was written by a 16-year-old boy soon after he was saved. We do not know much about William Featherston except that he was born and lived in Montreal, Canada, and was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Montreal. It is believed that he sent the poem to his aunt in Los Angeles, and she had it published. Adoniram Gordon was a Baptist pastor in Boston. He was working on a new hymnal when he came across these words set to a different tune in the The London Hymn Book. He was inspired to write a new tune and put the hymn in the hymnal, The Service of Song for Baptist Churches. In has been included in many evangelical hymnals since then. This is a beautiful declaration of love for Jesus, in every situation of life. As you sing this song in our medley, make it your personal message of love to the Savior. Psalm 116:1 • I love the Lord, for He hears my voice and my supplications. Jesus Loves Me Words: Anna B. Warner Music: William Bradbury Written: 1859 This is one of the all time favorite songs of children all over the world. The tune was named “CHINA” because it is reportedly the favorite of children there. The music was written by William Bradbury. He was born in Maine but grew up in Boston. Mr. Bradbury was a very busy musician. He conducted singing schools, taught music, composed songs, and edited several music books.