I remember how much fun VBS was when I was a kid. And I used to get to go to a couple every summer, usually Putman where my parents go and then Tabernacle with my grandma. I love seeing what the theme is every year, the food, and getting to see friends during the summer...out in the country they weren't close by so you didn't see people a lot then.
I was fortunate enough this year to be able to help with VBS at Tabernacle a few nights last week. This years theme was Agency D3 - Discover, Decide, Defend and was based on the verse 1 Peter 3:15 - "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for your hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
It seemed the kids really enjoyed it and were excited about the theme and excitement around it, kinda like Men In Black. It's also pretty cool to see children retell the story of Christ's crucifixion in their own words. You can tell they know the story but they don't just recite it for memory and use "church words" to tell it, they just put it plain and simple like it is.
Discover: This to me is the mental side of becoming a Christian and defending our faith. To become a Christian you have to be exposed to the Word of God and that is typically through a friend or possibly a preacher. VBS is an excellent and fun way for kids and adults to discover evidence that Jesus is God's son, and that he died on the cross for our sins, and rose 3 days later. There are numerous prophesies in the Old Testament that were written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born that accurately tell us so much about his birth, life, and death. There are eye witness account of his life with miracles he performed, stories of his death for our sins, and then over 500 people who saw him AFTER his resurrection. Once you see that Jesus is God's son, that God loved us enough to sacrifice his son for our sins, and that He conquered death it's almost impossible to not want to...
Decide: This is where you take the evidence, the facts, the testimonies of other believers and decide whether or not you believe them and whether or not you are willing to accept Christ's awesome gift of salvation. For some this is an easy decision, but for others this can be very difficult because it means turning your back on what you've believed before and possibly having turmoil with family and friends. If you still have questions or need more evidence then there are many people you can talk to, church friends, pastors, Christian groups online, and I'll do what I can to help you decide. For those who have made the decision to follow Jesus Christ, when our faith is tested we must stand up and...
Defend: Christianity is under a serious attack in the United States of America. The Family Fest speaker a few months ago in Union said that were allowed, even encouraged to be ourselves and to be anything we want to in America except for a Bible believing evangelical Christian. This is very true. We are being told that things like abortion, sexual immorality, and many other sins are okay and encouraged. I don't use the argument that "God said it, so I believe it", I believe that God said it, therefore it is truth, period. Sin is sin. Right is right. Now Christians don't go get on our soapboxes and jump on others without first checking ourselves, go read Romans 2:1 before doing that. But any non-Christians reading this, if you want to attack my faith be ready, because God has promised to give me the strength to do all things through his will.
You can point out my sins, my past, my present, and probably my future. I am a sinner, I will always be a sinner, I am terribly imperfect...but I have DISCOVERED that Jesus is God's son, that he died to wash away my sins making them no more. I have DECIDED to accept his gift of salvation by grace and mercy because I'm not worthy of it. And I am studying every day to build my faith muscle in order to DEFEND my faith against any attack.
Sorry, I got a little off the topic of VBS but it was awesome to hang out with the 1st and 2nd graders and even made me more thankful to be having a little boy next month since one little girl said she had 16 boyfriends and another had a 20 year old boyfriend...God knew I couldn't handle a little girl yet lol. So get your kids in VBS either at another church that's coming up or be ready next summer at TBC.
#AgencyD3 #DiscoverDecideDefend
I was fortunate enough this year to be able to help with VBS at Tabernacle a few nights last week. This years theme was Agency D3 - Discover, Decide, Defend and was based on the verse 1 Peter 3:15 - "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for your hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
It seemed the kids really enjoyed it and were excited about the theme and excitement around it, kinda like Men In Black. It's also pretty cool to see children retell the story of Christ's crucifixion in their own words. You can tell they know the story but they don't just recite it for memory and use "church words" to tell it, they just put it plain and simple like it is.
Discover: This to me is the mental side of becoming a Christian and defending our faith. To become a Christian you have to be exposed to the Word of God and that is typically through a friend or possibly a preacher. VBS is an excellent and fun way for kids and adults to discover evidence that Jesus is God's son, and that he died on the cross for our sins, and rose 3 days later. There are numerous prophesies in the Old Testament that were written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born that accurately tell us so much about his birth, life, and death. There are eye witness account of his life with miracles he performed, stories of his death for our sins, and then over 500 people who saw him AFTER his resurrection. Once you see that Jesus is God's son, that God loved us enough to sacrifice his son for our sins, and that He conquered death it's almost impossible to not want to...
Decide: This is where you take the evidence, the facts, the testimonies of other believers and decide whether or not you believe them and whether or not you are willing to accept Christ's awesome gift of salvation. For some this is an easy decision, but for others this can be very difficult because it means turning your back on what you've believed before and possibly having turmoil with family and friends. If you still have questions or need more evidence then there are many people you can talk to, church friends, pastors, Christian groups online, and I'll do what I can to help you decide. For those who have made the decision to follow Jesus Christ, when our faith is tested we must stand up and...
Defend: Christianity is under a serious attack in the United States of America. The Family Fest speaker a few months ago in Union said that were allowed, even encouraged to be ourselves and to be anything we want to in America except for a Bible believing evangelical Christian. This is very true. We are being told that things like abortion, sexual immorality, and many other sins are okay and encouraged. I don't use the argument that "God said it, so I believe it", I believe that God said it, therefore it is truth, period. Sin is sin. Right is right. Now Christians don't go get on our soapboxes and jump on others without first checking ourselves, go read Romans 2:1 before doing that. But any non-Christians reading this, if you want to attack my faith be ready, because God has promised to give me the strength to do all things through his will.
You can point out my sins, my past, my present, and probably my future. I am a sinner, I will always be a sinner, I am terribly imperfect...but I have DISCOVERED that Jesus is God's son, that he died to wash away my sins making them no more. I have DECIDED to accept his gift of salvation by grace and mercy because I'm not worthy of it. And I am studying every day to build my faith muscle in order to DEFEND my faith against any attack.
Sorry, I got a little off the topic of VBS but it was awesome to hang out with the 1st and 2nd graders and even made me more thankful to be having a little boy next month since one little girl said she had 16 boyfriends and another had a 20 year old boyfriend...God knew I couldn't handle a little girl yet lol. So get your kids in VBS either at another church that's coming up or be ready next summer at TBC.
#AgencyD3 #DiscoverDecideDefend
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