"Do not just hear the Word of God and think hearing is enough. DO what it says!" James 1:22

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Snickerdoodle Snack Mix


1/4C sugar
1tsp cinnamon
2C Cinnamon Chex
2C Chocolate Chex
1-1/2C Chocolate Cherioes
1/4C margarine

Mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Set aside.
Mix cereal in large microwavable bowl.
Pour butter over cereal mixture and stir well to coat.
Microwave cereal mixture on high 2 minutes,stirring after one minute.
Sprinkle half of sugar mixture over cereal mixture. Stir well and sprinkle with remaining mixture. Stir well.
Microwave 1 more minute. Stir well. Spread out onto wax paper to cool.
Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! If you have a yummy snack mix recipe to share with our CBS class, leave a comment with this post or just email me... kellyjeanstamps@gmail.com

This mix is GLUTEN FREE.  Yippee!!!

So grab a snack and FEAST on God's Word with a cheerful heart...
"A miserable heart means for a miserable life, but a cheerful heart has a contiual FEAST!"
Proverbs 15:15

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Praise Opener

What a great time we had
praising our Lord today
during the adult opener of CBS!
All the wonderful singing and signing
blessed our Father God in heaven
and He smiled.

"Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful ACTS."
1 Chrionicles 16:9

Way to go everyone!
Way to be an encouragement to others!

"Finally, brothers and sisters, REJOICE!
Strive to be all you were made to be,
ENCOURAGE one another,
be of one mind, live in peace.
And the God of love and peace will be with you."
2 Corinthians 13:11

And the Award Goes to...

Lesson 23
Blessed by God's words through Mrs. McKain today...

"I have some objects with me today
that people work really hard to get.
They are awards for some great accomplishment.
As you can see these awards are different shapes and sizes:

1. This one is a certificate.
It tells that I have graduated college
and is designed to be hung on the wall.
I worked really hard to get this.
I had to go to school for several years
and study many nights.

2. Here are blue and yellow cords.
These were awarded, also at my graduation
to show that I held a certain gpa throughout my schooling.
This also was really hard.
I gave up a lot of things my friends
were doing to make sure my grades were good.

3. This one is a statue with some writing at the base.
This trophy signifies that Adam (my husband)
won sectionals for his high school baseball team.
He went to practice many hot days to prepare himself.

It's wonderful to be able to win awards
for working hard and doing something great.
If we look at Paul's life,
he worked hard and did great things,
but he never recieved a trophy.
He won many souls,
but has no trophy to hang on the wall.
His trophies will be in Heaven
when he sees all the souls that he lead to Christ.

The most wonderful award of all
is the calling of Christ.
The Holy Spirit gave Paul the message
that he needed to go to Jerusalem;
however, his friends were too scared and believed
the Holy Spirit was telling them to warn Paul.
Everyone was following the calling of the Holy Spirit.
The men that were with Paul were scared,
but Paul was not.
He knew what awaited him in Jerusalem,
and he also knew what would be awaiting him in Heaven.
Philippians 3:14 says
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Paul was told he was in danger by going,
but he knew God had called him to GO!
Remember our memory verse last week?
"For I consider my life worth nothing to me;
my only aim is to finish the race
and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me,
the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace"
Acts 20:24.

The only award and title Paul wanted to win,
was that of a Christian.
"To me to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Philippians 1:21

Christ is our ultimate goal.
We can win every trophy there is,
but that does not secure us a place in Heaven.
Our place in Heaven
is hinged solely on the salvation of Jesus Christ.
When we trust in the Lord,
 the door connected to that hinge
opens up to a multitude of blessings.
After all, we can't take our trophies to Heaven with us.
But we might see in heaven those we helped to find the Lord.
That would be the best trophy of all!"

Friday, February 11, 2011

Be Encouraged! Be an Encourager!

Lesson 22

God shows us how Paul was not alone in
spreading the Good News.
In verse 3 of Acts chapter 20 Paul learns
of the Jews' plot against him in Syria.
How did he learn of this plot?
He didn't have email.
He didn't have a cell phone.
Yes, one of the students answered correctly.
He learned of the plot against him via a messenger.

Verse 4 goes on to tell us of the seven men
who accompanied Paul at this time.
And we know that Luke (author of Acts)
is with Paul because now he writes using words like
"we" instead of "they."
So we know that God ENCOURAGED Paul
with companions and protected Paul
through friends and comrades.

"Paul sent for the disciples and,
after ENCOURAGING them,
said goodbye and set out for Macedonia."
Acts 20:1

We don't know how Paul encouraged his friends
before setting out for Macedonia.
However, God graciously blesses us
with Paul's ENCOURAGING words
to the Ephesus elders in verses 18 through 35!

Why would God include these ENCOURAGING words
in His Scriptures and not the ones before
Paul set out for Macedonia?

The ENCOURAGING words we find in verses 18-35
weren't just intended for the Ephesus elders
but were intended FOR US as well!

We are to...
set an example and serve the Lord with humility
EVEN when we are tested.
Acts 20:19

be quick -without hesitation-
to help others privately AND publicly.
Acts 20:20

declare God's Grace to Believers AND unbelievers.
Acts 20:21

be open to the Holy Spirit.
take comfort in His warnings and in His presence.
Acts 20:23

remain dedicated to Jesus and His calling you by name!
SHARE THE GOSPEL OF HIS GOOD NEWS!
Acts 20:24

be ready.
be on guard of not just yourselves but also for others.
YOU have a responsibility for others.
Acts 20:28

prepare yourselves to deal with mean and hateful people.
for Christ, stand firm against people
who want to take you away from Him.
Acts 20:29-31

know that God's grace is for YOU
and your place in his family is confirmed.
Acts20:32

work hard.
Acts 20:33-34

give to those in need.
take good care of the poor and less fortunate.
Acts 20:35

Paul was letting the elders of Ephesus know
of his plans to never return and
it was now THEIR TURN TO ENCOURAGE.
This is God's same message to us today.
It is OUR TURN TO ENCOURAGE!


Much like the first photo in this post,
it's not always going to be easy to "hang in there."
Remember Paul's words about
"wolves" which is stated so perfectly in the Message...
"I know that as soon as I'm gone,
vicious wolves are going to show up and rip into this flock,
men from your very own ranks
twisting words so as to seduce disciples
into following them instead of Jesus."
Acts 20:29-30

But God tells us time and time again...
"Be strong. Have courage. Don't be intimidated.
Don't give them a second thought
because God, your God, is striding ahead of you.
He's right there with you.
He will not let you down; He will not leave you."
Deuteronomy 31:6

and remember our very first memory verse?
"But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

He has promised His POWER because
HE will always be WITH US.

Do you have the POWER to ENCOURAGE others?
Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Have you asked him into your heart?
Are you living in a way that shows
His ENCOURAGEMENT?

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Meet... Muck and Mire

Lesson 21

For Lesson 21's Wrap Up,
some of the students in our class acted out a performance of
"Muck and Mire"
for the rest of the class as well as Mrs. McKain's class.
I narrated the performance.
(It was so funny because as I narrated the characters
speaking, the students playing that particular character
would move their mouth as if they were doing the speaking.
It was so funny!!!)
*
Muck and Mire were two young peasant children,
brother and sister, who set out on a trip to meet the king.
They pleasantly told their mother,
"We're off to see the king!"
They planned to have dinner with king
and all his noblemen and servants in the palace.
So they laughed together while away they skipped.

Along the way they met a woman knitting clothing.
"Please tell us," in unison they asked the woman,
"how might we find the king?"
The old woman glared at them and replied,
"Whatcha talkin' bout?!  This ain't no fairy tale!
There ain't no king!
And who has time to go lookin' for one anyways?!"

Muck and Mire left the old (and grumpy) woman
and continued forth on their journey.
Soon they met a man carrying a tiny pig.
"Please tell us," in unison they asked the man,
"how might we find the king?"
"Let me think," the man replied,
"Each of us must find the king himself.
I can not tell you where to find the king."
And he walked away with his little pig.

Muck and Mire began to get discouraged.
They hung their heads in disappointment and
hardly noticed the man who approached them.
He wore a long flowing robe,
held a golden septer in his right hand,
fashioned a jeweled crown upon his head,
and wore a paper name tag over his heart that said
"Hi my name is... "
Written in magic marker on the name tag was...
"King."

"Please tell us," they asked "how might we find the king?"
The man smiled. "I that speak to thee is he."
"No really," they said, "we want to meet the king."
The man pointed a finger at his name tag.
"See?" he said.  He pointed to his crown
and waved his golden septer at them.
"I am the king."
Muck turned to Mire. "Let's go home," he said.
"We'll never find the king."
They shook their heads and turned away from
the man with the crown and golden septer.


So many of us have our very own picture or idea
of Who God really is.
Many of the apostles pictured Jesus
to be an earthly king,
one who would gather soldiers and fight in battles.
(In all four Gospels, we are told of when Simon Peter
drew his sword and cut off a man's ear
just because he was ready to defend his King in battle.
-Matt 26:51, Mark 14:47, Luke 22:50, John 18:10)

Demetrius and the crowd at Ephesus
certainly had their ideas of what "a god" should look like.
And they were ready to fight for it.
However, they weren't really fighting for their "god."
"My friends, it is our job to fashion our god with our tools.
You know this is how we make our money.
And yet this Paul says a god can not be made by human hands."
Acts 19:25:26

First Timothy 6:10a tells us
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."
And even Jesus said,
"“No one can serve two masters.
Either you will hate the one and love the other,
or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and money."
Matthew 6:24

Demetrius and the crowd wanted nothing to do
with the God of the Way
because they wanted a god they could serve
alongside thier desire of money and wealth.

We didn't do this next part in class...
read John 18:28-38.
How was Muck and Mire's mistake like Pilate's mistake?
How was this same mistake like the mistake
made by the people at Ephesus?
Jesus said,
"All who love the truth
RECOGNIZE
that what I say is true."
John 18:37

Even the reactions of the knitting woman
and the pig farmer are much like the reactions
of people today in that they think of the Bible as "just stories"
and your god can be whoever or whatever
you want it to be.
But is that TRUTH?

Paul and the Way brought the
One True God
to Ephesus and the people couldn't
RECOGNIZE the Truth.

It is my prayer that everyone who heard
God's Wrap Up of our Lesson 21 today
will remember this lesson
when they are faced with making a decision
between God's Truth and worldly desires.
May God open our eyes and our hearts
to RECOGNIZE the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!