Weekly Update May 21

Yes, perhaps the greatest Baptist minister of all time said that! Anyway, on to this week's update...

This Wednesday at Hyfi your children will continue to learn the simple truth, "I Am Here to Share Jesus." As we finish our study of this simple truth we will be taking a look at the Great Commission in Matthew 28 together. This week kids will learn that, in sharing Jesus, we can tell the world about Him! The love and life found in Jesus is good news for everyone everywhere, and we are called to share Him! Have fun this week as a family by learning how to say, “Hello!” in different languages. Pick a different language every day. Use this activity to talk about how, when we learn about other countries and people—including how to speak in their languages—it can help us be able to share Jesus all around the world!

This Wednesday at Refuge Students we will be continuing in our study of Jonah together titled "Salvation Comes from the Lord" by looking at Jonah 1:17-2:10. This week our focus is on God's sovereign salvation for sinful people. Jonah experienced God's sovereign salvation when God saved him from certain death via a great fish after he was thrown into the sea by the sailors. God allowed Jonah to experience the painful effects of His sin because He cared for Jonah and this ultimately led to Jonah's faith, repentance, and deliverance. The main point of this week's lesson could be summarized thus: God allows His children to experience pain and hardship so that they learn to put their faith in Jesus, repent of their sins, and experience God’s salvation in this life and in the life to come. This week, discuss with your youth ways in which God has used pain and fatherly discipline to help draw you closer to Himself. C.S. Lewis said this about pain, it's one of my favorite quotes: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world…"

This Sunday at Sunday School your children will be learning about Acts 11. With it being Memorial Day weekend there will be no Refuge Hangout on Sunday night. Acts 11 recounts the first time people were called “Christians” because they were recognized as followers of Jesus. In this passage, Peter was criticized by some of the believing Jews for going into the house of Cornelius and eating with Gentiles; however, these same critics later realized that God's power was at work even among the Gentiles. Acts 11 also recounts how the church in Antioch displayed the power of the gospel as Gentile believers and Jewish believers became one body under the headship of Christ. It was the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that held these brothers and sisters together, allowing for differing customs and backgrounds to be overcome. In fact, when Peter defended the Gentile salvation to the church in Jerusalem, he recited Jesus' words from Acts 1:5 on the baptism of the Spirit. He reminded the naysayers among them that if the Gentiles truly received the Spirit, why should the rest of them get in the way of God's salvation at work? The evidence of the Holy Spirit among them, leading them to live in holy fellowship and bold proclamation, proved that God’s hand was working in the lives of those who were previously outside the faith. This week as a family highlight God’s goodness in bringing these new followers to Himself. Encourage your kids to share the gospel with those who may be different from themselves, trusting that the good news of Jesus brings us together for the good of His church and the glory of God.

Finally, don't forget that our new check-in and check-out system for Wednesday nights starts this Wednesday, May 22nd, and applies to our children AND youth ministries. If you haven't read through the new check-in and check-out procedures yet, I've attached them below for your convenience. Please make sure to read through them before this Wednesday night.