Sparks Highlights 12-10-14

  As the world now turns its attention to Christmas because of gifts and parties, we should be turning our attention to the Greatest Gift of All. That is the Gift of God that through His Goodness and Mercy, He gave us His One and Only Son Jesus Christ that came to the earth in the form of man.  He was born of a virgin and took on the likeness of man, yet was God in the flesh – God dwelling among us  - Emmanuel.  The last few weeks have flown by in Sparks, but we have been studying many important Bible accounts in the Old Testament that have shown us the picture of Jesus and His Salvation for us.  Jesus is the Deliverer from the penalty of our sins – what a gift!  It is free to those who confess their sins, believe and allow Jesus to be the Lord of their life.  Tonight we learned how hundreds of years before Jesus was born on the earth, His birth was prophesized in many Old Testament.  Not only was His birth prophesized, but also His death and resurrection.  Everything said of Him and everything He said has come true – even some things He said are yet to be seen. We know those yet to be seen things are true because He has proved Himself over and over.    Your Sparkie is working hard on a mural that tells this incredible true story.

Our Sparks key verse is John 3:16 – that is the greatest gift to us.  Have your Sparkie recite it for you!  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.     

Sparks Highlights 12-3-14

 God continues to show His might power through using the seemingly weak among us!  First, the walls of Jericho fell by shouting and loud instruments.  Then, Gideon’s small army of just a few hundred me conquered the enemy in the thousands.  And now, tonight, we learned of a small shepherd boy named David who defeated a giant man named Goliath with just a sling and a stone.  Read about this exciting account in 1 Samuel chapter 17.  There were many voices telling David that he was no match for the giant, but David knew that God was with him and that God had trained him as a shepherd to defend his flock from many bad things.  David was most empowered as he stated “ I have come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel”  and he went on to say “ for the battle is the Lord’s”   -  today the battle is still the Lord’s and with Him we will prevail.  If David would have not defeated the giant, the nation of Israel would have been under the Philistine’s control.  David saved them from that bondage.  David later because the king of Israel and wrote many of the psalms in the Bible.  But even more amazing, this little shepherd boy was in the lineage of Jesus Christ the Messiah – our Savior, our King and Greatest Defender.  Jesus Christ saves us from the bondage of our sin as we see David saved his people from the bondage of the enemy.  What a fitting time to learn about David as we are in the Christmas season – celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ!

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.     

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 11-19-14

   A most joyous time of the year is here!  Thanksgiving is the time to remind us to give thanks to God for all the many blessing of the year – and it shouldn’t be that way just one day of the year, but every day.  The Bible tells us that we should have thanksgiving in our hearts at all times.  Psalm 118:1 (a verse that all Sparkies learn) says “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.”  That about sums up Thanksgiving!  There are so many, many blessings in our lives that render a thankful heart to God.  Then from Thanksgiving, we move right into the Christmas season – and indeed we can be most thankful for God’s goodness and mercy in that He gave us His only begotten perfect Son Jesus whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.  Jesus did something for us that no other man could have done for himself – His sacrifice was the payment for our sin’s death sentence.  We cannot do that for ourselves and no other person can do that for our sin.  Only Jesus can do that.  He is the only way.  John 3:16, our Sparkie key verse, tells us that God loved us so much that He gave us Jesus that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life – not die in our death sentence.  Eternal means for ever – indeed His mercy endures forever!  We have much to give thanks to the LORD!

Next Wednesday, we DO NOT have Sparks because of Thanksgiving.  We pray you have a day full of thanks to the LORD!  We will meet again as normal on December 3rd.  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.     

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 11-12-14

   Veteran’s Day is observed on November 11^th and it is just not a day to take off, but a day we should also be thanking God for our freedoms in this country and thanking any man or woman that has served in the United States military.  This day is also known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day as it was the signing of the treaty to end World War 1 – the war that was to end all wars as it was said in those days.  The treaty was signed the 11^th hour, the 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918.   In this country we have many freedoms that are only still alive because of the sacrifices of many brave men and women over the last two hundred-some years.  We have many brave men and women who still sacrifice themselves for our freedom today serving all over the world and in our borders.   One of the symbols of our freedom is our flag of which your Sparkie designed a flag star tonight.  Make sure your Sparkie tells you about the colors and what our flag symbolizes.  The Bible says in John 15:13 ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends’.  Jesus was referring to Himself and the life He laid down for us to pay the penalty of our sins – and to believe also in that that He calls us His friends!  We can say also say that of our veterans as they have and continue to lay their lives down for our freedoms.  If you know a veteran, tell him/her thank you for his/her service and his/her love for America and our freedom.  And, if you don’t know a veteran, go find one! 

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.     

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks highlights 11-5-14

  Last week, we learned how obedience and trust go together to obey God – and when we obey God, He gives us the victory.  That is what happened in the case of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.  They followed God’s commands to the letter and the walls of the city came tumbling down.  Tonight, we learned about a man named Gideon and his army of just a few men were able to defeat the large enemy, the Midianites.  See, brute strength, might, smarts and plans don’t win our battles for us.  Our strength, might, smarts and plans come from the Lord.  We simply have faith in Him, obey Him, trust Him and God takes care of the rest!  Gideon learned that with just his three hundred men against the thousands of Midianites!  Your Sparkie has made a sword to remember Gideon and remember to have faith like Gideon.  Read about this exciting true life battle in Judges 6 & 7!

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.     

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 10.2214

****Sparks Highlights****   JOY FOR THE NATIONS!  That has been our theme tonight to wrap up the missions conference at our church.  For the last several days, we have been hearing from missionaries from our Midwest area that are spreading the joy for the nations which is salvation through Jesus Christ.   We have learned of some being church planters and church revitalizers in the US and others going to the Caribbean to spread that joy.  We have been challenged that we don’t have to travel over all the world to spread that joy – we can do it right here.  That is what we are trying to accomplish in AWANA.  In Sparks, we focus completely on Jesus – going through the Old Testament with the true life events of people being used by God and  through their circumstances to be pictures of the salvation that we have in and through Jesus.  Then, the last part of our year is focusing on Jesus Himself and why He is the trusted, one and only means of salvation.  We hope your Sparkie had a good time tonight learning about our missionary guests, what missions is all about, but even more importantly continuing to learn about Jesus who is the JOY FOR THE NATIONS!  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org .     

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 10.15.14

****Sparks Highlights****   The nation of Israel worshipped God after the triumphant delivery (salvation) from Egypt.  God provided the nation of Israel a leader in Moses as God gave direction to Moses specifically of what was expected of the people.  A nation has laws and God had laws for the nation of Israel.  His laws show us how we are to love/serve God and how we are to love/serve others.  These laws, though, were not to be just a set of rules, but a clear picture of God’s perfect holy standard.  Any action opposite those laws is sin – and the penalty of sin is death eternal.  In God’s eyes when one law is broken – when one sin is committed - we are guilty of all of them.  That should sound familiar to your Sparkie as the K in SPARKS refers to James 2:10 that says ‘whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all’. No one can live up to this perfect standard of keeping all the laws/not sinning because no one is good enough.  Keeping laws or doing good things to live by the laws doesn’t earn us to Heaven because we are never good enough.   The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that no one is righteous, no not one.  The penalty of that sin is death eternal, but the gift of God is eternal life. That gift is Jesus’s shed blood, dying, for our sins; and we believing in that shed blood to cover our sins and save us from the penalty of our sins.  By accepting that gift, we have eternal life.  Jesus is who all of our Old Testament accounts, of people being saved/delivered from something, are all about.   You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org .  
Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 10.8.14

****Sparks Highlights****   The children of Israel (the children of Jacob and ultimately Abraham) grew to be a big nation as they lived in Egypt after Jacob and his family moved to Egypt to be with Joseph.   Many rulers came to power in Egypt after Joseph who were not kind to Israel as they put the Israelites in slavery.  At just the right time, God had a baby born to the Israelites named Moses who was to deliver them from the bondage of slavery.  Your Sparkie can tell you all the amazing details of how baby Moses was hid in the river in a basket to escape the ruler’s law that all Israelite boys were to be killed and was then eventually found by the ruler’s own daughter. Moses was raised in the ruler’s own palace, but was raised part of the time by his own mother who taught him about God.  God eventually called to Moses to be the leader of Israel, going before the ruler to act as God’s instrument by showing the mighty power of God through terrible plagues brought to Egypt all to convince the ruler to release Israel from Egypt.  Then God showed His amazing power as the Israelites were able to leave Egypt and God parted the Red Sea to allow them to travel on dry land.  We all, like the Israelites, are in slavery – we are in slavery to our sin.  Just like the Israelites needed someone to deliver them from their slavery, we need someone to deliver us from our slavery to sin.  That Great Deliverer is Jesus Christ.  We are continuing to learn about that Great Deliverance all Sparks Year!    Read about this amazing deliverance in Exodus Chapters 1-14.  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein

Sparks Highlights 10.1.14

****   Indeed Abraham was to have more descendants than the stars in the sky and more than sands by the sea. This was God’s promise to him.  Abraham’s son Isaac, who we also met last week, grew up to have two sons – Jacob and Esau.  Jacob grew up and God changed his name to Israel – Israel is the nation we know today.  Jacob had twelve sons of which have been known to be the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, and because of that, the older brothers were jealous.  They initially threw him in a well to die, but eventually sold him to some traveling men who then sold him into slavery in Egypt.  Joseph had been blessed with ability to interpret dreams – part of which angered his brothers.  Joseph was wrongly accused of a crime in Egypt and was thrown into jail.  He was eventually released because of his ability to interpret dreams of the Pharaoh.  Joseph was removed from jail and put into second command in Egypt under the Pharaoh!  All the while, Joseph never questioned God and continued to serve Him – even in times a normal person might despair and question God.  The amazing true story of Joseph did not end with his rule in Egypt.  There was a famine in the land that brought Joseph’s brothers in to Egypt to get food.  They then were re-united with Joseph. Joseph could have done whatever he pleased out of revenge, but he forgave his brothers, and the whole family – the children of Israel – came to live in the fertile land of Egypt.  Truly, Abraham’s descendants multiplied into the thousands in Egypt at this point.  All because of Abraham’s – and Joseph’s – faith in God.  Read about this in Genesis chapters 37-45.  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein

Sparks Highlights 9.24.14

Again, after the flood, the people on the earth began to sin and do what was right in their own eyes.  Yet, again, one man named Abraham and his wife Sarah, were found to be faithful to God.  God promised great things to Abraham as he was obedient to God – including the fact that Abraham would be the father of a great nation.  This would seem impossible because Abraham and Sarah were very old without any children.  God fulfilled that promise in the birth of Isaac.  When Isaac was young, as a test of Abraham’s faith, God told Abraham to sacrifice his own son.  This seemed so improbable to Abraham, because after all, he was old and God promised him to be a great nation.   Out of great faith and obedience to God, though, Abraham obeyed.  He believed God’s promise to him even though the situation seemed improbable.  He took his son to the place God commanded and began to prepare Isaac as a sacrifice.  How puzzling it must have been to Isaac, but Isaac trusted his father and was obedient – obedient to the point of understanding his own father would sacrifice him.  He did not struggle, but obeyed even unto the point of death.  When God saw Abraham’s obedience, God halted the sacrifice and provided a substitute for Isaac. A ram was caught in the thicket and Abraham sacrificed the ram in place of Isaac, a substitute – so Isaac wouldn’t have to die.  God provides us today the substitute for our own eternal death – that in his own Son Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ willingly laid down His life as a sacrifice for our sins.  The Bible states, like Isaac, He didn’t struggle – He willingly layed down His life.  Jesus Christ was also like the ram who died in Isaac’s place.  Jesus Christ died for our sins so we wouldn’t have to.  He didn’t stay dead, as the ram stayed dead, because He conquered the power of death when He rose from the grave.  In order to enjoy that freedom from eternal death, we must have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins and be obedient to God, trying to live for Him by being repentant of our sins and turning away from them.  This can be found recorded in Genesis 17-21.  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org

Sparks Highlights 9.17.14

After Adam and Eve’s disobedience, and thus the first sin, things to continued to get much, much worse. In fact, their own son Cain murdered his brother Abel and sin continued to be passed down through all the generations thereafter.  Genesis 6:5 says “then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth…”  That sounds a lot like our world today.  Genesis goes on to say that God was sorry that he made man on the earth and that He was grieved in His heart.  Sin grieves God’s heart – it did then and does today.  God purposed in His heart to destroy all creation – with a flood, but Genesis says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  God made a way to save Noah and his family from that destruction and death.  He instructed him to build an ark for his family, two of every kind of animal and for any man that would turn from his sin and have faith by stepping in the ark for salvation from the flood.  No other man made that repentance and so every living creature outside of the ark when the flood waters came was destroyed.  Noah and his family were saved from death because of their faith and obedience to God.  You see, the ark and the salvation that it gave to the living creatures inside is a picture of Jesus Christ and the salvation He provides us from the destruction and death from our sins.  Turning to Jesus and turning from your sinful ways and putting full faith in Him will save you from the destruction and death of your sins.  After the flood, God made a promise – covenant – with Noah that He would never again destroy the earth with flood waters.  He did that with the sign of a rainbow which we can still see in these days.  Let your Sparkie tell you all about this.  You can read of this in Genesis chapters 5-9.  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks.   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org

Sparks Highlights 9.10.14

Last week we marveled about God’s creation – the world.  He created it in six literal, remarkable days. Everything God made was perfect – because everything about Him is perfect.  In fact, after each thing he created he noted and saw that it was good.  God created man in His own image, and Adam and Eve lived in the perfect Garden of Eden and had communion with God.  They did not know sin until Satan himself in the form of a serpent came into the garden and deceived Eve. Satan is called “the great deceiver” and still deceives us today.  Adam and Eve had been given a command to move freely about the Garden of Eden and that they could eat from every tree – except that of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Satan deceived them so that, with their own free will, they took of the fruit and ate.  This was the first sin and their communion with God was broken forever.  God’s penalty of sin - as we are told in the Bible – is death and it was at that point they began to die. That sin has been passed down through all the many generations of humans.  But, God in His mercy, provided a promise to Adam and Eve that their sin could be forgiven and the relationship with Him restored with a substitute for their death penalty.  They needed to be saved from that death.  The penalty of sin for a perfect, holy God still needed to be paid, but He provided salvation from that by substituting someone else.  That substitute was and is Jesus Christ and we are going to spend the rest of the Sparkie year learning more about that promise.  You can read of this in Genesis chapters 2 & 3.

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks.   You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.  

Sparks Highlights 9.3.14

Welcome back old Sparkies and welcome new Sparkies!!  We are going to have a great year as we have many new shining faces for Jesus!  This year we are going to do as last year working our way through the Bible – The Old and New Testaments - from Creation to the time of Jesus on this earth.  We will learn how the Old Testament gives us glimpses of Jesus and then in the New Testament learning about Jesus – Who He is and how He can be our Savior.  Sure, many of these accounts in the Bible are referred to as stories – but they are more than that.  These accounts are true life biographies – each of these biographies sheds some light of why we need Jesus Christ as our Savior and who He really was and is today.  Besides our study time together, each child works independently in their books memorizing Bibles verses, so please work with your child to help him/her – and you can commit them in your memory too.  The Bible tells us that we are to hide God’s Word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. 

Tonight we have studied one of the most amazing feats of time – God creating the world in 6 literal, remarkable days.  Everything God created was perfect – even the first man and woman.  But something very bad happened – sin- with that first man and woman that caused the perfectness to die.  These two needed something to save them from death, which was the penalty of their sin.   – We, a few thousand years later, have inherited that sin and that need for salvation from the penalty of our sin.  We are going to spend the rest of year discussing that sin and that need for salvation – from our Savior Jesus.

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks. You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.  The Sparks do have homework by working through their books.  Your child will earn “sparks jewels” and other adornments for their Sparks uniform as they work through their books and also with attendance.  To earn an attendance award, a child can only miss one unexcused absence per quarter.   (Excused absences include: sickness, deaths, inclement weather, attendance at another church’s AWANA.) 

Sparks Highlights 4.30.14

After Jesus resurrected from death, He appeared to multitudes of people to prove His resurrection.  Everything He ever said was true – including His resurrection from the dead.    His time on earth was then done and it was time for him to ascend back to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father.  Before ascending back to Heaven, Jesus instructed His followers to teach all the world His gospel.   After we are born again, as we discussed last week, our responsibility is to spread the gospel as Jesus commanded.  We are to spread the gospel to all those in the world – and we start right here in our own neighborhoods.  So how do we do that?  We tell others about everything we have learned about thus far in Sparks - how Jesus came to the earth, a perfect sacrifice for the penalty of our sin, how He rose again, and thus is our Savior as he saves us from the sure punishment of our sins.   This enables others to believe and understand that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and thus believe on Him and have eternal life.   John 3:16 our Sparkie key verse is an easy verse to share that wraps up the gospel in just a few words – these are God’s words to us.  God’s Word is the Bible and that is where we should point others to reading the gospel and hearing it from us.  

This is our last Sparks regular meeting for the year.  Next Wednesday is the AWANA Banquet where each club participant will be recognized.  This is for parents, grandparents and whoever else might want to come!  A yummy meal will be provided for you.

It has been a joy to have your Sparkie in club!    You can check out the AWANA program at           www.fbc.littletonil.org.    

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 4.23.14

  So is Easter just about bunnies, eggs and chocolates?   Just like is Christmas about Santa, lights and presents?  No.   At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus coming to earth in human flesh – God Incarnate – born as a baby.  He grew up to become a man just like we do, but He was no ordinary man as we have been studying the last few weeks.  He is God Himself and is our Savior.   He can be trusted as our Savior because of all the amazing attributes that He and He alone has that allows Him the claim to be our Savior.    At Easter, He was sacrificed on the cross – sacrificed as the Lamb to accept the penalty of death for our sins.  However, just as He claimed though, He conquered that death because He is God Almighty and rose Himself the third day – our Resurrection Sunday.  This time of year known as Easter – or better yet to be known as Resurrection time, or instead of Easter Sunday be celebrated as Resurrection Sunday - is our remembrance of that time.  God wants us to remember things – He wants us to have remembrance times because it helps us be thankful for the past and for the future.   We who trust in that death of Jesus as the penalty of our sin and place our faith in the Resurrected Jesus who conquered death and sin, we can be thankful for our past and its forgiveness by God and the future of a new, eternal life to be spent with Him.  We just have to have true faith in Him and surrender our old ways and old life for new life, reborn life for us through Him.  We have learned the past few weeks that Jesus can be trusted as that Savior from the death of our sins.  Ask your Sparkie why and how He is, then ask your Sparkie about the specific events that led to the Resurrection that we celebrated on Easter Sunday – Resurrection Sunday.

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at           www.fbc.littletonil.org.    

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Carol Sheley, Mrs. Barb Stein.