Sparks Highlights 12-16

 Wow!  It is great to be together again!  We hope you had a Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior.  We hope, too, you are looking forward to the upcoming year and for the great blessings God has in store for us.  We have spent the last few weeks in Sparks learning about the promise of our Savior and His earthly birth.  All year, we have been discussing our need for His birth and life.  Before really focusing on Jesus the rest of the Sparks-year, we are going to learn about a few more Old Testament biblical stories that point to Jesus.  One such was Josiah – did you know that the nation of Israel had a king who was only 8 years old?   If Josiah were living here now, he would be a Sparkie!   Did you know that that 8 year old was very wise?  Josiah was wise because he led his people to obey God.   Obeying God is a wise principle to live by and a great New Year’s resolution – if you are still looking for 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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 12-11

  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.   

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.     

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 12-2

  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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 11-18

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 2nd.  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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 11-4

 Wow!  It is great to be together again!  We hope you had a Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior.  We hope, too, you are looking forward to the upcoming year and for the great blessings God has in store for us.  We have spent the last few weeks in Sparks learning about the promise of our Savior and His earthly birth.  All year, we have been discussing our need for His birth and life.  Before really focusing on Jesus the rest of the Sparks-year, we are going to learn about a few more Old Testament biblical stories that point to Jesus.  One such was Josiah – did you know that the nation of Israel had a king who was only 8 years old?   If Josiah were living here now, he would be a Sparkie!   Did you know that that 8 year old was very wise?  Josiah was wise because he led his people to obey God.   Obeying God is a wise principle to live by and a great New Year’s resolution – if you are still looking for 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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 10-28

   Despite knowing that God was taking care of every need – the miraculous  exit from Egypt, parting the Red Sea, providing food and water in the desert, the nation of Israel still didn’t trust God and they disobeyed.  God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey in the Promised Land – where He was leading them.  In that promised land, though, lived other people that would need to be conquered by the Israelites.   They sent out 12 spies and ten out of the twelve were fearful and persuaded the people to be fearful.  Only two of the spies (Joshua and Caleb) trusted God, knowing that God would provide their victory.  Because of the people’s disobedience, God said that none of them would enter the Promised Land, but only Joshua and Caleb with the children of those that disobeyed – the rest would wander around the wilderness for forty years and die there.   When that forty years had passed, Joshua was given the command to lead them.  By obedience to God, the Israelites then were able to enter the enemies’ territories and have many victories, but when they disobeyed, God did not allow the victories.   Tonight we learned about one of the amazing victories they had by conquering the city of Jericho – the victory was not by strength or might, but by pure obedience to God.  Ask your Sparkie why we made horns tonight!  The Hebrew name Joshua means “God saves or God rescues, or God is salvation” in which Joshua is another figure in the Old Testament who is a picture of Jesus Christ and His salvation for us.  As we work our way through the Old Testament, we continue to see how God saves His people and He continues to save us today. You can read about this in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.  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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 10-14-15

  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.  In fact, the law was never to save anyone.  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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 10-7-15

   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. Barb Stein

Sparks Highlights 9-30-15

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 God-given 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.  God also gave us another picture of the salvation we have in Jesus as his people were saved from death of a famine and given a great deliverance. 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. Barb Stein

Sparks Highlights 9.23.15

  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 on the alter as a sacrifice for our sins.  The Bible states, like Isaac, he didn’t struggle – he willingly layed down.  Jesus Christ was 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.  Tonight their decorated photo albums are to remind them of how God is faithful to all generations.  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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 9.16.15

  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 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

 Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 9.9.15

  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. 

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 3.2.15

 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.)   

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 3.25.15

****Sparks Highlights****    Besides showing us His Holiness, His Power, His Provision, He also shows us His Wisdom.  Jesus was the greatest teacher during His time on earth.  He took every opportunity to teach.  Jesus taught the leaders of the day and the poor alike – He taught them about their sinful hearts and need for repentance.  He often taught His lessons in stories, in parables, that help us understand the meaning of His points.  Every meeting with people, every situation was used to teach about God’s love, mercy, judgment and grace.  Many modern-day people consider Jesus just a good teacher – but He is more than that.  He is our teacher that points out our sins and provides way of correction, restoration with God.  You can reject what a teacher tells you, but it doesn’t make it any less true when it is the truth.  Tonight we learned specifically on how Jesus taught us to pray and share through examples He has given us in Matthew 6.   We are not to just follow commands to recite words or just perform good deeds; we are to use these as examples of how to have the right heart that pleases God.  The first step of having a heart that pleases God is to have a repentant, humble heart that has been surrendered to God and the rest just comes naturally out of the heart that seeks Him.  It is only through Jesus that we can have a prayer relationship with God.

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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 3.18.15

We have learned Jesus is holy, so He can take our sins’ punishment, to be trusted as our Savior. Last week we learned that Jesus is powerful and our creator, so He can be trusted as our Savior.  This week, we are learning that Jesus is our provider so He can be trusted as our Savior.  How much food do you think it takes to feed 5000 men and their women and children?  With Jesus, our provider, it only takes 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish – and there were baskets left over.  Ask your Sparkie to tell you about this amazing account in John 6.   Jesus challenges us that we are to trust Him for our daily provision many times in the New Testament.  God provides for the sparrows, the lilies in the field and knows the very number of our hairs – so if He cares that much – should we be without ever?  No.  Just as a parent provides for his/her children, our Heavenly Father, God, provides everything for us – the air we breathe, the gravity to hold our feet on the ground, skills to earn a living for our family.  Everything is a gift from above from our Provider.  Philippians 4:19 says: And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

What an amazing provision!

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. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 3.11.15

****Sparks Highlights****    We learned why Jesus can be our Savior as He is holy, without sin.  He did not succumb to temptation to sin.  He knows what temptation is because Satan himself tempted Him, but He did not sin – therefore, because of His holiness, He can be our Savior.   He knows our weaknesses to sin.   Tonight, we learned about His power.   Our P in SPARKS stands for Power – it says in Psalm – “Great is our lord and mighty in power”.   Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh on earth, created the earth and all the galaxies as the Bible tells us in Genesis 1:1.   Creation is evidence of God and it listens to the voice of its creator.  In Mark 4, we see how Jesus and His followers (disciples) were caught in a storm with the wind and the waves surrounding them.  All it took was Jesus to give the verbal order to the wind and the storm to “Peace Be Still” and immediately the storm ceased.  The disciples were amazed, as we should be too, but not surprised.  Jesus is powerful over His creation and all events.  He even is powerful to be in control of all our circumstances – all our storms.   And as we will learn about in the weeks to come, He is powerful over death.  He raised people from the dead. He raised Himself from the dead. And because of that, we can trust Him to save our soul from eternal death.  Do you trust His Holiness? Will you trust His Power and accept His salvation?

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. Barb Stein.

Sparks 3.4.15

****Sparks Highlights****    These weeks of Sparks we have been learning about salvation – our Bible heroes and their lives are pictures of Jesus.  They were saved or were used by God to save someone else.  We learned that Christmas was when Jesus – God’s Son, God in human form – came to earth in human flesh as a baby.  Last week, for Valentine’s Day we talked about God’s love for us that He gave us that gift of Jesus that when we believe on Him, we can have everlasting life.  That gift of love took the punishment of our sin, which was death.   He was and is our salvation from the punishment of our sin.  Tonight, and for the rest of the Sparkie year, we are learning about who Jesus is and why He is the One who is fit to take that punishment and to claim He is God in the flesh, to claim why He is the One and Only One that can grant us salvation.   Specifically, tonight, we are looking at Jesus’ character of Holiness.  He was tempted to sin, yet did not.  He could not take the punishment for our sin if He Himself was a sinner as He would be no different that you and me.   Indeed, we are not perfect as Jesus to never sin, but we can use His example to help us try not to sin.  Jesus was tempted three times in Matthew Chapter 4, and each of those three times, He used the help of His Father God to resist the temptation.   Those words He quoted were words of His Father, and you know, we have those same words in scripture.   That is why it is so important to learn God’s words, memorize scripture.  These verses your Sparkie works on every week are the words of God!   They can hide those words in their hearts that they might not sin against God.

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. Barb Stein.

Sparks 2.25.15

****Sparks Highlights****    All of our holidays – whether remembrance days or just special days – can remind us of God and His provision for us.  Thanksgiving we are thankful to Him for His blessings.  Christmas we are blessed by the gift of His Son Jesus Christ coming to earth as a man.  Valentine’s Day – it is not a remembrance day, but it is a special day that we can be thoughtful of the greatest love of all – John 3:16 – our Sparks key verse tells us that God so loved the world.  He so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.   The penalty of sin is eternal, everlasting death, but God provided a substitute to take that death – His son Jesus – that when we believe in Him with all of our heart, soul and mind and He then so becomes the Lord of our life, we have everlasting life through Him.  He loves us that much that He sacrificed.  We talk about loving people – God is Love because He has given us the greatest love anyone can give and receive – that Jesus laid down His life so that we might have everlasting life.  We just have to believe, it is nothing we earn or pay back. This Love is free to those who believe.  Do you really know and have Love this Valentine’s Day?

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 and Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 2.11.15

****Sparks Highlights****   Last time in Sparks, we learned about the three Hebrew friends that God saved from the fiery furnace – how about being saved from the mouths of hungry lions?!  Again, a Hebrew young man by the name of Daniel obeyed God.  There was a law in the land that no one could bow or pray to anyone but King Darius.    Daniel knew he was to pray only to God, so he continued to do so.    The Bible describes that he purposed in his heart to obey.  When you purpose in your heart to do something, it means you put that ideal above all else, no matter what the cost.  That is exactly what Daniel purposed – to obey God.  And when he was found out that he was obeying God rather than King Darius, by punishment of that law, he was thrown into the lions’ den.  God shut the mouths of the lions and Daniel was unharmed.  God again was able to prove Himself – obey and trust Him, and He will save.  He will save and show that he is mighty and powerful.  Read about this other exciting story of God’s salvation of His people in Daniel Chapter 6! 

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 1.21.15

Kids and people of any age can make good decisions to serve and obey the Lord – such were three Hebrew young men we know by the names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  They knew that God did not want them to bow down to the golden statue of the king.  The penalty of disobeying the king was to be thrown into the fiery furnace.   The three young friends obeyed God, instead of the king, and refused to bow before the statue.  Under penalty of the law, they were thrown into the fiery furnace.  But, God did not allow them to be burned or even harmed by the fire.  When the king looked into the fiery furnace he saw not three people, but four.  The king saw the fourth person, an angel of the Lord, sent to protect the three friends from the flames, to save them.  That is exactly what Jesus does for us.   He saves us from the fire – the Bible tells us there is a lake of fire that burns night and day for eternity apart from God.  That lake of fire is the place of punishment for the penalty of our sins, but when we accept what Jesus did on the cross and make him the Lord of our life, Jesus saves us from that punishment.  We continue to see the plan of salvation through the lives of ordinary people  - this time, three young men who obeyed and only served the Lord.  Read about them in Daniel 3.

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 1-14-15

Wow!  It is great to be together again!  We hope you had a Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior.  We hope, too, you are looking forward to the upcoming year and for the great blessings God has in store for us.  We have spent the last few weeks in Sparks learning about the promise of our Savior and His earthly birth.  All year, we have been discussing our need for His birth and life.  Before really focusing on Jesus the rest of the Sparks-year, we are going to learn about a few more Old Testament biblical stories that point to Jesus.  One such was Josiah – did you know that the nation of Israel had a king who was only 8 years old?   If Josiah were living here now, he would be a Sparkie!   Did you know that that 8 year old was very wise?  Josiah was wise because he led his people to obey God.   Obeying God is a wise principle to live by and a great New Year’s resolution – if you are still looking for 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.