Sparks Highlights 4.27.16

****Sparks Highlights****    Tonight is the last night of formal Sparks!  Next week is the AWANA Awards night where each AWANA child will be recognized and all parents, grandparents, cousins, neighbors – whoever is welcome to come!  There will be a meal and program.   Please plan to come!   Tonight we finished up our discussion of The Great Commission which is to preach the gospel all around the work.   Ask your Sparkie why we made flags.  We can start by sharing our key verse John 3:16 with anyone we see!  This whole year we learned about why we need a Savior, how God saves us and why we can trust Jesus as that Savior to save us!

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!   We will miss everyone this summer, but there will still be summer activities at the church on Wednesday nights.  You can also check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.     Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 4.20.16

****Sparks Highlights****    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.   We made bracelets tonight to help us remember how to share God’s Word.  Next week will will talk more about how God’s World gets shared around the world.

We have one more night of Sparks next week, then Wednesday 5/4/16 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.  You can check out the AWANA program at www.fbc.littletonil.org.    

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights 4.13.16

****Sparks Highlights****    We have been learning over the last few weeks why Jesus can be trusted as our Savior.  Now, when we put our faith in Him as our Savior – what comes next?    We are told in John 3:16 that if we believe in Jesus as our Savior we will have everlasting life.  But Jesus also claims that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  The belief is more than just accepting that Jesus is who He says He is – it is about surrendering your life to Him.  When we truly put our faith in Him and understand to truly take to heart why Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, that belief is confessing our sin, turning our life to Him to let Him lead us and change us.  That is the being Born Again that Jesus is talking about in John 3 where we were studying tonight.  Your Sparkie’s butterfly is just an example of that change.  Caterpillars are a living being that changes itself into a butterfly – it metamorphoses in the cocoon to become a butterfly.  It is still the same living creature – it just looks different and acts different as a butterfly – it is born again in a sense as new appearance.  That is just like us when we let Jesus change us – we are still the same living creature, but when we are born again by our surrender and His changing us – we are the same living creature, but we act different – and look different to others when they see that change.  What a great time to make a change in your life, if you haven’t already – be spiritually born again this spring season – when the physical world around us is sprouting new life, so can you in Christ Jesus!   

May 4^th is our awards and family night.  Please plan to join us.  You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program www.fbc.littletonil.org.    

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder,  Mrs. Barb Stein.

Sparks Highlights

****Sparks Highlights****    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. Barb Stein.