Never stop searching for what’s true. We kick off January with the end of the Christmas story. In Matthew 2:1-12, we meet wise men from the east whose lives were dedicated to discovering more about the universe. One night they noticed a bright star that led them on an...
The good news is for everyone. Jesus is born! God could have announced the birth of the Savior to anyone. But in Luke 2:8-20, we read that God didn’t choose to share Jesus’ birth with kings, government officials, or religious leaders. Rather, God sent an angel choir...
Jesus is the greatest gift. In Luke 2:1-7, we see how God’s greatest gift finally arrived. Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the census. The town was bustling with people, leaving no room for them to stay. Thankfully, they found a place where the animals were...
Anything is possible with God. In week two, we head to Luke 1:5-66 where we find Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary. Zechariah and Elizabeth were older, and it seemed impossible that they’d ever have a child of their own. But one day an angel came to Zechariah and told...
God always has a plan. We kick off December with an Old Testament prophecy found in Isaiah 9:6-7. The story of Christmas begins with promises that God made long before Jesus was born. God’s people had been waiting for hundreds of years for God to send the Savior. Many...
Hold on because God is in control. We finish up the month in Exodus 13:17-14:31. God’s people were on their way out of Egypt. Everything was looking great for the Hebrews, until Pharaoh changed his mind. Moses and the Hebrew people found themselves trapped between the...
Hold on because God knows what you’re going through. In week four, we discover God’s plan for rescuing the Israelites. In Exodus 3-6; 7-12:42, we see how God’s plan started. Moses was watching sheep on the side of a mountain and saw a bush on fire—but it wasn’t...
Hold on because God is with you. For week one, we pick up God’s Big Story in Genesis 37, 39-40. We learn how Joseph was his father, Jacob’s, favorite son. Joseph’s brothers were completely jealous—with their jealousy fueled by Joseph’s dreams that had them bowing down...
You can trust that God has a plan.In week 3, we meet Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25, 27, and 28. Jacob and Esau always had a complicated relationship from the moment they were born. Jacob eventually took advantage of Esau’s moment of exhaustion. Of course,...
Trust God no matter what.Next, we discover Isaac venturing out on his own. In Genesis 26, we find out that Isaac moved to a region where he reclaimed the wells that had belonged to his father, Abraham. For years no one had cared about the wells until someone reopened...
Trust God even when you have to wait.For week one, we pick up where we left off last month and continue with Abraham’s story. In Genesis 15, 18, and 21, we discover that God’s promise to Abraham takes longer than Abraham might have thought. This tests Abraham’s trust...
God has a plan to show love to the world. That man was Abram—later called Abraham. We’ll discover Abram’s story as we jump ahead to Genesis 12:1-9, 15:1-6. God promised Abram that his descendants would become a great nation that would show love to the world. God told...
God loves us no matter what. We explore this idea in week three, as we head to Genesis 3. Here, we see that although Adam and Eve had an unbroken, loving relationship with God, ultimately they decided not to trust God’s plan.God gave them one simple rule to obey:...
God made us to take care of eachother. As we travel back to the creation narrative in Genesis 1-2, we read how God created the world . . . and it was good. God created people—Adam and Eve—to live in the world, enjoy it, and cultivate it. Adam and Eve had a close,...
Love God by loving others. Jesus explained this idea perfectly in Matthew 22:34- 40, which is where we begin this month. The religious leaders asked Jesus: out of the hundreds of laws the Jewish people were to follow, which were the most important? Jesus said that...
God gives you the power to have self- control. We finish up our Make Waves series discovering more about James 3:1-6. Our words have power. James uses practical images like a horse bit, a ship’s rudder, and a flame to show us just how powerful they are. They can hurt,...
God can give you the strength to be gentle. For week four, we get a glimpse into the heart of Jesus in Mark 10:13-16. Mark records a time when Jesus welcomed children, gave them his attention, and blessed them. Back then, no one thought very highly of children, and...
Be faithful so others can count on you. In week three, we jump back to 1 Samuel 18-20 and 2 Samuel 9. We dive deeper into the amazing friendship between David and Jonathan. Jonathan was a faithful friend to David when King Saul chased David and tried to kill him....
Show God’s goodness to others. This week, we head to Matthew 5:14-16. Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus taught His followers what it looks like to live as part of God’s Kingdom. Jesus says we are like light in the darknessand salt to flavor food....
Show kindness to everyone. We start our month in Luke 10:25-37. When the religious leader questioned Jesus about the sorts of people we should love and show kindness to, He told the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan. With this story, Jesus completely changed how...
Be patient with each other. In week four, we spend time discovering more about Proverbs 15:18. Waiting can be the worst! But something Solomon wrote in Proverbs can help us remember why patience is so important. A person with a bad temper stirs up conflict. But a...