SSBC Next Gen Blog

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2  He was in the beginning with God.  3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  4  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John does not begin his Gospel with the story of Jesus’s birth, but rather with the divine nature of Christ.  Jesus is God’s word that has always existed and was there “in the beginning” when God created the heavens and the earth.  As the Son of God, the second member of the Trinity, Jesus is the light of the world and the light cannot be overpowered by the darkness. Throughout history, darkness, evil and sin has tried to overpower the light and love of God, but it has always failed.  Nothing can stand against our God. Nothing can overpower the light.  When it looked like the darkness had won on the Friday Jesus was laid in a tom

When you call your children to dinner, just have salt on the table.  That's it.  Just salt.  When they ask you what's for dinner, just tell them salt.  Of course, they are going to complain and ask what's going and mess with them a little.  Ask, "What's wrong with salt?" and "You don't like salt?"  But,  after a minute or two, tell them that you were just kidding and serve the real meal.  Then, as you eat, you can talk to them about the salt.   I would never just give you salt, because that is not the purpose of salt.  Salt is not the main course.  No one goes to a five star restaurant and says, "I'm here for the salt."  Salt is used to season food. It keeps us hydrated and sustains us.  Also, in the time of Jesus, it was used to preserve food.  It has many good uses and it is very important, but salt is not the main course. Jesus called us the "salt of the earth."  That means that we are to help preserve the world

Turn Dr. DoLittle into a family devotional experience. Read these Bible Verse before the Movie – Galatians 3:26 - For in Christ Jesus you are all sons and daughters of God, through faith. One of the things you are going to see in the movie is that Dr. Do Little takes in orphaned animals that had been abandoned or cast aside by their biological families.  The Bible lets us know that we are all spiritual orphans, because of sin, but through the grace and love of God found in Jesus Christ, God adopts us into his family – the family of Faith.  The great thing about the family of Faith is that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what your biological family is like, or how you have been treated in the past, God wants you to be a part of this amazing family that is based on love.  In the family of God, we are all sinners, so we all need Jesus, therefore no one is better or worse than anyone else, but rather, we are all seeking healing, acceptance and grace.  God’s family is fo

This one is easy.  All you will need is your phone and charger cable.  In a casual setting, have your phone plugged in to the charger cable, but do not have the charger cable plugged into the wall or attached to a computer.   Just have it dangling in plain sight.   The point is you don’t want it to be charging. I think something is wrong with my phone.  I can’t do anything.  I have had it plugged into the charger for three hours, but it is just not working right.  (hopefully your children will say something about it not being plugged in).  It is kind of silly to think that my phone is going to charge if it is not plugged into something.  Believe it or not, Jesus actually said the same thing about us.  He said that we will not work correctly unless we are plugged in…but he wasn’t talking about being plugged in to a wall, he was talking about being plugged in to him, Jesus. In John 15:5, Jesus says, “"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you

Find a piece of clothing that has a very noticeable stain on it, one that is so bad it would embarrass your family if you went out of the house wearing it…and then put it on and just walk around and see if anyone notices (if they don’t notice, you may have to point it out to them). I can’t wear this shirt out, because it has a stain.  I have tried everything to get it out.  I have washed it many times, soaked it in hot water and even put stain remover on it, but nothing will get that stain out.  I guess I am just going to have to throw this shirt (or whatever has the stain on it) out. You know, we have a stain on us.  No, you can’t see it, like you can on this shirt, but each one of us has a stain on our lives that God can see, it is called Sin.  Sin is anything that we think, say or do that breaks God’s laws and makes God’s sad.  Anytime we make a choice that is against God’s will, anytime we don’t forgive, anytime we talk bad about someone, anytime we don’t share, we get a

Before you watch the movie review these scriptures and points. Galatians 3:28 – There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatia was a melting pot of people.  It was where Asian and Greek influences met.  Before being conquered by Rome, the area was comprised of three different countries that were forcefully united under Roman Rule.  Most religions and communities separated based on their differences and their backgrounds.  The Church started by Paul in Galatia started to let these barriers come into the Church and divide God’s people.  Paul was not ignoring the diversity.  He realized the diversity was what made the people unique and special, however, what he does remind them is that what unites them is much stronger than anything that could divided them.  He is reminding them that despite being different, they are on in Jesus Christ.  In Christ, their divisions are celebrated to show th

Set up a game of Jenga (if you don’t have Jenga, Legos or any building blocks can work) and ask your children if they want to play.  As soon as it is your turn, pull one of the bottom outside pieces out, which should make the entire tower topple.  (If you have younger children) Ask them if they want to play again (with older kids, you can move right to the devo) and then do the exact same thing again, making the entire tower fall again. The reason that the Jenga tower fell is because I removed one of the cornerstones.  The cornerstone is the base of a building that joins two walls together.  You usually start with a cornerstone and then it helps to keep the structure in place and make the rest of the building straight.  If you see some really old buildings, they use to mark the cornerstone in a different building material so that people would know where it was (show the picture). The Bible tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.  ACTS 4:11 This

For this devotion, you will need a couple small, new Easter items.  I like to go to CVS a day  or so after Easter and pick up several Easter items that are 50% or 75%.  I usually get something really inexpensive and very cheap.  You will need a Bible as well.  I just use one of my newer Bibles. Gather your family together.  I like to do it right before dinner at the dinner table.  I keep everything, including the Bible in a bag, so they don’t know what I have and I just tell them, “Hey guys, look what I got at the store today.” Then, I one by one start pulling out the items and I tell them that I got each of them on sale.  I usually play it up and say, “I really don’t know what I am going to do with it, but it was such a good deal, I had to get it.  It was the big after Easter sale.  It was regularly $2, and I got it for $1 because it was 50% off.”  With every item, I tell them what the original price was and then I tell them what I paid for it. The last thing I pull out is th

Disney/Pixar's newest movie is now streaming on most streaming services.  It is rated PG and has an 87% rating through Rotten Tomatoes.  Use this devotion to turn your family movie night into a devotional experience that will help everyone grow in grace. One theme we will pick up on in the movie that runs throughout the Bible is that easier is not always better.  In fact, sometimes God intentionally makes his will or his way a little harder to help us grow and learn to trust him more.   Joshua 6:15 - On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. When Joshua came to the wall of Jericho, God instructed him to march around the city every day for a week.  Then, on the 7 th day, after they marched around the city, they were ordered to blow their horns and shout, and the walls came tumbling down.  Think about it, why did the walls fall?  It wasn’t because t

One of my favorite movies is the Toy Story movies featuring Woody, Buzz and the gang.  If you have never seen the movie, the plot is that when you leave or fall asleep your toys get up and play and do their own thing.  Now, is that true?  Of course not, your toys aren't a live, but when you are gone or asleep your toys just lay there and do nothing. How do we know what happens when we are asleep? That's right, unless it wakes us up, we have no way of knowing what is going on when we are sleeping.  I wake up all the time with puddles in my yard and I'm like, "What, did it rain last night?"  And usually my wife will tell me, "There was a huge storm and you slept right through it."  We have no idea what is going on when we are sleeping.  Think about a bear that hibernates (means sleeps for a long time) during the winter, they have no idea what has happened while they were asleep. Well, let me tell you something awesome that the Bible tells us.  T

(You will need a lock, preferably one with a combination, but if not, one that takes a key will work) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  - Matthew 7:7 Show your children or the group the lock -  What is this?  That’s right, it is a lock.  Why do we use locks?  (You will get different answers and affirm them all, but you are looking for to keep people out).  We use locks to keep people out of place that they should not be.  When you were little, your parents might have put locks on cabinets to keep you out of things that can hurt you.  Sometimes when you pass a place where they are building a new building, they will lock it up at night, because there are a lot of tools, wood, and nails that could hurt you.  So, locks can be helpful. Well, in the Bible we learn that sin is like a lock, but it actually keeps us out of somewhere we were made to be.  It keeps us away from God.  Adam and Eve brought sin into th

Devotional for Jumanji – the Next Level Please note that this movie is rated PG-13 and for good reason.  There are several times that they unnecessarily use profanity, including GD.  Despite that it still has a redeemable value and good be good for the older children in the families since the last couple Family Movie Night Devotions we have put out there have been on movie for younger children. Before the movie read… 1 Corinthians 12:12-27- 12  Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.   13  For we were all baptized by [ c ]  one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.   14  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15  Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.   16  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye,