How Should I Talk to My Kids After One of Their Friends Have Died? The Sermon on the Mount. Update.

 

For “Scripture Sunday”:

How Should I Talk to My Kids After One of Their Friends Have Died? 

“Our earthly bodies are but a temporary dwelling that will one day be folded up and put away to await a permanent and glorious residence to come.

Jordan Whitt/Unsplash

After a loss of a friend, add hope to your child’s sorrow.

Some young people become bitter against God when they have suffered the death of a friend. Yet others who have endured the same will continue to love and serve God. Have you ever lost a loved one and wondered how God could have allowed them to die? How can we help our children to make sense of this question?

Open the Bible with your kids and use God’s Word to comfort and encourage their troubled hearts.

The difference between those who find hope after a loss of a friend and those who don’t often comes down to whether a person has a sincere and deep trust in God. Trusting that He has a beautiful plan to work all things out for good in the end. As parents, we can and should approach the subject of death with clarity and confidence when discussing it with our children. And then, in the day when it’s needed, they can fall back on the truth to get them through difficult losses.

The apostle Paul gives us a very useful analogy that our kids can understand: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). The human body, as a tent, is the illustration Paul uses to explain the death of one of God’s own. Our earthly bodies are but a temporary dwelling that will one day be folded up and put away to await a permanent and glorious residence to come.

As parents, we must remember that the Bible explains clearly that our earthly life is transitory and is only a small stepping stone to an amazing future.

If your kids have been tent camping before, ask the question: “After several days of sleeping on the hard ground with bugs and dirt, were they glad to fold the tent up and head for a warm shower and soft bed at home?” The answer is probably yes.

For the deceased child of God, while their physical tent is folded up for now, one day they will be unfolded by God Himself to experience a wonderful opportunity to live forever in a perfect body, without pain, surrounded by God’s love.

Paul’s words encourage us to turn our focus onto the permanent habitation from heaven: “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:2-4).

With this truth, our kids can face death in the present with the confidence that one day their friend’s death will be swallowed up by a beautiful life everlasting!”  Continued at:  https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-should-i-talk-to-my-kids-after-one-of-their   

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The Sermon on the Mount.

“Nearly 2,000 years ago, Christ preached a profound sermon showing how converted Christians are to live. How essential is the Sermon on the Mount today?

Prayer is so important!

Christ’s words recorded in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 are often called the Sermon on the Mount. The reason for this designation is that Jesus “went up on a mountain” (Matthew 5:1) to deliver this message. Apparently, He did this to make it easier for His audience to hear what He was going to say. An abbreviated account of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount is found in Luke 6:20-49. Although there are slight differences between the two Gospel accounts, these passages provide an excellent overview of the subjects Jesus addressed during His earthly ministry.

According to John R.W. Stott, “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed” (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 1973, p. 15). Because Matthew’s account is more extensive than the one in Luke, we’ll use it to identify key messages that Jesus delivered for His audience in the first century and for us today.

Sermon on the Mount summary: Beatitudes and application of the law 

Jesus’ sermon begins with a description of those who would be blessed by God. For instance, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

The verses beginning with the word “blessed” (Matthew 5:3-11) are commonly called “Beatitudes”—meaning a state of supreme happiness. In essence, Jesus is stating that these perspectives would become the mental states of mind for all who would become His disciples. For additional study on how you can have these perspectives in your life, read “Beatitudes: Keys to Real Happiness.”

The remainder of the sermon gives more specifics of conversion—how to be a Christian.”    Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/christian-conversion/the-sermon-on-the-mount/

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Update.

My foster cat’s mom was supposed to come to visit her, it would be the first time since the cat, Gracie, was rescued from their house fire.  I waited all day, but she didn’t show up.  Later she texted that she forgot, and then said she had flu and couldn’t talk.  Gracie has bonded to me, follows me around the house, and sleeps on my bed.  I think she was just kept in a room by herself at her own home, away from their dogs, so I don’t know how she will adjust when she goes home. Their house is just about repaired now so she should be going home soon.

On Wednesday, we had another Holy Day at the church, The Last Great Day, or Eighth Day.  It marks the end of The Feast of Tabernacles.  We had plenty of food left over from the Sabbath, but I took some roasted squash, Romaine lettuce and croissants anyway.  The Bible readings were Deut. 14:22-1:17 which is about the Eighth Day, 1 Kings 8:35-5, and Deut. 33:1-34:12, 32:1-33 The Song of Moses.  The Teaching was about The Last Great Day, which Jesus mentioned in John 7:2-37.

Most of the week I have been trying to get things listed for sale, but it is a long, slow process, and I don’t know how I will ever get it all sold.

Zack and I started to connect a new splitter and cable for the TV’s in the mini-house, but he got mad at it and went home.  The next day he didn’t show up for work, so I tried to do what I could by myself.

For the Sabbath I made American Goulash.   It is different from the Hungarian Goulash in as much as pasta is mixed in, whereas in Hungary they have potatoes and carrots, etc. in it.  We had an enjoyable service and even Jay sobered up and came with me.  He is my deceased friend’s son and worked for me for over 20 years.  Everyone was so pleased to see him there again, it’s been a long time. 

The Bible readings were Gen. 1:1-6:8, Isa. 42:5-43:11, John 1:1-14, and because the Bible readings were starting over in Genesis, the pastor also read Psa. 111, and 112.  The Teaching was about Grace.  “For sin shall not have dominion over you.”  John 6:14,15. 

Jay wanted to work today, because he is bored staying at home, so as he was sober, I let him.  We moved the work tables, shelves, table saw etc. out of the mini-house living room, trying to get it ready for floor covering some day.