Bare Necessities - Scripture

This is the fourth segment in the series "Bare Necessities" that examines what are the essentials of the Christian faith for kids at VBS.

Howard Hughes was a film maker and an aviator. He made big budget movies and he set world air-speed records. Later he purchased and expanded Trans World Airlines. He became on of the richest men in the world with an estimated worth of over one billion dollars.

A man named Melvin Dummar claimed he crossed paths with Howard in 1967 near Las Vegas. He claimed that he found Howard lying beside the highway and gave him a ride to his hotel in Las Vegas. Howard Hughes passed away in 1976 and shortly afterward Dummar claims that a man left a letter for him that stated it was Howard Hughes will.

The Dummar will parceled out Howard's wealth to various organizations and people with Melvin himself receiving $156 million dollars. In trial that lasted seven months a Nevada state court determined that Dummar's will was a forgery. It took the authority of a state court to show what was true and false in regards to Howard Hughes will.

Over time there have been many who have claimed that God had spoken to them. Many have claimed God had revealed to them a way to heaven, and the date and time of the end of the world. There have been and are many who say that there is no God and that we live in a closed universe controlled by the whims of nature.

How does one go about determining the truth about God, about who we are and what is our ultimate destiny? One of the bare necessities children need for the Christian faith is scripture. Children need the truth about God and Christ. The Bible is the authority that points children to the truth about God.

Now most children do not read their Bible on a regular basis. But I doubt most people in the Melvin Dummar/Howard Hughes case spent a lot of time reading the Nevada law books concerning estates and wills either. But the law books was where they went to find an authoritative voice in the Hughes decision.

One of the most important things we can do at VBS is tell the children the truth about God and point them to the authority of the Bible so they can find His voice and guidance in their life decisions.

Please pray that God would give us his help in pointing kids to the source of truth, the Bible, and the person of truth, Jesus Christ!

Bare Necessities - Relationship

This is the third segment in the series "Bare Necessities" that examines what are the essentials of the Christian faith for kids at VBS.

How many of you like magic tricks? I have always enjoyed someone pulling off a slight-of-hand trick right under my nose. Some folks enjoy stage magic, the big stuff where elephants disappear, cars appear, people get cut in half and put back together right before your eyes. If you like the big Las Vegas style magic show no one does it better than Penn & Teller. They have been together for over 30 years and have an edgy show that mixes gore and magic. Penn, a vocal atheist, together with Teller (who never speaks on stage) also do TV and videos that expose all kinds of frauds and skeptically examine religious claims. They might not be family friendly but they do put on a good magic show (check out the show "Fool Us" on Youtube to get a taste of Penn & Teller).

One thing that caught my attention about these two is that they have been together for thirty years but are not close friends. in a Larry King interview Penn stated that they are complete opposites and the only time the spend together is when they are performing. In other words, they have an understanding that theirs is a "working relationship" and they are fine with that, and have been for three decades.

A bare necessity to being a Christian is to understand the relationship we have with God. Christianity is not a "working relationship" were we do good deeds to earn our salvation from God. It is a Father son/daughter relationship. Through faith in Christ we are born into the family of God. He is our heavenly father. We do not earn his love and forgiveness. He loves us and forgives us when we are adopted into his family through faith in Jesus the Christ!

In his family you are loved simply because you are you. When Jesus imparts his right standing status with God to us we become part of the family. The heavenly father cannot be separated from us because we are blood relatives through the sacrificial blood of his son! We do not need to earn anything from God because he has given us everything in Christ. We do good, serve others and love God out of gratitude; we love him because he first loved us!

Let us pray that kids that attend VBS hear and understand that faith in Christ brings them into God's family. He is a good Father that will not hurt them nor leave them. They need to know that they do not earn his love and acceptance by working for it. It is a free Gift given through faith in Christ. No matter how bad their family life is they need to hear the God has great family for them full of love, forgiveness and acceptance. They need to know that if they have a great family life it is just a little taste of how great it is to be in a family with a loving heavenly father!

Penn & Teller may have a great working relationship that lasts for decades, but God has an even greater family relationship with his kids that lasts for all eternity!