Bible Archives - Page 10 of 10 - The Sparrow's Home

Online Protection for Your Family: Keep Porn Out of Your Home

August 1, 2016 by Susan 15 Comments

We protect our family in every other way. Why do we forget this? We’re sharing real ways to protect your children and family from pornography online.

I don’t know a single mother that would let her child play near a street without supervising him. We make sure that our whole family is buckled in before we leave the driveway. I could make a list of 100 things we all do to protect our families every day.

Why in the world do we let our computers, cell phones and other devices go un-monitored?

You want to know why I think? I think that we want to believe that our husband, our children…that we are not susceptible to the myriad of temptation that awaits in cyberspace.

If you think that, I’ll start out nice. I’ll give you that one. Maybe your family is not ever tempted to do wrong online. Ever. But guess what? The bad stuff is so pervasive and sneaky that it shows up even when you’re not looking for it.

Soul Detox for Spiritual Growth

July 25, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

I have never taught material that so resonated with people. After the first lesson, numerous people order the book for themselves. It hits home. It’s real.

I am teaching this in three different formats this summer. I’m leading my church’s Wednesday night adult class for 13 weeks, teaching an adult class at the annual Family Camp we attend, and teens, at a National youth camp.

The two camps are each a week long. So it was definitely a challenge, using the same material to teach for 4 days and then also as a course to span the whole summer…not to mention teaching both groups of teens and adults.

Here’s the publisher’s description of the book:

As standards of conduct continue to erode in our shock-proof world, we must fight the soul pollution threatening our health, our faith, and our witness to others. Without even knowing it, people willingly inhale second-hand toxins poisoning their relationship with God and stunting their spiritual growth.

Soul Detox examines the toxins that assault us daily including: toxic influences, toxic emotions, and toxic behaviors.

By examining the toxins that assault us daily, this book offers the ultimate spiritual intervention with ways to remain clean, pure, and focused on the standard of God’s holiness.

One Pastor’s Observation

June 29, 2016 by Susan 6 Comments

What do you think this pastor said creates most of the problems that come through his door? The answer might surprise you!

For the past 9 years, every June, my family spends a week in Indiana at Midwest Family Camp, held at lovely Camp Mack on Lake Waubee. Last week was that week!

During our first worship service, I prayed that God would direct my conversations for the week. I so look forward each year to good conversation with people who make me better. I prayed that God would lead who I talked to and what we talked about, that I would hear and receive what I needed to and that I would share with others what He wanted me to.

Printable Truths

June 6, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

7 FREE printable truths that are frugal with color. Encouraging words and Bible verses to plant truth in your heart that won’t break the bank in ink usage.

When I was in college, my roommate and I had a giant sign on our closet door that said, “ALL Things”. And when we needed a little pick-me-up, we would play The Donut Man song and sing along with him, “I can do all things, all things, all things…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4:13” while marching around our apartment.

I still like to have encouraging words hung up around the house. And it’s nice to be able to change them every once in a while, which is why I like searching for free printables that I can use.

The problem is, it seems that when people are designing them, they don’t take into account the HUGE amount of ink that their beautiful designs take to print out. Whole pages covered with saturated color. Lovely on the computer, but not the pocketbook.

I love printing out Bible verses and other encouraging words, but don’t want to use so much ink!

Obeying God’s Call

May 26, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

When you obey God’s call, he can do things through you that you never thought possible. He gave my introvert husband a burden to speak publicly, no kidding!

My husband is a born introvert. He has said that his worst nightmare growing up was the possibility of having to be in front of a group talking.

You wouldn’t guess that these days, though.

Four years ago, the camp directors at an annual Midwest Family Camp that we attend asked Greg if he would consider teaching a class.

Although somewhat unsure, he felt God’s call to do it and he agreed.

He decided to teach on Creation vs. Evolution, a topic that the men’s group at our church had been studying for some time.

Since that first class, God has really opened a door for Greg to minister through this material. He has presented in 9 states at churches, camps, conferences and at a Bible college.

Family Bible Journal

May 24, 2016 by Susan 10 Comments

A daily Bible Journal for your family to practice the habit of being in God’s Word every day. This is a creative and informal way to start the practice.

I don’t think there’s a Christian parent out there who isn’t looking for ways to ensure that their children grow up with a strong foundation in the Word of God. Developing the habit of daily Bible reading can be tough for us to do ourselves, let alone teaching it to our kids.

There are a lot of family devotions out there that are great. The best ones encourage discussion and family bonding.

Teaching/modeling for our kids how to pray came pretty naturally. One thing we struggled to do, however, was to get our boys to read the Bible on their own on a daily basis.