I received this article from Granger Community Church - Leading Smart.  Protect your kids from this digital world.  Check out this article, parents!

If you don’t protect your kids from the digital world, who will?

John Wesley’s Small Group Questions:

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3. Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence?

4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work , or habits?

5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?

6. Did the Bible live in me today?

7. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?

8. Am I enjoying prayer?

9. When did I last speak to someone about my faith?

10. Do I pray about the money I spend?

11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

12. Do I disobey God in anything?

13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?

16. How do I spend my spare time?

17. Am I proud?

18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee who despised the publican?

19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it?

20. Do I grumble and complain constantly?

21. Is Christ real to me?

In 1746, the captain of a ship docked off the coast of West Africa.  Know far and wide as corrupt and immoral, he snatched unsuspecting people and sold them as slaves.  One day in 1748 this captain, John Newton, came face to face with his sin and turned his life over to Jesus.  After his conversion, he became an Anglican priest and hymn writer.  His most famous hymn, “Amazing Grace”, so well describes the author: John Newton was a slave trader before coming to Christ, but thereafter lived amazed by God’s grace.

AMAZING GRACE

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Thru many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;

‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Then when we’d first begun.

APOSTLE OF PAUL

The Apostle Paul is perhaps the most important figure of the early Church.  He described himself as a person of correct lineage, systematically educated, zealously religious, and politically connected.  He persecuted the followers of the Way to their death, arresting them and throwing them into prison.  He believed that these actions preserved and protected the religious traditions of his forefathers.

Then Jesus knocked him down on the road to Damascus, and there everything changed.  Paul’s priorities and motivations moved from fear to love, from control to surrender, from obsession with tradition to zeal for the grace of God.

Let us pray that through this season of LENT that we will become like Apostle Paul, Compelled by Love

Originating in the earliest days of the Church as a prepatory time for Easter Sunday, LENT is traditionally marked by forty days of praying, fasting, and serving.  LENT is a season of soul searching, repentance, and anticipation.  During LENT, the Church follows Jesus to the cross.  The focused time helps us prepare for Easter.  EASTER IS COMING!

Prayer focuses our hearts and minds on our relationship with God.  It is a pathway to understanding what he would have us do and how he would have us behave toward others.

Fasting creates space - in our schedules and in our spirits - for meaningful encounters with God.  It can be abstinence from food or from time - consuming activities like TV or the internet.

Serving enables us to take part in God’s work here on earth while we wait to be part of his heavenly kingdom.  As God blesses us, we can give of our time, energy, and resources to help others.

Will you walk with Jesus during this season?  Will you walk with others?  It is time to live out our faith through these practices.  Easter is coming!