Lindsey Hodge – Faith Troy | A Church in Troy Michigan

When God Shows Up | Invisible Made Visible

faithtroy — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 16:00:42 +0000

The Ten Commandments | The Ninth and Tenth Commandment

faithtroy — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 15:32:13 +0000

Read This:

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Exodus 20:17

Remember This:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:37-39

From The Small Catechism:

9th Commandment – You shall not covet your neighbor’s houseWhat does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.

10th Commandment – You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not entice or force away our neighbor’s wife, workers, or animals, or turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do their duty.

Think about this:

Instead of focusing on what we aren’t or what we don’t have, God wants us to be grateful and love ourselves as we are. He provides for us, and made each of in our own beautiful way!

Drive Time:

Come up with a definition of covet that makes sense to you and your student. Is this something that is common today, at school? In movies? On social media?

Meal Time:

Read Matthew 6:19-21. How do you think this applies to coveting material things in our lives today? How can we practice being actively grateful for what we have now?

Besides wanting materials, have you ever wanted to be someone else? Why or why not? Does God want you to think like this?

Bed Time:

Speak truth over each other! Who does God say you really are? What does He say you’re good at? If someone can’t think of something have the other people call out the good they see in them!

Pray: God we pray that we would focus on being grateful for what we have and who we are. We thank God for providing us with everything that we have and when we think we are lacking that we would look to Him. We also pray to learn more about our identity, and work on living that out!

The Ten Commandments | The Eighth Commandment

faithtroy — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 15:43:15 +0000

Read This

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”

Exodus 20:16

Remember This

Matthew 22:37-39

Think About This

God cares about our character big time! He wants all believers to be a reflection of Jesus! Because Jesus was God, and God is perfect, Jesus always told the truth. Now, because we aren’t perfect, we know it’s impossible to never lie! But believers still being as truthful as they can is really important to God. People listen to the words you say, how you say them, and your actions and associate those with Jesus if you call yourself a believer. Think about what it means to reflect honest as a believer.

From the Small Catechism

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

Drive Time

What does false testimony mean? Together come up with what it means to be truly honest? In all ways, your words, actions, and even in your thoughts. What would it look like to live like that everyday? How could people react? What would it make people think about who you are and what kind of character you have?

Meal Time

Sharing the Gospel is a thing that all believers are asked to do. Why? Because it is such Good News that it needs to be shared! When someone is always telling lies, gossiping, or being sneaky do people trust them? Why do you think God wants us to be honest people?

Read John 14:6. What does Jesus mean by He is the truth? What kind of character does God want us to uphold?

Bed Time

God wants us to reflect the image of Christ in all ways — words, actions, and thoughts. What does it look like to do this? Everyone name 1 way they can practice being honest in their words, actions, and thoughts this week!

Pray: God we want our lives to reflect Jesus. Help us to be truthful in all ways — in our words, actions, and thoughts. Thank you for loving us so deeply and always forgiving our mistakes. Amen

The Ten Commandments | The Seventh Commandment

faithtroy — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 13:01:58 +0000

Read This:

“You Shall Not Steal”

Exodus 20:15

Remember This:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:37-39

From Luther’s Small Catechism:

“You shall not steal”, what does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

Think About This:

Stealing is when we take anything that doesn’t belong to us, and it is a pretty selfish thing to do. Taking something that isn’t yours is being ungrateful for what you do have and putting yourself before others. God doesn’t want us to be selfish and ungrateful. He actually asks us, as believers, to live in a way that shows gratitude and puts others first.

Drive Time:

Intentionally taking something that isn’t yours is stealing, but what about if you find something that isn’t yours and you keep it. Is that stealing? Why or why not? How do you and your family handle finding a lost item that isn’t yours? What have you done in the past when this happens? Does what you find (the object) change what you do? Ex: finding a purse compared to finding a cool keychain.

Meal Time:

Usually when we think about stealing we only think of objects being taken. Can someone steal only objects? Or can other things be stolen? Can joy be stolen? What about other things that are only felt? Have everyone at the table share their thoughts/

Bed Time:

Read the story about the woman and her two coins in Mark 12:41-44.

How did this woman live out being grateful? How is giving the opposite of stealing?What can we learn from this story? How can you live more like this woman?

The Ten Commandments | The Fifth Commandment

faithtroy — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:01:53 +0000

Read This

“You shall not murder.”

Exodus 20:13

Remember This

Matthew 22:37-39

Think about This

The meaning of life is our relationship with God, and our relationships with others. And God gives us a guide for those relationships.

Matthew 22:36-40

From The Small Catechism

What does this commandment mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

Drive Time

Share with your student a time when you felt like you had been murdered. Also share a time when you feel you murdered someone else in spirit. Then ask them to share a time when they feel like they had been murdered, and to share a time when they murdered someone else in spirit. How can the two of you bring all these things to God?

Morning Time

Read Matthew 5:21-26 together.

Meal Time

Discuss the following questions with your student, or perhaps as a family: How do you think God sees you? How does God see your friends? How does God see the people you don’t get along with?

Bed Time

Discuss the following question with your student, or perhaps as a family:

How could you remember to treat people that God loves (that’s everyone, even you, and even people you find hate-able) with respect?

The New Testament | The Book of Acts

faithtroy — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 14:39:29 +0000

Read This

God wants you to be a part of the good things He is doing, and you do that by using your faith. Acts 1:8

Remember This

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Think About This

In the book of acts we read about how God equips people to do amazing things in His name, for the good of people and His glory.

God offers the same for you and wants to grow your faith in the process.

Parent Cue: Meal Time

Spend some time together while share a meal to also share stories of times when you saw or were a part of something amazing. Then discuss this question: How might you get to be part of something amazing that God does?

The New Testament | The Gospels

faithtroy — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 13:35:31 +0000

Read This

We get to share the good news of Jesus with our words, with our actions, and with our whole lives.

Matthew 28:16-20

Remember This

John 3:16-17

Think About This

God loves you. So much so that He’s willing to step down from glory, take on human flesh, live a life among us loving people and teaching people, and then die a terrible and undeserved death for you. And then come back to keep on loving you.

Parent Cue

Bed Time

Spend some time asking your student these questions, and then talking about their answers and your answers.

Can you imagine a world where the good news of Jesus was the news that was the most important to each of us?

Can you imagine a world where we shared the goods news of Jesus and His love for each and every person?

Can you imagine a world where the way people treated each other was done with this good news in mind?

The Old Testament | Patterns & Cycles

faithtroy — Tue, 19 May 2020 21:19:32 +0000

Read This
God keeps loving you no matter how often you repeat the same mistakes.

Remember This
“But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15

Think About This
The story of the Old Testament is the story of people who followed God and then walked away from Him. And then did that again. And again. And again. They repeated the same mistakes over and over, but God kept forgiving them.

Morning Time Parent Cue
Just like God calls Gideon “Mighty Warrior” despite how little he believes it, it is who God says he is. Write a note for your kids and put it somewhere they will see it and give them a name that tells them who God says they are. (eg: mighty warrior, outrageously loved, joy-bringer)

Meal Time Parent Cue
Have everyone in your family share their biggest pet peeves? How does it make them feel when people do stuff like that over and over again?

Bed Time Parent Cue
Read Judges 6. What are some things that you notice about the story of Gideon? Some things you might point out to your kids: “The Israelites did evil”… but God continued to love them. Or in verse 13, Gideon asks, “if God is with us, why did this happen?” Have you ever had questions like that?

Or even cooler, in verse 12, notice how Gideon responds when God calls him a mighty warrior.