The Gather Podcast is a podcast and ministry of Faith Troy. It is our hope that you will feel God’s presence as you listen. We want to continue to stay connected to one another and Him through this season of change. Share this with a friend that needs to hear about God’s justice and mercy.

In this episode, Deb Ellinger founder of Elli’s house and Elementary Large Group Director at Faith shares her passion for abolishing sex trafficking in the city of Detroit, her wisdom for moms and dads, and her heart for the kids she ministers to at Faith.

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If we want to know what the Bible means, we have to understand what is meant.

2 Timothy 3:15  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 

Remember This

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Parent Cue  

Morning Time

The Bible was never meant to be read alone. Help your kids pick a friend or family member to text a Bible verse that you think will help them today.

Bed Time

At bed time, ask your kid if they’ve ever experienced who was really smart, but also always bragged about their grades. Sometimes when people read the Bible, they do the same thing. They care more about knowing the most about the Bible, but don’t ever think about how the Bible should change us. Ask your kid, “What’s one way you’d like to see God change you as we read the Bible?”

Meal Time

Read Luke 2:46. One of the ways that Jesus and early Christians read the bible was by doing it with other people and asking lots of questions. As a family, come up with a list of 10 questions about God that you have and would love to find out?

Share your list with your small group leader during the week.

Drive Time

As you’re driving, ask your kids to describe the world. What do the see in the world? What’s it like? Then recite to them, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Ask them if they think the word “world” here refers to what they described or more specifically to people. How do they know?

Sometimes when we read the Bible, we need to read the rest of the verse (or even chapter) to know what it is trying to teach us.

From the Small Catechism

“Because Scripture is given in human language, to read and rightly understand what it says, we must humbly use human reason in such maters as context, grammar, and logic.

Because the Bible is God’s Word, and unlike all other books, is inspired and inerrant, it is wrong to use human reason to…deny its truthfulness.” – Explanation of the Small Catechism, p. 48

[Over the course of this series read the questions and answers in the Introduction to the Explanation section of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation]

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God’s word can be divided into two categories – Law and Gospel.

Matthew 19:16-26 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

¹⁷ “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, ¹⁹ honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁰ “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Remember This

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Parent Cue  

Morning Time

Before your kids go to school, ask them to share any rules or teachers or coaches that might make their day difficult. Tell them that you love them and regardless of what happens, nothing they do or don’t do will make you love them less.

Bed Time

The Bible teaches us to confess our sins to one another. One night at bed time, sit at the foot of your kids bed and remind them that just like Jesus promises to love us no matter what we do, you’ll do the same for them. Ask them if they’d like to share anything that they’ve done wrong so you can remind them that they are loved and forgiven no matter what.

*Parents, sin does often require consequences (if they don’t come on their own). But don’t let this moment be for anything other than showing grace.

Meal Time

Why do people we love give us rules? What’s their usefulness? Why does God give us rules?

Read Romans 3:10-12 and Psalm 119:105. What are some of the reasons that these verses tell us that God has given us the Law?

Drive Time

While you’re driving ask your kids to help you think of all the important rules of the road. Ask them if the could add one rule to driving, what rule would they make?  Ask them if there was a rule they could eliminate, what would it be?

From the Small Catechism

What are the two great doctrines of the Bible?

“Law and Gospel are the two great doctrines of the Bible. We must sharply distinguish between the Law and the Gospel in order to understand the Bible rightly.” – Explanation of the Small Catechism, p. 49

What is the difference between the Law and the Gospel?

“The Law teaches what we are to do and not to do; the Gospel teaches what God has done, and still does, in Jesus, for our salvation.” – Explanation of the Small Catechism, p. 49

[Over the course of this series read the questions and answers in the Introduction to the Explanation section of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation]

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The Bible is a book that’s all about Jesus.

Luke 24:13-35 

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Remember This

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Parent Cue  

Meal Time

Hide a reminder of Jesus’ love for your kids in one of their coat pockets, lunch, or back pack. This could be a note that you wrote, a picture of something, a cross, or even a Bible verse.

Bed Time

Read Luke 15:1-7. The Bible’s all about Jesus; what’s Jesus all about?

Meal Time

As your kids get into the middle school phase, they might not be as interested in a silly game like Hide-n-Seek. But before dinner, figure out something that your kids would be interested in looking for (eg: a gift card, cash, a new video game) and hide it. Tell them that before they eat you want them to try to find it.

Read Genesis 3 and ask your kids if they can find the reference to Jesus. (hint: it’s 3:15).

Drive Time

While you’re driving somewhere, play the alphabet game. By looking at signs or license plates, you can have each family member on the hunt for letters of the alphabet. The trick is you have to find the letters in order. You can work together or have each person compete against one another.

From the Small Catechism

Why can we be confident that the bible is the authoritative and inerrant word of God?

“In the Gospel, the central message of the Bible, God promises us new life on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God’s promises alone create faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself, whom we trust, declares that all Scriptures are God’s own words, completely dependable in all they teach, and without error.”  – Explanation of the Small Catechism, p. 47

[Over the course of this series read the questions and answers in the Introduction to the Explanation section of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation]

Read This

If you want to hear from God, you need to read the message he’s sent you.

Psalm 119:97-104

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Remember This

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Parent Cue  

Morning Time

If your kids have a phone, text them a message when they get to school or when they are on the bus. Send them a Bible verse that you’d love for them to think about. If your kids don’t have a phone, have them come up with somebody that you can text together from your device to share with them a message from God.

Bed Time

At bed time talk with your kids about the different messages they receive on a daily basis – not just in text or social media, but from TV, apps, teachers, billboards. Ask them how do they determine what messages are worth paying attention to and what are worth tuning out. Ask them if it’s ever hard to make sure we keep paying attention to the Bible. If they say yes, find it if there’s a way that you can help.

Meal Time

Have everyone in the family share what their favorite Bible story is. Pick one of those and look it up to read it together.

Drive Time

Make sure your kid has a tablet or smart phone to use and while you’re driving, pick a Bible verse together as a family that you’d like to challenge the family to translate into emojis.

Screenshot the best translation and save it as your lock screen for a week.

From the Small Catechism

What is the Bible?

“The Bible gathers together writings of God’s chosen prophets and apostles over a period of more than a thousand years. Through the Holy Spirit, God Himself gave these writers the thoughts and words they recorded (verbal inspiration), such that the Bible is God’s Word. For this reason, the Scriptures are both infallible (incapable of error) and inerrant (containing no mistakes). Holy Scripture is therefore entirely reliable and gives us everything we need to know and believe for Christian faith and life.”  – Explanation of the Small Catechism, p. 46

[Over the course of this series read the questions and answers in the Introduction to the Explanation section of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation]