Upright In An Upside Down World.

CEF summer missionary Will Martin starts off 5-Day Clubs with.... the opening prayer and the club's Up Rules. This year CEF has added the Pledge of Allegiance to our club day..

Teaching children to be upright is important especially as we see culture becoming more and more tolerant of disrespectful behavior towards authority, one another, and patriotism.

Ultimately, all disrespect is toward God...our Great and Loving Creator.

The Up Rules at club not only help keep some order to the club, they serve as a helpful ways we can teach children to show respect for others.

Sit Up, Look Up, Listen Up, Hand Up, Zip Up... while others are speaking. The children have added a few of their own Up Rules during Good News Clubs that meet during the school year. Up Rules that the children have added are Smile Up, Praise Up, and Never Give Up.

When my son was a little guy there was a popular children's clothing line called NO RULES. We did not purchase any of the clothing. The clothing had disrespectful messages and slogans. In my motherly opinion the not so "cute little" sassy images undermined the core principles we sought to teach our children. However, somewhat concealed or subtle the messaging, the name of the clothing line alone gave way the agenda.

NO RULES. (?)

If there are no rules, there is no order, and if there is no order, there is no respect for authority or anyone for that matter even ones self.

There are rules in life and nature. There are rules that govern all aspects of life and learning.

Proverbs 14:12 says; There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Could you imagine a world where every person made up their own rules? Would it be a place of chaos? The very definition of chaos is; the formless matter that existed before the creation of the universe.

Our great and loving Creator is a God of order.

(Genesis chapter 1.)

God loves the children and He has a great plan for each one of them.

God laid forth and accomplished the beautiful plan of redemption when He willingly went to the Cross, died a bloody death, was buried, rose again on the third day, was seen by many, ascended back into Heaven, and is seated interceding for us.

HE will return one day but, until that day will you help us reach the children in Southern Illinois with the Good News of Jesus and His great love for them.

You can help us by making a donation to the summer ministry. Will and Trenton have 12 clubs to teach during June and July. Please keep them and the children who will attend a 5-Day Club in your prayers.

To make a donation to the CEF Southern Illinois Chapter you may mail a check to:

CEF Southern Illinois

P.O. Box 403

Carbondale, IL. 62903

OR Online at: http://cefsi.com/donate/index.html

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP IN REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION!

In Christ,

Robin

Who are you, O great mountain?

Zechariah 4:6 is the verse that the CEF Southern Illinois Chapter stands on so to speak. It is our foundational passage. This was the Word of the LORD given to me as I prayed and pondered the question...do I have enough for the task? I struggled over my own lack of ability, time, and financial support for a job too big for me and a few other willing volunteers.

When God established the rebuilding project of CEF in Southern Illinois HE just did it and almost over night. HE established a local committee and stirred the hearts of people in local churches to adopt schools.

Pre-pandemic there were 14 Good News Clubs (GNC) meeting at local elementary schools in six of the nineteen counties of the Southern IL Chapter. Over 200 volunteers have been trained and a little over 650 kids were attending a GNC. God also raised up youth workers to be trained during the summer to conduct summer 5-Day Clubs and approximately 16,00 kids have attended a club during the summer.

Was any of this accomplished without a lot of PRAYER, hard work, tears, sweat, and much time in major spiritual warfare... ABSOULUTLY NOT! But, just as God promised Zerubbabel in Zechariah chapter 4...the rebuilding would not be by might nor even power, but by the Spirit of the LORD of hosts.

"Zerubbabel was not told HOW God was to carry out His plans and purposes… for like us, he only saw through a glass darkly – nevertheless his responsibility, like ours, is to live by faith in God – to trust the Word of the Lord – to believe all that God has told us."

It is only by the out pouring of the Holy Spirit that any good work may be accomplished. We must rely fully upon the Holy Spirit of God who resides in us to overflow through us. As His children being established and taught by His Word thence we speak.

(2 Corinthians 4:13) It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken. "Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak.

A couple verses that I pray and declare often over the mission to the children in Southern Illinois are;

(2 Corinthians 10:4) We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

(Isaiah 55:11) So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

We buck the tide of culture when we teach children that there are absolutes and that the Word of God is ALL Truth.

(John 17:17) Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

"Jesus prayed that they would be a consecrated, hallowed people for Himself. "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." The sanctification of a sinner saved by grace is both a specific act of the Holy Spirit that takes place at a moment in time, but it is also an ongoing process that is undertaken by the Holy Spirit in the heart of a believer.

"While we are positionally sanctified the moment we are justified in the sight of God and covered in Christ's righteousness, we are being progressively sanctified for the rest of our Christian life on earth, as we continue to grow in grace, mature in the faith, and become gradually conformed into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus."

"The ongoing process of sanctification continues throughout the life of a Christian – as one is increasingly conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Positional sanctification takes place at the moment of Salvation, while practical, progressive sanctification is a life-long process for the believer."

This is a very important truth

to keep ever before us as we work with children.  

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/zechariah-4-6

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/john-17-17

God Said We Could, So We Did!

June 11, 2021 will mark the twenty year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that opened the doors to elementary schools in America for after school Good News Club meetings. A Good News Club can meet in public schools on the same terms as other community groups.

"The Good News Club gives the local church the way to carry the Gospel into the public school then involve the kids and their families in your church." - Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman, Liberty Counsel

When I'm invited to present the CEF ADOPT-A-SCHOOL program, I am often greeted with a list of children's programs and opportunities that a local church is already providing for children at the church.

I am always excited to hear the many ways that a local church is investing in the children in their community!

Children are our most precious resource! We must treasure them, protect them, teach them, engage them, and place them at the top of every list!

They are future leaders!

At some point early in my presentation, I will speak to the great need to mobilize and move beyond the four walls of the church house to carry the Good News of Jesus to the school house. In many cases the local elementary school is just down the street from the church, across the road, a few blocks away, just on the other side of the highway, or across town.

In Matthew 18:10-14 Jesus warns and encourages His disciples concerning children.

10“Beware that you don’t look down upon a single one of these little children. For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access to my Father. 11 And I, the Messiah, came to save the lost. 12 “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? 13 And if he finds it, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine others safe at home! 14 Just so, it is not my Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

10b"....For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access to my Father."

What is the Savior telling us in verse 10b?

I will dare to be brave enough to offer a thought on what Christ may have been speaking to the body of believers and I believe is speaking to us today.

Children are VERY IMPORTANT to HIM! God has given special charge and access to the angels to ascend and descend from the Throne of Grace to bring the needs of children directly to Him.

I believe with all my heart that the next generation desperately needs for us to mobilize! I also believe with my whole heart that the prayers of children are very powerful and effective!

We must go and tell them about the Good News Jesus! We must go and teach them that His WORD is true! We must go and tell them that they can put their hope in Christ Jesus the Risen One!

They may NOT be coming to you! But, God has made a way for you to GO to them!

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He has the key that belonged to David, and when he opens a door, no one can close it, and when he closes it, no one can open it.

Revelation 3:7.

https://www.cefonline.com/score-one-for-public-school-kids/

https://www.cefonline.com/you-can-influence-your-childs-public-school/