JOY Ministry-Graceview Baptist Church

04/25/2023

Check this out if you need something to do this weekend.

04/18/2023

Brandon has been enjoying our new sensory bubble lamp, come join us on Sunday and check out our awesome sensory room.

07/28/2022

We had an awesome time bowling yesterday!

12/06/2021

Trying again to post after several attempts yesterday that fb kept deleting so going to be brief.
As we spend the next few weeks in the book of Luke and engaging Advent, we invite each family to purposefully take time to set your focus on and approach this season of life, however unique to your family it may be, through God's continued faithfulness! This passed Sunday, we looked at God's definition of HOPE.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/yakhal-hope/

https://us-en.superbook.cbn.com/sb_bible

In Luke 1: 1-25; 57-80, read and see God's response to the HOPE Zechariah demonstrated through his faithful prayer for him and Elizabeth to have a child, though passed child-bearing years and during a 400 year season of God's silence.
The awaited promise of Christ is still for us today!
For what are you waiting?
For what do you need HOPE?

Father - Help us to believe in the HOPE of the gospel message from the perspective of YOUR FAITHFULNESS! Amen.

It can be difficult to feel hopeful. But biblical hope means trusting in God's character and choosing hope despite our circumstances.

01/13/2021

Hey JOY Friends - I'm bringing a pot of homemade soup (Italian Sausage Zuppa) to eat after church Sunday. Anybody else want to bring a pot and join us? We can have a soup-er social time of fellowship! (Try to say that fast 3 times!) No frills, just soup, bowls, spoons, and napkins to keep clean up soup-er easy and we can observe serving/distancing guidelines. Let me know by responding below if you think you'll want to join us. It may even be nice enough to eat outside; I think I might throw in a couple of lawn chairs just in case! Thanks!

01/10/2021

Greetings sweet JOY Family! As we dive in to 2021 together, I'd like to ask you to be an active part of the 21-Day Prayer emphasis that will begin tomorrow. JOY has been an important part of Graceview for a long time and has used many of you and your families to teach and bless the rest of our God family in many ways. I am so thankful for each of you and your connection to Graceview. I believe the heart and love that JOY brings to Graceview still beats strongly though we've been affected by change and a particularly difficult season. I am so thankful for what I have learned from many of you that has strengthened my faith and given me hope to meet these trying times through the years. You have truly been "iron" to my growth as a believer.

For the next 3 weeks, we will focus on the components of the 21-Day Prayer emphasis because I believe God is doing a new work, and I, for one, have a lot to discern! We will still meet in our classroom during the worship time as usual but will be taking a detour from our regular lessons.

I'm including a link to Week 1 of HEARTWalk and ask that you download a copy for yourself and/or your family and let God help direct your next steps, OUR next steps, in 2021 by seeking Him earnestly in prayer by putting to use the things we've been learning about being a Christ follower.
https://www.graceview.org/21-days-of-prayer

If you're unable to make a copy for yourself, please let me know and I'll get one to you. Looking forward in faith, -Diane

Heartwalk - Do You Need A Boost In Your Faith And Relationships?Are You Actively Listening To God?Heartwalk Is A 21 Day Journaling Tool To Guide You As You D...

12/26/2020

THE WISE MEN
Matthew 2

Did you see the Bethlehem Star Monday evening? Are you familiar with other constellations such as The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper, or Orion? Our object for this lesson is a fascinating artifact that was discovered in Germany. While we don’t know its exact purpose, we do know that it is the oldest depiction of the cosmos, or the universe, that has ever been found. More than likely it shows the sun, the moon, and many stars. The wise men studied and followed the stars. Today’s story tells us about one of their journeys following a star.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

King Herod was greatly disturbed when he heard about the wise men and the new king. The whole city was disturbed too. Herod gathered all the chief priests and the scribes and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. He was worried that Jesus was going to take his place as king. He didn’t understand that Jesus was a different kind of king who actually had more power and authority than King Herod could ever have.

"The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem,” they told Herod. “This is what the prophet Micah promised long ago.”

Herod secretly spoke to the wise men and asked them exactly when the star had appeared. Then he sent the men to Bethlehem to find the child. He also asked them to come back and tell him where he could find the child.

The wise men saw the star again. And they followed it until it stopped above the place where Jesus was. When they saw the star, the men were filled with joy. They entered the house and found Jesus with His mother Mary. They fell to their knees and worshiped Jesus and presented gifts for the child.

The wise men were so excited to get to meet Jesus. It’s customary for us to take gifts to welcome a new baby or child. We usually take take gifts such as clothes, blankets, toys, diapers, and things a baby or kid needs. Jesus probably wasn’t still a baby when the wise men came to visit him, and their gifts weren’t normal gifts. They brought gifts for a king. They gave Him special treasures—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We usually want Jesus to be the one giving us things, but the wise men recognized that even at such a young age, Jesus was worthy of their gifts and their worship.

The wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to King Herod. So they returned home taking another route.

After the wise men left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you to leave. Herod is about to search for the child.”

Joseph got up and took Mary and Jesus during the night to Egypt to escape Herod. They stayed in Egypt until after Herod died. This fulfilled a prophecy about Jesus, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Take Mary and Jesus back to Israel. It is now safe.”

So Joseph got up and returned to Israel with Mary and Jesus. They settled in the town of Nazareth. This fulfilled another prophecy that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.

The wise men probably didn’t fully understand that Jesus was the Messiah. They may not have even believed in God. But they understood there was something special about this new king. We know that Jesus is the King of kings. And one day, everyone who has repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus as their Savior and Lord will be with Jesus as He reigns forever. Jesus is worthy of worship!

In our Bible story, the wise men worshiped Jesus when they gave Him gifts. What are some ways that we can worship Jesus when we aren’t at church? Ask God to help you intentionally make time to worship Jesus in some of those ways!

MEMORY VERSE: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

BIBLE VERSE: And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" Revelation 5:13
(Adapted from Explore the Bible, Older Kids, Winter 2020)

Click the following link to see more. https://www.freebibleimages.org/photos/wise-men/

https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/gnpi-009-flight-egypt/

12/22/2020

To All of Our JOY Family and Friends, Merry Christmas! (Click the pic or link.)❤️

"Joyous Journey Ecard" is one of thousands of American Greetings cards you can personalize, share, and send to your friends and family.

12/19/2020

THE BIRTH OF JESUS
Matthew 1:24-25; Luke 2

Our object today is of church doors but not just any church doors. This church is in Nazareth, the city where Jesus grew up. Some people even believe this church is built on top of where Jesus’ mother, Mary, lived. These doors are very ornate with scenes of Jesus’ life. Which scenes do you recognize?

If you have a Bible, look to see if you have a concordance; it's usually in the back. A concordance can help us find specific Scriptures, topics, or people when we aren’t sure where they are in the Bible. You just have to know some important words from the Scripture. See if you can find some of these words in your concordance - angels, Bethlehem, Mary, Jesus - and look at the Scripture references. You should see Matthew 1 and Luke 2 listed.

Today we will hear the story of the first scene of Jesus’ life.
Joseph was obedient to the angel’s message and married Mary. While Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus is limited, a slightly more detailed account awaits us in Luke 2.

Long ago the prophets promised that a baby would be born. The time for this special promise to happen arrived. God told Mary and Joseph that Mary would have a special baby. They should name the baby Jesus. Jesus was God’s Son and would rescue the world from sin. So Joseph married Mary.

The ruler Caesar Augustus sent a decree to the entire empire. He wanted all of the people to register. Everyone had to travel to their hometown to be registered. Joseph lived in Nazareth but was from Bethlehem, the city of David. He was a descendant of King David. So Joseph traveled to Bethlehem with Mary. Mary was pregnant. While in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. The lodging place was full, so Mary gave birth and wrapped her firstborn Son in cloth and laid Him in a manger.

At the same time, shepherds were nearby watching over their flocks of sheep during the night. Suddenly, an angel appeared. The glory of the Lord shone around them and the shepherds were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I have good news for you that will bring people great joy. Today in the city of David, a Savior, Messiah the Lord, was born for you! As a sign to you, you will find the baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

Then a multitude of heavenly host appeared with the angel and they praised God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth!”

The angels left and the shepherds said, “Let’s hurry to Bethlehem. We need to see what the Lord has told us.”

The shepherds hurried and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the feeding trough. After seeing them, the shepherds reported the entire message they were told about the baby. Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds said. Mary treasured the things she heard in her heart and she thought deeply about them. The shepherds returned to their fields, praising God for everything they had seen and heard.

Luke 2:11 tells us that the Savior, the Messiah, had been born. That’s the PROMISE we’ve been talking about the past few weeks! God sent messenger after messenger telling people a Savior was coming. This time God used another type of messenger to say the Savior had been born!

God had to make so many things line up in order for all of His promises to come true about a Savior being born, but He made it all happen because God can do anything. A descendant of David (Joseph) traveled to Bethlehem to be counted in the census so that Jesus would be born exactly where God said He would be born (Micah 5:2). God worked out all things so that Jesus, our Savior and Lord, was born in Bethlehem.
(Explore the Bible, Older Kids, Winter 2020)

MEMORY VERSE: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

BIBLE VERSE: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Click the links below to see the story slideshows!
https://www.freebibleimages.org/photos/jesus-birth/
https://www.freebibleimages.org/photos/shepherds-angels/

12/12/2020

THE ANGEL SPOKE TO JOSEPH
Matthew 1:18-23

What are different ways that you use a cell phone?
Today we use cell phones for lots of different things besides just communicating with other people. We use them to take pictures, to tell us how to get from one place to another, to watch movies, and to see what we would look like with dog ears, a mustache, or cat whiskers! But phones have only been able to do those things for a short time.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e5/46/de/e546de4fd6b086711a5aefdb27ddc109.jpg
This is a picture of the first telephone. The goal was simply to be able to communicate with someone who was in a different place. Its job was to help deliver messages from one person to another.

Our Bible story today obviously took place long before even the first telephone existed, but God has His own creative ways to get messages to people. Read and discover how God shared a message with Joseph!

God had a plan—a plan to rescue His people from sin. God’s plan was to send Jesus, His Son, to earth. God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. Mary was engaged to a man named Joseph. Joseph was a righteous man. When Joseph heard Mary was pregnant, he planned to divorce her secretly.

But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream. The angel told Joseph, “Don’t be afraid to marry Mary. Mary will have a son. The baby is from the Holy Spirit. You are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

God was fulfilling a prophecy He had made long ago through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah promised that a woman would have a son and name him Immanuel. Immanuel means “God is with us.”

TEXT TRUTH: Jesus came to save us from our sin. He is Immanuel—God with us!

MEMORY VERSE: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. " John 1:14

BIBLE VERSE: "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

For story pictures, click the link below and view slideshow or video!
https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/gnpi-006-joseph-angel/

A free Story Planner PDF can be downloaded. It shows the images with a short description of what is happening in each scene. You can print this and add your own notes.

12/04/2020

THE FAMILY OF JESUS
Matthew 1:1-17

What is the first name of an adult in your home?
Can you name a parent of that adult (probably a grandparent’s name)?
And a parent of that person (a great grandparent)?
These people make up our genealogy - a list of the people in our family.

In the Gospel of Matthew and Luke, we find a record of the genealogy, or family line, of Jesus. Today we're going to look at how important Jesus’ genealogy is.

The Apostle Matthew wanted all of the Jewish people to understand that Jesus was the Messiah that had been promised by God.

Read Matthew 1:1
To start his Gospel, he began by explaining who Jesus’ family was. The Jewish people kept long lists of families called genealogies. It was important to them to know a person’s family and history.

So Matthew began, “The genealogy of Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Usually a genealogy would be named after the earliest, most important member of the family. Matthew named his genealogy after Jesus because Matthew understood that Jesus was the most important person—ever.

Then Matthew began to list the people in Jesus’ family. “Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob.” A few lines later he said, “Salmon and his wife Rahab had a son named Boaz. Boaz and his wife Ruth had a son named Obed. Obed had a son named Jesse. And Jesse had a son named David who became King David of Israel.”

Genesis 17:6-7 and 2 Samuel 7:12-13,16

One of the many promises God made about the Messiah was that He would be from the family of David. Matthew told the people through Jesus’ genealogy that God had kept this promise.

Next Matthew told about the members of Jesus’ family from King David until the Israelites were conquered and taken into Babylon. Finally Matthew listed all the family members after the exile. He finished with, “Jacob had a son named Joseph. Joseph was the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ.”

Thousands of years before Jesus was even born, God was already making a promise that Jesus would be a descendant of Abraham and David. Because Matthew wrote out this long list of names and how everyone is related, we can easily understand that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of God’s covenants with Abraham and David.

MEMORY VERSE for THE MONTH: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

WEEKLY BIBLE VERSE: "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David." Luke 1:32

(Adapted from Lifeway's Explore the Bible, Older Kids, Winter 2020)

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11/28/2020

A LETTER FROM JUDE!
PASSAGE: Jude
MEMORY VERSE: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13
BIBLE VERSE: "...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3ADomitian_statue_Vatican.png&psig=AOvVaw0LzDIDj51sOaemzU2uCeAS&ust=1606624073711000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOD9z5uzpO0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU

If you click on the link above, you'll see a statue of Domitian who was the Roman emperor from 81-96 AD. One of Domitian’s goals as emperor was to wipe out all the Jews! We will be reading the Book of Jude today, and history tells us that Jude’s grandsons had to appear before Domitian and stand up for their faith.

Have you ever been asked to defend what you believe?
If you have not yet, you might have to in the future.

Having only one chapter, Jude is among the shortest books in the Bible but it has a powerful message for Christians then and for Christians now.

Jude, like Peter, wrote to Christians warning them of false teachers. He stood up for truth like his grandsons did years later.

Jude was a follower of Jesus. He was the brother of James and both men were half brothers of Jesus. Jude decided to write a letter to some of his friends who believed in Jesus. He originally planned to write about salvation, but Jude had heard some bad news. His friends were around some people that were not following God. These people were false teachers and they had become a part of the church.

Jude warned, “These people are dangerous. They fellowship with you but only care about themselves.” Jude gave the people an image to think about. He said the false teachers were like dangerous reefs, hiding below the water, that could harm a ship.

Jude continued describing the false teachers, “They are unhappy grumblers. They are selfish and speak with arrogance. They try to flatter people to gain an advantage. Remember what the apostles of Jesus said. They warned that false teachers would exist. The false teachers would create division among the believers.”

READ Jude 20-23
Then Jude challenged his friends, “Grow strong in your faith and pray. Stay in God’s love. Have mercy on others who doubt and carefully help them understand about Jesus.”

Finally, Jude ended his letters with some praise for God, “To Him who can protect you from stumbling and help you. We give glory, majesty, power, and authority to only God our Savior, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.”

QUESTION: What did Jude encourage the Christians to do? (Pray in the Holy Spirit, stay in the love of God, depend on His mercy, serve others and show mercy to them.)

QUESTION: Do you think that Jude’s words apply only to the Christians living then? Why or why not?

Our Text Truth today reminds us that we still need the message
God spoke through Jude: Be ready to defend and share the gospel with false teachers.

CHRIST IN CONTEXT:
Jude was the half-brother of Jesus and wrote his letter to warn Christians against the false teachers who were trying to lead believers astray. The Book of Jude encourages believes to rely
on Jesus Christ to provide for them and to serve as their example so they can be pleasing to God in all ways.

(Adapted from Explore the Bible, Older Kids, Fall 2020)