Infusion Bible eStudies are downloadable small group studies that can be read online, printed, or emailed. Each study includes a leader guide and a study guide and is suitable for a one-hour group Bible study.
Listen...to the words of the Scripture, and in them discover God's message for you today.
Look...at a brief verbal snapshot from the scrapbook of contemporary life and discover its connection both to you and to the Scripture passage.
Live...inside the Scripture to discover its context and message; then allow the Scripture to come alive in you and cause you to live out your faith in new and more-effective ways.
Read an excerpt from this study below.
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Finding our way back to inner peace after being battered by life can be difficult. Children and the poor can take us there, however. No doubt that is why Jesus told us to care for children and the poor. Whether or not we acknowledge it, we need their company.
David was born out of wedlock to a controlling, alcoholic father and a disabled mother. Soon after he was born, his dad left the household. Now four years old, David depends on social security for food, healthcare, shelter, and education. The family budget, burdened by debt, does not stretch far enough to provide for basic necessities, much less luxuries like preschool care. With no preschool experience, David would soon enter the formal educational process disadvantaged, unless someone offered him immediate help.
Children like David enter our families bearing our parental images. As they develop, they begin to reflect the character of the adults who influence them. In every way, they depend on others to meet their needs. How is the church in your community extending its influence to children like David?
David’s mother, Candace, recently did a courageous thing: She turned to the church. She dared to trust someone for help. On behalf of her son, she asked for scholarship assistance so he could attend the church’s preschool. She also hoped that God would give her a church family that would respond to her need and respect her sincerity.
The church welcomed Candace and her children with open hearts and open hands. The family that came begging received a generous reception. David is now learning beside all the other children. His older sister loves her new Sunday school. Once lost and alone, the family now radiates a new sense of well-being.
Candace came to church with a sense of shame and helplessness. Yet faith has begun to displace her despair. She embraces her children with Bible stories and beams from the congregation on Sunday mornings. Influenced by the church, she now knows the unmerited favor of God.
