Jesus’ life

Jesus calms the storm

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the miracles Jesus performed! A miracle is something that shouldn’t be able to happen, but God makes it happen!

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 8, Mark 4 and Luke 8.

 

Jesus and His disciples had had a busy day. There were a LOT of people who wanted to listen to Jesus teach. At the end of the day, He was very tired and said maybe they should all get in a boat and sail across to the other side of the lake for some peace and quiet.

Remember, several of Jesus’ disciples were fisherman, so they knew a LOT about sailing a boat. So they all got in, and soon Jesus fell asleep.

Before long, a big storm came. There was thunder and lightning and the boat was rocking and rocking and the waves were so big, they were crashing all over the boat. The disciples were even scared by the big storm and one of them woke Jesus up and said “Save us! Save us! We’re going to drown!”

Jesus got up, and said to the wind and waves, “STOP! Be still!” and do you know what happened?! The lightning stopped, the thunder stopped, the rain stopped, and the water was still again.

“Why were you so afraid?” Jesus asked the disciples. “Didn’t you believe I would keep you safe?”

The disciples’ mouths all hung open…”who IS this guy?!” they wondered. “Even the storm and water obey Him?! Wow!” (Even though the disciples loved Jesus and believed what He said, they didn’t REALLY understand His power as God’s son. They were always amazed by the things He would do. Sometimes even though we know God can do ANYTHING, it’s still pretty amazing when He does cool things!)

We know we can trust God too. When we feel scared, we can pray and ask Jesus to help us too!

For our craft today we took a piece of dark blue construction paper for the background. Then we ripped some light blue and black construction paper and glued it in layers on the bottom 1/2 of the page to be the waves.

We cut out a black cloud, a yellow lightning bolt and a brown boat and added those to our pictures.

Our text reads: Jesus calmed the storm. Matt 8, Mark 4, Luke 8IMG_1863IMG_1864

 

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

The soldier’s faith

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Hello again! This month we are learning about the miracles Jesus did. A miracle is something that shouldn’t be able to happen, but God makes it happen, because God can do ANYTHING!

Our story today is from Luke 7 and Matthew 8.

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Jesus was traveling around teaching people about God and doing amazing things. He came to a town called Capernaum and in that town, there lived a centurion (a soldier). He had a servant who was very very sick and about to die. The solider loved his servant and wanted him to get better. He knew Jesus could do it…but he was too nervous to ask, so he sent some of the leaders of the town to ask Jesus.

“Jesus, this soldier is a good man, a hard worker…he even helped build the church here! Will you please come and help his servant?”

Jesus agreed and they started towards the soldier’s house. The soldier knew Jesus was really important and he felt bad for using Jesus’ time. He came out of his house and said, “I don’t really deserve to have you visit me. I know you are great…and I’m just a regular guy. But I believe if you just SAY that my servant will be better…then I know he will be.”

Jesus was very impressed by the soldier’s belief and He said, “Everyone….listen to this man! His faith is great! Go home and your servant will be all better.” The man knew Jesus could just say the words and the servant would be better. He went back to his house and his servant WAS all better! He was humble (which means He knew Jesus was greater than him) and he believed that Jesus could do it.

Just one chapter before in Matthew 7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Jesus heals a leper

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Hi all!

This month we are studying the miracles of Jesus. Today’s story can be found in Luke 5 and Matthew 8.

Jesus was traveling around teaching and performing miracles. (Remember what a miracle is? A miracle is something that shouldn’t be able to happen, but GOD makes it happen!)

One day as Jesus was walking, a man with leprosy came and fell down on the ground in front of Jesus. Leprosy is a kind of sickness in your skin. It was very ouchy, very GROSS, and many times very contagious (easy to make other people sick too!) People who had leprosy had to leave their family and friends and live outside the city (so they didn’t get anyone else’s skin sick.) If they thought they got all better, they could come back to the temple and the priest would say if they were all better or not. If they were, the priest would give an offering (like a special present) to God and then the person would be allowed to come live back in the city.

Well, this man fell before Jesus and said, “If you want to, I know you can make me all better.”

Know what Jesus said? He said, “I DO want to!” (It makes Jesus very happy when people believe in Him. I think the man’s faith made Jesus very happy.) Then He touched the man. A lot of people were probably surprised that Jesus touched the man since his skin was so sick and he could get Jesus sick too! But it didn’t make Jesus sick…instead…when Jesus touched the man, his leprosy went away right away…he was all better!!

Jesus told the man to go see the priests and give God the offerings he was supposed to…but He told the man to not tell anybody what had happened. (Because Jesus wasn’t ready for ALL the people who would come see Him when they heard about the cool stuff He could do.) But you know what? That man was SOOOO excited and thankful that Jesus helped him, that he couldn’t help it. He told LOTS of people what Jesus had done! And the people who had been watching told lots of people too! Everyone was so excited about Jesus being nice to the man and healing him.

When God does amazing in our lives, we should tell other people too! What an amazing God we serve. Our God can do ANYTHING!

For our craft today, we drew a face and then used do-a-dots (circle markers…but you could really use anything you wanted) to dot half of the man’s face. The other half we left clean. So 1/2 looks leprous and 1/2 looks clean.

Our text reads: Jesus healed a leper. Luke 5, Matt 8

 

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Jesus turns water into wine

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Hi all! Welcome to February. This month we’ll be learning all about the amazing miracles Jesus performed!

Do you know what a miracle is? A miracle is something that shouldn’t be able to happen…but GOD makes it happen! Like when God helped Moses part the sea so the people of Israel could walk through. Or when God kept Daniel safe in the lion’s den. The lions SHOULD have eaten him, but God closed their mouths. Jesus did a LOT of miracles, He made sick people better, He talked to storms, He even raised people back to life who had died.

 

Our first story is the first miracle Jesus performed. (From John 2)

When Jesus was just starting to go around teaching, He and His disciples were invited to a party…a wedding. Jesus’ mommy Mary was there too. There were a lot of people at this party and they were all drinking wine. (Everyone drank wine back then). During the party, she pulled Jesus to the side and said, “Jesus! They don’t have any more wine to drink!” What if you had a party at your house and didn’t have any drinks for your guests?! She said, “YOU have to do something!”

But Jesus said, “Why are you bringing ME into this?!”

But Mary didn’t pay attention and she found the helpers at the party and said, “Here…do whatever He says.”

Jesus told them to get some of the big BIG jars they had sitting to the side. Then He told them to fill the jars with water. Then He told one of the helpers to take some of the water to person in charge of the party. When the helper took the water, he gave it to the person in charge and when he tasted it, he said, “THIS is good wine!” WHAT?! It was now wine! The person in charge didn’t know it had just been water…but the helper did! It was enough wine for EVERYONE and probably LOTS left over!

All the helpers and Jesus’ disciples knew He had changed the water into wine and they were amazed! The disciples really knew Jesus was very special and they believed in Him because of this miracle. Jesus took something and made it better. He showed His disciples His power and His graciousness in helping. He took something ordinary and gave it a new life…like He does with us!

For our craft today, we made water into wine pictures.

For this we took a piece each of green, white and purple construction paper. We cut a U shape out of the middle of the green paper.

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Then we drew and cut out a semi circle from the white and purple and a triangle-ish from the white.

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Then we put glue on each of the semi circles and put a string between them and pressed them together.

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We glued our string down on the back of our paper (you could just use tape)

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Then on the front, we glued our white triangle (like the bottom of a wine cup)

Our text reads: Jesus turned the water into wine. John 2

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The string allowed us to turn from the white to the purple (to make it look like the water is turning into wine).

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Thanks for joining us, Love to you all!

Transfiguration/Jesus shows His glory

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9.

This is the story of Jesus’ transfiguration. That’s a BIG word, isn’t it?! It means Jesus’ figure transformed. His body changed.

 

Jesus and some of His disciples (Peter, James, and John) went out to a mountain one day and He asked them to pray for Him. Then He went further up the mountain and all of a sudden He was BRIGHT WHITE! The brightest white they had ever seen! He was glowing like a flash of lightning! Then, the disciples saw Elijah and Moses with Him and they were all talking together about what Jesus was about to do in Jersulam. (die on the cross for our sins)

**(Moses represents the law by which all people know they are sinners and need a Savior; and Elijah represents the prophets who told about a Messiah who would come. These two men show that the entire old testament is true and pointing to Jesus as that chosen Messiah/Savior.)

Peter said, “Let us make some shelters for you all!” (He was excited and wanted them to stay).

But then a big cloud came and the disciples got scared. God said, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him.” The disciples fell down and covered their faces…but then Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid…get up.” And when they peeked open their eyes…it was only Jesus. (Elijah, Moses and the cloud were all gone). Just regular human Jesus.

 

The disciples had seen Jesus as God’s son…shining in His glory. They heard God’s voice, they saw the law and the prophets…all three pointing to Jesus. Jesus changed His appearance from a regular man, to that of the Son of God to show His disciples (and us) that He IS the chosen one of God, sent to save us.

 

 

We did two activities today. First, we took a piece of black paper and folded in the sides. Then we cut out a basic shape–three men on a hill.

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Then we glued a piece of white tissue paper to the back

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Then we turned it around, and drew faces on the white tissue paper, turned off all the lights and used a flashlight from behind to illuminate the three men.

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Our next project was to cut out the 3 men and a cloud and glue them together. Then we added glitter all over.

 

Our text reads: Jesus shows His glory! Matt 17, Mark 9, Luke 9

 

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

Jesus ruffles feathers

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Hi all!

Today’s story is a combination of things, we’ll focus on John 6/7 and 10/11 today.

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Many people LOVED Jesus. They all wanted to hear Him teach. They knew He could do AMAZING things and that He LOVED people. People believed in Him and followed Him.

 

But not everybody. Some people were NOT happy about Jesus. Remember the pharisees? They were the teachers who thought they were SOOOOO perfect…but even though they knew every.word. in the Bible…they didn’t REALLY know God’s love. They didn’t OBEY God’s word by loving other people. So Jesus often told them they were going to be in trouble if they didn’t start obeying God. Well they didn’t want to be told they were WRONG?! They were always looking for ways to trick Jesus into saying something bad…but they never quite could.

Also, everyone called Jesus the KING (they thought He would a “real” king like sit ohm a throne and be the leader of Israel.) But Jesus came to be king of our HEARTS. He wants to be the most important thing in our lives. But the kings and leaders then were scared. So many people LIKED Jesus it would be easy for Him to become king. So they were also scared of Him.

Jesus said He was God’s son. Some people believed Him,. but some people did not and were angry that He would say He could be God’s son. Jesus said, “God sent me and you can see by the things I do that I am His son. But you choose not to believe.” A couple of times, they tried to put Jesus in jail. But He always got away…it wasn’t time for that yet.

Finally, the Pharisees and others with “hard” hearts were so ready to kill Jesus that Jesus stayed and lived quietly with His disciples for a while. (Then will come the stories of Easter, which we will do closer to Easter time.)

Lots of people loved Jesus, but He didn’t have a very easy life. He traveled and taught all the time and lots of people were always trying to trick Him or capture Him. When people didn’t have God’s love in their hearts, Jesus loved them anyway. When people were mean to Him, He was not mean back. He told them again and again about God’s love.

In John 16, Jesus was talking to His disciples and He said, “You know I have had a lot of trouble and loneliness. But I’m never really alone because God is with me. People will not always be nice to you either, especially if you love Me.” People who don’t believe God and accept His love can have very sad hearts and might be mean to people who love God. “In this world, you WILL have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

When we face hard things or when people are mean to us, especially if it’s because we love God, we can remember that HE is God. He is in control. He loves us more than anything and that He is on our side.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Jesus gives living water

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

Today’s story is from John 4.

Jesus was traveling and teaching all the people about God and He had to pass through Samaria. (Most Israelites would go AROUND Samaria because the Samaritans and the Israelites did NOT like each other.) But Jesus loves EVERYONE, so He didn’t mind going through Samaria.

One day, He got really tired of all that walking and He stopped by a well. His disciples who were with Him, went off to find some food…maybe a place to stay. Before long, a Samaritan woman came to get water from the well. (They used to not have water in their houses and would have to go to a well (a big hole in the ground) and get water and take it in buckets back to their houses.)

Jesus asked her for a drink of water. “Um…ME?! You shouldn’t even be talking to me! We’re supposed to be enemies?!” she said.

“If you knew who I AM, you would ask ME for living water!”

“Buuuut…you don’t have a cup or a bucket to get anything from this well. And WHAT is LIVING water??” she responded. “You know…this was Jacob’s well…are you saying YOU are greater than Jacob?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. The water I give them will be like a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (He was saying that people need water to live…but you always get thirsty again. But HE would give His love, which is more important than water. He would give eternal life…forever life in heaven with God…and once we trust Jesus, He takes away our sins, loves us forever and we never have to worry again about if we are forgiven or if God loves us. We won’t be “thirsty” for His love again, because once we trust Him, He loves us forever.)

“Sir!” she said, “I WANT that kind of water!”

Jesus knew all the bad choices she had ever made, and He even answered her questions about God. She was so amazed, she ran off to go tell all her friends.

The disciples came back and said, “You look hungry, Jesus…you should eat something!”

Jesus also told His disciples, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”

What? Did Jesus have pizza? Was He hiding candy?

No. It was just like when He said He had living water. Jesus knows food and water are important. We need them to live! But what we need MORE is God’s love and forgiveness. That’s the “food and water” Jesus gives us. Just like food keeps us healthy and alive, Jesus’ love keeps our hearts safe and alive forever in heaven with Him.

But the disciples didn’t really understand. The Samaritan woman came back and brought all kinds of people with her. They all listened to Jesus and believed Him. “We KNOW this man is the Savior of the world!” they said.

 

  1. Jesus knows food and water are important, but He gives us something even better–His love and forgiveness, forever life with God in heaven.
  2. He loves EVERYBODY…even the people the Israelites didn’t like. He didn’t just come to save the Israelites, He came for EVERYONE.
  3. The Samaritan lady was so amazed by Jesus she told all her friends about Him. We can be sure to tell OUR friends too about how amazing Jesus is!

 

For our craft today, we cut a rectangle out of brown construction paper and glued it to the bottom of a piece of white paper. This will be our well. Then we took our scissors and cut a slit just above the brown “well.” We drew Jesus on one side and the woman on the other side. Then we took a piece of string and attached two sticky hearts to the bottom. (You could also use construction paper hearts if you don’t have the puffy foam stickers.) We taped our string to the top of our picture and drew a frame for the top of the well. Then we stuck the heart down into the well, so the woman could put her bucket in for water and draw it back out with Jesus’ love!

Our text reads: Jesus gave the Samaritan woman LIVING WATER. John 4

 

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Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

 

Zacchaeus

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hey all.

This month we are learning stories from Jesus’ life. The next two months will be His teachings and miracles. As always, these stories are intended for the 3-8 year old range, but can be adapted/expanded as needed.

Today’s story is from Luke 19.

This story is about a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus lived in Jericho and Jesus was traveling around teaching the people about God. He came to Jericho and by now a lot of people knew about Jesus and wanted to see Him. Zacchaeus did too. He was a tax collector (and do you remember from our story about Matthew how the people felt about tax collectors? It wasn’t good.)

Now Zacchaeus was a very short man, and he tried and tried to see Jesus, but couldn’t see over the crowd, so he decided to climb up into a big sycamore tree so he could see Jesus.

Well, when Jesus came by, He looked into the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, get down…I’m going to come to your house.”

Zacchaeus was very excited about this! He hurried from the tree and took Jesus to his house. The people all said, “Jesus is going to go to THIS guy’s house? He is NOT a nice guy…why would Jesus eat and hang out with HIM?!”

But Jesus reminded them that He came to “seek and save the lost.” Jesus WANTED to be with the people who needed Him most. Zacchaeus promised to do the right thing and share everything he had with other people. When Jesus showed Zacchaeus that He loved him, Zacchaeus responded just the way God wants us to. When we realize how much God loves us, we can serve God and be loving to other people.

For our craft today, we cut out rectangles from brown construction paper, a cloud shape out of green paper and made a tree, then cut out a triangle and circle to be Zacchaeus then the kids drew on a face. Our text reads: Luke 19, Zacchaeus finds Jesus!

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Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Let the children come

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18.

Jesus was going around teaching and lots of people would bring their babies and children to see Jesus so He could touch them, heal them or bless them. Lots of children would surround Jesus and the big important leaders would say “No no, go away…don’t bother Jesus.”

But Jesus said, “No! Let the children come to me! The kingdom of God belongs to them!”

Sometimes grown ups forget what’s really important. Remember yesterday how Martha was too busy to spend time with Jesus? But He said THAT’s the most important thing? Sometimes kids are better than grown ups at remembering what’s really important. These children wanted to BE with Jesus! And the grown ups thought Jesus was too busy and important. But Jesus is NEVER too busy for us… even kids! And just because you’re small doesn’t mean God is too big for you. He loves you. He has big plans for you. And you don’t have to be a grown up to love God or do BIG things for Him.

Sometimes it’s hard for grown ups to slow down and trust God with all their hearts…you can help remind them that God made us, He loves us, He died for us and He is always with us.

You may be small, but you can have a BIG love for God. He has a BIG love for you!

For our craft today we cut out some arms and glued on some pictures of kids (we cut out of magazines…you could also glue YOUR child’s picture on). Our text reads: “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me!’ Matt 19, Mark 10, Luke 18”

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Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

Mary and Martha

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Welcome back!

This month we are covering stories about Jesus’ life. (The following months will be His teachings and His miracles).

Today’s story comes from the book of Luke, chapter 10:38-42.

Jesus was traveling around and teaching all the people. In one town, a woman named Martha opened her home to Him (and He probably had a group of people with Him too.) Have you ever had company at your house? You have to clean and get snacks and your mom probably goes a little bit crazy making sure everything looks just right. Well, Martha was very busy making sure everything looked good and that everyone had what they needed.

Martha had a sister named Mary. (Not Jesus’ mommy, a DIFFERENT Mary.) And she sat by Jesus and listened to all He had to say.

This made Martha angry. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

But Jesus surprised her. He said, “you are worried and upset about a lot of things…but there’s really only ONE important thing…and that’s Me. Mary has chosen better, and I won’t take that away from her.”

Jesus told Martha that she was too worried and too busy and that really HE is the only important thing. Spending time with Jesus was MUCH more important than being busy and making things perfect.

Sometimes we get busy too. We worry and try to make everything just right. But God tells us to “Be still. And KNOW God.” We can spend time with Jesus by reading our Bible and praying…talking to Him.

We need to make sure we aren’t too busy for God. Being with Him is the MOST important thing. How about if you take some time RIGHT NOW to pray and talk to God.

**for older kids and grownups…sometimes we get too busy doing “church stuff” or even helping in projects and doing GOOD that we forget about God or others. We are so busy doing GOOD things, that we miss out on the BEST thing, loving God and His people. Spend TIME with the people you love, the people GOD loves and God Himself.

 

We drew pictures today to help us remember the story. (Jesus in the middle, Mary at His feet and angry Martha.) Our text reads:

 

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!