Don’t try to fight God!

April 6, 2016April 6, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Welcome back! Today’s story is from Acts 5:17-42.

Today we made puppets to help tell the story. We used two paint stir sticks and 4 pieces of construction paper. I started by taping two of the pieces together and tracing a head, then the kids cut through both pieces to essentially make two heads. We decorated them (one to look old, one to look younger). Then we glued them back to back on the paint stick.

The older side we labeled Gamaliel and the younger side we labeled Peter.

Then we again taped two pieces of construction paper together and cut out the shape of three heads together. We added googly eyes on (one side is angry, one is happy.)

The happy side is the crowd and the angry side is the angry leaders.

And here is the story:

The high priest and all his friends, were very jealous because Jesus’ disciples were teaching about Jesus and the people loved it! (THEY wanted to be the most important people). So they put the disciples in jail. But that night an angel of God opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go back to the temple,” he said, “and tell the people all about Jesus and what He has done.”

So in the morning, they went to the temple and began to teach the people.

When the leaders got up, they asked the jail captain to send for the disciples, but the guards found out they weren’t there. So they went back and reported, “We found the jail perfectly locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, there was no one inside.”

Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” With that, the leaders went and brought the disciples…(but they did it nicely so the people wouldn’t get mad and try to stop them.)

“We told you Not to teach in Jesus’ name,” the high priest said. “But you have told everyone in Jerusalem all about Jesus and now they are all going to think it’s OUR fault Jesus died.”

Peter and the other disciples said: “We have to obey God more than people! He wants us to tell EVERYONE about Jesus! God raised Jesus from the dead…the same Jesus you killed on the cross. God made Him Prince and Savior and He brings us back to God and forgives our sins.We have seen these things, and have been given God’s Holy Spirit, which He gives to everyone who obeys Him.”

When they heard this, the leaders were VERY angry and wanted to kill them. BUT a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was honored by all the people (everyone thought he was really great!), stood up in the court and said: “Men of Israel, think carefully what you plan to do to these guys. You know sometimes people say they are somebody important and it all comes to nothing. When these people who pretend to be important get killed or run away, their followers leave too. So, with these men, I think we should leave them alone! Let them go! If they are just pretending to know God, or pretending that Jesus was someone really important…no one will care and they will all soon go away. But if Jesus really IS God’s son and they are telling the truth, you will not be able to stop them; you will just be fighting against God.”

They all thought that was a good idea. So they called the disciples in and beat them up! and then ordered them not to talk about Jesus anymore, and let them go.

And do you know how the disciples felt? They were happy! They were SO glad to tell people about Jesus and they were even happy when they got hurt for Jesus because they loved Him so much. Every day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and telling everyone the good news that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s son.

In this story you can see not all the Pharisees were bad. Gamaliel was very wise and he knew it wasn’t good to make trouble. If Peter and the other disciples were making it all up, then eventually the stories would stop and people wouldn’t care. BUT, if they said was true, then trying to stop them would be like trying to stop God (and is that EVER going to happen???)

Peter and the disciples KNEW they had to obey God. Even when the people in charge said “NO.” It can be hard to do the right thing when other people are being mean to you. God will always help us obey Him if we ask. The disciples knew obeying God was more important than obeying the leaders…even if meant they would be hurt. It’s more important to do the right thing on God’s side, than the popular thing on peoples’ side. Gamaliel knew that too. He said “You don’t want to fight against God!” Be on God’s side. Obey Him. Tell others about Him and trust Him to help you make the right choices.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Ananias and Sapphira

April 4, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Today’s story is from Acts 5 (and the end of Acts 4).

So all the people who believed in Jesus were meeting together (like church). they lived together and shared everything they had. They all helped take care of each other so they could tell other people about God.

One man sold some of his land and brought all the money to the disciples to share with everyone.

Now a man named Ananias, and his wife Sapphira (can you say those names?) also sold a piece of property. Ananias made a bad choice (and his wife’s knew about it). He kept some of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet and he pretended that was ALL the money.

But Peter said, “Ananias, why have you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept for yourself some of the money you received? It was YOUR money?! You could have kept as much as you wanted…but you pretended this was ALL the money. What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to us but to GOD.”

When Ananias heard this, do you know what happened? He fell down and died. And everybody watching was VERY afraid.

Later that day, his wife came in, not knowing Ananias was dead. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this all the money you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is all the money.”

Peter said to her, “How could you ALSO lie to God?”

At that moment SHE fell down at his feet and died. Everybody who heard about these events was very afraid.

Do we always die right away when we lie? No. But God was showing His new followers that you can not try to trick Him. We can not lie to God. He always knows. And He takes us obeying Him seriously. He tells us to always tell the truth (say exactly what happened.) He made an example of Ananias and Sapphira to show all the people they must obey Him and that it’s impossible to lie to God.

If they had just said, “We made a lot of money and kept some…but here is the rest.” It would have been ok. But instead they tried to trick God.

This video is a “tim burton style” version of this story posted by Dan Stevers. (It is more appropriate for middle/older elementary than preschool as it’s a bit dark…but nice artistry and good storytelling.)

This video by LC LifeKids is a bit more for preschoolers.

For our craft today, we cut out a basic shape of a man and a woman with a bag of money in the middle. We drew Xs on their eyes and glued some sparkly money to the bag.

Our text reads: Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5, Don’t lie to God!

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Peter heals a crippled man

April 3, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hey all! Today’s Bible story is from Acts 3.

Remember, Jesus had died on the cross, lived again, and God’s Spirit came to live in the believers’ hearts.

One day Peter and John (two of Jesus’ disciples) were going to the temple (the church) at the time of prayer. There was a man who was crippled (he couldn’t walk) and he had been that way his whole life. Every day he would sit and beg for money from the people going into the temple courts. (Because he couldn’t walk, he couldn’t really work…so he just had to hope that people would be nice and share some money with him.) When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked them for money. Peter and John looked at him. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get some money from them.

Then Peter said, “I do not have money, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, WALK.” He took the man by the hand, helped him up, and right away the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they knew him as the same man who used to sit begging and they were so surprised to see what had happened to him.

When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Why does this surprise you? We didn’t make this man walk by our OWN power?! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has sent His Son Jesus. You had him killed, but God raised him from the dead. We saw Him alive again. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has healed this man. Now its your turn to turn to God, so that your sins may be forgiven, and you too can receive God’s spirit.”

But there are always going to be people who don’t want to hear about Jesus. Isn’t that sad? Some of the people didn’t like that they were teaching about Jesus.

We know God can do anything! The people shouldn’t have been too surprised to hear Peter say they could do these things by Jesus’ power, but they were. God even surprises grown ups sometimes by the wonderful things He does! And the most wonderful He has done, is sending His Son Jesus to die for us and His Spirit to live in our hearts.

We drew pictures of the story today. (Time for my disclaimer that I’m a big fan of child-made art…we don’t do a lot of pre-made stuff…so it usually looks like 3-5 year old work…I believe it helps them retain the story better when THEY make it and have some creative freedom with it.)

Our text reads: Why are you surprised? God can do ANYTHING! Acts 3

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

The Holy Spirit Comes

April 3, 2016April 3, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! This month we’ll be learning the stories after Jesus went back to heaven and we’ll begin some of the teachings of the New Testament. Today’s story is from Acts 2.

10 days after Jesus went back to heaven to be with God, the disciples and some other people who loved Jesus were all together in a house celebrating the feast of weeks (called Pentecost) when a big wind came and what looked like fire came and rested near each of them and they were able to each speak new languages.

They started telling all the people who had come for the celebration about Jesus and everyone could understand them. The people were so confused and said “how do these guys know how speak so many languages?! have they gone crazy?”

Then Peter stood up and said “no! these guys aren’t crazy! This is just what Jesus said would happen! Even from the beginning of the Bible, it was said that a Savior would come and that He would die for us. Jesus is that Savior! He came and loved us and died for us and He rose again, and now His Spirit has come to us. Be sure of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. Believe in Jesus, tell Him you are sorry for your bad choices and you TOO can have Jesus live in your hearts like He has come to live in ours.”

“We are able to say these things because we have God’s power in us. His Spirit helps us do this!” (Remember: God can do ANYTHING! And when His Spirit lives in you, you can do amazing things for God too! He shares all He has with you!)

Lots of people believed that day and became followers of Jesus. They all lived together and studied the Bible together. They shared what they had and did just what Jesus said…they told everyone about Him and made disciples of all the nations.

If we too choose to believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive our bad choices, then He will forgive us and live in our hearts too.

For our craft today we made hearts with fire. We cut out hearts from red construction paper and two layers of fire from yellow and orange paper (you could also use tissue paper if you wanted).

THIS is an exceptional video from the “Whats in the Bible” series (from the makers of Veggie Tales).

Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!

HE IS RISEN!

March 26, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! We are doing our Easter lesson today! He is Risen!

This story can be found in the Bible in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20.

It was now Sunday morning. Jesus had died on the cross on Friday. The leaders who wanted Him dead were laughing and happy He was finally gone! The people who loved Jesus missed Him terribly and even though He had told them LOTS of times that He would die and be alive again 3 days later (Matt 17:22, Mark 8:31, John 2:19, Matt 12:39-40, Matt 16:21, John 10:17, 18, see also: Isaiah 53:5-12, Psalm 35:19, Psalm 69:4, Psalm 22:16, Zech 12:10, Psalm 22:1, Psalm 16:10, Psalm 49:15) …they didn’t really understand and they were very sad AND they were scared the leaders would come after them next.

After Jesus died, the soldiers and leaders remembered Jesus saying He would live again and they set up guards in front of the tomb (kind of like a cave) where Jesus’ body was put after He died. They put a HUGE stone (bigger than your dad!) in front of the tomb…it would take a LOT of people to move it. They kept watch day and night because they thought the disciples would try to come take Jesus’ body and pretend He was alive. (They didn’t believe Jesus would REALLY live again!)

That Sunday morning, a few of the women who loved Jesus went to the tomb. They were going to put oil and spices on His body and pray. But, one of God’s angels came, rolled back the stone and sat on it. The guards were so scared they fainted!

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; HE HAS RISEN, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid but SO EXCITED, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my disciples; I will see them soon.”

This is THE story of the Bible. God is all powerful. He is perfect. He made all things and is in all things. He is stronger than anything, even death. God has the power over life and death. Our sin keeps us from God and we should die forever in hell away from God. But God sent His son Jesus to die in our place so we don’t have to. We know Jesus died and lived again and because He did that for us, when we die, we will live again in heaven if we believe He died for us and make Him king of our hearts.

Jesus dying AND living again shows God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. It proves that God has the power to raise us from the dead. It shows that those who believe in Christ will not remain dead, but will be resurrected unto forever life.

AMEN!

Today we made a diorama (or dino-rino as my kids called it). Basically a little theater and characters to tell the story.

We used two pieces of green and 2 pieces of blue construction paper to make the grass and sky in our box. We cut out a sun and taped it to the ceiling with a string. We cut out a tomb and folded under the end to tape to the floor of our box. Then we crumpled up a piece of brown paper to be the stone. We also made a flat empty bed inside the tomb.

The guards are guarding the tomb. (We drew them scared).

The women are coming to visit the tomb.

The angel is on the rock, inside the tomb is empty. The guards have passed out and the women are listening to the angel. Jesus is waiting to see them!

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all! Happy Easter!

Revelation

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

Today we will be briefly touching on the book of Revelation (the last book in the Bible). Then in June, we will be studying all about living a Godly life (mostly the teachings of the new testament). I think in the future i may add more studies to this and expand it a bit, but this is an introductory lesson.

So John, one of Jesus’ disciples had spent his life serving God and telling others about Him. But, like Paul and Peter, the leaders weren’t happy that John was telling people about Jesus and they sent him away to a lonely island.

While he was there, he had a vision (a dream, a revelation). God showed him the end of everything. John saw Jesus and he looked shiny and bright and an angel told John to write everything down so we could read it and know what God wanted us to know about when He comes back for us.

Some of the things in this book can be confusing, but thats ok. God is in control and He will help us understand when the time comes..

Back before there was any sin, just after God created the earth and everything in it, there were some bad angels. One of them, Satan, was the leader and he lied to Adam and Eve and talked them into making bad choices and sinning. Ever since then, he has been called the “prince of the world” (But don’t worry, he’s NO MATCH for God!)

Satan and his helpers like to make trouble and get people to do bad things. They are so happy when people sin and are separated from God. But Jesus showed John that in the end, Satan and every form of sin and evil and bad things would be thrown away and gone forever.

Jesus also said, He is coming back to earth! To be with us! And He will make a NEW earth, a perfect earth! With no sadness or sickness or loneliness or ouchies. It will be a perfect place for those who love Jesus and the Bible says we get to spend FOREVER together!

The Bible describes this new earth as a wonderful place. It will be beautiful! (What kinds of things do YOU think will be there? What are some of the prettiest and best things you can think of?)

John asked when this would happen? When would Jesus come back and when would sad things be gone? But Jesus said “Only God knows. But He wants you to be ready for when He does come.” John wrote down some of the ways we will know it’s getting closer, but God wants us to love Him and to love others until Jesus comes back.

We just discussed what heaven/the new earth might look like. You could have your child draw a picture or cut out pictures from a magazine to show what it would be like.

I’d love to see your comments about this study and what your children might say about heaven! Feel free to share below. Love to you all.

Shipwreck!

May 27, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ 2 Comments

From Acts 27

So, our friend Paul who was busy traveling and telling people about Jesus had AGAIN been arrested for talking about Him. The leaders took him from judge to judge to judge…to all the big leaders, but nobody really knew what to do with him?? Finally, it was decided he would go on a boat to Rome to see Caesar who would decide his final fate.

Paul joined over 200 other people on the boat but he warned them it was not a good time to sail a boat. The captain didn’t listen. Soon, there was TERRIBLE weather, lots of storms and the boat rocked and rocked and creaked and rocked. The wind and rain were breaking the boat and the people were scared! They even had to hold the boat together with ropes!

Paul went and prayed and asked God to keep then safe. An angel came and told Paul no one would even get one little hair hurt as long as they trusted God and believed Paul. Paul rushed to tell them the good news.

Well the storms kept going and the people were scared and some of the guards were about to sneak away in a special rescue boat, but Paul reminded them they would only be safe if they obeyed God and stayed on the boat.

Soon, the boat got closer and closer to land and SMACK! The boat crashed near an island, but not one person was hurt. Everyone made it safely to the land.

Paul was able to show the people on the island of Malta some of Gods power. He was bitten by a snake and wasn’t hurt and he helped sick people be well. Then he told them all about Jesus.

Even though the shipwreck was scary, God had a big plan for Paul…God used Paul to show the soldiers and people on the boat that God is real and He cares for us. And He used Paul to tell the people on the island the good news about Jesus dying on the cross and living again for us!

Sometimes scary things may happen in our lives, but God wants to take care of us and He wants us to obey Him. He also has BIG plans for you and wants you to help others.

For our craft, we drew some water and sand (you could glue real sand to your paper). Then we drew some happy people (yay! we didn’t die!) and then cut out a boat. Finally, we glued some broken popsicle sticks and toothpicks for the broken wood.

Next time we’ll learn about John and his vision then we’ll wrap up the New Testament stories and start with “living in God’s love” (the teachings of the New Testament) in June.

Love to you all!

Eutychus Saved

May 24, 2015May 24, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

This story is from Acts 20:7-12.

Paul was traveling around telling everyone about Jesus. One day he was at a house talking to everyone there. The people were having communion (where we remember Jesus dying for us and living again). He planned to leave for a new city the next day so he stayed and talked really late. It was past bedtime, the sky was dark, the moon was out.

A young man named Eutychus was sitting in an open window upstairs listening to Paul. God’s word is not just for grown-ups…He loves when kids and teenagers listen to what He has to say. But poor Eutychus, he started to get very sleepy and fell out the window! He died from falling too far, but Paul wasn’t mad he fell asleep…he rushed down, laid on him, hugged him and by God’s power Eutychus was ok! Paul said “don’t worry! He’s alive!” The people took him home and were so happy he was ok.

Just as the people sat around and celebrated Jesus dying and living again, they celebrated this young man being able to live again by God’s power.

For our craft, we cut out the center of a paper to be our window. Then we drew sleepy Eutychus and taped a pipe cleaner to his back to the window so he could fall back out of the window and be lifted up again.

We’ll have more stories in a few days. Love to you all.

Acts 18-Loving those that serve

May 20, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Our story today is presented a bit differently than what we’ve been covering. It comes from Acts 18 and is about Paul and some of his friends. For this story, I drew and added to our picture as the story was told. Here is our finished product:

Paul (centered) was busy telling everyone about Jesus. Some people didn’t like that, but some people were happy and wanted to help. Two of those people were Aquila and his wife, Priscilla.

In our house, Daddy has to work make money so we can buy things like a house to live in and food to eat. Paul’s friends let him stay at THEIR house and shared their food with him so he could spend his time telling people about Jesus. They also met a man named Apollos, who loved God, but didn’t know the whole story of Jesus. So, Aquila and Priscilla brought him to their house and taught him everything they knew.

Some people tell their friends about Jesus at school or while they go to work. You can tell people about Jesus right where you live and play, just like Aquila and Priscilla did with Apollos.

Other people spend their time serving God and telling others about him…like Pastors or missionaries (who go to far away places to serve God). (If you support any missionaries, this is a good time to tell your kids about them..where they live and what they do.) Each week we give money to our church to help God’s house and to help the Pastor(s) be able to spend their time serving God. We also send money every month to the people we know who are missionaries around the world. This helps them be able to live and have a house and food.

Sometimes, God wants us to tell people about Him. Sometimes, He wants us to serve Him right where we are; and SOMETIMES, He wants us to help OTHER people who are serving Him.

The Bible tells us that everyone who loves God is in a family…and that we can all work together like all the parts of your body work together. Some people work far away, some work right here. Some people are like the mouth who tell people about Jesus and some people are the hands…giving and making things. There are LOTS of ways to serve God and to help other people who are serving Him. The Bible also tells us one way is not more important than another way. What are some ways YOU can help serve God? What are some ways you can be a helper to OTHER people who are serving God?

We are wrapping up in Acts–2 more stories, then we’ll focus on John’s vision, then we’ll be ready for June’s lessons. Thanks everyone. Love to you all!

Paul and Silas in Jail

May 17, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ 1 Comment

Hello again! Our story today comes from Acts 16.

Paul and Silas were going around telling everyone about Jesus, and helping people who were sick. Some of the people didn’t like that, so they put Paul and Silas in jail and hooked chains on their arms and legs and said the guard had to keep VERY good watch over them. If they escaped, the guard would be in BIG trouble.

That night, Paul and Silas were singing songs to God. Even when things seemed hard and yucky, they trusted God and told the other people in jail about Him. About midnight (the middle of the night), an earthquake came and shook the whole place. The floors and walls shook. The chains that were keeping Paul and Silas in place fell off and the gates busted open. BUT…they stayed. The guard was VERY worried and said “oh no! The gates are open! The prisoners are gone! I will be in SO much trouble!”

But Paul said “Don’t worry! We are all right here!” The guard immediately asked them what he must do to be saved.

Paul answered “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

The guard took Paul and Silas back to his house and everyone there believed in Jesus that night.

Paul and Silas obeyed and stayed in the jail even when they could have escaped. That showed that they trusted God and that they cared for the guard. God loves everybody and wants everybody to know about Him and His son, Jesus. Paul and Silas could have run away and saved themselves, but instead they stayed and saved the guard and his whole family.

For our craft, we drew Paul, Silas and the guard and made a chain link. We drew the jail and the earthquake.