holy spirit

Peter heals a crippled man

~ 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

~ 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!

Good Friday

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all. We are continuing the story of Easter today. Today’s story can be found in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19.

Today is called Good Friday, though the story seems very very sad.

Jesus had been arrested because the leaders didn’t like how much the people liked Jesus. They were scared He would try to be more important than them. They took Him to the Israelite leaders and the Roman leaders and nobody could really decide what to do with Him.

Some of the leaders didn’t like that He said He was God’s son (even though He was.) Some of the leaders didn’t like how powerful He was (but remember, God can do ANYTHING!) Some of the leaders didn’t like how much the people loved Him (and how much HE loved them!!)

It was very confusing. Some of the leaders didn’t see any reason Jesus should die…but some of the others finally got the crowd all worked up and soon the people were yelling for Jesus to die.

(*parents of small children can edit this as needed) They hurt Him. They hit Him with sticks, they spit on Him, they took off His clothes and smacked Him with sharp thorny sticks. It was very very ouchy. But Jesus knew it had to happen. They made a crown from some thorns and put it on His head and laughed and laughed and said “HA! HERE’S YOUR ‘KING!'” They were making fun of Jesus. Finally, they got two big BIG pieces of wood and nailed and tied them together to make a cross. They made Jesus carry that big cross all through the streets. Some of the people in the streets (like the disciples and Jesus’ mom Mary) cried, because they loved Jesus, but most of the people were saying terrible things and were very mean to Him.

Finally, He went up a big hill and they put the cross in the ground standing up. Then they took nails and hammered through His hands into the wood (OUCH!) and they hammered His feet into the wood too. (OUCH!)

Some of the people laughed at Jesus and said, “If you are REALLY God’s son, you’d have enough power to get down off that cross!”

And that was true. Jesus DID have enough power to get off the cross. He could have asked for help from God, or for angels to help, or He could have just walked away, but He didn’t.

While He was on the cross, God put all our bad choices (sin) on Jesus. He felt all the pain and consequences for our choices. He did that so WE don’t have to. Jesus asked God to forgive us. You, your mom, your dad, your grandma, your cousins, His disciples, the Pharisees, “bad guys”…everyone. There were two other people who HAD made bad choices who were also dying on crosses on either side of Jesus. One of them laughed at Jesus, but the other asked Jesus to forgive him. And even though he was about to die, Jesus said, “Yes! I WILL forgive you. Today when you die, you will be with Me in heaven.” (It’s NEVER too late to choose Jesus!)

And the saddest part was, when He was taking our sin, God couldn’t even look at Him. (Because God is perfect, He can’t be around nasty sin…so He couldn’t be near Jesus) and that’s the worst thing…to be apart from God. God is all goodness and love so to apart from God is not feel any goodness, any love or any happiness. Our bad sin keeps us AWAY from God forever. But Jesus took that FOR US on the cross, so our sin doesn’t have to keep us away from God! We CAN live with Him in perfectness forever in heaven, because we are FORGIVEN by God…because Jesus took all that punishment, all those consequences FOR US. THAT is why it is GOOD Friday.

The sky got dark, there was thunder and lightning and an earthquake. God was mad. Do you know why? He was mad that Jesus was in so much pain. Do you know it makes your mom and dad very sad when you get hurt? And if they see someone hurt you it makes them mad. Because they love you! and they want everyone to be nice to you! When someone is mean to you, it makes them angry. God was angry that His son was so sad and in so much pain.

But an amazing thing happened. In the temple (the church) there was a big front room where everyone prayed. Then behind a GIANT curtain was a thing called the Ark of the Covenant (a special box where God’s Spirit was). When Jesus died, that curtain tore into 2 pieces, top to bottom and it was God saying “My Spirit will now live in EVERYONE who loves Me. Not just in the temple, but in everyone’s heart who loves Me and chooses Me.”

Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said “It is finished.” Then He died.

He meant His work of taking our sins was finished. He took it all. Every bad thing you can ever think of, Jesus died for that. It is forgiven if we just ask and decide we want Jesus to be OUR King. (1 John 1:9, John 3:16-17, Isaiah 53:3-5, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 3:22-24, 1 Peter 2:24).

You can talk with your parents/grandparents/pastor about this story and what it means to you. Maybe you’re ready to say “Thank you Jesus for dying for me! Please forgive my sins and be my King.”

We made cardboard crosses today, but mostly the discussion was our focus.

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Thanks for joining us. Can’t wait for SUNDAY!! Happy Easter-love to you all!

Fruit of the Spirit

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi there.

This month we are studying the teachings of the new testament (or, how to live a Godly life). Today’s lesson comes from Galatians 5:22-23.

Did you know that apples grow on trees? And bananas too! Lots of fruit grows on trees. One way you can tell if a fruit tree is healthy and strong is that will provide a LOT of GOOD fruit.

The Bible tells us that just like trees, there are some ways we can tell if someone is strong and living for God. These are called “fruits” of the Spirit (because God’s Spirit lives in us and helps us when we believe in Him.)

(We did our craft AS we covered each item) I drew a tree on each child’s paper and cut out the circles as i talked with them. Then they drew the illustration on each circle. (Bear in mind, my kids are 3…so some of these drawings may look a bit rudimentary. You could draw the outline and have your child color it in, or you could find some clip art if you wanted a more polished look.)

The first way people will know that we love God, is that we will be loving. The kids drew a heart on this circle. (We talked about love just the other day, so it was a great chance to go over again all the things that Love is! See 1 Corinthians 13)

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The second way people will know we love and serve God is that we will be joyful. That means that we can be happy, even if something sad happens, because we know God cares for us and will help us. It’s ok to be sad. Even Jesus was sad sometimes, but even when you’re sad, you can know in your heart that God will always be there for you. For this one, we drew a smiley face.

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The 3rd way we can show people that we love God, is that we will have peace. Do you know what that means? It means calm. We don’t have to worry about things that might happen, because God is taking care of us. We know we will live with Him forever and that He is always there for us. We drew a dove for this one (with *some* help from mom).

(You could also talk about the dove during Jesus baptism, how that was a sign of God sending His son in peace and not wrath towards humanity. Also, the dove with Noah…that God had been angry and washed all the sin away, but promised He would still find a way to be with us and that He loves us forever.)

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The next “fruit” we will have in our lives is patience. That means waiting with a good attitude. It can be very hard to be patient. When you love God, though, and you know He has everything under control, it can be a little bit easier sometimes. For this one, we drew a clock.

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We will also be kind. Kindness can be helping a friend, giving hugs or listening to them. There are SO many ways to show kindness to others. This time, we traced our “giving” hands. (We also remembered our lesson on giving from earlier in the week).

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When we love God, we will make good choices. We try to do the right thing. Sometimes, when no one is looking, it can be easy to do the wrong thing, but if we really love God, we will try to always do what is right. For this one, we drew a crown.

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People will also know we love Jesus by our faithfulness. Faithfulness means not giving up. Loyal. It can also mean trusting. We can be loyal to those we love and we can be loyal to God. We spend time talking to Him and reading the Bible. We can also trust Him forever and forever. And the Bible also says that God is faithful too. He is faithful and will love us forever. We drew a cross and remembered God’s faithfulness to us, even when we do bad things, He still loves us and sent His son Jesus to die in our place. THAT’S how committed He is to us.

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When we love God, we will also show gentleness. (This was an easy one for our kiddos to understand). We drew a soft lamb.

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The last way we can show people we have God in our lives, is by our self control. That means that we control our emotions and our choices. You can have self control by not yelling or hitting. You can show self control by not eating too much candy. You can show self control by being a good listener. What are some other ways we can show self-control?

For this last one, we drew some pieces of candy.

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If your kids believe in God, you can talk with them about which ones they might struggle with. Being open and sharing what is hard for you can be a great tool for your kids too.

Altogether, our trees looked like this:

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Here is our song for this lesson. 

I would LOVE to see your finished creations. Feel free to share them. Thanks, love to you all.

3 Examples of God’s Power

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Hi all, today we will be learning the story of Acts 3-4 where we will see 3 examples of God’s power and protection for His people.

1. After Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to be with the disciples, Jesus’ followers went out to tell everyone about Jesus and His sacrifice for us. Two of these followers (Peter and John) were walking one day when the found a man who couldn’t walk. He was asking for money (since he couldn’t walk, he couldn’t work and had no way to buy food). Peter said “we don’t have any money to give you, but we do have the power of Jesus…get up!” and instantly the man was able to get up and walk. It wasn’t by Peter’s strength or John’s ability–it was the power of God that helped fix the man’s legs.

2. The people were amazed by this miracle but Peter said “why are you surprised?” The whole Bible has been telling us about Jesus who would come and save us. He is God’s son and has all the power to do this. He died on the cross, but
He lived again! Now, it’s time to turn to God and believe in His son, Jesus. God worked in the people’s hearts and many of them believed that day.

3. But, the leaders did not like this message. They didn’t want the people to believe Jesus was alive. So, they put Peter and John in jail. But God gave Peter the strength and the right words to talk to the leaders. He told them the ONLY way to be saved is to believe in Jesus, that He died for our sins, and that He lives again. The leaders were shocked by Peter’s courage. They told Peter and John not to talk about Jesus anymore but they said no. They would have to obey God and tell everyone about Him. The leaders let them go. God gave them the strength they needed to tell people about Him and He provided for them.

If God asks us to do something, He will help us accomplish it. If we believe in Him, then we have His spirit in us too and He can give us power, peace and courage to know what to say and how to help others.

For our craft, we made a 3 piece window wheel. In the 1st section, we drew the man with ouchy legs. In the 2nd part, we drew the disciples boldly telling the people about Jesus. In the 3rd part, we drew the disciples in jail. Then we turned the wheels around to tell the story about the 3 times God helped the disciples know how to help and tell other about Jesus.

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Later in the week, we’ll talk about Ananias and Sapphira. I’d love to see what you all make, please share in the comments.

Love to you all.

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Happy May! This month we’ll be learning about the Bible stories after Jesus went back to heaven.

This story is from Acts 2.

After Jesus went back to heaven to be with God, the disciples and other people who loved Jesus remembered Jesus’ words that they were to go! and make disciples of all the people. But they had to wait for Jesus’ spirit to come back to them.

During a big celebration called the feast of weeks, the disciples were all gathered together in a house when a big wind came and what looked like tongues of 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. They 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 messiah. He came and loved us and died for us, and now His spirit, His power has come to us. 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.”

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 activity, we drew some of the disciples and then added tongues of fire (tissue paper). We talked about how when the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts, we probably won’t see real fire, but we will be given the same power that helped the disciples know how to talk to all the people. We might not be gifted to speak in different languages, but that power of God is in us (if we believe and repent) and He will help us do what we need to do to tell others about Him.

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Disclaimer: I am a big proponent of child-produced art (minimal cut outs and directives), so our pictures always look child-like and often between our two children, the results vary. It is most important to me that they understand the story and as they work on their projects, we discuss the story again.

 

Love to you all.