Jesus

The Lost Sheep

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Hi all! Welcome! This month we are learning about the things Jesus taught. Today’s story is another parable (a story meant to teach us something).

The verses for today’s lesson can be found in the Bible in Luke 15:1-7 and John 10:1-16.

One day the Pharisees and some other people who didn’t like Jesus were complaining about Him eating with sinners and bad people, so Jesus told them a story.

A lot of people back then took care of sheep, so everyone who heard this story would know that a shepherd works hard to take care of his sheep. He gives them food and water and protects them from coyotes or wolves…even if he gets hurt or dies while fighting them off. A good shepherd loves his sheep and knows them all.

“Once there was a shepherd who had a hundred sheep whom He loved and he lost one of them. He left the ninety-nine other sheep in the open country and went after the lost sheep until he found it! And when he found it, he joyfully put it on his shoulders and took the little sheep home. Then he called his friends and neighbors together and said, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who asks God to forgive them, than over ninety-nine people who do not need to repent.”

Jesus also said in the book of John, “A good shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought his sheep out, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as my Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

Jesus was saying that He takes care of us and is even willing to die for us (and He did! on the cross for our sins!) He knows us by name and if we are really His, we will know Him and listen to Him. And how do we know what Jesus says? How do we know His voice? By praying and reading His words to us from the Bible! He gave us the Bible as His voice.

Jesus then told the Pharisees and others, “I have other sheep that are not with me yet. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” Jesus was saying there are more people who need to learn about Him! And when they learn and accept Jesus into THEIR hearts, it’s like one big family, and He promises to take care of all of us! We can help tell others and bring them to God!

Jesus is our good shepherd. He takes care of us, He keeps our hearts safe from Satan who tries to keep us away from God. He provides what we need and He loves us and knows us by name. He even died to save us from being apart from God forever! He leads us and tells us what we should do in the Bible. We can listen to His words, follow Him and trust Him. He IS a good, good shepherd.

For our craft today we made little sheep out of paper plates. We used a black circle of construction paper and two u-shaped pieces of black construction paper; some googly eyes, a pom pom nose and cotton balls.

Our text reads: Jesus the good shepherd, Luke 15, John 10

This is a video of the Parable of the Lost sheep posted by Sabbath School.

This video is called the Baa Baa song posted by Sibling Harmony.

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Treasures in Heaven

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Hi all! Welcome back! This month we are learning about the things Jesus taught.

Today’s lesson is from Matthew 6:19-24. This is also from Jesus’ sermon on the mount.

Jesus told the people, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where things die, break and are destroyed. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Don’t focus on having the most money or the best THINGS because things break. Instead, think about what’s REALLY important, like loving God, loving other people and telling other people about God!

He said “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What you think is the most important thing is what you will give your attention to. If you think money or toys are really important, then you’ll spend all your time trying to get money or toys. BUT, if you think God and telling others about Him is what’s really important, then that is where your heart will be and you’ll spend your time loving God and others.

Jesus warned the people, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Jesus said, you have to pick. You can’t love your things and love God. Which one will be more important to you? The things of this earth that will break and be gone when you die? Or God and loving others? Then when you die, you’ll be with God forever, and maybe, if you’ve told someone else about God, they’ll get to be with you in heaven forever too! Isn’t that a REAL treasure!?

This video by Titus Ting is a musical version of these verses.

This is the song by Burlap and Cashmere.

 

For our craft today we made treasure chests from a rectangle and a 1/2 circle piece of brown construction paper. We drew on some lines and a lock and then glued on bits of confetti and gold and silver paper. (You could also draw money, or find gold trinkets at your local craft store, money scrapbook paper or even use play money from the dollar store.)

Our text reads: “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matt 6:20-21

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Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

The Good Samaritan

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the things Jesus taught. (Later in the month we will cover His death and resurrection.)

Today’s story is a well known tale found in Matthew 22, Mark 12 and Luke 10.

Some of the people really loved Jesus and loved listening to Him teach. But some of the people were jealous of Jesus, or scared that He might try to be more powerful than them, so they would try to trick Him. One day they said, “The Bible says, ‘Love your neighbor,’ but WHO counts as my neighbor?”

Jesus answered by telling them this story.

“A man was traveling one day when he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, hurt him and went away, leaving him almost dead. A priest was going down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. Soon another important man came to the place and saw him, but he also passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. (Remember the people in Israel and the people in Samaria did not like each other, they were supposed to be enemies.) He went to him and bandaged his wounds. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to a hotel and took care of him. The next day he took out some money and gave it to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will give you the money for any extra costs you may have taking care of this man.’

Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who took care of him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

 

So who did Jesus say is our neighbor? Only the people who live next to us? Only the people we like? Only the people like us?

No…everyone…anyone who needs our help. Jesus said no matter how important you think you are, you can always help someone else. Who can you love? You can love the people in your class at school. You can give money or clothes to people who need them. You can share food with people who are hungry. How does your family show love to neighbors?

We drew pictures to illustrate today’s story.

 

Veggie tales has a cute video of this story.

And for a little nostalgia, this video is from the McGee and Me series posted by David Hill.

 

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

 

The story of the farmer and his seeds

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the things Jesus taught. Today’s story is a parable, a story meant to teach something.

This story can be found in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.

Jesus was teaching one day and told the people this parable (story). There was once a farmer who went to plant some seeds. Some of the seeds fell along the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocks, where there was not much good soil. Those seeds sprang up quickly, but when the sun came up, the plants were burnt, and they withered… they could not really grow there. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so those seeds could not continue to grow. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—many many many stalks of good wheat grew there.”

But Jesus wasn’t just teaching the people how to be good farmers. He was telling them a story about God and about us. He then explained to the people what the story meant.

He said,”The seeds that fell on the road and were eaten by the birds are like when someone hears the words of the Bible and does not understand it. Then Satan comes and tries to keep those people away from God. The seeds that fell on the rocky soil and couldn’t grow are like the people who hear God’s words and obey them for a little bit, but then give up. The seeds that fell in the weeds and couldn’t grow are like people who are more worried about money and their troubles than trusting in God. But the seeds that fell in the good soil and grew and grew are like the people who hear God’s words, obey them and tell others about God.”

Let’s ask God to help us be good seeds in good soil so we can grow! We can listen to God’s words and ask Him to help us understand (we can ask our mom and dad, our grandparents, our pastor or other grown ups for help too if we don’t understand something in the Bible.) We can also pray and ask God to help us obey His words and tell others about Him.

 

For our craft today we made a book of the story.

We started by taking 4 pieces of paper. (You can use any color you want). We made green our biggest/last piece so we took a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of construction paper and folded it in half. Then we took a yellow piece, folded it in half and cut about an inch off the bottom. Then we took a brown piece, folded it and cut about 2 inches off. Then we took a blue piece, folded it in half and cut about 3 inches off.

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When stacked they look like this

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For each page, we open up the paper and the illustration goes on top half and words on the bottom half.

Page 1: We drew a road, glued on some seeds (we used various beans we had. You could use beans, actual seeds, rice, glitter, or just draw the seeds on). Then we added some birds.

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Page 2: We drew the rocky soil and glued on a few seeds.

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Page 3: For our thorns we drew some sticks with pokers on the sides and glued on some seeds.

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Page 4: On this page we glued on a lot of seeds and drew good brown soil, and tall yellow and green grasses and wheat.

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Then we stapled the pieces together to form our book:

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Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!

The Beatitudes

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the thing Jesus taught.

Today’s lesson can be found in Matthew 5. (In full disclosure, much of the verbiage used today is from “Jesus Calling Bible Storybook” by Sarah Young. I don’t get any kickback for mentioning that, but it’s a great resource we use often…very nice pictures by Carolina Farias and simple versions of Bible stories.

 

So one day Jesus was teaching and this particular speech is called His “sermon on the mount.” There are a lot of things Jesus taught the people that day; today we’ll just be talking about one of the things, called the beatitudes.

WHAT are beatitudes? The first part of the word “be-a-tus” means happy or blessed!

Jesus was teaching the people 8 reasons they could feel happy and blessed!

Jesus said, “Those who say, ‘I am a sinner,’ will be part of God’s family.

Those who are sorry for their bad choices will be comforted by God.

Those who obey God will live forever with Him.

Those who want to do the right thing, God will help them do it.

Those who forgive others will be forgiven by God.

Those who ask God to live in their hearts will see Him.

Those who help others find peace with God will be called His children.

Those who tell others about God, even if people are mean to them, are part of God’s family.”

 

This video features the Beatitudes song by Brook Hills music performed by Jess Chamblee.

This video posted by Outside da box is probably better geared towards older elementary/middle school students, but gets the point across nicely.

 

For our craft today we made a bouquet of blessings. We used various geometric shaped pieces of card stock and construction paper and just glued them together to make any shape flower we wanted. (Each child and I made a set of 8, so our bouquet features 24 flowers). I wrote one beatitude on each flower (so 3 of each). Then we taped a straw to the back of each one (you could also use pipe cleaners).

 

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Now we have a lovely bouquet of blessings on our table to remind us of God’s goodness!

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

Do Not Worry

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the things Jesus taught.

Today’s story is from Matthew 6:25-34.

Jesus was teaching the people one day and He said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about what you will wear. There are more important things in life than wearing fancy clothes or eating special food.

Look at the birds in the air; they don’t grow food, or have money to buy food, but God feeds them (with berries, nuts and worms). And YOU are much more important than birds.

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not have to make clothes…but God makes them look beautiful. Grass grows and then in winter, it’s gone…God makes sure even the grass and flower which are so small and gone so fast look so pretty. You can trust that He will take care of your clothes too.

People who don’t believe in God are always trying to find the prettiest clothes or the fanciest food, or the newest best thing… But I tell you, seek God first and His ways, and all these things will be given to you as well.

So do not worry about tomorrow. Nobody makes his life any better or longer by worrying. Follow God and trust Him.”

We don’t have to worry…when we do worry, we can pray and talk to God about it. We can remember that God loves us and promises to take care of us. He takes care of ALL things, and we can be sure if He takes care of even the smallest tiniest things, that He will certainly take care of us.

 

For our craft today we cut out pictures of birds and flowers and glued them onto our paper.

Our text reads: God takes care of the flowers and the birds, and He will take care of me! Matthew 6:25-34

 

This video has a cute illustrated version of the verses covered today. It was posted by QuizWorx.

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

The wise and foolish builders

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the things Jesus taught.

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:46-49.

Jesus said, “Everyone who hears My words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. When the rain came down, the water rose, and the winds blew against that house; but it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does NOT obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. When the rain came down, the water rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When you build a house, it has to be on strong ground…if you build it on sand, then when it rains, the sand will wash away and the house will fall over. But Jesus wasn’t telling the people how to build a real house. He was saying, “If you believe in Me and obey My words, then your whole life will be strong. And when bad, scary or hard things happen, you can remember My words, and obey them and you will be able to get through any hard time.” If you put your trust in other things, like pretend gods, or your stuff, then when bad things happen, you won’t really have any help. Your things can’t help you through a hard time. Only God is truth and He never changes. We can trust in Him. THAT is like building our lives on a strong rock. When hard times come or bad things happen, we won’t have to make bad choices because we can remember that God loves us and He will help us.

We illustrated this today by using a baking pan and two lego houses. We put one house on a cup (this was the rocks), and we made a pile of sugar (you could also use salt or sand if you have it). Then we took a full water bottle and dumped it into the pan. The house on the rock stayed, but the house on the sand washed away.

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Then we made a paper craft, one for each part of the story. (We used glitter for the sand)

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This video posted by ThroughTheWaters is a song called “The wise man built his house upon the rocks.”

 

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

The Golden Rule

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Hi all! Welcome to March! This month we will be learning about the things Jesus taught us and later in the month, Easter.

 

Today’s story comes from Luke 6: 27-36. (Also found in Matthew 7)

Jesus was teaching one day and He told the people something very important. He said “Love your enemies, and be nice to people, even if they are not nice to you. If someone is mean to you, pray for them. If someone hurts you, don’t hurt them back. If anyone asks you for something and you have it, then give it to them.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

This is called the “golden rule.”

Jesus said “It’s easy to love people who are nice to you…everybody can do that!?  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Merciful means forgiving or compassionate).

God always forgives us and gives us good things…even if we make bad choices and sin, He still forgives us and still loves us. And that’s how we should be with other people. If they are mean to us or hurt us, we can pray for them and forgive them.

We can treat people the way we want to be treated. Does that mean if you are nice, everyone else will be too?

No…probably not. Sometimes even if you are very very nice, other people will still make bad choices. But that’s when we remember ALL that God has given us and done for us and how much He loves us…then we can show that same kind of love to other people.

For our craft today we made hats to wear around to help memorize our verse of the day.

We cut a circle out of paper plates and wrote the verse on a heart which we taped to the hat. (If you have a pipe cleaner you should probably tape that on the back of the heart and onto the hat. We didn’t and it made out hearts very floppy).

Our text reads: Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

 

This video is from Steve Green’s “Hide ’em in your heart Vol 1.”

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

The blind will see…

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Hi all! 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!

 

Today’s story is from John 9.

One day as Jesus went along, He saw a man who had been blind his whole life. He was asking people for money because he couldn’t see to work.

Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Teacher, did this man or his parents do something bad that God made him blind?”

“No, neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

After saying this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and put it on the man’s eyes.

(We used play-doh to illustrate this part)

“Go,” He told him, “wash off your eyes.” And when the man washed off his eyes, then he could see!

All the people in the town said “Isn’t this the same blind man who used to sit and beg for money?”

Some said “Yes! It’s him!”

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he insisted, “I am the man! And now I can see!”

“How were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see!”

“Where is Jesus?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

They brought him to the Pharisees who were not happy that Jesus had healed the man on the sabbath (the day of rest). “He must be a sinner, someone who disobeys God’s rules!”

But others asked, “How can a sinner do such amazing things?!” So they were divided.

They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. They even asked them if this really was their blind boy! They had a LOT of questions for the mom dad and man who had been healed and he said, “All I know is, I was blind but now I see! We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the Godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. This HAS to be the work of God.”

But some of the Pharisees didn’t want to believe it. They called the man a sinner and told him to leave the city!

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in Me?”

Then the man said, “Yes, Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, “I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

When Jesus was talking about blindness this time, He wasn’t talking about their eyes. He was talking about their hearts. He was saying He came to show God to everyone. Some people would open the eyes of their heart and love God and some people would stay “blind” and not see the real God.

The Pharisees didn’t really want to see God. They wanted to follow the rules and get all the trophies for being the best at following rules. But they didn’t see Jesus. They didn’t really see that what God wants even more than for us to follow the rules, is that He wants us to LOVE Him and LOVE others. That is how we REALLY obey God.

The Pharisees were supposed to know what the Bible says better than anyone. But they didn’t really do what God wanted, so He called them “blind.” And the man who could now see believed in Jesus and so he could see with his eyes AND his heart.

Here is a video posted by SabbathSchool.

This video features Celtic Women singing “Amazing Grace.”

And this video is a kid’s version of “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord” posted by GodsKidsWorship.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

 

Ten Lepers Healed

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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 because God can do ANYTHING!

Our story for today comes from Luke 17:11-19.

One day as Jesus was traveling, ten men with leprosy heard Jesus was coming. Remember that’s where your skin is really yucky and ouchy. The people with leprosy had to live away from everyone else so they wouldn’t get other people sick. They couldn’t see their family or friends. IF they got better, they had to go the temple (the church) and show the priests who would decide if they were better and could come back or not.

So ten men with leprosy met Jesus on the road. They stood back from Him and yelled, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” (They were still sick, but Jesus had a plan!) They obeyed Jesus and as they went, they were cleaned…as they walked with each step, their skin got better and better.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God. This man was a Samaritan (he was not an Israelite, one of God’s “chosen people.” But he was still so thankful and he believed in God’s power.) “Woohoo! I’m better! I’m better! Praise God!” he cried!

He fell down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

Jesus asked, “Where are the other nine? Has no one else returned to give praise to God except this man? He’s not even an Israelite!” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus came not just for the Israelites, but for ALL people. Jesus came to love and heal and save the hearts of EVERYONE. Isn’t it funny that the people who were SUPPOSED to be some of God’s “chosen people” did not even say thank you?

Sometimes we can take God for granted. That means even though we know God does amazing things and loves us so so so so much, we forget or we get used to how wonderful God is and we stop say “thank you!” We know God loves us and that He takes care of us. It’s important to give thanks to God for all He is, for all He has done for us and for all He gives us.

For our activity today, we made a list of lots of things we are thankful for.

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What are YOU thankful for today? How has God been good to you?

We found this video from the Bibletoons series posted by Dan Huffman. (It’s a really cute stick figure retelling of the story.)

This video is a lego version of the story posted by PowerSurgeKids.

And lastly, this video from Sabbath School is a really great, thorough overview of the story.

 

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!