Living a Godly life

True love is…

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello all! Today’s lesson is from 1 Corinthians 13. Paul wrote letters to lots of people (they didn’t have email or texting back then). We were learning about the things he wrote to the Romans last time. This time he wrote 2 letters to the people of Corinth (the people were called Corinthians). This lesson is from his 1st letter to them.

Paul says no matter what you do, it has be done with love, or it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how well you play sports, how well you sing, or even if God helps you do amazing miracles! It all means nothing if you don’t do it with God’s love.

Then he tells us what true love is.

“Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy (that means it doesn’t want all the stuff it doesn’t have),

It does not boast, it is not proud (that means it doesn’t say “i’m better than you! or i have more stuff than you!”)

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking (me me me! mine mine mine!)

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (love forgives others when they hurt us)

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (Love helps us do the right thing)

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (never gives up)

Love never fails. (Does God’s love ever give up on us? NEVER! We remember nothing will keep us from God’s love).

Love is not how we feel, but the choices we make. Did you know you can feel angry and still show someone love? Sometimes we don’t feel like loving someone, but we choose to love them with the things we do. True love is living the way God wants us to.

So for today’s craft we made a window wall to help us remember all the things true love is. When we really show others God’s love, this is how we will act.

We cut out 9 squares and drew a picture on each one. Then we taped just the top part to our bottom sheet of paper (so you can lift the flap) and underneath we wrote the words.

Our 1st picture is a clock, then hands and then a face with snooty upturned nose.

Row 2 features the word “ME”, an angry face (with smoke above his head) and a star.

Row 3 has a sword, a checkered finish line, and a heart.

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Our text underneath each row says:

Love is patient and kind, it does not envy (want what it doesn’t have), it does not boast, it is not proud.

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Row 2:it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

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Row 3: It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails.

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Thanks again for joining us! (Remember to subscribe so you never miss a post) Love to you all!

When God lets us choose…

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Hello again! Today’s lesson comes from Romans 14. (Also covered in 1 Corinthians 8, 10, and Colossians 2)

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Do you remember last time we talked about worshipping God with our whole lives? Some of the things God tells us to do He is very clear about. Can you think of anything God says NOT to do? (Lie, steal, murder). Can you think of anything God says TO do? (Love one another, tell others about Him, pray and talk to Him).

But sometimes God lets us choose. He doesn’t tell us what kind of job to get when we’re a grown up, or what kinds of games to play. He doesn’t say we can only wear certain colors…He lets us choose those things.

Do you know sometimes grown ups in church fuss over what kind of songs to sing to God or what they should wear to church? And in Paul’s day lots of people fought over what kind of food was ok to eat. But Paul reminded the people of Rome to not argue about things like that. He said, “Loving God is not a matter of what you eat or drink, it’s about being right with God, and having peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, anyone who serves Jesus in this way makes God happy. So let’s try to do things that help everyone get along and know God better. All food is ok to eat, but it is better not to eat or drink (or to do anything else) that will cause your friend to make a choice they think is bad….then they will be sinning against God. If it bothers your friend, try not to do it. If you know your friend doesn’t like something and you do it anyway…that’s not very loving.” He also said some things you can talk to God about and He will help you know if it’s a good choice or bad choice for you. (You can and SHOULD always read the Bible to see what God has to say).

So sometimes God is very clear about what He wants. But sometimes He gives us choices. Before we make a choice we should always

  1. Read God’s word (the Bible) and pray to see what God has to say about it (this can be hard because sometimes our friends don’t make choices that God wants them to. But we can make good choices even if our friends don’t. God will always help you make the right choice if you ask for help!)
  2. Make sure it won’t cause anyone else to make a bad choice
  3. Make sure it’s a choice that shows God love and helps others
  4. If a friend makes a different choice that still shows God love and helps others, then we don’t need to fuss about. (If your friend is making choices that make God sad or hurt other people, then you can help remind them how to make good choices or find a grown up to help).

We can make good choices if we think about loving God and loving others.

 

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

Worship through love

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Welcome back! Today’s lesson is from Romans 12.

Have you ever heard the word “worship?”

Worship means to show honor or love for something. We worship God. We want to show that He is the greatest and that we love Him and will obey Him. We give Him our hearts, our time, our things, we make our choices based on what He tells us.

Some people think worship means singing to God…and that’s ONE way to worship God (and it’s a wonderful way!) but it’s not the only way!

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he tells them LOTS of ways to worship God. He said we can worship God with our whole bodies…with everything we do. Every day we can worship God.

Here are some of the way we show God we love Him, respect Him and think He’s the best!

Everyday, Paul says, you can choose to not think you’re better than anyone else. Remember everyone who loves God has things they are good at and everyone can help others know God. So don’t think you’re better than anyone else…everyone just needs to do the best job they can loving God and loving other people.

Then he says, stay away from bad things and always stay near what is good. Take care of other people. Be excited about God! Be joyful (kind of like happy) because you know God loves you and has great plans for you! Be patient and trust in God when hard or sad things happen. Always, always pray and talk to God. Share everything you have with anyone who needs it.

You can also worship by being nice to people even when they aren’t nice to you. Be happy for your friends when they are happy, but if they are sad, be sad with them. Don’t fight or fuss with each other, try to get along. And don’t only hang out with people like you. Anyone can be your friend.

And one more time he reminds us to not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. That means if someone is being mean, you don’t be mean back, love them!

Loving God by singing, dancing, and praying are great ways to worship Him. But it is also worship when we love others, share with them and are nice even when people aren’t nice to us. That’s worship too!

How do YOU like to worship God?

 

Isn’t it great that all the ways Paul shows us to worship God are things KIDS can do too!? Yay!

 

For today’s craft we took a piece of construction paper and painted some lines from the center. Then when it dried, we cut out and glued on a heart and our text reads: We worship God by loving others. Romans 12

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This song by Casting Crowns relates to today’s lesson.

Thanks for joining us again, love to you all!

Believe and Confess

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Hello again! Today’s lesson is Romans 9 and 10.

This is another lesson from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

This time he wanted the people to remember that we are only given forever life in heaven because God loves us. We can’t do enough good things to earn our way there. If we could, then people would always say “look at all the good things I’VE done. God loves me MORE. But God doesn’t have favorites. He loves everyone and because He loves us, He gave us His son Jesus to die for us. THAT is why we are saved from our sins.

This is grace. When we are supposed to get bad consequences and we don’t it’s called mercy. But God does even better than that. He doesn’t just forgive our sins, He also calls us His children and says we will live forever in heaven with Him! That is grace. God gives us more than we could ever earn. The Bible says God is like a good Father who loves to give His children gifts. The best gift God gives us is eternal life in heaven with Him.

Paul said “Some of the Israelites don’t want God’s grace. They want to go to heaven because they follow all the rules. But nobody follows all the rules all the time, we all sin. We NEED God’s mercy and grace. And there’s nothing we can do make Him let us into heaven….it is a gracious gift from God to us.”

Romans 10:9 says all we have to do is accept God’s grace. “If you confess (say) with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Jesus already did all the work! Of course when we love Him, we WANT to do good things, to be like Him….but those good things are never good enough to forgive our sins…only Jesus can do that. We just need to believe and say “Yes, you ARE Lord, I believe.”

For our craft today we cut out little hearts, put on some lipstick and kissed them (confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts), then we wrote today’s memory verse.

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Thanks again for joining us, love to you all!

From Adam to Jesus

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Hi all! Today’s lesson is from Romans 5.

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This is another part from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

The first people God ever made were named Adam and Eve…and they disobeyed God. They sinned. That’s when death entered the world and they couldn’t stay with God anymore. Adam started it all, but everyone sins, just like Adam did. But Paul reminds us that even though sin started with one person, forgiveness comes from one person too! Do you know who that is? It’s Jesus!

Our sin keeps us from God, but Jesus’ sacrifice (dying in our place) brings us back to God. He took our punishment (death). But He didn’t stay dead! God raised Him back to life! That’s what He does with us too! We should have to die for our sins, but because of Jesus, He forgives us and gives us eternal (forever) life with Him.

Paul said if someone was about to kill your best friend, you would stop them! But if someone was trying to kill a bad guy, would you stop them? Jesus did. Jesus didn’t die for us because we are good, He died for us even though we are bad and sin.

Verse 8 says, “God demonstrated (showed) His love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Sin came from one man (Adam) and is forgiven by one man (Jesus). God loves us even when we sin, and Jesus chose to die for us and forgives us, THAT is true love.

 

We did a craft today, but I don’t really like how it turned out…you win some, you lose some. The important thing is that our children hear the words of God.

Some of these New Testament stories may even be a bit advanced for their understanding. We try and pray for wisdom in how to teach these things to our kids, but sometimes Biblical concepts may still go over their heads. It’s not in vain though. Continual reading and learning of God’s word is a wonderful (and essential) habit to teach our kids. And you never know when they WILL understand these concepts so it’s never too early to teach them! Laying a strong foundation that you can build and build as they grow is never in vain. (Isaiah 55:8-11,  Proverbs 22:6, Deut 11:18-21, Romans 10:17)

 

Thanks for for joining us again, love to you all!

All have sinned…

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Hi all, today’s lesson is from the first 4 chapters of Romans.

Paul wrote a lot of letters. He wrote some while he was traveling and some while he was in jail. One of the letters he wrote was to the people of a big city called Rome. These people were called Romans and the book of the Bible named after his letter to them is also called Romans.

Paul starts this letter by talking to the Jewish people. If you remember a long long time ago a man named Abraham believed God and obeyed Him. And even though Abraham and his wife didn’t have any kids, they believed God when He said Abraham would be the father of many many countries and many people. God chose Abraham and Abraham loved God right back. God did give Abraham a son and his family became God’s people. Abraham had a son named Isaac and Isaac had a son named Jacob and Jacob had 12 sons who became the leaders of the 12 tribes (big family groups) of Israel. (The people of one tribe, Judah became known as Jews.)

Paul wanted the people to know that God had chosen the people of Israel to give His laws to and He made a promise to always be with them. They would sacrifice (kill) special kinds of animals when they sinned and God would forgive them. BUT Jesus came and sacrificed HIMSELF and from then on, anyone who believes in Jesus would be right with God and forgiven for their sins (bad choices against God).

The Jewish people didn’t always like hearing that God was for EVERYONE. They thought they were special! God’s chosen people, remember?? But Paul said, ANYONE who believes and obeys God is like one of Abraham’s children. God didn’t choose Abraham and his family because of the great things they did, but because they believed. So anyone who believes like Abraham and obeys God will also be forgiven and be one of God’s people.

Paul said “all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” No one is perfect… We all sin (make bad choices) and that sin keeps us from God. Have you seen the movie Brave? Merida shoots her bow and arrows at the target. When we try to follow God we are like the arrow, but sometimes we miss the bullseye (the middle of the target). When we mess up and sin, we fall short and miss what God wants us to do. That also means we miss out on God. Our sin keeps us from God, BUT Jesus gave us something we don’t deserve. He died for us so when we believe in Him, when God sees us, He sees us as right on target. Righteous….right with Him. Paul said there’s nothing we can do to EARN God’s love or to EARN a place in heaven. God loved us enough to give His son in our place. And not just the Israelites, but ALL people because EVERYONE sins and needs the gift Jesus gave us when He died on the cross and took the consequences for our sin.

 

For our craft today we made targets out of paper plates and construction paper. We folded our red piece of paper in half and drew three rings on it like this.

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We cut out each ring and glued the smallest and biggest onto our plate. Then we cut out and glued on an arrow and wrote the paraphrase of our verse:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but are made right with God for free, as a gracious gift, because of Jesus’ sacrifice.” Romans 3:23-25image

 

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

Paul and Silas in Jail

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Welcome back! Today’s story is from Acts 16. HERE is our lesson from last year.

If you remember from last week, Peter was put in jail for teaching about Jesus, but God saved him by sending an angel to help.

But Paul and his friend Silas were also put in jail for teaching about Jesus. They were chained to the wall and a guard watched over them. But that didn’t stop them from loving God! In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a big earthquake that the walls and floors of the prison were shaking!  All the jail doors flew open, and everyone’s chains fell off. The guard woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he was SOOOO upset because he thought the prisoners had escaped and he would be in BIG trouble! But Paul shouted, “Don’t worry! We are all here!”

The guard fell shaking before Paul and Silas. He had heard them praying and singing to God before and he asked them, “What do I have to do to be saved by your God?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” They taught him and his family all about God. He was so happy, he invited them to dinner at his house and he helped clean them up. (They had been beat up some by the leaders before they were put in jail and jail was a very dirty place back then.)

Paul and Silas trusted God and did not get angry when they were put in jail, but instead they praised God! They still loved God and told people about Him. Then, when they had a chance to escape, they didn’t. They stayed. They did the right thing.

The Bible says that people will know we are God’s children (His followers) by the choices we make and the love we show others. Paul and Silas showed love to the people in jail and even the guard and they did the right thing. The guard and his whole family came to know and love Jesus because Paul and Silas trusted God and showed His love. We can do that too! We can show God’s love, praise Him no matter what and make good choices and then other people might come to know God too because of our example!

 

For our craft today we made chains. We drew lines on a piece of paper like this:

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(Makes two big strips and 6 small strips) we cut those out and looped them together with tape. The big strips are the handcuff part on the end and the small loops are the middle chain links.

 

Our text reads: Paul and Silas in jail, Acts 16

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Thanks for for joining us! Love to you all!

The Church works together

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Hi all! Welcome back! Today’s lesson is a New Testament story AND part of our lessons on living a Godly life. The text for this can be found in Acts 6:1-7 and Romans 12:3-8.

In the days after Jesus went back to heaven and the people who loved Him had received the Holy Spirit in their hearts, lots of people were hearing about and deciding to follow Jesus. Back then, the church took care of any one who needed help. So the grandmas who were all alone, kids without parents, or people who couldn’t work…anyone who didn’t have food or clothes, the church would make sure they got what they needed. BUT, everyone was so busy telling new people about Jesus that some of the people weren’t getting the food they needed! So the disciples got together and said, “We can’t stop telling people about Jesus!? But we also have to make sure we are SHOWING God’s love by taking care of everyone! So…let’s choose seven men who are full of the God’s Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of making sure everyone has the food they need and we will give our attention to prayer and teaching God’s word.”

Everyone thought that was a great idea, so they chose a man named Stephen, and 6 others. (Most of them were Israelites, but one was not. Before, you had to be an Israelite to be one of God’s chosen people, but Jesus came for EVERYONE. Now ANYONE who believes in Jesus and wants Him as their Savior and Lord can be one of His chosen children. So this man was also included as one of the seven.)

So the word of God spread. The seven men made sure everyone had the food they needed and others told people about Jesus. They all worked together to spread God’s word and His love.

In the book of Romans, God says everyone who loves Him is like one body working together. Do your eyes do the same thing as your nose? Do your fingers do the same thing as your heart? Can you hear with your toes? No! You need all the different parts of your body to do what they are supposed to do! And the church is the same way! All of us who love God work together to share His love! Some of us can be like His mouth and teach people about Him. Some of us can be like hands and help other people. Some of us can be like feet, traveling around to the far-away places of the Earth to make sure everyone knows about God. Some of us can be like ears…we can listen to other people when they are sad. There are lots of way to show God’s love! And we can all work together, like the people  in the early church to make sure everyone knows God and His love.

Even kids can and SHOULD help in the church! You can help your mom and dad at home, you can help in your Sunday school class by being a good listener and helping your teacher and you can tell your friends about Jesus too! You can pray for your friends and family…no matter how big, or how small you are…you are never too small to serve God!

This is last year’s lesson on being the body of Christ.

For today’s craft we cut out people shapes and on each one we wrote a way we can serve in the church. (If you were doing this with a larger Sunday school class you could have each child decorate their cut out like themselves and then hook them all together in a banner.) We stapled ours around a paper plate and the center text says: We can ALL work together to tell people about Jesus and show them His love. Acts 6 and Romans 12

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THIS is a really silly video of today’s story posted by JWKidsJacobsWell.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

One Last Lesson

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Hi all! Today’s story is from Matthew 28:16-20.

After Jesus had risen from the grave and before He went back to heaven He had one last lesson for His disciples.

The disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him. Then Jesus said, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now go and make disciples of all nations. Tell everyone about Me and My Father. Baptize them (put them in the water and bring them out of the water as a sign that they believe in God). Do this in the name of God the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything I have told you. And remember, I am with you always, forever.”

Jesus said now that we know about Him, it’s time to tell others! And not just tell them about God, but make disciples (that means help them learn how to really love and obey God!)

For our craft today we made megaphones that look like the world.

We took a whole sheet of blue construction paper and a sheet of green paper that we shredded into various size pieces. Then we glued the green pieces onto the blue and wrapped up the paper (one side more tightly wrapped than the other) to make our megaphone shape. Our text reads: Go and tell everyone about God! Matt 28:16-20

 

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

HE IS RISEN!

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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.

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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.

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

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The women are coming to visit the tomb.

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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!