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Jesus turns water into wine

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Thanks for joining us, Love to you all!

Advent-Day 12-Ruth

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Welcome!

This month we are learning about God, God’s son Jesus and Jesus’ earthly family tree.

The next person in Jesus’ family tree is a woman named Ruth. She has her own book of the Bible and our lesson on Ruth can be found here. Our story today will be an abbreviated version.

Ruth had a mother-in-law named Naomi and Naomi’s husband AND Ruth’s husband had died. Back then, if the husband died, the wife would have no money and no way to take care of herself, so Naomi planned to go back to her people in Bethlehem (does that sound familiar?)

But Ruth wouldn’t let her go alone. She stayed right with Naomi and when they got there, Ruth went to fields to pick the leftover food for her and Naomi to share.

A man named Boaz owned the fields and he saw how hard-working and nice Ruth was. He saw that she took good care of Naomi and so he told her she could pick food from his fields anytime she wanted. Then he gave her a LOT of food to take home to Naomi.

When she told Naomi about it, Naomi said, “I know Boaz! He is part of out family! He will help us!”

Boaz was called a kinsman-redeemer…or a family member who could save them. (Just like Jesus saves us and takes care of us!) Boaz promised to take care of Ruth and Naomi and he even married Ruth.

Later Ruth would become King David’s grandma! And she would be part of Jesus’ family.

God is our redeemer. To redeem something means to save it, to forgive any bad in it, or to pay the price for something. When Jesus came, He died for us and He paid the price for our sins. He forgives us and saves us. (Job 19:25, Is 44:6, Luke 1:68 (Zechariah’s song)).

 

As we continue the story of Jesus’ birth, we remember that Mary and Joseph were visiting Bethlehem because all the people had to be counted, but when they got there, there was no where for them to stay?! Finally, someone said they could stay in the barn.

Can you imagine Mary and her big old belly sleeping in the barn? Have you ever been in a stinky barn? With hay and animals? They were probably happy for a warm place to stay, but I’m sure it’s not what they were expecting. (Just like Ruth had no idea she would be saved and married to Boaz when she followed her mother-in-law Naomi!)

Do you know what happens next in that barn? We’ll see tomorrow!

 

Bible story: Ruth

Attribute of God: Redeemer

Jesus’ birth story: room in the barn

Craft:

Side one of our ornament today is a circle and we cut out some shapes of grain. Then using the tips of our scissors, we fringed the wheat.

Our text reads: Day 12- Ruth

God is our redeemer. Ruth 1:1-2:3, Job 19:25IMG_0333

Side two of our ornament is a circle with a barn. (My son added some spider webs to the barn).

Our text reads: Mary and Joseph stayed in a barn. Luke 2

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Our current family tree, front and back:

 

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

 

Advent-Day 8-Joseph’s Provider

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Welcome all.

This month we are learning about God, His son Jesus and Jesus’ earthly family tree.

The next person in Jesus’ family is named Joseph. (complete lesson found here and here. The Bible story can be found in Genesis 37-45.) Today will instead be a VERY a brief overview of Joseph.

Jacob (who we learned about yesterday) had a lot of sons. But he had a special place in his heart for one son, Joseph. One day he gave Joseph a very pretty, colorful coat and it made his brothers Jealous (angry because THEY wanted it). Joseph’s brothers decided to get rid of him. First they put him in a well, then they changed their minds and sold him to work in Egypt!

While in Egypt, Joseph was a good hard worker and began working for the king. The king was very impressed with Joseph. One day, Joseph told the king that God said a drought (a time of no water) would come to the land and then there would be a famine (a time of no food. If there’s no water, then the food can’t grow). Joseph told the king he though they should save up some food for the famine. The king thought this was a very good idea so he put Joseph in charge of saving the food. And sure enough, the famine came and everyone was HUNGRY! But the people of Egypt had enough to eat because God provided for them, and Joseph had listened to God.

Well, Joseph’s brothers came looking for food and when they did, Joseph was NICE to them! He wasn’t angry or mean, even though they had been mean to him. He said, “God has been so good to me! You meant to do bad things to me, but God made it into something GOOD!” God provided safety, a job, favor with the king, wisdom and power in Egypt for Joseph.

God provides for us too. He gives us food and water. A mom and dad who love us. What else has God given you? And most importantly God has provided His son Jesus for us; to love us, die for us and help us. (Psalm 111, 1 Tim 6:17)

When Mary found out baby Jesus was in her tummy, she sang a song of thankfulness to God. (Luke 1) She said, “God has thought of me and provided for me. He has done AMAZING things, and He has kept His promise to send a savior to us!”

Bible Story: Joseph

Attribute of God: Provider

Jesus’ birth story: Mary’s song

Craft:

Side one of our ornament today is a big circe with a cut-out coat glued on and then we made the coat look fancy.

Our text reads: God provided for Joseph. Gen 37-49, Psalm 111, 1 Tim 6:17

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Side two we made music notes using do-a-dot paint markers and then we drew the music note stems.

Our text reads: Mary’s song of thankfulness. Luke 1

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Our current line up of ornaments front and back:

 

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

 

Advent-Day 7-Jacob’s new name

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

This month we are learning about God, His son Jesus, and Jesus’ earthly family tree.

So after Abraham, he had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob didn’t always make great choices, he struggled with God, but God had BIG PLANS for Jacob. (Full lesson found here and in Genesis 35:9-15). One day, God came to Jacob and He gave Jacob a new name, “Israel.” God said, “Like I promised to Abraham and Isaac, I will give you and your family this land. You will be My chosen people. Your kids and their kids and their kids will all be MY people.” All of God’s promises would come true through Jacob and his family (and eventually Jesus would be part of that family too). God made Jacob “new.” God changed Jacob from what he had been, into something new and great.

God does that for us too! He makes all things new! (Rom 6:4, 1 Pe 1:3) We are sinners (people who make bad choices and disobey God) but GOD gave us Jesus to die for us, so when God looks at us now, He sees His son Jesus instead. We are new and clean and perfect because Jesus took our consequences for us.

(Luke 1) Now, Mary was pregnant with baby Jesus and she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah were very old and didn’t have any children. And they REALLY REALLY wanted to have a baby. One day, Zechariah went into the temple to pray to God and an angel came and told him that Elizabeth would have a baby!! But not just any baby, a baby named John (who would be Jesus’ cousin) and he would get everybody for Jesus! He would tell all the people “Get ready! Jesus, the Messiah is coming soon!” God had big plans for Jacob/Israel and for John too! God took Elizabeth who couldn’t have a baby and He made a brand new baby. God can do ANYTHING! And He makes all things new! God’s angel said John would get the people’s hearts ready for Jesus to change them. He would get all the people ready to listen and love God.

When Mary had baby Jesus still in her tummy and Elizabeth had baby John in her tummy, Mary went to visit Elizabeth and as soon as they said hello, baby John started dancing and moving all over the place! Even as a tiny, tiny baby he knew that baby Jesus was God and that this was really exciting! He knew this baby would change everything, God makes all things new…Jacob’s heart and OURS too! Isn’t it great to think of all the things God can do?! He controls all things and change them into anything He wants. He even takes our yucky hearts and makes them beautiful for him.

Bible story: Jacob’s new name

Attribute of God: He makes all things new

Jesus’ birth story: baby John leaps for joy

Craft:

Side one of our ornament is a hammer on a red circle, because God rebuilds us and makes all things new.

Our text reads: Jacob gets a new name. God makes all things new. Gen 35:9-15, Rom 6:4, 1 Peter 1:3

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Side two is a dancing baby on a blue circle

Our text reads:

Baby John leaped for joy, Elizabeth and Zechariah would have a baby! Luke 1

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Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!