miracle

Jesus heals a deaf man

~ hebidsthemcome ~ 1 Comment

Hi all! This story today is from Mark 7:31-37. This is another miracle Jesus did. Remember a miracle is something only God can do. (Sometimes He uses people like Jesus or the disciples or maybe even you to do the miracle…but it is ALWAYS God’s power).

One day Jesus was traveling to a new place and some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk (because it’s hard to know how to talk when you can’t hear other people talking), and they begged Jesus to help him get better. “Please please please!” they said.

Jesus took him aside, away from the crowd, then He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Be opened!” Right away the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak! 

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more He told them not to, the more they kept talking about it! People were overwhelmed with amazement. “Everything He does is AMAZING!!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The people were supposed to not make a big deal of it…but they couldn’t help it! They were so amazed by what Jesus had done, they just HAD to tell people. The man had his ears and tongue opened so he could hear and speak, but those watching had their minds and hearts opened–they could see now that Jesus was someone special…God’s son, the Messiah, the One who had come to save them not just from being sick or deaf, but Jesus had come to save their hearts.

 

For our craft today, we cut out a face shape and then made an upside down U cut out. (It serves as a flap so you can open and shut the mouth). We cut a strip of red paper and folded it up accordion style and glued in down inside the U.

Our text reads: “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!” Mark 7:31-37

 

I struggled to find decent media for this one, but if I do, i’ll be sure to add it later

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

Elijah and the widow

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello all! Today’s story is from 1 Kings 17.

If you remember, Israel was now divided into two parts-the family of Judah and the rest of Israel…they each had a king. Israel’s new king was named Ahab. And he was a STINKER! The Bible says he was worse than every king before him! He even worshipped pretend gods.

Now there was a prophet named Elijah…a prophet is someone who talks to God and then tells the people what God wants them to know. Elijah told the king that because he was making such bad choices, that there would be consequences. The consequence would be that there would be no rain for several years. (If there’s no rain, then no plants can grow and if no plants can grow, then the animals have nothing to eat and nothing to drink and they die, and if there is no water, plants or animals, then the people have nothing to eat or drink and every person could die!) This is called a drought.

Then God told Elijah to go to a river and he drank water from the river and the birds brought him food. But just like God had said…it stopped raining and the river dried up. Elijah was getting very thirsty and very hungry.

So God told Elijah to go to a town and find a widow (that means a lady whose husband died.) Elijah found her and asked her for some water and some bread.

But she answered, “I promise to God, I don’t have any bread—I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home to build a fire and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” (After they used up this last bit of food she had, they would have no more food and would probably starve.)

But Elijah told her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. This is what God says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

The woman TRUSTED God and she went home and made some bread for Elijah and the jug never ran out of oil and the jar never ran out of flour until it rained again years later…just like God said!

This is a miracle…something that shouldn’t be able to happen, but God can make it happen–something ONLY God can do.

Because the woman trusted God and OBEYED Him, He took care of her and her son and always made sure they had enough.

God promises us in lots of places in the Bible that He will take care of us too! (Matt 6:31-32, 7:11, Phil 4:19, Luke 12:24, Job 38:41, Genesis 9:3, Psalm 34:10, 36:6, 81:10, 84:11-12, 146:7, 107:9)

 

For today’s craft we drew the jug of oil and a container for flour. Then we tried something new: we painted on the jug with actual oil and glued and sprinkled on actual flour. (Disclaimer: these don’t really show up very well when they dry..but they do smell good. So it’s more for the experience than the end result.) You could also make some simple bread using flour and oil like THIS RECIPE.

img_9379img_9382img_9384

 

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

Paul’s Shipwreck

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Welcome back, today’s story is from Acts 27/28 and our lesson on this story from last year can be found HERE.

So Paul had been put in jail AGAIN for teaching about Jesus. The leaders decided he and some other prisoners would go to Rome to go to the judge who would decide what to do with them.

It was not an easy trip. They were in the boat a lot longer than they were supposed to be because there were storms. When they were ready to keep going, Paul warned them, “This is not going to be a good trip. It will be really dangerous and we might even die!” But the guard didn’t listen to Paul, instead he followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship and they decided to keep going.

Before very long, a huge storm came, like a hurricane. The ship was caught by the storm and it rocked the boat so hard they had to hold the boat together with ropes! They had to throw all the stuff off the boat because it started sinking and everyone was afraid they would die.

Paul stood up and said: “You should have listened to me! But don’t be scared, because no one is going to die; but the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of God stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You will go to the judge; and God Will protect the lives of all who sail with you.’ So be brave and trust, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.”

They got closer and closer to an island and some of the guards tried to escape in special life boats, but Paul said to the soldiers, “Unless you stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”

Then the soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the guard wanted to save Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and swim to land. The rest were to get there by riding on planks of wood or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely, just like God said.

When they got to land the people there helped take care of them and Paul was able to teach them about Jesus and do some pretty cool things. He was bit by a snake and didn’t die and he helped some sick people get better. (God gave him that power so he could show everyone GOD’S power and that God is real and can do ANYTHING!)

Even though the ship crashing and being put in jail were sad and scary things, God had a plan! He used Paul to teach the guards and people on the island about Him. Sometimes when sad or scary things happen to us, we can remember that God is in control and that He loves us no matter what and that He has a plan. We should always trust God, even when we don’t know what will happen next, just like Paul did.

We made little boats today with flags that read “Trust in God, Acts 27”

image

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

Paul and Silas in Jail

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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:

image

(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

image

 

 

Thanks for for joining us! Love to you all!

Peter freed from jail

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Today’s story is from Acts 12. You can see our lesson and craft from last year HERE.

This story takes place after Jesus died, rose and went back to heaven. The new church was busy teaching everyone about Jesus and King Herod arrested some of these people and he was mean to them and even killed some of them! When he saw this made the crowds happy, he put Peter in jail too. (Remember Peter was one of Jesus’ disciples and friends and he LOVED to tell people all about Jesus. So they put him in prison and put guards around to watch him.)

While Peter was kept in jail the church was praying to God for him, to keep him safe and that Herod would set him free.

The night before Herod was going to bring him out and put him on trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, and his arms were chained to the wall. All of a sudden an angel of God came. He bonked Peter in the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell right off Peter’s arms!

The angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Put your coat on and follow me,” the angel told him.  Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was dreaming! They passed by all the guards and came to the big iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them all by itself, and they went right through it! When they had walked just a bit further, the angel left.

Then Peter realized it WASN’T a dream and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me!”

Then he quickly went to the house where he knew a lot of people were praying for him. Peter knocked on the door and a servant came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so excited she ran back without opening it and yelled, “Peter is at the door!”

“No way!” they told her.

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed! Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and he told them all about how God had brought him out of jail. He told the people at the house to let all the disciples know what had happened and that he was ok! Then he left to hide somewhere else. (The Bible does not tell us where he went…but later he would travel around to tell more people about Jesus).

In the morning, the soldiers were SO confused about where Peter was?! Herod the King was so angry he killed the guards that were supposed to be watching Peter! But everyone who loved Jesus and heard about how God had saved Peter was so happy and some of them even  became more brave to tell people about Jesus! Peter was hiding for a while, but when they saw God taking care of His people, that made them brave to go out and tell people about Jesus just like Peter had!

For our craft today we drew pictures of the story and used toothpicks to help illustrate the jail.

 

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

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!

Thomas Doubts

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Welcome back! Today’s story can be found in John 20:24-29.

After Jesus rose alive from the tomb, He appeared to many people and He appeared to His disciples, but one of them, Thomas, was not with the others when Jesus came. They told Thomas that they had seen Jesus and that He was ALIVE!

But Thomas said, “No! I don’t believe it! Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were I will not believe.” (Remember when Jesus died on the cross they put nails in His hands and nailed Him to the cross. He would now have holes there where the nails were.)

A week later His disciples were in a house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” The doors were locked but Jesus still got in! Remember: God can do anything! Jesus is part of God, God’s son. He can do anything, even get through locked doors!

Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “It IS you, Jesus! My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

We know Jesus now lives in Heaven with God, so we will probably not see Him while we live here, before we die. BUT, we still believe! Jesus said it’s a wonderful thing for someone who hasn’t even seen Him to believe in Him. We can trust His words. That is called Faith. In Hebrews 11:1 of the Bible it says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.” We can not see Jesus, but we KNOW Him and we love Him. We are sure of our hope of living in heaven with Him. Thomas didn’t believe until he saw Jesus…and do you know lots of people today still don’t believe in Jesus because they can’t see Him?

If trusting in God without seeing Him seems hard sometimes, you can always pray and talk to God and ask Him to help you have faith, and believe.

 

For our craft today, we traced our hands and used a pen to make a small hole in the hands, then used our scissors to make it a bit bigger. Our text reads:

“Blessed are those who haven’t seen Me and still believe.” John 20:29

IMG_3216IMG_3218

 

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

The blind will see…

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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.

IMG_2251

 

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!

 

 

Jesus heals on the Sabbath

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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!

Today’s story comes from the Bible in Luke 13:10-17

bentover-woman1

When God created the world, He took 6 days to make everything, and then on the 7th day, He rested. He didn’t work…He just enjoyed what He had made. This was an example to us. God wants us to set some time apart to just enjoy what He has made. He knows our bodies get tired and need a break. So one day a week we take a break and just enjoy what God has made and spend time with Him. Usually where we live, this happens on Sunday. We don’t go to school or work, we go to church to be with God and we rest.

In Jesus’ day this day (called the Sabbath) happened on Saturday. The people were to rest.

Well, one Sabbath day Jesus was teaching (like your pastor does at your church on Sunday) and there was a woman there who had been crippled for a VERY long time. That meant her back was all hunched over and she couldn’t move very well. When Jesus saw her, He said, “Woman! You are all better!” He put His hands on her and right away, she was able to straighten her back, stand up and she was all better!

The leaders of the church (the Pharisees and some others), were very upset that Jesus had done this on the resting day. “You should only do work on the other 6 days. God said so!” they grumbled.

But Jesus answered. “Are you kidding me?! Don’t you still feed your animals on the Sabbath? You give them water? Isn’t it MUCH MORE important that this woman should be made better?!”

Another day when Jesus had made a man better on the Sabbath (Luke 6) He told the people, “I am Lord of the Sabbath and people are much more important than animals! It is ok to help people and do good on the Sabbath.”

The leaders were ashamed. They were trying to get Jesus in trouble by pointing out that He was not following the law but no matter how hard the leaders tried to trick Jesus, they never could (because who can ever trick God?!)

But Jesus was saying, it’s good to have a day of rest. God knows we need rest. But it’s more important to follow God’s heart, which is to help others…even if that happens on the Sabbath.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!