New Testament

The Beatitudes

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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).

 

IMG_2555IMG_2551

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

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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.

IMG_2453IMG_2455

 

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

IMG_2457

IMG_2459

 

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

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

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…

~ 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!

 

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead

~ 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 11.

Lazarus was Mary and Martha’s brother. (Remember the story where Martha was so busy cleaning and upset that Mary wouldn’t help, but Jesus said it was better to be still and be with Him, than be busy doing other things?)

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, Lazarus is very sick.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, he is sick for God’s glory and God’s Son will be glorified through it.” Jesus waited two days and then went to see them all.

 

Jesus told His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples said, “Lord, if he’s just asleep, he will wake up?!” Jesus really knew that Lazarus had already died, but the disciples didn’t understand that yet. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, because now when we go, you will believe in My power.”
When Jesus got there, He found out that Lazarus had already been buried for four days. A lot of people had come to Martha and Mary to help them feel better because they were so sad Lazarus had died.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died….But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will live again. I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God!” (Jesus said that if we believe in Him, even when our body dies, we will still live forever in heaven with Him!)

Martha told Mary that Jesus was there and she rushed out to see Him. All the people with her rushed out too.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!” It made Jesus very sad to see His friends so sad, and even though He knew Lazarus would live again, He still cried with them.

Then Jesus went to the tomb. (After someone’s body died, they used to wrap the body up like a mummy and then put them in a tomb…kind of like a cave and it usually had a big stone like a door).
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, “his body has been in there 4 days…it probably STINKS by now?!”

Then Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank You that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me.”

Then Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus got up and walked out. He was wrapped like a mummy and Jesus said to them, “Take off those strips of fabric and let him go.”

Many people believed in Jesus that day. God is the ONLY one with power over life and death. And Jesus (part of God, God’s son) has that power as well. The people now KNEW that Jesus was God’s son. And they knew He had the power to do ANYTHING, even bring someone back to life.

(Some of the people were NOT happy though. Like the pharisees and some of the other leaders. They started to come up with a plan to kill Jesus. But Jesus knew about this and went away for a while with His disciples.)

 

For our craft today, we cut out a man, and a cave. We glued the cave on first and drew a door. Then we glued on our man (Lazarus) and drew a face on him. Then we added strips of cut up fabric. Then we drew Jesus and our text reads: Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. John 11

 

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

 

Jesus heals a demon-possessed man

~ 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 comes from Luke 8: 26-39.

Jesus and His disciples sailed to a new place and when Jesus got off the boat and onto the land, a man came towards him. This man had a demon living in his heart. Do you remember that the angels are God’s helpers and they love and worship Him? Well…some of the angels decided NOT to follow God, and they are called demons.

When we love God and ask Him to be our leader and we believe that He died for our sins, then He gives us His spirit to live in our hearts. If we do not have God’s spirit in our hearts, sometimes other things can be in control of us…like a bad angel, a demon. This man had a bad demon living in his heart, making him do terrible things. He was angry and did dangerous things and the people in the town tried to tie him down and chain him up, but he always broke away and he was finally living in a cave, naked and alone.

Jesus told the demon to come out of the man. When he saw Jesus, he yelled and fell down in front of Jesus’ feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” (Because the demons are angels, they KNOW God, and they know He is much more powerful than they are. They even know Jesus! And that He’s God’s son and that He has God’s power too! So this demon was very scared of what Jesus might do to Him.)

Jesus said, “What is you name?”

And the man said “Legion” which means a lot…because a LOT of different bad demons had taken over the man’s heart.

The demons begged Jesus over and over not to send them to hell. A large group of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he said ok. So the demons came out of the man, and went into the pigs. Then all the pigs ran into the lake and died.

The people in charge of the pigs went and told everyone what had happened and then they all came to Jesus and found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed in clothes and acting perfectly normal and they were afraid. They didn’t know WHAT kind of person could tell demons what to do?! They were scared of how powerful Jesus was and they asked Him to leave!

The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with Jesus, but Jesus said, “Go back home and tell everyone how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him!

There are still bad angels who try to do bad things and keep people away from God, but when we love God and He lives in our hearts, then nothing can stand against us. (Romans 8:31-39, James 2:19, Col 2:15, Col 1:13, Phil 2:5-11)

 

There is NOTHING that God does not control. EVERY single thing that has ever been or will ever be is under God’s command. There is NOTHING God can not do.

 

For our craft today, we drew the man and Jesus and added a lake and some pigs to help remember this story and Jesus’ power over ALL things.

Our text reads: Jesus healed the demon-possessed man. Luke 8:26-39.

 

We found this song posted by Group’s Easy VBS Media.

Also, there is God of Angel Armies by Chris Tomlin.

 

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

A paralytic man healed

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

Today’s story can be found in Matt 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5 of the Bible.

This is one of 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!

Jesus was very popular by now and one evening, He was teaching in a house and lots of sick people were coming to listen and so He could make them better.

IMG_1964

There was one man who couldn’t walk at all. His friends brought him on a bed…and tried to get in the house. “Excuse us…excuse me…can we get him to Jesus please? Excuse us!”

“There’s no room. You’ll never fit!”

IMG_1965

So the man’s friends came up with a new idea. They climbed up to the roof and lowered the man’s bed down into Jesus. What a surprise that must have been?!

IMG_1967

Do you know what Jesus said? He said, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Sins? They had come so their friend could walk again!

Some Pharisees were there too. If you remember, the Pharisees were some leaders in the church and they thought they were SOOOOO much better than everyone else…but they actually weren’t very good at loving people like they were supposed to. They knew LOTS ABOUT God, but they didn’t really love Him.

So they were thinking, “Sins? Only God can forgive sins (the bad things we do). Does this guy think He’s God?”

IMG_1969

Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that I have the power to forgive sins!” Then He said to the man, “Ok, get up, take your bed and go home.”

Right away, the man got up and he could walk! He was praising God all the way home!

IMG_1968

The friends KNEW Jesus could help the man, but they just thought He would heal his legs. Jesus really came to earth though to save our hearts. He can do ANYTHING (since He’s God’s son), so He could heal the man’s legs. But, MORE importantly, He could forgive any bad choices the man had ever made.

 

We found this video posted by RodTheNey. (The characters are a bit funky looking, but it does tell the story well.)

There is also this video posted by Sabbath School that emphasizes helping one another.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!