New Testament

Jesus walks on water

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi again!

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 can be found in Matt 14:22-36, Mark 6: 45-56, and John 6:16-21.

After Jesus fed all the people from the loaves and fishes, it was night and Jesus sent the disciples ahead in their boats. They started to cross the Sea of Galilee and Jesus stayed behind to pray.

Well, it started to rain…and rain and RAIN! There were BIG waves and crashing lightning and thunder. Their boats were rocked and tossed and the disciples were soaking wet and trying really hard to not let their boats sink. They worked and worked for hours through the storm, when suddenly, in the darkest part of night, they looked through the rain and saw something coming towards them.

“It’s a ghost!” they said. They were SO scared.

Jesus answered, “Don’t be afraid. It is I!” Jesus was walking toward them on the water!

Then Peter said,  “I think it’s Jesus!….Jesus! If that’s You, tell me to come to you on the water.”

So Jesus said, “Come.”

Peter stepped out of the boat and started walking on the water, just like Jesus was! Then Peter started to look around at the rain and waves and he got scared, and started to sink into the water.

He got scared again and yelled out, “Jesus! Save me!”

Jesus helped him right away and then said, “Why were you ever scared? Did you think I wouldn’t help you?”

Jesus helped Peter back into the boat and the disciples said, “Wow. You REALLY ARE God’s son!” They all worshipped Jesus and they now knew for SURE that Jesus really was God’s son.

 

At first the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus …because they never thought He might be walking on the water to them?! We can remember that God is ALWAYS here with us. Even if things seem scary like the storm, we know Jesus will come and be with us (and sometimes we will see Him work in unexpected ways!)

Peter was the first one to recognize Jesus and he believed in Jesus’ power and started walking on the water with Jesus. When we trust in Jesus’ power, He will help us do amazing things.

But then Peter got scared and Jesus was RIGHT there to help him up again. Sometimes it’s easy to think about other things and forget that we NEED God’s help. But HE is always there to help us again.

And lastly, the disciples knew Jesus was God’s son. He controlled the rain and waves…He was stronger and more powerful.  God will always come to help us and He can do ANYTHING.

 

For our craft today, we drew a picture of this story.

Our text reads: Jesus walks on water. We can trust Jesus! Matt 14

 

We found this video posted by Teaching Kids about Jesus.

And here is a peppy song by Church Strengthening Ministries.

 

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Jesus feeds the 5000

~ 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 can be found in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6.

By now, Jesus was pretty popular and lots of people wanted to come listen to Him teach. One day, over 5000 people came to listen to Him. (Thats a LOT of people!) Jesus taught them all day about God, from breakfast until dinner time and by then, the people were HUNGRY!

The disciples (Jesus’ helpers) came to Jesus and said, “Um…you should probably let the people go home now…they’re pretty hungry.”

But Jesus said, “Find something for them to eat.”

“But Jesus?!” they answered. “We don’t have enough food for ALL these people?! And we can’t just buy food?! Do you know how much money it would take to buy food for ALL these people!?”

Andrew, one of the disciples said, “Jesus? We found a boy with some food. It’s only 2 small fish and 5 rolls of bread…but how we can share that with so many people?”

Jesus told all the people to sit down. He prayed to God and thanked Him for the food. Then He started taking the bread and fish, and He broke them into pieces and started handing them out to the disciples to give to the people. And the pieces kept coming…and coming…and coming…and soon EVERYONE had eaten! It was a miracle, Jesus made the food keep coming until everyone had enough AND they went and got the leftovers and they had 12 basketfuls left over!

**(12 is a common Biblical number, [e.g. the 12 tribes, the 12 disciples], and is often described as one of the “perfect” numbers of the Bible symbolizing completeness. The number 12 is often used when God’s power and authority are on display.)

Andrew knew Jesus could take care of the people’s hunger and WE know that Jesus will take care of our needs too. (1 Peter 5:7, Matt 6:25-34, Heb 4:16, Phil 4:6-8).

Jesus took care of the people and He will take care of us too!

For our craft today, we used do-a-dot markers to make a lot of faces, then we drew eyes, noses and mouths on the people. We cut out a basket from brown construction paper and glued pieces of yellow paper (bread) and goldfish crackers to the basket.

Our text reads: Jesus feeds the 5000. Mt 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6

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Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Bartimaeus can see!

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Welcome back! 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!

 

Today’s story can be found in Mark 10:46-52.

There was once a man named Bartimaeus who was blind. That meant he couldn’t see anything! And in Jesus’ day, people who couldn’t see couldn’t work, so they couldn’t make any money. So, most of them ended up just asking for money (called begging). Bartimaeus was sitting by the road one day, asking passersby for money, when he heard Jesus was coming by!

He started yelling, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

The people around Jesus all told Bartimaeus to “hush!” “Don’t bother Jesus!” But that just made him shout MORE! “Jesus! Help me please! Have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped walking and had the man come to him. He threw off his coat and ran over to Jesus. (He was SO excited, he KNEW Jesus could help him.)

“What can I do for you?” Jesus asked.

“I want to be able to see!” Bartimaeus answered.

“Go. Your faith has healed you.” Jesus said. Then, right away, Bartimaeus could see! He followed Jesus and all the people were amazed and they believed in Jesus even more!

 

Bartimaeus always believed that Jesus could help him…but some of the people didn’t really understand Jesus’ love and power. Most people thought Bartimaeus wasn’t very important or special, but when Jesus took time to make him better, it showed the people that God loves everyone and that He can do ANYTHING! Sometimes when God does amazing things in your life, it can help show other people how wonderful and powerful God is! Isn’t it cool to know that we are a part of God’s plan? Bartimaeus was. God always knew that one day Jesus would help him be able to see and that his faith would help other people believe. Maybe YOUR faith in God will help other people believe too!

 

For our craft today, we drew a circle for Bartimaeus’ face and then added a nose and mouth. Then we cut out two black eyes and two white eyes. We glued the white eyes onto our paper and taped just the top part of the black eyes on, so the black part can kind of open and shut.

Our text reads: Blind Bartimaeus is helped, now he can see! Mark 10

 

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Jesus calms the storm

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Hi all! This month we are learning about the miracles Jesus performed! A miracle is something that shouldn’t be able to happen, but God makes it happen!

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 8, Mark 4 and Luke 8.

 

Jesus and His disciples had had a busy day. There were a LOT of people who wanted to listen to Jesus teach. At the end of the day, He was very tired and said maybe they should all get in a boat and sail across to the other side of the lake for some peace and quiet.

Remember, several of Jesus’ disciples were fisherman, so they knew a LOT about sailing a boat. So they all got in, and soon Jesus fell asleep.

Before long, a big storm came. There was thunder and lightning and the boat was rocking and rocking and the waves were so big, they were crashing all over the boat. The disciples were even scared by the big storm and one of them woke Jesus up and said “Save us! Save us! We’re going to drown!”

Jesus got up, and said to the wind and waves, “STOP! Be still!” and do you know what happened?! The lightning stopped, the thunder stopped, the rain stopped, and the water was still again.

“Why were you so afraid?” Jesus asked the disciples. “Didn’t you believe I would keep you safe?”

The disciples’ mouths all hung open…”who IS this guy?!” they wondered. “Even the storm and water obey Him?! Wow!” (Even though the disciples loved Jesus and believed what He said, they didn’t REALLY understand His power as God’s son. They were always amazed by the things He would do. Sometimes even though we know God can do ANYTHING, it’s still pretty amazing when He does cool things!)

We know we can trust God too. When we feel scared, we can pray and ask Jesus to help us too!

For our craft today we took a piece of dark blue construction paper for the background. Then we ripped some light blue and black construction paper and glued it in layers on the bottom 1/2 of the page to be the waves.

We cut out a black cloud, a yellow lightning bolt and a brown boat and added those to our pictures.

Our text reads: Jesus calmed the storm. Matt 8, Mark 4, Luke 8IMG_1863IMG_1864

 

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

The soldier’s faith

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Hello again! 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!

Our story today is from Luke 7 and Matthew 8.

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Jesus was traveling around teaching people about God and doing amazing things. He came to a town called Capernaum and in that town, there lived a centurion (a soldier). He had a servant who was very very sick and about to die. The solider loved his servant and wanted him to get better. He knew Jesus could do it…but he was too nervous to ask, so he sent some of the leaders of the town to ask Jesus.

“Jesus, this soldier is a good man, a hard worker…he even helped build the church here! Will you please come and help his servant?”

Jesus agreed and they started towards the soldier’s house. The soldier knew Jesus was really important and he felt bad for using Jesus’ time. He came out of his house and said, “I don’t really deserve to have you visit me. I know you are great…and I’m just a regular guy. But I believe if you just SAY that my servant will be better…then I know he will be.”

Jesus was very impressed by the soldier’s belief and He said, “Everyone….listen to this man! His faith is great! Go home and your servant will be all better.” The man knew Jesus could just say the words and the servant would be better. He went back to his house and his servant WAS all better! He was humble (which means He knew Jesus was greater than him) and he believed that Jesus could do it.

Just one chapter before in Matthew 7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Jesus heals a leper

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Hi all!

This month we are studying the miracles of Jesus. Today’s story can be found in Luke 5 and Matthew 8.

Jesus was traveling around teaching and performing miracles. (Remember what a miracle is? A miracle is something that shouldn’t be able to happen, but GOD makes it happen!)

One day as Jesus was walking, a man with leprosy came and fell down on the ground in front of Jesus. Leprosy is a kind of sickness in your skin. It was very ouchy, very GROSS, and many times very contagious (easy to make other people sick too!) People who had leprosy had to leave their family and friends and live outside the city (so they didn’t get anyone else’s skin sick.) If they thought they got all better, they could come back to the temple and the priest would say if they were all better or not. If they were, the priest would give an offering (like a special present) to God and then the person would be allowed to come live back in the city.

Well, this man fell before Jesus and said, “If you want to, I know you can make me all better.”

Know what Jesus said? He said, “I DO want to!” (It makes Jesus very happy when people believe in Him. I think the man’s faith made Jesus very happy.) Then He touched the man. A lot of people were probably surprised that Jesus touched the man since his skin was so sick and he could get Jesus sick too! But it didn’t make Jesus sick…instead…when Jesus touched the man, his leprosy went away right away…he was all better!!

Jesus told the man to go see the priests and give God the offerings he was supposed to…but He told the man to not tell anybody what had happened. (Because Jesus wasn’t ready for ALL the people who would come see Him when they heard about the cool stuff He could do.) But you know what? That man was SOOOO excited and thankful that Jesus helped him, that he couldn’t help it. He told LOTS of people what Jesus had done! And the people who had been watching told lots of people too! Everyone was so excited about Jesus being nice to the man and healing him.

When God does amazing in our lives, we should tell other people too! What an amazing God we serve. Our God can do ANYTHING!

For our craft today, we drew a face and then used do-a-dots (circle markers…but you could really use anything you wanted) to dot half of the man’s face. The other half we left clean. So 1/2 looks leprous and 1/2 looks clean.

Our text reads: Jesus healed a leper. Luke 5, Matt 8

 

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Jesus turns water into wine

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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!

Transfiguration/Jesus shows His glory

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Hi all!

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9.

This is the story of Jesus’ transfiguration. That’s a BIG word, isn’t it?! It means Jesus’ figure transformed. His body changed.

 

Jesus and some of His disciples (Peter, James, and John) went out to a mountain one day and He asked them to pray for Him. Then He went further up the mountain and all of a sudden He was BRIGHT WHITE! The brightest white they had ever seen! He was glowing like a flash of lightning! Then, the disciples saw Elijah and Moses with Him and they were all talking together about what Jesus was about to do in Jersulam. (die on the cross for our sins)

**(Moses represents the law by which all people know they are sinners and need a Savior; and Elijah represents the prophets who told about a Messiah who would come. These two men show that the entire old testament is true and pointing to Jesus as that chosen Messiah/Savior.)

Peter said, “Let us make some shelters for you all!” (He was excited and wanted them to stay).

But then a big cloud came and the disciples got scared. God said, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him.” The disciples fell down and covered their faces…but then Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid…get up.” And when they peeked open their eyes…it was only Jesus. (Elijah, Moses and the cloud were all gone). Just regular human Jesus.

 

The disciples had seen Jesus as God’s son…shining in His glory. They heard God’s voice, they saw the law and the prophets…all three pointing to Jesus. Jesus changed His appearance from a regular man, to that of the Son of God to show His disciples (and us) that He IS the chosen one of God, sent to save us.

 

 

We did two activities today. First, we took a piece of black paper and folded in the sides. Then we cut out a basic shape–three men on a hill.

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Then we glued a piece of white tissue paper to the back

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Then we turned it around, and drew faces on the white tissue paper, turned off all the lights and used a flashlight from behind to illuminate the three men.

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Our next project was to cut out the 3 men and a cloud and glue them together. Then we added glitter all over.

 

Our text reads: Jesus shows His glory! Matt 17, Mark 9, Luke 9

 

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

Jesus ruffles feathers

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Hi all!

Today’s story is a combination of things, we’ll focus on John 6/7 and 10/11 today.

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Many people LOVED Jesus. They all wanted to hear Him teach. They knew He could do AMAZING things and that He LOVED people. People believed in Him and followed Him.

 

But not everybody. Some people were NOT happy about Jesus. Remember the pharisees? They were the teachers who thought they were SOOOOO perfect…but even though they knew every.word. in the Bible…they didn’t REALLY know God’s love. They didn’t OBEY God’s word by loving other people. So Jesus often told them they were going to be in trouble if they didn’t start obeying God. Well they didn’t want to be told they were WRONG?! They were always looking for ways to trick Jesus into saying something bad…but they never quite could.

Also, everyone called Jesus the KING (they thought He would a “real” king like sit ohm a throne and be the leader of Israel.) But Jesus came to be king of our HEARTS. He wants to be the most important thing in our lives. But the kings and leaders then were scared. So many people LIKED Jesus it would be easy for Him to become king. So they were also scared of Him.

Jesus said He was God’s son. Some people believed Him,. but some people did not and were angry that He would say He could be God’s son. Jesus said, “God sent me and you can see by the things I do that I am His son. But you choose not to believe.” A couple of times, they tried to put Jesus in jail. But He always got away…it wasn’t time for that yet.

Finally, the Pharisees and others with “hard” hearts were so ready to kill Jesus that Jesus stayed and lived quietly with His disciples for a while. (Then will come the stories of Easter, which we will do closer to Easter time.)

Lots of people loved Jesus, but He didn’t have a very easy life. He traveled and taught all the time and lots of people were always trying to trick Him or capture Him. When people didn’t have God’s love in their hearts, Jesus loved them anyway. When people were mean to Him, He was not mean back. He told them again and again about God’s love.

In John 16, Jesus was talking to His disciples and He said, “You know I have had a lot of trouble and loneliness. But I’m never really alone because God is with me. People will not always be nice to you either, especially if you love Me.” People who don’t believe God and accept His love can have very sad hearts and might be mean to people who love God. “In this world, you WILL have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

When we face hard things or when people are mean to us, especially if it’s because we love God, we can remember that HE is God. He is in control. He loves us more than anything and that He is on our side.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Jesus gives living water

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all!

Today’s story is from John 4.

Jesus was traveling and teaching all the people about God and He had to pass through Samaria. (Most Israelites would go AROUND Samaria because the Samaritans and the Israelites did NOT like each other.) But Jesus loves EVERYONE, so He didn’t mind going through Samaria.

One day, He got really tired of all that walking and He stopped by a well. His disciples who were with Him, went off to find some food…maybe a place to stay. Before long, a Samaritan woman came to get water from the well. (They used to not have water in their houses and would have to go to a well (a big hole in the ground) and get water and take it in buckets back to their houses.)

Jesus asked her for a drink of water. “Um…ME?! You shouldn’t even be talking to me! We’re supposed to be enemies?!” she said.

“If you knew who I AM, you would ask ME for living water!”

“Buuuut…you don’t have a cup or a bucket to get anything from this well. And WHAT is LIVING water??” she responded. “You know…this was Jacob’s well…are you saying YOU are greater than Jacob?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. The water I give them will be like a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (He was saying that people need water to live…but you always get thirsty again. But HE would give His love, which is more important than water. He would give eternal life…forever life in heaven with God…and once we trust Jesus, He takes away our sins, loves us forever and we never have to worry again about if we are forgiven or if God loves us. We won’t be “thirsty” for His love again, because once we trust Him, He loves us forever.)

“Sir!” she said, “I WANT that kind of water!”

Jesus knew all the bad choices she had ever made, and He even answered her questions about God. She was so amazed, she ran off to go tell all her friends.

The disciples came back and said, “You look hungry, Jesus…you should eat something!”

Jesus also told His disciples, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”

What? Did Jesus have pizza? Was He hiding candy?

No. It was just like when He said He had living water. Jesus knows food and water are important. We need them to live! But what we need MORE is God’s love and forgiveness. That’s the “food and water” Jesus gives us. Just like food keeps us healthy and alive, Jesus’ love keeps our hearts safe and alive forever in heaven with Him.

But the disciples didn’t really understand. The Samaritan woman came back and brought all kinds of people with her. They all listened to Jesus and believed Him. “We KNOW this man is the Savior of the world!” they said.

 

  1. Jesus knows food and water are important, but He gives us something even better–His love and forgiveness, forever life with God in heaven.
  2. He loves EVERYBODY…even the people the Israelites didn’t like. He didn’t just come to save the Israelites, He came for EVERYONE.
  3. The Samaritan lady was so amazed by Jesus she told all her friends about Him. We can be sure to tell OUR friends too about how amazing Jesus is!

 

For our craft today, we cut a rectangle out of brown construction paper and glued it to the bottom of a piece of white paper. This will be our well. Then we took our scissors and cut a slit just above the brown “well.” We drew Jesus on one side and the woman on the other side. Then we took a piece of string and attached two sticky hearts to the bottom. (You could also use construction paper hearts if you don’t have the puffy foam stickers.) We taped our string to the top of our picture and drew a frame for the top of the well. Then we stuck the heart down into the well, so the woman could put her bucket in for water and draw it back out with Jesus’ love!

Our text reads: Jesus gave the Samaritan woman LIVING WATER. John 4

 

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Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!