New Testament

Zacchaeus

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Hey all.

This month we are learning stories from Jesus’ life. The next two months will be His teachings and miracles. As always, these stories are intended for the 3-8 year old range, but can be adapted/expanded as needed.

Today’s story is from Luke 19.

This story is about a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus lived in Jericho and Jesus was traveling around teaching the people about God. He came to Jericho and by now a lot of people knew about Jesus and wanted to see Him. Zacchaeus did too. He was a tax collector (and do you remember from our story about Matthew how the people felt about tax collectors? It wasn’t good.)

Now Zacchaeus was a very short man, and he tried and tried to see Jesus, but couldn’t see over the crowd, so he decided to climb up into a big sycamore tree so he could see Jesus.

Well, when Jesus came by, He looked into the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, get down…I’m going to come to your house.”

Zacchaeus was very excited about this! He hurried from the tree and took Jesus to his house. The people all said, “Jesus is going to go to THIS guy’s house? He is NOT a nice guy…why would Jesus eat and hang out with HIM?!”

But Jesus reminded them that He came to “seek and save the lost.” Jesus WANTED to be with the people who needed Him most. Zacchaeus promised to do the right thing and share everything he had with other people. When Jesus showed Zacchaeus that He loved him, Zacchaeus responded just the way God wants us to. When we realize how much God loves us, we can serve God and be loving to other people.

For our craft today, we cut out rectangles from brown construction paper, a cloud shape out of green paper and made a tree, then cut out a triangle and circle to be Zacchaeus then the kids drew on a face. Our text reads: Luke 19, Zacchaeus finds Jesus!

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Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Let the children come

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Hi all!

Today’s story can be found in Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18.

Jesus was going around teaching and lots of people would bring their babies and children to see Jesus so He could touch them, heal them or bless them. Lots of children would surround Jesus and the big important leaders would say “No no, go away…don’t bother Jesus.”

But Jesus said, “No! Let the children come to me! The kingdom of God belongs to them!”

Sometimes grown ups forget what’s really important. Remember yesterday how Martha was too busy to spend time with Jesus? But He said THAT’s the most important thing? Sometimes kids are better than grown ups at remembering what’s really important. These children wanted to BE with Jesus! And the grown ups thought Jesus was too busy and important. But Jesus is NEVER too busy for us… even kids! And just because you’re small doesn’t mean God is too big for you. He loves you. He has big plans for you. And you don’t have to be a grown up to love God or do BIG things for Him.

Sometimes it’s hard for grown ups to slow down and trust God with all their hearts…you can help remind them that God made us, He loves us, He died for us and He is always with us.

You may be small, but you can have a BIG love for God. He has a BIG love for you!

For our craft today we cut out some arms and glued on some pictures of kids (we cut out of magazines…you could also glue YOUR child’s picture on). Our text reads: “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me!’ Matt 19, Mark 10, Luke 18”

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Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

Mary and Martha

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Welcome back!

This month we are covering stories about Jesus’ life. (The following months will be His teachings and His miracles).

Today’s story comes from the book of Luke, chapter 10:38-42.

Jesus was traveling around and teaching all the people. In one town, a woman named Martha opened her home to Him (and He probably had a group of people with Him too.) Have you ever had company at your house? You have to clean and get snacks and your mom probably goes a little bit crazy making sure everything looks just right. Well, Martha was very busy making sure everything looked good and that everyone had what they needed.

Martha had a sister named Mary. (Not Jesus’ mommy, a DIFFERENT Mary.) And she sat by Jesus and listened to all He had to say.

This made Martha angry. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

But Jesus surprised her. He said, “you are worried and upset about a lot of things…but there’s really only ONE important thing…and that’s Me. Mary has chosen better, and I won’t take that away from her.”

Jesus told Martha that she was too worried and too busy and that really HE is the only important thing. Spending time with Jesus was MUCH more important than being busy and making things perfect.

Sometimes we get busy too. We worry and try to make everything just right. But God tells us to “Be still. And KNOW God.” We can spend time with Jesus by reading our Bible and praying…talking to Him.

We need to make sure we aren’t too busy for God. Being with Him is the MOST important thing. How about if you take some time RIGHT NOW to pray and talk to God.

**for older kids and grownups…sometimes we get too busy doing “church stuff” or even helping in projects and doing GOOD that we forget about God or others. We are so busy doing GOOD things, that we miss out on the BEST thing, loving God and His people. Spend TIME with the people you love, the people GOD loves and God Himself.

 

We drew pictures today to help us remember the story. (Jesus in the middle, Mary at His feet and angry Martha.) Our text reads:

 

Thanks for joining us, love to you all!

 

Jesus calls His first disciples

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Hi all!

Today’s story is from Matthew 4:18-22 and Luke 5:1-11.

Jesus was now a grown up. He had been baptized by John and tempted in the desert and now He was just starting to teach the people all about God. One day, Jesus was teaching a crowd of people near a lake. He saw two empty boats and the fisherman cleaning up from their day. He got in one of the boats and asked the fisherman (named Simon Peter) to sail the boat out a bit so He could teach the people and then they could all see and hear Him (they were all crowding Him before.)

When He was done teaching, He told the fishermen to sail further out and put their nets into the water.

“Eh, we already tried. There’s no fish today!” Simon said. “But…I guess since YOU’RE asking…I’ll try it..one more time.” (Simon Peter trusted Jesus!)

And guess what happened when he put his fishing net in the water? LOTS of fish! There were so many fish, Simon and his brother Andrew called their friends, James and John, out in their boat and they filled up both boats so full of fish the boats started to sink!

Simon fell down in front of Jesus and said, “I’m so sorry! You were right! I am a sinful man.”

But Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid…I’m not going to yell at you. But now, follow me and I will make you fishers of men!”

(Where they going to catch people in a net?? No…they were going to tell people about God and “catch their hearts.” They used to catch fish all day, and now when they followed Jesus, they would be getting people to follow God.)
These were Jesus’ first disciples. A disciple is someone who follows a leader and learns from them. They would also help Jesus on His journeys–telling people about God and God would even let them do some pretty amazing things which we’ll learn about later.

Did Jesus pick big important kings to be His helpers? He picked regular fisherman. He didn’t pick the fanciest, richest or strongest people. He picked regular people…just like you and me, to be His followers. (Of course God does WANT rich, strong, fancy people and kings to follow Him….but Jesus was showing that you don’t have to be anyone famous to love and obey Him.)

For our craft today we made fish from construction paper, a googly eye and some tissue paper.

Our text reads: “I will make you fishers of men. Luke 5:10”

 

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

Jesus is tempted

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Hi all! Today’s story is from Matthew 4. (Also touched on in Mark 1 and Luke 4)

After Jesus was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit led Him to the desert and He fasted for 40 days. (That means He didn’t eat any food. Instead of eating, He prayed and talked with God. You can imagine that after 40 days He was HUNGRY!!!)

**Side note: Do you remember what God’s helpers are called? (The angels.) Who made the angels? (God did!) So who do you think is more powerful, the angels or God? (God is!) But just like people, God lets the angels choose if they will love and obey Him. Some of them choose not to and these bad angels are called demons. Their leader is named Satan (or the devil). He wants people to NOT love God. And he thinks HE is better and more powerful than God. (But we know he’s NOT!)

So…Satan came to visit Jesus in the desert to try to trick Him and get Him to stop following God’s rules.

Matthew 4 tells us 3 different things Satan did to try to trick Jesus. First, he knew Jesus was very hungry, so he said, “Why don’t you take some of the stones around here and turn them into bread? If you’re REALLY God’s son…You could do that!”

But Jesus said, “NO! God says ‘food and bread are good for people, but God is MORE important.’ I choose God.”

Then Satan took Jesus to the top of the temple (the church) and said, “If You’re REALLY God’s son, then jump all the way down and let His angels catch you!”

But Jesus said, “NO! God says ‘You are NOT supposed to try to trick God!'”

Lastly, Satan took Jesus to a high mountain and they looked over all the kingdoms of the world. Satan said, “If You will bow down and worship ME, I will give You all of this! You can have all the kingdoms and all the people!”

But Jesus said, “NO! God says ‘worship only HIM!'”

(Every time Satan tried to trick Jesus, Jesus used God’s words to fight Him. We can use the Bible verses we know too when people try to get us to stop following God. Sometimes we can even THINK things that are untrue, like “i’m not pretty enough or good enough.” But then we can remember that the Bible says “I am fearfully and wonderfully made! And God loves me!”)

Satan tried to get Jesus to do things His own way, instead of God’s way, but Jesus remembered God’s words and followed Him.

After that, Satan left Jesus alone and God sent some of His angels to help Jesus (probably to get Him some food and take Him back home.)

 

For our craft today we made a little book.

The front says “Jesus was tempted. Matthew 4”

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Page 1: Satan said, “turn the stones to bread”

(You could use clipart from the internet, but i like child-produced art, so i let them draw stones and bread how they could).

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Page 2: Jesus said, “No! People need food, but they need God more!”IMG_1316

Page 3: Satan said, “Jump! and let the angels save you!”

(This is how we drew the temple– a box, with big columns, a triangle roof and Jesus standing at the top.)
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Page 4: Jesus said, “No! Do not try to trick God!”IMG_1318

Page 5: Satan said, “worship me and i’ll give all the kingdoms to you”

(we drew a castle)

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Page 6: Jesus said, “No! We are supposed to worship ONLY God”

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Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Jesus is baptized

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Hi all! Today’s story is from Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, and John 1.

John was Jesus’ cousin. Do you remember how he jumped in his mommy’s tummy when he was still a growing baby when Mary came to visit? The angel told John’s parents he would lead the way for the Messiah.

John and Jesus were now grownups. John wandered all around telling everyone that the Messiah was coming! He also told them to repent of their sins (that means tell God every wrong thing they’d done, AND ask God to forgive them.) Then, he would baptize them. That means he would lower them into some water (usually a lake or river) and then bring them right back up. The going under was a way to show they were leaving their sins behind, and coming out of the water new and forgiven by God.

Going in and out of the water is NOT what made God forgive the people. It was just a sign to show others that they had asked God to forgive them.

One day, Jesus came to John and asked to be baptized.

“But Jesus!? YOU are the Messiah! You’ve never done anything wrong! I should be baptized by YOU!” (Remember Jesus is God’s son, so He’s perfect and CAN’T sin (make bad choices.))

But Jesus said, “This is the right thing to do.” Jesus wanted to be baptized by John to:

  1. Show the people He was one of them.
  2. He was also setting an example for us. When we love God and ask Him to forgive us of our sins, then He asks us to be baptized…to show everyone the decision we’ve made to follow Him. (1 Peter 3:21, Col 2:12, Acts 2:38-41, Mark 16:16)
  3. Also, Jesus was about the show people who He REALLY was.

John agreed and baptized Jesus. When Jesus came up out of the water, the Bible says, the sky opened and the spirit of God came down as a dove and landed on Jesus. Then everyone heard God say, “This is My son, who I love. I am pleased with Him.”

 

**God is 3 people in one. This is called the trinity. There is God the Father in heaven; Jesus, God’s son; and the Holy Spirit, God’s spirit. When Jesus was baptized, God showed Himself to the people in all 3 ways…with Jesus, His Spirit and in His voice. (The trinity can be confusing to think about…even for grownups. The nice thing is…we will fully never understand God and His ways…and that’s OK! HE does…and we know we can trust Him. These things might make more sense as you get bigger…but you can now know God has 3 parts…the Father, the Son and the Spirit.)

Jesus showed the people who He really was–God’s son. John told everyone THIS was the Messiah and with His baptism, Jesus showed us about dying to sin and coming up with new life with God (just like He would die on the cross and rise again.)

 

For our craft today, we started with a popsicle stick and a string about 4x the length of the popsicle stick. (In the photo below the string is tied but DON’T tie it yet.)

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Tape the string lengthwise to the popsicle stick. Then  you can draw a face on the top of the stick and add whatever kind of “clothing” you want. (We opted for triangle construction paper).  That will make your “Jesus popsicle stick on a string.”

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Next we found some cardboard and cut it to match a sheet of construction paper and glued blue construction paper to the cardboard. (You can make it any size you’d like as long is it’s bigger than the popsicle stick).

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We cut out a dove shape and cut up and glued some feathers on our dove and glued the dove onto our blue construction paper.

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Then we cut two holes big enough for “popsicle stick Jesus” to fit through. They are about 1 popsicle stick length apart. (A grownup should do this part!)

Then we ran our string through the holes and tied it together. This makes a loop through the holes so “popsicle stick Jesus” can go into the water, around the back and back out of the water.

Lastly we added our text: Jesus was baptized. “This is My son. I am pleased with him.” Luke 3:22IMG_1267

Above is our completed project. The kids had a lot of fun putting Jesus into the water and pulling Him back out.

 

**Update:

THIS VIDEO of today’s story is from Saddleback Kids.

THIS is a more in-depth version from Crossroads Kids’ Club.

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

Simeon and Anna

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Hi all! Welcome to 2016!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Merry New years too. (We were in bed at our usual times haha).

This month of january we’ll be learning about Jesus’ life. (We will study His teachings in February and His miracles in March.)

 

This story is from Luke 2.

When baby Jesus was only 8 days old, Mary and Joseph took Him to the temple (the church) so they could give God a sacrifice (like a gift for God) and they would present baby Jesus. This means they would promise to give Him to God and they would promise to teach Him all about God.

Do you remember how the angel told Mary she would have a baby? And an angel told Joseph it would all be ok? Well they weren’t the only ones God had told about baby Jesus.

At the temple was a very very old man name Simeon. God had promised Simeon that he would see the Messiah, Jesus, before he died.

When Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple, Simeon took Jesus in his arms and thanked God. “I can die happy now” he said. “I have seen the Lord.” (Because remember Jesus was Mary and Joseph’s son, but He is also GOD’s son!)

Simeon told Mary and Joseph that Jesus would be very important. Everyone’s hearts would be revealed (that means we would know who really loved God and who didn’t). Some people would love Jesus, but some people would NOT, and Jesus wouldn’t have an easy life….but He had a very VERY important life.

Mary and Joseph were surprised by everything Simeon said. But just as Simeon finished, someone else came up to see Jesus. A woman named Anna. She stayed at the temple all the time praising God and praying. She loved God so much. When she saw baby Jesus she was SO excited and she told everyone about Him!

Simeon and Anna were just two people who loved God. And because they loved and knew God so well, they KNEW baby Jesus was God’s special savior come to earth. They told EVERYONE about baby Jesus.

When we love Jesus and know how wonderful He is, sometimes we just HAVE to tell other people about Him! He is too great to keep to ourselves!

This month we will learn more about the good and hard things Jesus had to do when He lived on earth. We can pray and ask God to help us see Jesus the way Simeon and Anna did (with such excitement and worship) and we can ask God to help us tell other people about Him.

For our craft today, we made Simeon and Anna. We cut out circles for the heads and triangles for the bodies. Then we cut a white triangle for Simeon’s beard, and cut some u-shapes for their hair. Then we drew on their faces. We glued the pieces together and then glued our people on a big piece of paper.

Our text reads: Simeon and Anna waited for baby Jesus and told other about Him! Luke 2

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Make a Joyful Noise!

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Hi again friends.

Our last topic for this month is praising God! Our verses are Colossians 3:16, Psalm 100, Romans 12:1, and John 4:24.

The Bible tells us to teach and encourage one another through our songs and poems. We can worship God with grateful hearts for ALL He has done for us. Worshipping God is not just singing though. You can worship Him in your heart, with music, with your kind words and by making good choices.

You can sing or play an instrument, write poems or stories, create art or dance…there are so many ways to praise God.

When we pray, we talk to God. Praise is just thankful prayer…telling God how wonderful He is and how muh we love Him.

There is a whole book of the Bible calls Psalms and it is songs people wrote for God.

Do you have a favorite song about God?

Take some time as a family to praise God together. If your kids are old enough, maybe you could write a song together.

All for today, join us in July as we begin journeying through the Bible again, starting in Genesis. Love to you all!

Nothing Can Separate Us!

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Hi friends!

Today’s lesson comes from Romans 8:(31-35) 38-39.

Who loves you the most?

The Bible says that God loves us SO much that there is NOTHING that can keep Him from loving us. There are still consequences for our choices, but He will always love us and want us to know Him no.matter.what.

God even gave us His own son Jesus…so we can be sure that there is nothing He won’t do for us. This Bible verse in Romans 8 says “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Isn’t that GREAT NEWS!?

We made a craft to remind us of God’s love for us.

We drew ourselves and cut them out. Then we made crosses with long arms and hearts on the end. Then we glued ourselves to the front of the cross and the arms can reach around and give us a big hug. (I will be honest…this was a bit over my 3 year olds heads. They kept asking why THEY were on the cross. So i reminded them that THEY weren’t on the cross. The cross is a picture of Jesus and how much He loves us. Jesus was the cross and He was giving them a big hug because He loves them so so much.)

Our person and the cross. The kids have 4 angles to cut out, then we used the longer pieces to extend the arms of the cross.
Our person and the cross. The kids have 4 angles to cut out, then we used the longer pieces to extend the arms of the cross.

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Giving a hug
Giving a hug

We also found this song from Citizen Way.

Thanks for joining us today. We have one day left in this month’s lessons on Living a Godly Life. Then we’ll be starting back at creation in July. Love to you all!

Listen to Authority

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Hi friends.

Today’s lesson comes from Romans 13 and Ephesians 6:1.

Who are the people in charge of you? (mom and dad? grandma? someone else?) What about at school? What about at church or other activities (gymnastics, soccer etc).

The Bible tells us that God puts people in charge of us to help take care of us and to guide us. And we need to respect them and obey them.

The people who love you the most (your mom and dad) make rules for you because they want you to be safe and they want to help you grow into a great person!

The Bible tells us to listen and give honor to our President, our teachers, our mom and dad. Ephesians 6:1 says “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

(If you have little ones, this is good time to stop and talk about how you can obey…or to review some of the rules of your house. You might even make a family rule list if you haven’t.)

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If you have older kids, you can also discuss about when NOT to obey an adult. If a grown up ever asks you to do something you know is wrong or that would make God sad…then you don’t have to obey. Like Daniel’s friends who would’t bow down to the idol. Even though they had a negative consequence for disobeying…they honored God and that is the most important thing…AND He turned that into something GREAT for His glory. Also, the disciples healed people on the Sabbath and the leaders didn’t like it, but Jesus said they had to obey God above man.

(This can also turn into a spin off of discussing tricky people and “stranger danger” if you haven’t yet discussed those issues with your kids, or as a reminder if you have.)

It’s important to obey the people we know love us and know God has put in our lives to help us grow, but if a grown up ever asks you to do something you are not sure about or know is wrong, then find your mom or dad, or ask another grown up for help.

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Veggie tales has a story called Pistachio (like Pinocchio) about obeying. I couldn’t find the whole episode available online. But you could certainly rent it from amazon or netflix.

Also there is this song by Steve Green.

All for today. We have two lessons left and then we’ll be starting over in Genesis in July. Thanks! Love to you all!