obedience

A victory for Abijah

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Hello again! Today’s story is from 2 Chronicles 13.

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Abijah, Rehoboam’s son began to rule over Judah after Rehoboam died. If you remember, God took most of Israel away from King David’s family because Solomon had disobeyed God. Now only the family (tribe) of Judah stayed with David/Solomon/Rehoboam/Abijah. 

Then war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam. Jeroboam was king over the rest of Israel. Judah, led by King Abijah, had 400,000 warriors, and Jeroboam had 800,000 warriors.

When the army of Judah arrived in a place called Ephraim, Abijah stood on a mountain  and shouted to Jeroboam and all the soldiers of Israel: “Listen to me! Don’t you realize that the Lord, the God of Israel, made a lasting covenant (promise) with David, giving him and his children and grandchildren and great grandchildren the throne of Israel forever? But Jeroboam is the son of one of the servants of Solomon, who rebelled against his master. Then a whole bunch of people joined him, defying Solomon’s son Rehoboam when he was young and inexperienced and could not stand up to them. Do you really think you can stand against the kingdom of the Lord that is led by the children of David? You may have a great big army, and you have pretend golden gods. But you have chased away the priests of the Lord and you let anyone be a priest for your pretend gods! But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forgotten Him. We obey God and worship Him as He told us to. We are following the instructions of the Lord our God, but you have abandoned Him. So you see, God is with us. He is our leader. His priests will blow their trumpets and lead us into battle against you. O people of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, for you will not succeed!”

While he was talking though, Jeroboam had secretly sent part of his army around behind the men of Judah. When the warriors of Judah realized that they were being attacked from the front and the back, they cried out to God for help. Then the priests blew the trumpets, and the men of Judah began to shout. At the sound of their battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel and scared them away.

The Israelite army fled from Judah, and God handed them over to Judah in defeat. Jeroboam never regained his power during Abijah’s lifetime, and finally he died.  Meanwhile, Abijah of Judah grew more and more powerful.

Judah was small, but they trusted God and served Him like He told them to and the consequence was a good one for them. God protected them and gave them victory.

 

Here is a song posted by Cedarmont Kids to help us remember that victory lies with God.

 

Thanks again for joining us!

Isaiah

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Welcome back! Today’s lesson is about another prophet named Isaiah. A prophet is someone who talks with God and then tells the people what God wants them to know.

Isaiah has a whole book of the Bible for the things God wanted the people of Israel to know.

In this book, God tells His people (the people living in Judah and the rest of Israel) that they have disobeyed Him. Do you remember what it’s called when we disobey God? That’s called sin. And God tells them there will be consequences for their sins. BUT, if they will obey God again, and love only Him, then He will forgive them (1: 18-31).

Isaiah spends a lot of his book reminding the people of all the ways they have disobeyed God and how if they don’t ask Him to forgive them that there will be sad consequences–they will be taken away from the promised land. (And they were!)

We all sin too and when we sin, we can no longer live in heaven with God. We get taken away from the “forever promised land” with God (heaven).

BUT, in this book, God was telling His people, “I have a plan.” Isaiah 12:2 says, “Behold, God is my salvation,  I will trust and not be afraid.” Isaiah told the people that GOD Himself would make a way to save His people and to forgive them. Do you know what that way is?

It’s Jesus! God would send His own son, Jesus to die on the cross for us take our consequences so we could be perfect in God’s eyes. (Isaiah 53)

Isaiah told the people about Jesus who would be coming. In chapter 9, he tells the people that a baby will be born “For to us a child is born (Jesus), to us a son is given (God’s OWN son!), and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor (like a teacher and helper), Mighty God, Everlasting Father (we are God’s children!), Prince of Peace.” Most of the people then didn’t understand what Isaiah was saying…but we know he was talking about Jesus and that we don’t have to be afraid of the consequences of our sins if we believe in Jesus and that He came to die for us–we can just be thankful! 

God let Isaiah see some of heaven. In chapter 6 he says. “I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were creatures, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Holy means special and not like anyone or anything else.)

And at the end of Isaiah, God promises a GREAT future to those who trust in Him. In chapters 65 and 66, He says, “For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. I will make new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create…I will take delight in my people; there will be no more weeping or crying.” He says all the people and animals will get along. Everyone will have enough food and not have to worry about anything! The people will be healthy and happy. They will worship God together forever. 

Isn’t it wonderful that even though WE disobey God, HE makes a way for us to be forgiven? There is nothing WE can do to get God to forgive us, it’s like a present He gives us, because He loves us. We just have to say “Yes! I want that present! Thank you, God!”

For our craft today we drew pictures of Isaiah’s vision of heaven and talked about how thankful we are for God sending His son Jesus to forgive our sins and all the things we are looking forward to about heaven.

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THIS VIDEO is a version of the song “I see the Lord” performed by Chris Falson.

THIS VIDEO is an overview of Isaiah by ShareFaithSolutions.

THIS VIDEO is from Saddleback Kids and focuses on the necessity of Jesus’ coming.

THIS VIDEO is from JellyTelly and is also a nice overview.

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

King Josiah

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Welcome back! Yesterday we did the story of Israel’s Exile and Hezekiah’s Trust. Todays lesson is from 2 Kings 22-23. Last year’s story and craft can be found HERE.

God’s people had forgotten to obey Him. They disobeyed God and worshipped pretend gods called idols. They did what the wanted and didn’t take care of the temple (the church.) The church was falling apart because no one cared enough about God to fix it.

The kings of God’s people had mostly not been very good kings. They did not remember God’s words and did not care to obey Him. But then, a young boy named Josiah became king. His father had been king and now he would be the new king. Even though he was young, God was about to use him to do GREAT things.

Josiah obeyed God and tried to always do the right thing. As he got a bit, he had his helpers fix up the church. As they were fixing and cleaning, they found some old parts of the Bible. Josiah had his helpers read it to him and when he heard what it said, he cried and cried. Do you know why? Because the people were NOT doing what the Bible said and he felt so sorry to God. We don’t know what God wants us to do unless we read the Bible! When we know what His word says, then when we have decisions to make, we can know if it’s something that God would want us to do or not. But we can forget God’s words if we don’t read our Bible…so it’s important to read the Bible a lot…and reading with your mom or dad can help you understand it!

King Josiah called all the people together and told them the words of God. He and all the people made a new covenant (promise) to follow God and obey Him.

The people took down their pretend gods and did what was right.

You don’t have to be a big grown up to do the right thing. Josiah was a good example to all the people in Judah for how to love God…worshipping ONLY Him, helping keep the church nice, praying to God, and obeying Him.

In 1 Timothy 4:12 it says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Even little guys can do the right thing for God and sometimes you can even show grown ups how to love God.

For our craft today we wrote out 1 Timothy 4:12 and then drew pictures of each of the ways we can show other people how to love and obey God.

 

Speech: a face with a big, open mouth

Life: we traced our hands–loving God with our life means doing what He wants us to do

Love: a heart

Faith: a cross

Purity: a star–purity means perfect, nothing yucky in it–like a bright, shining star

 

We found THIS VIDEO from KidMo.

SabbathSchool has a two part video on today’s lesson found HERE and HERE.

 

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

The Ark Moves

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Hello all! Yesterday we did “Samuel hears God” found HERE. Today’s story is from 1 Samuel 4-7.

The Israelites were living in the promised land (the land God had promised to them). They had a tabernacle (like a church) where they would worship God. Inside the tabernacle, there was a big curtain and behind the big curtain was the Holy of Holies–the special place where God’s Spirit lived and where the chief priest only went one time a year to be with God. There was a box in this special place called an ark. (Not a boat, like Noah’s ark–this was a box). It was called the ark of the covenant. A covenant is like a promise. God had made a promise to always be with His people and to always love them. (He promises us that too!)

This box had a lot of special rules. Only the Levites (the people in charge of the church) could touch it and only in a special way. It was supposed to stay in the tabernacle and stay covered behind the big curtain. If they had to move it, it was supposed to be covered with three blankets so the people couldn’t see it. (The Bible says we can’t look at God because He is so bright and amazing!) God even told Moses EXACTLY how it was supposed to be built. Inside the box they put the rules God gave Moses for the people to obey, they also put Aaron’s staff (his special stick) and they put some manna (that special bread God gave His people). God’s Spirit, His power was over the box. God was very specific in how He wanted it to look and how the people should treat it. They should be very careful and very worshipful. (Because it wasn’t “just” a box–it was God’s Spirit and power.)

 

Samuel was a grown up now and Eli the priest was now a grandpa. He had two boys who were grown ups too. One day, the Israelites went to fight the Philistines and they decided to take the ark of the covenant with them so they could win. (They did not ask God is they could). They fought and fought…but they lost and the Philistines TOOK the ark with them!

Eli’s two sons died during the fight and when Eli heard they died AND that the special box was gone, he fell over in his chair, bonked his head and he died too.

The Philistines took the special box (the ark) to one of their cities and put it next to one of their pretend gods. The next day, they found the pretend god statue face down on the ground in front of the ark (like it was worshipping the REAL God). They put the statue back up and the next day they found it again on the ground, like it was worshipping God, but this time the statue’s head and hands were broken off. The people in that city were scared and then they got very very sick and they decided to move the ark. “That God must not like us having His ark, we should move it!”

So they moved it to a different Philistine city. And all the people in THAT city got sick. They moved it AGAIN and those people got sick too! So they decided maybe they should just send it back to Israel!

They put the ark on a special truck and had two cows pull it. The cows brought the ark back to Israel. When it got to Israel, the Levites (the people in charge of the church who were allowed to touch the ark) carefully took it off the truck. Some of the Israelites didn’t obey God’s rules though and they peeked into the box and then they died.

Then they took the ark to a man’s house. His name was Abinadab. Abinadab loved and obeyed God. His son was put in charge of watching the ark and taking care of it. And it stayed at his house a looooong time. It SHOULD have gone back to the tabernacle…but it didn’t for a long long time.

 

The people did not take care of God’s special box. They did not respect God’s power or His instructions. The people in this story did not ask God if they could take the box from the tabernacle, the Philistines didn’t care about moving the box away from God’s people…the Israelites didn’t obey God and they looked inside…everyone thought God’s power was something THEY could move around. But no one is bigger, stronger, or smarter than God.

God is WONDERFUL and PERFECT and POWERFUL, He can be everywhere at all times and He is bigger than everything and He loves us and takes care of us….isn’t that amazing?! That’s why we worship Him! We love Him and pray to Him, we trust only Him…but the people in this story did not. They thought they could do whatever they wanted with God’s things…instead of respecting God and asking HIM what they should do.

God tells us what He wants us to know in the Bible–we can read His words and know what He wants. When God tells us to do something (or to not do something) we should always obey because we know God’s way is the BEST way.

 

For our craft today, we drew the ark of the covenant. (Instructions from Exodus 25). This is my 5 year olds’ interpretation of what it looked like.

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

 

Samson (reboot)

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Hi all! Today we studied Judges 13-16 about Samson. We used last year’s lesson found HERE.

What I tried to emphasize today is that Samson did not always obey God. But God used him anyway. Sometimes we disobey God too…but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have big plans for us!

God gives you special things YOU are good at. He wants you to use those things to worship Him and to love others. Samson gave his power to Delilah instead of keeping it and using it for God. If you sing, sing songs of praise to God. If you draw, draw pictures to give to others. If you play sports, show the love of God while you play…be a good sport. Work hard in whatever you do. But don’t let anything become more important than God and always see how God can use your gifts to help others.

The Bible says Samson was more useful when he died (because he also killed those mean Philistines)…but that wasn’t God’s plan for Samson. God WANTED Samson to do great things with his strength while he was alive! (Like that time he defeated the 1000 men all on his own!) Let’s think about the things WE are good at…the things God has given US and see how we can serve God with those things NOW.

 

For today’s craft, we made “Samson knocking down the pillars” pictures. We drew our Samson (long hair and arms extended). Then we took toilet paper and paper towel tubes and taped them on each side to be the pillars. You could paint or marker these as well to look even more “pillar-y.”

Our text says: Samson-Judges 13-16.

 

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Balaam’s Talking Donkey

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Hello all! Today’s story is from Numbers 22-24. Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

The Israelites were spending  40 years wandering around the desert because they had disobeyed God. During that time, they had to fight a lot of other countries. One of them was Moab. Now the king of Moab was scared of the Israelites so he called for one of his prophets (someone who tells people what God says) Balaam, and said, “I need you to curse the Israelites. Say bad things about them and say that WE will win!”

But Balaam said, “I can’t come to curse them….I can only say what God tells me to say?”

“What if i give you a lot of money? THEN will say what I want?” asked the king.

Balaam talked to God and God didn’t want him to go. Eventually though, God said he could.

And you know what? Balaam was going to go and curse the Israelites and take the money. He was riding his donkey back to the king to curse the Israelites when suddenly,  in the rode, his donkey stopped. Balaam was mad. “Move it!” he yelled to the donkey. “Why aren’t you moving?!” He even hit the donkey.

Then the donkey turned around and said, “Why are you hitting me?!”

Balaam answered “Because you won’t move!” (He talked to a donkey!)

Just then Balaam saw an angel of God. He was blocking the road. The donkey had seen the angel and stopped, but Balaam did not see the angel until just then. God did not want Balaam to go to the king and say bad things about the Israelites. God had told him that in prayer, with a donkey and with an angel!

Balaam went anyway, but when he got there, three times he spoke the words of God and he said that the Israelites would be strong and brave and that THEY would win. He also said that anyone who went against God’s people would lose.

It took a LOT for God to get’s Balaam’s attention. He even made an animal TALK to get Balaam to listen to Him. We need take time to pray and to LISTEN to God. We can know what God wants by reading the Bible, listening to grown ups who know God and by praying and listening to God in our own hearts. Maybe you can pray right now and take some time to give God your attention.

Today’s craft is made from a gift bag (or a paper lunch bag). We cut out a donkey head shape and drew on some nostrils and then glued on some googly eyes. Then we cut another strip of brown paper and fringed it. This we glued to the back of the bag.

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THIS is a video from SabbathSchool about today’s lesson.

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

 

Abraham’s Children

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Hello again! As we wrap up the book of Genesis, I decided to add this related (but not chronological) lesson. We did do the story of Ephraim and Manasseh yesterday but didn’t change it from LAST YEAR’S LESSON.

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Today’s lesson is based on what I heard at church today and I thought it summed up Genesis so well it needed to be added here. This is from Romans 4. See also HERE.

So this month we read about God creating the heavens and the earth. We read about Adam, the first man, and Noah and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We read about how much God loved His creation….but the people did not always love God. A lot of people disobeyed and didn’t trust God.

But not everyone felt that way. Abraham DID trust God and God made a special promise to Abraham…that he would be the father of many many people. As many as the stars in the sky, as many as the sand on the beach. That’s a lot of people! And Abraham BELIEVED God. He had faith. And not only did he BELIEVE God, he OBEYED God too. When God told Abraham to move, he moved. When He told him to give back his son Isaac, he did. Abraham showed that he had faith in God. God loved Abraham and made a special promise to him…not because he was a great person, or because he always did the right thing…but because he TRUSTED God and when God told him to do something…he did it. He had faith.  (Rom 4:9-13)

Abraham did have children, and those children had children and we know Jacob had a LOT of children and those guys had a LOT LOT LOT of children…and all those people would become Israel. The people of Israel thought THEY were God’s special people because they came from Abraham. BUT…in the book of Romans, God tells us that ANYONE who BELIEVES and OBEYS God is a son of Abraham, a part of Abraham’s family. (Rom 4:16-17, 24-25)

If YOU love AND obey God, then YOU are one of Abraham’s children too. Abraham’s family did get pretty big…but that also includes all the people who choose God and love and obey Him.

When we love and obey God, we get adopted into God’s family. He adds us into the family. We don’t have to be born in Israel to be one of Abraham’s children…to be one of God’s children. We just need to trust God, love Him and obey Him. And some of the people IN Israel choose not to love and obey God…the Bible says they are NOT Abraham’s children. They are NOT God’s children. The real children of Abraham and the real children of God are those that have faith in Him. (Galatians 3:7)

So when we read the Bible, we aren’t just reading about THOSE people a long time ago…it’s about God’s story. His plan for ALL of us. God would send His son Jesus through Abraham’s family…but anyone and everyone who believes in God becomes His child and becomes part of Abraham’s family too. One of the stars in the sky.

We will start the next part of God’s story tomorrow, in the book of Exodus. And as we read through Exodus, let’s remember that WE are also God’s children…like the Israelites…their story is our story.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Sodom and Gomorrah

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Hey all. Welcome back! Today’s story is from Genesis 18:16-33 and 19:1-29. Our lesson from last year can be found HERE.

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So our friend Abraham was getting ready to move to the next place God told him to go.

God said,  “Abraham will become a great and powerful nation, and everyone else on earth will be blessed through him. I have chosen him, so that he will lead his children and his household to follow Me by doing what is right.”

God then told Abraham about two cities nearby. Sodom and Gomorrah. God told Abraham the cities were very bad and the people did terrible things to sin against God (disobey Him.)

Abraham knew his nephew Lot lived in Sodom and so he asked God: “Will you get rid of the good people just because some of them are wicked? What if there are fifty righteous (right with God) people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty good people in it?

The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will save the whole place for their sake.”

Then Abraham spoke up again: “What if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

Once again Abraham spoke to Him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

****Abraham knew God would do what He wanted…and he knew it was a bold thing to ask God to save the city. We know we can talk to God anytime and ask Him anything…even if it seems crazy because we know NOTHING is too hard for God. But like Abraham, we must also remember God is in charge. Abraham was talking to God on behalf of the people of Sodom–he was interceding…that means to come between and negotiate…or to come between and bring peace between two people. Abraham was trying to help save the people. Can you think of anyone else in the Bible who intercedes? Someone who talks to God for US?

Jesus! Jesus talks to God for us and we can also talk to God for other people. When we pray for our friends who are sick or sad…or when we pray that they come to know Jesus that is interceding…we are coming to God FOR them, to ask God to help them, just like Abraham did for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.****

Now let’s get back to the story….

Two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot (Abraham’s nephew) was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the middle of the city.”

But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him to his house. He made a meal for them and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They tried to do very bad and mean things to Lot and his family. Lot even made a bad choice and said “Don’t hurt me or my visitors! Here take my daughters instead!” Isn’t that a terrible thing to say??

But the angels saved Lot AND his daughters. God was merciful (nice even when they didn’t deserve it) to Lot and his family. He saved them because of his promise and love for  Abraham…not because they deserved to be saved. Then the angels said “Do you have anyone else here in the city who belongs to you? Any family? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The people here are so bad that God has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot went out and told his family, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking and they didn’t go.

When the sun was about to come up, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

When he hesitated, the angels took his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! DON’T look back, and DON’T stop anywhere on the way! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah. (THIS is a video of what burning sulfur in a volcano looks like). The whole city, all the people animals and plants were destroyed. But Lot’s wife didn’t obey the angels and she looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. God had told them not to look back. He wanted them to obey Him. When it says she became a pillar of salt that could mean she was covered in the ashes from the sulfur and died, or that the burning sulfur overtook her…she didn’t obey and move fast enough. When God gives us clear directions, we should always obey Him, and keep our focus on Him…not on what we are leaving behind. God’s way is ALWAYS the best way.

Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah, and he saw the smoke from the land, like smoke from a furnace. When God destroyed the cities, he remembered Abraham and kept him safe, and he saved Lot and his family too.

 

In this lesson we learn the importance of obeying God and putting Him first..not thinking about other things that might seem better (like Lot’s wife who was so sad about leaving she disobeyed God). We can always remember God’s way is the BEST way. We also learned about God’s favor toward Abraham and how Abraham used that favor to help others. He KNEW God and talked to Him to try to help the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. When we love God and follow Him the Bible says we become God’s children and can come to Him anytime. (Hebrews 4:16) We should always remember to come to God to intercede for others–we can pray to God for the things we need, but like Abraham, we can pray for other people too. Jesus does that for us. (Hebrews 7:25) In everything we do, we try to be more like Jesus and when we pray for other people we are bringing them before God, just like Jesus does for us.

God’s way is the best way by Veggie Tales.

(Interestingly enough, I found a slew you tube videos about prayer for kids…but not anything about praying for OTHERS. So…if anyone finds anything…please feel free to share in the comments. I may need to make up my own song for that one!)

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all.

Discipline

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Welcome back!

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Today’s lesson is from Hebrews 12. The word of the day is discipline. Do you know what discipline means? It means training someone. Do you remember Jesus’ disciples? They were training to be like Jesus! And when we follow God, we become His disciples too !We are always becoming more and more like Him.

This takes discipline. He teaches us. And sometimes…it can be hard.

What kinds of rules do you have at your house?

What are the consequences if you break the rules?

Do you know WHY your mom and dad (or grandma or grandpa) have rules at your house?

The rules are there to keep you safe and help you become the kind of person you should be. Do you know any babies? They don’t know how to make good choices yet, do they? But you’re getting bigger every day and YOU know how to make good choices. The choices we make everyday make us more like God…or not. And sometimes when we make choices that are NOT Godly, God has to teach us, sometimes even punish us with consequences.

In Hebrews 12 in the Bible, it says God is like a daddy to us. He wants us to be safe and be more like Him every day. So He teaches us (through the Bible and our own mom and dad) how to be like Him…which choices to make or which choices NOT to make.

But when we do make bad choices and God has to give us consequences, it says, don’t be discouraged (that means don’t be too sad), because you can remember that God LOVES you and is teaching you how to be more like Him.

If God didn’t care, He would just let us do whatever we want. But God cares about you. The Bible says that when we follow God, we become His sons and daughters, His children, and He loves us and teaches us like His children. Have you ever thought about saying “thank you” to your mom and dad when you are punished? No! That seems silly doesn’t it?! But really, we SHOULD say thank you, because we know our parents are keeping us safe and teaching us how to make good choices.

It might not be fun at the time to have to obey our parents, or to obey God, and it’s never fun to have bad consequences, but we can always remember that God is teaching us how to be more like Him…perfect and loving, just like Him.

(And if your dad is not the best example of being loving or being a good teacher, then you can always remember that God is NOT like that. He cares about you, He loves you and He can show you what a REAL father should be like.)

In Proverbs 3:11-12 it says, “My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child whom he loves.”

There is THIS SONG from Chris Tomlin that reminds us that God is good Father to us.

 

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all.

 

Don’t try to fight God!

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Welcome back! Today’s story is from Acts 5:17-42.

Today we made puppets to help tell the story. We used two paint stir sticks and 4 pieces of construction paper. I started by taping two of the pieces together and tracing a head, then the kids cut through both pieces to essentially make two heads. We decorated them (one to look old, one to look younger). Then we glued them back to back on the paint stick.

The older side we labeled Gamaliel and the younger side we labeled Peter.

Then we again taped two pieces of construction paper together and cut out the shape of three heads together. We added googly eyes on (one side is angry, one is happy.)

The happy side is the crowd and the angry side is the angry leaders.

 

And here is the story:

The high priest and all his friends, were very jealous because Jesus’ disciples were teaching about Jesus and the people loved it! (THEY wanted to be the most important people). So they put the disciples in jail. But that night an angel of God opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go back to the temple,” he said, “and tell the people all about Jesus and what He has done.”

So in the morning, they went to the temple and began to teach the people.

When the leaders got up, they asked the jail captain to send for the disciples, but the guards found out they weren’t there. So they went back and reported, “We found the jail perfectly locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, there was no one inside.”

Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” With that, the leaders went and brought the disciples…(but they did it nicely so the people wouldn’t get mad and try to stop them.)

“We told you Not to teach in Jesus’ name,” the high priest said. “But you have told everyone in Jerusalem all about Jesus and now they are all going to think it’s OUR fault Jesus died.”

Peter and the other disciples said: “We have to obey God more than people! He wants us to tell EVERYONE about Jesus! God raised Jesus from the dead…the same Jesus you killed on the cross. God made Him Prince and Savior and He brings us back to God and forgives our sins.We have seen these things, and have been given God’s Holy Spirit, which He gives to everyone who obeys Him.”

When they heard this, the leaders were VERY angry and wanted to kill them.  BUT a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was honored by all the people (everyone thought he was really great!), stood up in the court and said: “Men of Israel, think carefully what you plan to do to these guys. You know sometimes people say they are somebody important and it all comes to nothing. When these people who pretend to be important get killed or run away, their followers leave too. So, with these men, I think we should leave them alone! Let them go! If they are just pretending to know God, or pretending that Jesus was someone really important…no one will care and they will all soon go away. But if Jesus really IS God’s son and they are telling the truth, you will not be able to stop them; you will just be fighting against God.”

They all thought that was a good idea. So they called the disciples in and beat them up! and then ordered them not to talk about Jesus anymore, and let them go.

And do you know how the disciples felt? They were happy! They were SO glad to tell people about Jesus and they were even happy when they got hurt for Jesus because they loved Him so much. Every day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and telling everyone the good news that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s son.

 

In this story you can see not all the Pharisees were bad. Gamaliel was very wise and he knew it wasn’t good to make trouble. If Peter and the other disciples were making it all up, then eventually the stories would stop and people wouldn’t care. BUT, if they said was true, then trying to stop them would be like trying to stop God (and is that EVER going to happen???)

Peter and the disciples KNEW they had to obey God. Even when the people in charge said “NO.” It can be hard to do the right thing when other people are being mean to you. God will always help us obey Him if we ask. The disciples knew obeying God was more important than obeying the leaders…even if meant they would be hurt. It’s more important to do the right thing on God’s side, than the popular thing on peoples’ side. Gamaliel knew that too. He said “You don’t want to fight against God!” Be on God’s side. Obey Him. Tell others about Him and trust Him to help you make the right choices.

 

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!