Jesus is the Christ

Leave yourself plenty of time to trim the plastic canvas and to thread the cord. Each one took me ten minutes. I used the 3" pre-cut crosses but trimmed them to be similar to the shape of the pattern which I modified.  Here is the link: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf56057668.tip.html 

Also, I didn't use ribbon, but the metalic cord from the craft shop in various colors.


Jesus is the Christ


Well, we started talking about Jesus quite a few Sundays ago. 
Of course at Christmastime, we heard again all about the amazing birth of Jesus. Angels told Mary and Joseph and the shepherds about God's wonderful plan for the birth of His Son, Jesus.


Remember John the Baptist? What a goofy guy! What was goofy about John the Baptist? (they may or may not remember) What did John wear? (camel skins) What did John eat? (locusts and honey) Where did John live? (in the wilderness) Yep, goofy! But he taught people about Jesus. He said the Messiah was finally here. When he baptized Jesus, God spoke to Jesus from Heaven and said, "You are my Son. I am very happy with You."


Remember the devil testing Jesus? He tried to make Jesus doubt that He was really God's son. The devil said to Jesus, "IF you are really the Son of God, turn this stone to bread." But could he fool Jesus? (head shake) No, Jesus believed God.


Remember the people at the synagogue in Nazareth? (they're not sure) Remember the BAD IDEA? (this they remember) While Jesus was preaching to them, they loved His words. But then someone got the BAD IDEA that Jesus was no one special. And the BAD IDEA spread to the others, and soon they were all trying to push Jesus off a cliff! But what did Jesus do? Did He get mad at them? No, did He blast them with His awesome power? No, He miraculously walked right through them!


Jesus IS someone special, isn't He? Who is Jesus? (the Son of God) Right!


So after all that, Jesus left Nazareth and walked to Capernaum. Can you say Capernaum? (let a three year old try, you'll be amazed) The next Sabbath day, he preached to the people of Capernaum in their synagogue. But we'll just call it church, like we say today. 


During church a man with an evil spirit in him said the most amazing thing! The evil spirit in the man said, (use a scary voice) "Jesus, I know who You are. You are God's Holy Son, leave us alone!" Do you think Jesus obeyed the evil spirit? (heads shake) No, Jesus commanded the evil spirit to BE QUIET and come out of the man. And what do you think that evil spirit did? (see if they can guess) It did exactly what Jesus ordered! It did not speak another word, and it came out of that poor man! Everyone at church was AMAZED!


After church, Jesus went to Peter's house, and Peter's mother-in-law was very sick-very, very sick. Peter asked Jesus to help her. What do you think Jesus did? (helped her) Of course He did! He healed her so perfectly that she got up and fixed lunch for them! (wide-eyed amazement)


Well, you know how news gets around, right? (nods) Pretty soon everybody in Capernaum heard about Jesus whooping the evil spirit and healing Peter's mother-in-law. 


At sundown, when they were finally allowed to, everyone came to Jesus. They brought all their loved ones who had evil spirits, or who were sick. And what do you think Jesus did? (helped them) 


How many did Jesus help? (they have no idea, but may guess. if they guess, say, are you sure?) Here's a clue: Jesus spent the whole night, from sundown to dawn, helping them. What do you think? Did he help ten of them? (no, more) How about 100? (yes, probably) Well, Luke tells us Jesus helped them ALL! Everyone in town! 


Why? What do we already know about Jesus? (he is good, he loves us, he has power) You kids are really learning a lot about Jesus! He is good. He loves all of us. He has amazing power. 

Here is a cross for each of you to remember Jesus. Why does a cross remind us of Jesus? (Jesus died on a cross) That's right. Who is the Son of God? (jesus) Who? (Jesus) Can't hear you! (JESUS!)


Bow heads, close eyes, fold hands.


Dear God our Father,
You are the Father of Jesus too. 
Some people don't believe it, like the people in Nazareth. 
Some people do believe, like the people in Capernaum. 
Please help us to always believe in Jesus, Your Son.
In His name we pray, 
Amen.