Feed The Poor

Who should we talk about today? JESUS!

I know something neat about Jesus. When He taught people, he told stories. His stories are special. They are called parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. I'll show you what I mean. Here is one of Jesus' parables in Luke, chapter 14.

Jesus was at a big party, a feast, and lots of people were there.

12 Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite only your friends, your family, your other relatives, and your rich neighbors. At another time they will invite you to eat with them, and you will be repaid. 13 Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then you will be blessed

The people had never heard anything so strange! They thought to themselves, "Jesus said I should NOT invite my family and friends when I give a party! Could He really mean that?" Nooooo, Jesus had a heavenly meaning.

Then they thought, "Jesus said I should invite poor people instead! I don't even know any poor people! Do I have to go find some poor people and invite them to my party? Is that what Jesus means?" Nooooo, Jesus had a heavenly meaning.

Now I will tell you His heavenly meaning. Are you ready?

Feed the poor. We all have enough food to share. We all have enough food to give parties. We all have ... so ... much! Poor people have ... nothing. Their children are hungry. Their cupboards are bare. Feed the poor.

Every week, take something to the food pantry, a box of cereal, a can of soup, something. If you gave just one thing every week, Anna, and if I did ... and if you did, Jeremy ... and if each person in church did ... soon the food pantry would have plenty of food to give. And when poor people come to the food pantry to ask for food, there would be ... so ... much! And they would know someone cares for them. And God will be so pleased; and He will know you care for the poor people, just like He does.

Time to pray.

Wonderful God,
We have so ... much ... food in our kitchens, plenty to share, and we thank you. Please help us to remember every week to feed the poor, just like Jesus taught.
In His name we pray, amen. 

Remember Me

"You are so polite" my husband said as I hung up the phone. "Thanks, I take telephone etiquette to heart." "No, I mean you are super-polite, over-the-top polite. I am never so polite. Nobody is so polite." Paying attention now, I wondered whether I crossed the line, maybe I sounded patronizing. Turns out, the compliment was genuine, and Tim was inspired to improve his manners. Not that he used to be rude. Oh, he might display moderate rudeness at times, but only when the other person was being foolish. And since Tim is a wise guy ... well, you get the picture.
Good manners undergird our every relationship, so we teach our youngsters the nuances of acceptable conduct. We guide them in proper behavior, correcting their mistakes. Woe to the children of military families who receive the most rigorous training of all. Count your blessings if you don't know what I mean. The rest of us will never be able to omit the appropriate "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing our betters.
My goal in today's lesson is for the children to practice remembering Jesus in two ways. First by thinking back, as we do when we recall the past. Second by keeping Jesus in mind, as we do when we remember our manners.
Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of me," meaning continuing, repeated remembering. To Christians nothing should be more at the forefront of our psyches than Jesus proclaiming the new covenant, offering salvation to all the world. Which begs the question, would the world be different if we remembered Jesus as pervasively as we remember our manners?




Who should we talk about today? {jesus} Who? {Jesus} I can't hear you! {JESUS!} OKAY!
Do you like shouting "Jesus" in church? I taught you to do that a long time ago. I taught you to do it because I want you to remember Jesus.
When grownups come to church they also remember Jesus. We have a special way of remembering Him. We have a bit of bread and a sip of grape juice. Jesus taught us to do this a long, long time ago, right before He died. He said we should do it to remember Him.
There are two ways to remember.
First, you can think back. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? {answers} Very good. You were not thinking about your breakfast, but you thought back and remembered your breakfast.
Second, you can keep something in your mind. Remember your manners. I know you are all remembering your manners right now. You are not talking when I am talking. You are listening to me. Those are good manners. We should keep our manners in mind always.
Jesus wants us to remember Him.
The first way to remember Jesus is to think back, like you remembered your breakfast. We can think back about Bible stories we learned about Jesus. Can you think of any Bible stories about Jesus?
{If the kids are little, or having trouble, help them out, "remember how Jesus walked on water and how He fed thousands of people with only two fish and five loaves of bread, and how He made a blind man see, and how He ... "}




The second way to remember Jesus is to keep Him in mind. Keep Jesus in your mind like you keep your manners in mind. Jesus wants us to always remember He died to save our lives. Bread helps us grownups remember Jesus' body when He died. Grape juice helps us remember Jesus' blood when He died. Jesus died to save the world. Can you remember that? Can you remember Jesus?
Dear God,
Thank you for teaching us all about Jesus in the Bible.
Please help us to always remember Jesus died to save us all.
In His name we pray,
Amen
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Pay Attention to Your Giving

"Are we poor?" Twisting around in the front seat to check out the expression on my son's face, I asked, "Are you serious?" Never one to abandon his position, Nick rattled off his evidence, "We live with Aunt Jo and Uncle Ralph, we can't afford new clothes, not good ones, anyway, and anytime I need money for school, you get mad!" The move back home, the career change, the sacrifices necessary to save for a downpayment, all at the same time, changed our family's spending habits. Nick made a valiant effort to process the changes using his seven-year-old worldview, and came to the obvious conclusion: we were now poor. Makes me smile to this day. Nick doesn't remember asking the question, but he remembers that every Sunday we placed a check in the church offering basket.

A child's sense of what matters and his attitudes about money and stuff and God are formed day by day, every day. From the tenderest of ages, our children soak up their world by studying people--all people, all the time--people at home, people at church, people at school, people in public, people on television. Too often the messages teach them they don't have enough, they need more.

What are you teaching your kids about money, about spending, about saving, about giving, about stewardship of God's monetary blessings? Pay attention to your giving. Your children do. Jesus does, too.

1 As Jesus looked up, he saw some rich people putting their gifts into the Temple money box. 2 Then he saw a poor widow putting two small copper coins into the box. 3 He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. 4 They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4 NCV

This lesson calls for: play money, one piece per child, a large, clear coin-filled jar, and a church offering basket within easy reach.

(As the kids arrive at the front of the church, hand each a piece of play money while asking questions. You will get some cute answers.)

This is play money.
Do you have any real money?
How do you get real money?
Where does money come from?

Here is a story about money.
Jesus went to church. He watched the people giving money to God. Jesus kept His eye on a rich man who put in lots of money. Will one of you play the rich man? (Choose a big boy.) Al, you are the rich man. Put your hand in the jar, and get as much money as you can hold. Get lots. Now put all those coins in the basket. Good job.

Jesus also spotted a poor woman who put in only one cent. (Hold up a penny.) What is this? (A penny) Is this much money? (No) The poor woman only had one cent. It was all of her money. She put her last cent in the basket for God. Will one of you play the poor woman? (Choose a little girl.) Anna, here is the poor woman’s money. Now put the penny in the basket. Good job.

The poor woman had no money left. She could not buy bread or any food to eat. Why did she want to give all her money to God? Was she silly? No. Did she worry? No. The poor woman gave everything to God, because God always gave everything to her. She trusted God to give her food. Somehow He always did.

God gives everything to us, too. Can you name some things God gave you? Raise your hand if you have a mom. Raise your other hand if you have a dad. You all do! God gave you all moms and dads! Do your moms and dads drive a car? God gave you all cars. How about food? Did any of you eat breakfast this morning? Waffles? Oh, my, what a yummy breakfast. God gave you moms and dads, houses, cars, food, even toys and games and clothes. That is so much! God is good!

(God bless Cameron, who spoke up.) “My dad and mom don’t have any money to buy me what I want.” (Or you can start this topic by asking, “Do you sometimes want something, and your mom or dad say, ‘No, we don’t have money for that?’”) Cameron, here is what you need to think about when that happens. Dads and moms get all this money from God. First they give some money back to God because they want to thank Him. Second, they use some money to pay for a house. Do you boys and girls get to live in the house? Third, they use some money to pay for a car. Do you children get to ride in the car? Fourth, they use some money to buy clothes for you boys and girls. Moms and dads buy you clothes again and again, because you grow! They also use some money to buy food to feed your hungry tummies.

Moms and dads must be careful with the money God gives them. They try to be smart when they spend money. They try not to waste money, because money is a big gift from God. Are any toys and games at your house, Cameron? Not all the toys and games you like, but that is not a bad thing.

Here in our church, we all give money to God, too. We pass this basket around, and people put in some money for God. Does Jesus take a peek at us when we give money at church like He did in our story today? Yes, He always sees us.

Remember the rich man and the poor woman? Jesus said one of them gave more. Raise your hand if you think the rich man gave more. Raise your hand if you think the poor woman gave more. The rich man had a lot of money left over. He didn’t care about the money he gave to God. He didn’t even need it. Jesus said the poor woman gave more, because she gave all!

Bow heads, close eyes, fold hands. Let’s talk to God to thank Him.
Dear God, You give us everything. Thank you! Please help us not to want too much. In Jesus name we ask, amen.

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.

A Bad Idea

A heart almost as beautiful as the heart of Jesus: this is a good little craft, if you like origami. Use the 6" by 6" squares in a cool and brightly colored design. Follow this link for instructions:  http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-heart.html


Continuing in the fourth chapter of Luke, Jesus has some trouble with the hometown crowd. They revile Him, accuse Him, and finally, caught up in their mass, ignorant frenzy, they are driven to attempt His murder. These are people He grew up with: the families of His boyhood playmates, the friends and customers of Joseph and Mary.  


Jesus, the best preacher ever, had had them in the palm of His hand. They were amazed at the beauty and authority of His words. Then came the bad idea. That is how every sin begins, with one bad idea. And ideas, good or bad, tend to sweep through crowds.


A Bad Idea


When Jesus got done whooping the devil in the wilderness, he went to his hometown. It was called Nazareth. That's where Jesus grew up, in Nazareth. He went to church like He ALWAYS did. They called it synagogue back then, but let's just call it church like we say today, okay? Jesus went to church to preach. 


The people of Nazareth were so excited to have Jesus back home. Jesus was the best preacher ever. He preached from the book of Isaiah in the Bible. It was this part:

"The Spirit of the Lord is in me. This is because God chose me to tell the Good News to the poor." (Luke 4:18 ICB see link at left) 

Then Jesus said, "This is happening right here and now!" What did Jesus mean, "This is happening right here and now?" What was happening right here and now? (they have no idea) The people of Nazareth understood what Jesus meant. When He said, "God chose me" Jesus meant HE was the Messiah Isaiah was writing about!  


But then something happened. Someone in the church got an idea. It was a BAD idea! The person said, "Wait a minute! This is only Jesus. We knew him when he was a small boy. He grew up in our town. Jesus is NOBODY SPECIAL!" (they are shocked) Then a few more people started saying the same thing, "Jesus is nobody special!" Pretty soon all the people in the church got the same bad idea. They were so mad at Jesus for saying He was God's Messiah.


The people were so mad, they started pushing Jesus right out the door of the church. Then they were pushing Him all the way out of town, right to the edge of a cliff! They wanted to push Jesus off the cliff and kill Him! What do you think Jesus did then? (they don't know) Do you think He blasted them with His awesome power? (they don't know) Maybe He sent plagues to Nazareth just like God sent plagues to Egypt long ago. Remember? God sent flies, frogs, blood, death, it was just awful. Do you think Jesus did that? No, He did not do any of those things. Jesus did not even get mad at them. He just walked right through them, and there was nothing they could do about it. Jesus walked through them and went on His way.


(Choose the oldest boy) OK Garrett, you pretend to be Jesus. Stand on the edge of the step with your back to the people. Everybody else come around and try to push Garrett off the step when I say so. Garrett, try your best to walk through them, okay? Ready, set, push! (Garrett tries to stay up, but goes down in the end with a great stage fall!) If Garrett couldn't get through a small group of kids, HOW did Jesus get through a big crowd of angry grown-ups? Jesus really has awesome power, doesn't He!


And He has awesome love. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, and He knew those people, and He loved those people, and He loves all of you, too. Jesus would never hurt anyone. 


I have a reminder for you. This heart will remind you of Jesus and His awesome love. Who loves you more than anybody? (jesus) Who? (Jesus) I can't hear you! (JESUS!) Yes, He sure does.


Bow heads, close eyes, fold hands.


Dear God,
The love of Jesus is wonderful.
He loves us even when we get a bad idea, even when we do something naughty.
He doesn't get mad.
Please make our bad ideas go away.
Please give us good ideas.
Please help us be good for Jesus.
In His name we pray,
Amen.

Temptation In a Fishbowl

• What’s happening in this picture? (kitten reaching for fish in fishbowl)
• What will happen next? (kitten spilling fishbowl, getting fish, eating fish)
• Is the fish in trouble in this picture? (yes)
• Why is the fish in trouble? (fish is in danger from kitten, he will spill out or get eaten and die)
• The fish is in danger, but who is in trouble? Who is being bad? (kitten)
• What will happen to the kitten for being bad? (punishment, time-out, etc.)
• Do you know who can help the kitten be good? (they don’t know)

If this happened in a Harry Potter movie, could Harry or Ron or Hermione help? Maybe Hermione could wave her wand and say, “leviosa” and make the fishbowl float up to the ceiling where the kitten can’t reach. That would help the fish, but the kitten would still WANT to eat the fish. Hermione might be able to help the fish, but she can’t help the kitten. The kitten is still TEMPTED to be naughty.

If this happened in a Fantastic Four movie, could Thing help? Maybe Thing could clobber the kitten, and scare the kitten away. That would help the fish, but the kitten would still WANT to come back later to get the fish. Thing might be able to help the fish, but he can’t help the kitten. The kitten is still TEMPTED to be naughty.

That poor kitten! He WANTS that fish, doesn’t he? He WANTS to be naughty and catch the fish. He WANTS to be naughty and eat the fish. 

Who can help the kitten? Who can make the kitten want to be GOOD instead of naughty? When the devil TEMPTS us to be naughty, who can help US to be good? Jesus! Who? JESUS! Louder! JESUS!!!

Jesus can help us be good, because Jesus already beat the devil. Here is what happened: 

(abbreviated from Luke 4: 1-13, The Message)

The Spirit led Jesus into the wild.

For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil.

Jesus ate nothing during those days, and he was hungry.

The Devil gave the first test saying: "Since you're God's Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread."

Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy saying: "It takes more than bread to really live."

For the second test the Devil said, "Worship me and all the kingdoms of the earth are yours.”

Jesus refused, again with Deuteronomy, saying: "Worship only the Lord your God."

For the third test the Devil said, "If you are God's Son, jump off the top of the Temple. It's written, isn't it, that 'God has placed you in the care of angels to protect you'"

"Yes," said Jesus, "and it's also written, 'Don't you dare tempt the Lord your God.'"

 That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.

See, Jesus beats the devil EVERY time. And when YOU feel like being naughty, Jesus can change your mind. Just ask Him. WOW! How can Jesus DO that?!

Simple, Jesus has AWESOME power, REAL power—not movie power like Thing or Harry Potter and his friends. Jesus has REAL power, and He will use it for YOU, and you, and you, and all of us! All we have to do is ask!

Here is a badge for each of you. It says POWERED BY JESUS. So when you feel like being naughty, remember to pray and ask Jesus to help you with His amazing power to be good. Let’s ask right now. Bow heads, close eyes, fold hands.

Lord, nothing is impossible for You.

We want to be good, but sometimes we feel like being naughty.

Thank you for loving us and helping us.

Please make us good. You’re the only one who can.

Amen.

The ONE AND ONLY THING! Simeon Sees Jesus

Kids have so many things they want to do—they can't wait to wake up each morning! 

These simple refrigerator magnets can help remind kids that seeing Jesus is the one and only thing they need on their list of goals. For each one, you need six inches of ribbon, one inch of self stick magnetic tape, and glitter glue. 

Insert the red ribbon picture into a document, add text, print and cut out to glue on top of each ribbon. Alternatively, leave off the magnet, and you've got a bookmark.  

There's a story about a girl dying from leukemia. She made a list of things she wanted to do before she died. Lots of people do that. They list things like: 
* visiting all 50 states,  
* seeing a baseball game in every major league ball park, 
* playing golf at Pebble Beach, 
* driving a 2010 Camero …  
Do any of you have something you are hoping to do someday? (responses)  
In our Bible story from Luke, chapter two, verses 25-30, we will read about Simeon. Simeon gets to do the ONE AND ONLY THING he had wanted to do all his life. Listen closely to see if you can figure out what Simeon's ONE AND ONLY THING was:  
(If you have a children's Bible, show them the picture. I use the illustrated New Testament linked at left. Focus their attention by asking, “can you all see?”)  

25A man named Simeon lived in Jerusalem. He was a good man and very religious. He was waiting for the time when God would help Israel. The Holy Spirit was in him. 
26The Holy Spirit told Simeon that he would not die before he saw the Christ promised by the Lord. 
27The Spirit led Simeon to the Temple. Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple to do what the law said they must do. 
28Then Simeon took the baby in his arms and thanked God: 
29”Now, Lord, you can let me, your servant, die in peace as you said. 
30I have seen your Salvation with my own eyes.  


What was it? What was the ONE AND ONLY THING Simeon had wanted to do all his life? (responses) That's right! He wanted to see Jesus, the Christ, the one promised by God who would save all the people from their sins. When Simeon saw Jesus he said, “I have seen your Salvation with my own eyes.” Jesus was the one who was going to save the people from their sins.

Seeing that Jesus is the Savior of the world and trusting Him to save us from our sins is something much more important than visiting all 50 states or (mention one of the kids items). In fact it should be our ONE AND ONLY THING to do before we die! Because this is so important, I made a magnet to remind each of you. What is number one this year? (Jesus!)

Only Jesus can rescue us from punishment; only Jesus can give us eternal life in heaven.

Dear God, You let Simeon see Jesus, the Savior of the world—that was awesome! We all need Jesus. Thanks for sending Him to save us. Please help us to understand—only Jesus can keep us from punishment and bring us to heaven when we die. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Happy New Year to you all!

P.S. The movie was "A Walk To Remember" based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.