Paul Bitten by a Snake

This week we continued to teach the kids at our church about Paul’s journey to Rome, and the trouble that he encountered along the way. After Paul was shipwrecked, a venomous snake bit him; the islanders who saw what happened assumed that he must have been a criminal, and that god sent the snake to kill Paul as just punishment. However, Paul simply shook the snake off his hand into the fire and was unharmed. It is hard to say why exactly this account is in scripture, except it reveals to us God’s faithfulness. God said that Paul was to be his witness to Rome, if Paul died in route than he would not accomplish what God sent him to do. However, given all of the obstacles Paul faced it becomes apparent that the ONLY reason he made it to Rome was because of God’s work behind the sense. When God asks us to do something He is right there with us working to accomplish His goal, He does the hard work all we have to do is trust and obey! Accounts like this one help strengthen us by reminding us of this truth especially when things don’t look like they are going the way we would like!

Lesson: 

After every one made it safely to shore they discovered they were on a little island called Malta. The people on the island showed the shipwrecked men kindness; they gathered wood and made a fire so that the men could warm themselves. Paul helped gather wood to keep the fire going; as he threw some wood on the fire a snake came out of the wood and bit his arm. Paul shook the snake off into the fire. All the natives thought God must have been punishing Paul for some terrible crime he had committed, and they expected him to fall down dead at any moment. However, when Paul was unaffected by the venom the men then began to say Paul must be a god.

 Paul made quite a first impression on the people of Malta! While the Bible does not tell us in this account how Paul responded to the people saying he was a god, we know from other account that this did not please Paul. When others said similar things Paul responded by telling them about the One True God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the way of salvation; I think it is safe to assume that is how he responded here.

 What we do know for sure is that God proved himself faithful. God told Paul that he must go to Rome and be a witness to the men there, telling them about Jesus and the way of salvation. God will never ask us to do something and then leave us to do it on our own. He is always with us, working behind the scene so that everything works out according to His plan. Paul faced many challenges on his way to Rome; he was shipped wrecked and bitten by a poisonous snake, but God was always with him and He is the one who kept Paul safe.

We should trust God because he is God, but he knows that is hard for us. He gave us His word to help us know just how trust worthy He is; we can obey and know He is the one who will do the hard work to get things done!

 I am continually amazed at how slow to catch on I am, it seems every account in scripture points to our need to trust God; yet I still find it instinctive to trust in my own judgment rather than God’s. I have to work at trusting God; I remind myself constantly that He knows better than I do, and that He does not have to run His plans by me before I accept them. I know my children have the same struggle, they often disobey because they don’t trust that I know better than they do.  I think this is why so much of the Bible points us to the importance of trusting God, because the flesh naturally trusts in itself rather than God. If you think back to the garden not trusting God is what got Adam and Eve (as well as the entire human race) in such trouble; they didn’t trust that God was looking our for their best interest, and so they took matters into their own hands. God never holds out on his children, He always provided what we need (what we actually need, not what we think we need).  As parents it’s important that our walks with God are consistent just like Paul’s was; our children watch us they believe what our actions tell them more than our words. In other words if we do not trust God, we cannot expect our children to either.

I am thankful that as I teach my children about God they are not the only ones who are changed, God has been very gracious to show me where I need to repent, especially of prideful self-reliance, and trust in Him. I pray that this is helpful as you labor to lead your children to the cross!

Lessons from the Conversion of Saul for kids (and parents too)

This past week I wrote a lesson for our children’s church on the conversion of Saul, as usually the kids were not the only ones who learned a lesson. The following is a condensed version of the account given in Acts 9:1-22 it takes one minute and fifty seconds to say (Yes, I times it! I have learned that kids 3-6 have a crazy short attention span) :

Not everyone who heard the message of the disciples liked it or was very happy about what it meant. There were even some people, like a man named Saul, a religious Jew, who thought that the apostles and their followers should be put in jail or killed for the things they were saying about God. Because of this follower of Jesus fled Jerusalem for fear they would be arrested or killed. Saul sought papers from the high priest so that he could go and arrest the followers of Jesus who fled, his request was granted.

Saul was on his way to a town called Damascus when he was suddenly surrounded by a bright light, he fell to the ground and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why are persecuting Me?” Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” And the voice answered, “I am Jesus who you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood speechless, they heard the voice but saw nothing. Saul got up from the ground, but was no longer able to see anything. His friends helped him, leading him by the hand to Damascus where Saul neither ate nor drank for three days, but prayed continually.

Jesus appeared to a disciple, Ananias, who lived in Damascus, telling him to go and find Saul, lay his hands on him and heal him, so that he may regain his sight. Ananias was scared, he knew who Saul was, but the Lord reassured Ananias that He was going to work in Saul; all Ananias had to do was obey. Ananias did as the Lord instructed, he went to Saul laying hands on him; he told Saul that Jesus had sent him so that he may regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. As Ananias spoke something like scaled fell from Saul’s eyes and he regained his sight; then Saul got up and was baptized. Immediately following his conversion, Saul began preaching Christ in the synagogues. Later Saul also became know as Paul, he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. 

 

There are so many themes in this account it was hard to decide which one to emphasize to the kids.  The themes that jump out to me are God’s ability to soften the hardest heart; that in God’s wisdom He knows exactly what it will take to open our eyes to His truth; our need to walk in obedience because it is God who works in people’s hearts; and how genuine faith radically changes the direction of our life’s.  For our kids I decided that I obedience was a good focus, and encouraged parents to address the other themes dependent on the kids maturity.

We stressed that Ananias must have been terrified, he knew that going to Saul could mean prison or death, but he obeyed Jesus anyway. As a lesson for the kids I was thinking about how they need to obey mom, dad, and ultimately God regardless of whether they want to or not. They need to know that God has a plan that they may not always understand, but that they must learn to trust that He is always at work. However, the implications of just this one theme from this passage hit me slowly over the corse of a few days. I thought of all of the opportunities I had to witness to people yet failed to, because I just knew that the message of Christ wouldn’t be well received. I also thought of all of the conflicts I slunk away from for fear that addressing differences in perspective or confronting the sin of another in love would ruin a relationship. I though of all the time friends have expressed frustration with a fellow sister in Christ over a sin or difference in perspective, yet they swore up and down that a confrontation would mean the end of a treasured friendship. How often do we fail to obey for fear of something so much less severe than prison or death?

It seems when God is teaching me something He always gives me a situation where I can put what I have learned to work, and this week He did just that. It just so happened that I ran into conflict with my most treasured friend, my husband, on Sunday. I knew I had two options, let the issue go despite the fact it needed to be addressed or deal with it despite the fact I hate, hate, hate to disagree with my husband (he is my absolute favorite person)! It would have been easy to merely wait out the situation, but I knew in my heart that wasn’t right. I needed to be faithful to God, and be willing to listen to what my husband had to say trusting that God would work in both our hearts to bring resolution. I would love to say that we each did everything right, and resolution came easily; however, that is not the case. Initially we really butted heads; however, the next day God really brought resolution. We both walked away softened toward one another, and closer than before the conflict began. I know that if I had not trusted in God to work in the situation the conflict would have eventually faded into our memories, but it would have caused a rift in our unity as a married couple. Our unity is one of the ways we, as a Christian couple, honor God and show an unbelieving world that we truly are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Failing to address our differences in this case would have diminished God’s glory, simply because I was scared making the situation worse instead of trusting the master planner to work his plan out through a small act of obedience. I am so thankful for God’s word, and His work in my life.

I encourage you as you labor to teach God’s word to your children, let it work on your heart too! God used lots of narrative in scripture to reveal his character for a reason, it is far more interesting than a list of rules and we can continually come into a deeper understanding of the principles being taught through the different accounts. Our kids do not learn simply by listening to our words; they watch our lives play out over the years, and they see the nature of our faith. If our lives are not changed by the truths of God’s word, so that we look different than the world around them, they are likely to walk away unchanged by the words we spoke. Pray God would help your children see growth in your walk with the Lord, confess your failures to them, and seek their forgiveness when you sin against them. Remember it is God that does the work in their hearts, all you have to do is walk in obedience!            

Teaching Pentecost

This week we taught the kids at church about the events that occurred on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, one of the major feasts that the Israelites were to observe commemorating God giving of law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Israel becoming a people committed to serving Him. Because of this feast there were lots of Jews in Jerusalem who had the opportunity to see God give the law in a new way. The old law was written on stone tablets, but Israel broke that Law and with it the covenant they had with God. The giving of the Holy Spirit represents the beginning of a new covenant; one in which the law is written on our hearts.

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people…“for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”- Jeremiah 31:31-34

This is a profound reality, one that will take our children a long time to understand. For younger children the connection between the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Holy Spirit is not necessary. As always keep in mind your child’s attention span. Older kids may be able to listen to all of Acts 2, but younger kids will need the narrative paraphrased. As you explain the events of the day of Pentecost point out that before receiving the Holy Spirit Peter was timid, but now spoke with great boldness, proclaiming the gospel. Stress the change displayed in Peter; remind your child that before receiving the Holy Spirit he was afraid to be associated with Jesus denying him three times the the night before the crucifixion, but now in front of all his fellow Jews he proclaimed Christ without fear. A true mark of saving faith is Spirit enabled change in our lives, not that we are now perfect, but we have a new desire to obey and to share our faith with others.

The events on the day of Pentecost are amazing, when Jesus walked on the earth he only had a handful of faithful followers, but the Holy Spirit worked through those faithful few to save three thousand men that day. It’s an exciting story and we should teach it to our children with excitement.

As parents God has entrusted us with a great responsibility to teach our children about Him and His plan for salvation. We want our kids to really understand God’s character and great love for His children; it is His love that leads sinners to repentance. This can only happen as we diligently study Scripture, share the gospel with them often, live out the faith we teach, and continually petitioning God to work in their hearts.

He is Risen!

Today we celebrated Easter by learning about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It really is an easy lesson, I can narrow it down to three words, “He is risen!” However, the deeper meaning is a little more challenging, and it will take years for the entire picture of Jesus death and resurrection to come together for our children. One way that we can help is to make a big deal out of the true meaning of Easter, and down play all of the secular tradition. I’m not saying that Easter egg hunts are bad or sinful, but we need to make sure that these kinds of activities are only very small part of our Easter celebration. The main focus should be on teaching our children about our savior, and worshiping Him for His goodness. In the coming weeks I encourage you to continue to discuss Easter, just because the day ends doesn’t mean our discussion should. The events of Easter weekend are the most significant events in redemptive history; we should treat it as such, and impress them upon our children.

I thought I would share our lesson this week; we serve kids ages 3-6 in our children’s church program. As a result, our lessons must be very short without losing any of the good stuff. As parents, teaching our children at home, we have to remember that certain point will take longer for our kids to grasp, so we must be persistent teaching the same lesson’s over an over again. As they grow in their ability to understand pray that God would work in their heart’s so they would be changed by these truths!

He is Risen!

Luke 24

Review: Can you remember from last week…

• Who was Jesus? (The son of God, fully God and fully man)
• What kind of people did Jesus help? (Sinners)
• How did they kill Jesus? (On a cross)
• Was Jesus being punished for his own sin? (no)
• Whose sin was he suffering for? (All those who will repent, turn from sin, and trust in him)

Lesson: After Jesus died a man names Joseph from a city called Arimathea, who the bible called a good and righteous man, went to the officials and asked for the body of Jesus. He placed Jesus in a tomb; the Sabbath (day of rest) was about to begin so he didn’t have time to properly clean Jesus’ body. On Sunday some of the women took spices and perfumes to the tomb to clean the body of Jesus, but when they arrived they found the tomb open and empty. They were very upset, but suddenly two beautiful angles appeared to them and told them that Jesus was not there because he had been raised from the dead! The angles reminded the women of Jesus’ words, “the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” The women remembered and went to tell the disciples. Can you imagine how happy they must have been? Today we celebrate that though Jesus died paying the penalty for our sins, He was victorious over sin and death, and rose again! His resurrection is the proof of His victory! We can have victory too, if we will repent, turn from sin, and trust in the good works of Jesus!!

Recap:

• Who put Jesus in the tomb? (Joseph of Arimathea)
• Why did the women go to the tomb? (To clean Jesus’ body)
• What did they find when they arrived at the tomb? (The tomb was open and empty)
• Who did they see at the tomb? (2 angles)
• What did the angles tell the women happened to Jesus? (He was risen)
• Why do we celebrate today? (Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, and he rose from the dead as a sign that he was victorious over sin and death!)
•  How can we have victory over sin and death? (turning from sin and trusting in the good works of Christ)

My prayer, one I hope you will make your own:

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for the honor to share Your word with my children, and help others share it with theirs. I ask that you would bless our efforts by working in the hearts of our little ones that they may come to know and love you, and that as we share the good news of the gospel with our children that we too would be changed. Help us to model your love to our kids so that they would see your goodness, not our fallenness! Please let our primary concern be revealing your glory to our children and the world, and not seeking after our own. Thank you so much for sending Jesus to live the perfect life, free from sin, the life I/we cannot life, and then having him stand our place, taking our punishment; so that you could be glorified in the redemption of undeserving people. We thank you for your love and mercy, help us to live every day in light of your sacrifice on the cross! In Your Son’s name I pray, Amen!