Newsletter 31
Newsletter 31 from Maurice Sweetsur
Contents.
Teaching tip 19. Teaching Bible stories in context.
1. God's Time Line
2. God's Plan for Man.
3. God's Diary.
4. The Wordless Book.
5. The Seven C's of History.
6. Four words to describe the history of the world.
A Children funny.
I have attempted to make it easier for anyone to find a past lesson or teaching tip among my past Newsletters. You should now always be able to find a complete contents section at the start of my web site on http://mauricesweetsur.blogspot.com/ . However, to view the earliest Newsletters, you will need to go to "Archives" and click on 'September 2004'. (That is not the date they were published, but rather the month they were put on this site).
Over the last three years, I have published a large volume of material - equivalent to about 400 pages! Therefore, to assist in finding what you require, I have started two more 'Blog' sites.containing only Object lessons and Teaching tips respectively.
If you wish to view all my material, go to http://mauricesweetsur.blogspot.com/
If you wish to view only Object lessons, go to http://objectlessons.blogspot.com/
If you wish to view only Teaching tips, go to http://teachinglessons.blogspot.com/
Maurice Sweetsur
mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz
Teaching tip 19 - Teaching Bible stories in context.
I find that many children know a lot of Bible stories, but they have little idea of when they actually happened, or how they fit into God's plan of redemption. Therefore, when teaching Bible stories, I always like to put them into context and so give the children an understanding about where each particular story (or event) fits into God's overall plan for this world. In fact, with each new class I take, I always like to start by giving them an overview of the Bible - God's plan of redemption. There are a number of ways this can be done, and six of them are shared below. I will fill in a few details for the first three, but just give the bare outlines for the others, leaving it to you to fill in as much of the detail as you think appropriate for your class.
1. God's Time Line.
Draw out a time line for the children to view as you talk about it. Begin at Creation, and continue to the present. (You can consult a Study Bible to find the dates of some of the more important events). Include as many events as you wish, but the time line shown below is one I have used. Later in the year when I am telling a Bible story (especially one from the Old Testament), I will refer back to my time line to show where it fits in. (I often intend to go through the year telling the Bible stories in chronological order, but Curriculum considerations - and the fact that in the New Zealand school year, Easter always comes before Christmas! - usually prevent it).
Idea. Get a book of Children's Bible stories that has pictures of all the major characters. Decide which of these you wish to include in your time line. Tape the pages together in such a way that when you now 'flick' through the book you will reveal only the desired characters, and in the right order. You can then use this as a visual aid as you go down the time line.
Introduction. The Bible is the most amazing, wonderful book in the world because it was written by God, Himself. In contrast, every other book has been written by ordinary human beings. The Bible is important to us for four main reasons.
1. It is a book about God. There have been thousands of books written about God, and many of them are very good. But no-one knows God like He knows Himself! So, if you want to know what God is really like, read the Bible.
2. It is a book about ourselves. No-one knows you better than God does, because He made you. So, if you want to know what you are really like, especially on the inside, read the Bible.
3. It is an instruction book for life. God knows what is best for you, what is right and what is wrong. If you let the Bible guide you as you journey through life, it will keep you going the right way and stop you getting into trouble.
4. It tells us how we can become God's forever friend, through faith in His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is more important than anything else in the whole world.
As well as all the above, the Bible is the most exciting, amazing book that has ever been written. It is all about God's plan for the world, and how He used ordinary men, women and children, who were simply prepared to be obedient to him, to do amazing things, perform miracles and overcome much stronger enemies and great obstacles. But what makes the Bible even more exciting is that all the stories in it are true. With most other books, the stories are fiction - they were made up from the imaginations of the authors. But the Bible stories really happened.
Over the year we will be looking some of these amazing stories in more detail, because God caused each one to be written down, so that we could learn something from them. (Some of the stories, I won't have time to tell you. But there is no reason why you cannot read them for yourselves). Firstly though, we are going to have a look at God's time line. The Bible is a record of the history of the world. The Bible records all the major events that have ever happened, or indeed will ever happen, and this time line will give you an idea of what order the events took place in, and how long ago they happened.
Time Line.
Creation. (The Bible indicates about 4,000 BC). God made a perfect world.
Adam and Eve. The first people disobeyed God, and brought sin into the world.
Noah. (2,400 BC). The earth had become so corrupt, that God destroyed it with a flood.
Babel. The origin of different peoples and languages.
Abraham. (1,900 BC). God had a two part plan to make things perfect again. Part 1 was to choose a special people (The Israelites) to be an example of how to live the right way towards God and to others, and also to prepare the way for the coming of His son. He began with Abraham. The rest of the Old Testament is a history of the Israelites. When they were obedient to God, He helped them, did some amazing things through them, and caused them to prosper. When they were disobedient, He allowed things to go wrong.
Joseph. Abraham's Grandson. God caused Joseph to become Prime minister of Egypt, so when there was a famine in Israel, he was able to invite his family (about seventy of them) down to live near him where there was plenty of food.
Moses. (1,400 BC). About four hundred years later the Israelites, now numbering about two million, were still in Egypt, but living as slaves. God used Moses to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them back towards their own (promised) land. He also used Moses to give us the Ten Commandments. These are God's rules for life which, if we obey them, will prevent us from hurting ourselves or others.
Joshua. He actually led the Israelites back to the promised land. He is best known for his part in the battle of Jericho.
Gideon. Another great hero who God used to defeat a great army with just a few men.
Samson. The strong man who lost his strength when he was disobedient and had his hair cut off. But he was still able to defeat God's enemies when his hair began to grow longer again.
Samuel. Who God spoke to in an audible voice while he was still only a young boy.
David. (1,000 BC). Who God used to defeat the giant, Goliath.
Elijah. Who was able to call down fire from Heaven to burn up his sacrifice, and defeat the worshippers of false gods.
Jonah. His disobedience led to him being swallowed by a large fish.
Captivity. (700 BC). Because of their disobedience, God allowed many of the Israelites to be taken captive to Babylon. It seemed as though they were in great danger of becoming extinct, but God still had a plan for them.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to worship the king's golden idol. But God rescued them.
Daniel. He was thrown into a lion's den because he refused to stop praying to the one true God. But God rescued him.
The entire history of the Israelites was a whole series of ups and downs as they were in turn obedient, then disobedient to God. But God remained committed to them throughout the entire 1,900 year period. Eventually, the time was right for God to put Part 2 of his plan into operation.
Jesus. (Year 0). God came to earth Himself as a man, to defeat sin, death and evil. (You could mention some of the miracles that Jesus did).
Crucifixion. (30 AD). This means we can be forgiven and become God's forever friends.
Resurrection. This means God's power is now available to change us and to enable us to live lives of power and love that are pleasing to Him.
The Disciples. (30 AD to Present). Beginning with people like Peter and Paul, 'Believers' began to share the Good News about Jesus, and continue His work on earth. This continues today.
The return of Jesus. Sometime in the future, when He comes back to complete the job of making everything perfect again.
2. God's Plan for Man.
Get each child to cut out a circular piece of light coloured cardboard, about the size of a small dinner plate. Tell the children that they are to imagine that they are the Creator, and that they have to create their own world by drawing on their cardboard whatever they want to have in their world - eg. flowers, birds, animals, people etc.
Allow about 10 min. for this activity, then get all the children to sit down, holding their creations. Get the children to close their eyes, and to imagine their creations coming alive. Stress that each creation is wonderful, with birds singing, animals running and playing together, people laughing, playing and enjoying each other etc.
Next, the children are to imagine that something has gone horribly wrong with their perfect creations. " Oh no! The people have started arguing and hitting each other, weeds have started growing in their beautiful gardens, the animals have started hunting, killing and eating each other. Now, even the people are killing each other."
Explain that because of our deliberate rejection of our Creator, this is exactly what happened with His perfect creation, our world. The question is what could God do about it?
State that the children each have to decide what to do with their now spoiled creations. Give them four choices (it is a good idea to have these displayed in some way):-
1. Destroy their world.
2. Send someone to teach the people of their world how to be good.
3. Go yourself to show the people how to love each other.
4. Give them the power to change and become good.
Get the children to indicate which of the four options they would choose (In my experience the majority usually choose option 1!).
Explain that God still loved His creation despite what had happened, and therefore He rejected option 1, and did not destroy the world. What God did choose were options 2, 3, and 4. He sent people (they were called Prophets) to teach us to be good, but usually we wouldn't listen to them. Then God came Himself, in the form of a man - we knew him as Jesus. He showed us how much God loves us and how we should love each other, but people still killed him. Now we come to option 4. The wonderful news is that Jesus rose from the dead, and that because of his death and resurrection we can be forgiven our wrongdoing and receive God's power to change us and make us good.
3. God's Diary.
"This is my Diary. I am sure some of you keep diaries as well. They are very useful for writing in future appointments we have, or events we are looking forward to. And when they have passed, our diary is a permanent reminder to us about them.
Some events in our lives, like birthdays, are of course more important to us than others, and it is the same with God. I think that if God kept a diary, He would mark in it some events that are more important to him than all the others. In fact, I think God would mark in his diary the following six events as being the most important both to him and to us.
Idea. Make up a simple, but large, diary to show the children as you are talking about the 'six major events'. Staple three pieces of plain paper together, and write on the pages, Creation, God became a man, Jesus died for us, Jesus rose again, Jesus returned to heaven and Jesus returns to earth.
1. Creation. Once absolutely nothing existed, apart from God - no matter (solid things), no space, no time. Then God spoke and brought the Universe into existence by His power. God created a beautiful and perfect earth for us to live on and enjoy. He then created people, in His own likeness, to be his special friends. But the very first people disobeyed God, and that brought sin into the world and spoiled it all. But God still loved His creation, and had a plan to make it good again.
2. God became a man. Because of his great love for us, God became one of us. We called him Jesus. He limited Himself to a human body with a human nature. Thus, Jesus was just like us. For example, he could only be in one place at a time, and he got tired, hungry, thirsty, happy, sad, etc. - just like we do.
3. He died for us. Jesus didn't die of old age, a disease, or an accident. No, he was crucified by wicked men. But the amazing thing was, he allowed it to happen to himself. In fact he died in place of us, so we could be forgiven our sins and become God's forever friends.
4. He rose again. After three days, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that he had beaten sin, sickness, evil and death. Thus Jesus is not like the leaders of other religions. Followers of other religions could probably take you to a tomb somewhere and say "Our leader is in there. He lived, and we believe he was a good man, but then he died and his body is rotting away in that grave." Christians, on the other hand, could take you to a tomb in Jerusalem and say "Our leader died, and his body was placed in that grave over there. But He is not there now. The tomb is empty, because Jesus came alive again!" This means that Jesus is alive today, and he is able to give us all the power we need to change and become the people God wants us to be.
5. He returned to heaven. Six weeks after He rose from the grave, Jesus returned to heaven. But he hasn't gone there to live a life of comfort. No, through his death and resurrection, Jesus won the earth back for God, and He now rules over it through all his followers. The Bible tells us that Jesus is also preparing homes for us to inhabit in heaven one day.
6. Jesus will return to earth again. This, of course, is the only one of these six major events that has not yet happened. But it is something that is certain to happen. God is not like us. We may write a future event in our diaries, and then something may happen to cause it to get cancelled. But when God says something is going to happen, nothing can stop it taking place.
When Jesus returns, it will be to judge the earth. If you have put your trust in Jesus, your judgement is past - Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins, and you are forgiven. If, however, you refuse to let Jesus forgive you, you will have to pay the penalty for your own sins.
Conclusion. Just like our diaries have a final date in them (usually December 31st.), so has God's diary. One day, God will declare, "Time up." That is why it is so important to ensure that you put your trust in Jesus before that 'final date', and to tell as many people that you can about 'God's Diary'.
4. The Wordless book.
This is usually used by teachers in sharing about Easter. However, by simply adding a white page at the beginning, you can use it to describe the whole history of mankind.Thus :-
White. God made a perfect earth.
Black. Sin entered the world.
Red. Jesus shed his blood for us.
White. We are forgiven and cleansed.
Green. We need to grow to become more like Jesus.
Gold. The colour of heaven - our future home.
In place of a Wordless book, I use a Colour change bag (available from www.onewaystreet.com ) for a greater effect. It looks like an ordinary cloth bag, but as you keep turning it inside out it changes to all the colours of a wordless book. If you wish to start your story at 'Creation', begin with 'white', and then you will be able to reveal in turn the colours red, black, red, white, green and gold. For the extra 'red' (prior to the 'black'), I say something like "Sin entered the world and everything went wrong. Red is the colour for blood, and animals began to hunt, kill and eat each other. Even people began to kill each other. Things were so bad, it could only be described by the colour 'black' - - - - - ."
5. The Seven C's of History.
Answers in Genesis ( www.answersingenesis.com ) have produced a series of colourful children's worksheets called "The seven C's of History." Each sheet is full of information and activities, and could be used as the basis for a whole lesson. Alternatively, you could use the "Seven C's" as an overview of the history of the world. Thus :-
1. Creation.
2. Corruption (The Fall of man).
3. Catastrophe (Noah's flood).
4. Confusion (the Tower of Babel).
5. Christ.
6. Cross.
7. Consummation (the new heavens and new Earth).
6. Four words to describe the history of the world.
1. Creation.
2. Deception.
3. Substitution.
4. Restoration.
A Children funny.
"Teacher," announced little Joey, "there's somethin' I can't figger out."
"What's that Joey?" asked the Sunday school teacher.
"Well accordin' to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?"
"Right."
"An' the Children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?"
"Er--right."
"An' the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?"
"Again you're right."
"An' the Children of Israel fought the 'gyptians, an' the Children of Israel fought the Romans, an' the Children of Israel wuz always doin' somethin' important, right?"
"All that is right, too," agreed the teacher. "So what's your question?"
"What I wanna know is this," demanded Joey. "What wuz all the grown-ups doin'?"
Contents.
Teaching tip 19. Teaching Bible stories in context.
1. God's Time Line
2. God's Plan for Man.
3. God's Diary.
4. The Wordless Book.
5. The Seven C's of History.
6. Four words to describe the history of the world.
A Children funny.
I have attempted to make it easier for anyone to find a past lesson or teaching tip among my past Newsletters. You should now always be able to find a complete contents section at the start of my web site on http://mauricesweetsur.blogspot.com/ . However, to view the earliest Newsletters, you will need to go to "Archives" and click on 'September 2004'. (That is not the date they were published, but rather the month they were put on this site).
Over the last three years, I have published a large volume of material - equivalent to about 400 pages! Therefore, to assist in finding what you require, I have started two more 'Blog' sites.containing only Object lessons and Teaching tips respectively.
If you wish to view all my material, go to http://mauricesweetsur.blogspot.com/
If you wish to view only Object lessons, go to http://objectlessons.blogspot.com/
If you wish to view only Teaching tips, go to http://teachinglessons.blogspot.com/
Maurice Sweetsur
mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz
Teaching tip 19 - Teaching Bible stories in context.
I find that many children know a lot of Bible stories, but they have little idea of when they actually happened, or how they fit into God's plan of redemption. Therefore, when teaching Bible stories, I always like to put them into context and so give the children an understanding about where each particular story (or event) fits into God's overall plan for this world. In fact, with each new class I take, I always like to start by giving them an overview of the Bible - God's plan of redemption. There are a number of ways this can be done, and six of them are shared below. I will fill in a few details for the first three, but just give the bare outlines for the others, leaving it to you to fill in as much of the detail as you think appropriate for your class.
1. God's Time Line.
Draw out a time line for the children to view as you talk about it. Begin at Creation, and continue to the present. (You can consult a Study Bible to find the dates of some of the more important events). Include as many events as you wish, but the time line shown below is one I have used. Later in the year when I am telling a Bible story (especially one from the Old Testament), I will refer back to my time line to show where it fits in. (I often intend to go through the year telling the Bible stories in chronological order, but Curriculum considerations - and the fact that in the New Zealand school year, Easter always comes before Christmas! - usually prevent it).
Idea. Get a book of Children's Bible stories that has pictures of all the major characters. Decide which of these you wish to include in your time line. Tape the pages together in such a way that when you now 'flick' through the book you will reveal only the desired characters, and in the right order. You can then use this as a visual aid as you go down the time line.
Introduction. The Bible is the most amazing, wonderful book in the world because it was written by God, Himself. In contrast, every other book has been written by ordinary human beings. The Bible is important to us for four main reasons.
1. It is a book about God. There have been thousands of books written about God, and many of them are very good. But no-one knows God like He knows Himself! So, if you want to know what God is really like, read the Bible.
2. It is a book about ourselves. No-one knows you better than God does, because He made you. So, if you want to know what you are really like, especially on the inside, read the Bible.
3. It is an instruction book for life. God knows what is best for you, what is right and what is wrong. If you let the Bible guide you as you journey through life, it will keep you going the right way and stop you getting into trouble.
4. It tells us how we can become God's forever friend, through faith in His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is more important than anything else in the whole world.
As well as all the above, the Bible is the most exciting, amazing book that has ever been written. It is all about God's plan for the world, and how He used ordinary men, women and children, who were simply prepared to be obedient to him, to do amazing things, perform miracles and overcome much stronger enemies and great obstacles. But what makes the Bible even more exciting is that all the stories in it are true. With most other books, the stories are fiction - they were made up from the imaginations of the authors. But the Bible stories really happened.
Over the year we will be looking some of these amazing stories in more detail, because God caused each one to be written down, so that we could learn something from them. (Some of the stories, I won't have time to tell you. But there is no reason why you cannot read them for yourselves). Firstly though, we are going to have a look at God's time line. The Bible is a record of the history of the world. The Bible records all the major events that have ever happened, or indeed will ever happen, and this time line will give you an idea of what order the events took place in, and how long ago they happened.
Time Line.
Creation. (The Bible indicates about 4,000 BC). God made a perfect world.
Adam and Eve. The first people disobeyed God, and brought sin into the world.
Noah. (2,400 BC). The earth had become so corrupt, that God destroyed it with a flood.
Babel. The origin of different peoples and languages.
Abraham. (1,900 BC). God had a two part plan to make things perfect again. Part 1 was to choose a special people (The Israelites) to be an example of how to live the right way towards God and to others, and also to prepare the way for the coming of His son. He began with Abraham. The rest of the Old Testament is a history of the Israelites. When they were obedient to God, He helped them, did some amazing things through them, and caused them to prosper. When they were disobedient, He allowed things to go wrong.
Joseph. Abraham's Grandson. God caused Joseph to become Prime minister of Egypt, so when there was a famine in Israel, he was able to invite his family (about seventy of them) down to live near him where there was plenty of food.
Moses. (1,400 BC). About four hundred years later the Israelites, now numbering about two million, were still in Egypt, but living as slaves. God used Moses to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them back towards their own (promised) land. He also used Moses to give us the Ten Commandments. These are God's rules for life which, if we obey them, will prevent us from hurting ourselves or others.
Joshua. He actually led the Israelites back to the promised land. He is best known for his part in the battle of Jericho.
Gideon. Another great hero who God used to defeat a great army with just a few men.
Samson. The strong man who lost his strength when he was disobedient and had his hair cut off. But he was still able to defeat God's enemies when his hair began to grow longer again.
Samuel. Who God spoke to in an audible voice while he was still only a young boy.
David. (1,000 BC). Who God used to defeat the giant, Goliath.
Elijah. Who was able to call down fire from Heaven to burn up his sacrifice, and defeat the worshippers of false gods.
Jonah. His disobedience led to him being swallowed by a large fish.
Captivity. (700 BC). Because of their disobedience, God allowed many of the Israelites to be taken captive to Babylon. It seemed as though they were in great danger of becoming extinct, but God still had a plan for them.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to worship the king's golden idol. But God rescued them.
Daniel. He was thrown into a lion's den because he refused to stop praying to the one true God. But God rescued him.
The entire history of the Israelites was a whole series of ups and downs as they were in turn obedient, then disobedient to God. But God remained committed to them throughout the entire 1,900 year period. Eventually, the time was right for God to put Part 2 of his plan into operation.
Jesus. (Year 0). God came to earth Himself as a man, to defeat sin, death and evil. (You could mention some of the miracles that Jesus did).
Crucifixion. (30 AD). This means we can be forgiven and become God's forever friends.
Resurrection. This means God's power is now available to change us and to enable us to live lives of power and love that are pleasing to Him.
The Disciples. (30 AD to Present). Beginning with people like Peter and Paul, 'Believers' began to share the Good News about Jesus, and continue His work on earth. This continues today.
The return of Jesus. Sometime in the future, when He comes back to complete the job of making everything perfect again.
2. God's Plan for Man.
Get each child to cut out a circular piece of light coloured cardboard, about the size of a small dinner plate. Tell the children that they are to imagine that they are the Creator, and that they have to create their own world by drawing on their cardboard whatever they want to have in their world - eg. flowers, birds, animals, people etc.
Allow about 10 min. for this activity, then get all the children to sit down, holding their creations. Get the children to close their eyes, and to imagine their creations coming alive. Stress that each creation is wonderful, with birds singing, animals running and playing together, people laughing, playing and enjoying each other etc.
Next, the children are to imagine that something has gone horribly wrong with their perfect creations. " Oh no! The people have started arguing and hitting each other, weeds have started growing in their beautiful gardens, the animals have started hunting, killing and eating each other. Now, even the people are killing each other."
Explain that because of our deliberate rejection of our Creator, this is exactly what happened with His perfect creation, our world. The question is what could God do about it?
State that the children each have to decide what to do with their now spoiled creations. Give them four choices (it is a good idea to have these displayed in some way):-
1. Destroy their world.
2. Send someone to teach the people of their world how to be good.
3. Go yourself to show the people how to love each other.
4. Give them the power to change and become good.
Get the children to indicate which of the four options they would choose (In my experience the majority usually choose option 1!).
Explain that God still loved His creation despite what had happened, and therefore He rejected option 1, and did not destroy the world. What God did choose were options 2, 3, and 4. He sent people (they were called Prophets) to teach us to be good, but usually we wouldn't listen to them. Then God came Himself, in the form of a man - we knew him as Jesus. He showed us how much God loves us and how we should love each other, but people still killed him. Now we come to option 4. The wonderful news is that Jesus rose from the dead, and that because of his death and resurrection we can be forgiven our wrongdoing and receive God's power to change us and make us good.
3. God's Diary.
"This is my Diary. I am sure some of you keep diaries as well. They are very useful for writing in future appointments we have, or events we are looking forward to. And when they have passed, our diary is a permanent reminder to us about them.
Some events in our lives, like birthdays, are of course more important to us than others, and it is the same with God. I think that if God kept a diary, He would mark in it some events that are more important to him than all the others. In fact, I think God would mark in his diary the following six events as being the most important both to him and to us.
Idea. Make up a simple, but large, diary to show the children as you are talking about the 'six major events'. Staple three pieces of plain paper together, and write on the pages, Creation, God became a man, Jesus died for us, Jesus rose again, Jesus returned to heaven and Jesus returns to earth.
1. Creation. Once absolutely nothing existed, apart from God - no matter (solid things), no space, no time. Then God spoke and brought the Universe into existence by His power. God created a beautiful and perfect earth for us to live on and enjoy. He then created people, in His own likeness, to be his special friends. But the very first people disobeyed God, and that brought sin into the world and spoiled it all. But God still loved His creation, and had a plan to make it good again.
2. God became a man. Because of his great love for us, God became one of us. We called him Jesus. He limited Himself to a human body with a human nature. Thus, Jesus was just like us. For example, he could only be in one place at a time, and he got tired, hungry, thirsty, happy, sad, etc. - just like we do.
3. He died for us. Jesus didn't die of old age, a disease, or an accident. No, he was crucified by wicked men. But the amazing thing was, he allowed it to happen to himself. In fact he died in place of us, so we could be forgiven our sins and become God's forever friends.
4. He rose again. After three days, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that he had beaten sin, sickness, evil and death. Thus Jesus is not like the leaders of other religions. Followers of other religions could probably take you to a tomb somewhere and say "Our leader is in there. He lived, and we believe he was a good man, but then he died and his body is rotting away in that grave." Christians, on the other hand, could take you to a tomb in Jerusalem and say "Our leader died, and his body was placed in that grave over there. But He is not there now. The tomb is empty, because Jesus came alive again!" This means that Jesus is alive today, and he is able to give us all the power we need to change and become the people God wants us to be.
5. He returned to heaven. Six weeks after He rose from the grave, Jesus returned to heaven. But he hasn't gone there to live a life of comfort. No, through his death and resurrection, Jesus won the earth back for God, and He now rules over it through all his followers. The Bible tells us that Jesus is also preparing homes for us to inhabit in heaven one day.
6. Jesus will return to earth again. This, of course, is the only one of these six major events that has not yet happened. But it is something that is certain to happen. God is not like us. We may write a future event in our diaries, and then something may happen to cause it to get cancelled. But when God says something is going to happen, nothing can stop it taking place.
When Jesus returns, it will be to judge the earth. If you have put your trust in Jesus, your judgement is past - Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins, and you are forgiven. If, however, you refuse to let Jesus forgive you, you will have to pay the penalty for your own sins.
Conclusion. Just like our diaries have a final date in them (usually December 31st.), so has God's diary. One day, God will declare, "Time up." That is why it is so important to ensure that you put your trust in Jesus before that 'final date', and to tell as many people that you can about 'God's Diary'.
4. The Wordless book.
This is usually used by teachers in sharing about Easter. However, by simply adding a white page at the beginning, you can use it to describe the whole history of mankind.Thus :-
White. God made a perfect earth.
Black. Sin entered the world.
Red. Jesus shed his blood for us.
White. We are forgiven and cleansed.
Green. We need to grow to become more like Jesus.
Gold. The colour of heaven - our future home.
In place of a Wordless book, I use a Colour change bag (available from www.onewaystreet.com ) for a greater effect. It looks like an ordinary cloth bag, but as you keep turning it inside out it changes to all the colours of a wordless book. If you wish to start your story at 'Creation', begin with 'white', and then you will be able to reveal in turn the colours red, black, red, white, green and gold. For the extra 'red' (prior to the 'black'), I say something like "Sin entered the world and everything went wrong. Red is the colour for blood, and animals began to hunt, kill and eat each other. Even people began to kill each other. Things were so bad, it could only be described by the colour 'black' - - - - - ."
5. The Seven C's of History.
Answers in Genesis ( www.answersingenesis.com ) have produced a series of colourful children's worksheets called "The seven C's of History." Each sheet is full of information and activities, and could be used as the basis for a whole lesson. Alternatively, you could use the "Seven C's" as an overview of the history of the world. Thus :-
1. Creation.
2. Corruption (The Fall of man).
3. Catastrophe (Noah's flood).
4. Confusion (the Tower of Babel).
5. Christ.
6. Cross.
7. Consummation (the new heavens and new Earth).
6. Four words to describe the history of the world.
1. Creation.
2. Deception.
3. Substitution.
4. Restoration.
A Children funny.
"Teacher," announced little Joey, "there's somethin' I can't figger out."
"What's that Joey?" asked the Sunday school teacher.
"Well accordin' to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?"
"Right."
"An' the Children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?"
"Er--right."
"An' the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?"
"Again you're right."
"An' the Children of Israel fought the 'gyptians, an' the Children of Israel fought the Romans, an' the Children of Israel wuz always doin' somethin' important, right?"
"All that is right, too," agreed the teacher. "So what's your question?"
"What I wanna know is this," demanded Joey. "What wuz all the grown-ups doin'?"
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 10:38 PM
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