Newsletter 39.
Newsletter 39 from Maurice Sweetsur
Contents.
Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?
- Story of Blondin.
Story - God uses children (Wesley Steelberg).
O.L. 56 - God's protection (Blow paper into bottle).
Things kids say (4).
I am happy to report that my Object lesson web site ( http://objectlessons.blogspot.com/ ) is now up and running again. I have also started a fourth "Blog' devoted exclusively to stories, skits and puppet plays. Check it out on :-http://christianstoriesandplays.blogspot.com
Maurice Sweetsur
Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?
Many children (and adults) say something like "I have always believed in Jesus Christ." We need to teach them the difference between 'head belief' (which many have) and 'heart belief' which is what the Bible means when it talks about "believing in Jesus." Head belief doesn't cost very much and is worth very little. It may satisfy someone's conscience, but it will not satisfy a holy God.
WHAT IS HEART BELIEF?
HEART BELIEF is the kind of belief in Christ that we will have if we are true Christians.
HEART BELIEF is in three parts.
1. We hear a truth.
2. We believe the truth.
3. We commit ourselves to that truth.
For example:
1. We hear a parachute will save us.
2. We believe a parachute will save us.
3.We are not actually being saved by the parachute until we have jumped from the doomed aircraft and committed ourselves to that parachute.
The same principles of belief can be applied to faith in Jesus Christ.
1. We hear that Jesus through his death and resurrection can save us.
2. We believe that Jesus can save us.
3. We are not actually being saved by Jesus until we have jumped from our trust in ourselves or anything that we can do and committed ourselves to Jesus Christ alone.
It is only then that Christ enters our lives to take up His rightful place as our Lord and begins to transform us into the people He intends us to be.
Story - Blondin.
In 1860 the famous French tight-rope walker Blondin walked across the top of Niagara gorge. The huge crowd that had gathered to watch the feat applauded loudly. But them Blondin challenged them "How many of you believe that I can walk back across the rope carrying a man on my back?" Everyone put a hand up. They all believed that Blondin could do this. "Right" said Blondin "Which one of you is going to be that man?" Everyone's hand went down!
Although everybody in the crowd really believed in their heads that Blondin could carry a man across that rope, not one of them believed it in their hearts and were prepared to be that man and commit themselves to the tight-rope walker.
This story is a good illustration of the difference between head and heart belief. Likewise, many people believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for their sins, but they are not prepared to commit their lives totally to Him. They believe with their heads, but not with their hearts. The Bible makes it clear, however, that head belief will not get us into heaven. Heart belief - a total commitment to and trust in Jesus alone - is what is needed.
God uses children - the story of Wesley Steelberg.
Almost 100 years ago young Wesley Steelberg was on his own in the basement of his house doing his weekly chore - cleaning it up. It was a job he didn't really like, but he knew he had to be obedient to whatever his parents asked him to do. Suddenly Wesley heard someone calling his name "Wesley, Wesley." "That's my Dad" thought Wesley "He's the only other person in the house right now." Ascending from the basement, Wesley approached his dad. "Yes dad, what do you want?" His dad replied "What do you mean, what do I want?" "You called me." responded Wesley. "I most certainly did not " replied his dad, "Now get back down to the basement and finish your chore."
Feeling rather puzzled, Wesley returned to the basement "I'm sure someone called my name, but if it wasn't my dad, who could it be?" thought Wesley. Wesley had hardly started work again when he heard the voice a second time "Wesley, Wesley." "That's definitely my dad this time" thought Wesley as he came up from the basement again. "Yes dad, you definitely called me this time" said Wesley as he approached his dad. Wesley's dad began to look rather angry. "I did not call you" he retorted "If this is some trick of yours to get out of cleaning the basement, it's not going to work. Now get back down those stairs and finish your job."
Back in the basement, Wesley was beginning to feel a little scared. If his dad hadn't been calling out his name, who could it have been? "Wesley, Wesley" came the voice for the third time. A rather frightened Wesley ran up the basement stairs, three at a time! "You've been kidding me" said Wesley as he came up to his dad. "Please tell me you're having a joke with me. You've been calling out my name, and then pretending it wasn't you?"
Wesley's dad was just about to send his son back to the basement when he suddenly remembered a story that he'd read in the Bible about a little boy called Samuel who was about the same age as Wesley. Samuel worked in God's temple for the High Priest, Eli. One night while in his bed Samuel heard someone calling his name. He thought it must be Eli, but Eli said that it wasn't and sent Samuel back to his bed. Twice more, Samuel heard his name being called. On the third occasion, Eli worked out what must be happening. If he wasn't calling Samuel, it must be God! So Eli told Samuel to go back to his bed, but if he heard his name being called again to say "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." That is what happened, and God did speak to Samuel in an audible voice - and told him lots of things that were going to happen to Eli's family.
Wesley's dad thought "If God could speak to Samuel in an audible voice, perhaps He also wanted to speak to Wesley in the same way." Thus Wesley was instructed to return to the basement, but if he heard his name being called again to say "Yes God, what do you want?"
A fourth time Wesley heard his name being called "Yes God, what do you want" he replied. And God did speak to him. He said "I want you to go to your next door neighbour and tell him that I love him and sent my Son, Jesus to die for his sins." Wow! Not only was God speaking to him, He was actually giving him a job to do - and there is nothing more important than being used by God. There was only one problem. Wesley didn't really like his next door neighbour, because he was a bit of a 'grumpy' man. However Wesley reasoned that if God was telling him to go to the man, it must be important, so he was obedient.
Wesley knocked on his neighbour's door, and asked to see the man. However, he was told that he couldn't do so because the man was very sick. In fact, he was not expected to live for much longer. Wesley pleaded to be allowed to see his neighbour, and eventually was allowed into his bedroom to deliver God's message. "God has sent me to tell you that He loves you, and sent his Son, Jesus to die for your sins." On hearing the message, the sick man immediately burst into tears.
As it transpired, that man had lived all his life as though God didn't exist. He just lived a very self-centred life. In fact, he wasn't even sure if God was real. But when he got sick and realised that he was dying, he became very worried because he didn't know what would happen to him after he died. So that very day he had prayed for probably one of the first times ever. His prayer was "God, if you are real, if you really exist, send someone to tell me about you." And God heard and answered his prayer. God didn't send a famous preacher to the man, or even the local Pastor. He sent the little boy from next door!
That night the sick man repented of his sins and gave his life to Jesus. Shortly afterwards he died, and we believe he went straight to heaven, not because he had led a good life, but because, in the end, he had put his trust in Jesus.
When Wesley Steelberg grew up, he became quite a famous preacher, and used to speak to thousands of people about Jesus in his meetings. But God first began to speak to and use Wesley while he was still a young boy. This reminds us that you don't have to be old (or clever, or rich) to be used by God. You only have to be one thing - Obedient, just like Wesley.
God can speak to us in many different ways (see Teaching tip 16 - How God speaks to us {Newsletter 28}). The way He choses to speak to us is not important. The important thing is: Are we like Wesley and obedient to what God says?
Object lesson 56 - God's protection (Blow paper into bottle).
Here is a simple, but intriguing object lesson that can be used to illustrate any story involving God's protection. This is how I would apply it for 'Daniel in the lion's den'.
Take an empty narrow-necked bottle (this could represent the den). Place a small model of a man (representing Daniel) into the bottle. Draw a picture of a lion on a small piece of paper. (Alternatively, you could just write 'Lion' on your paper). Screw the paper up into a small ball. Hold your bottle in a horizontal position, and place the paper into it's neck. Invite as many children as you wish to try and blow the paper into the bottle, thus representing the lion's attempt to get to Daniel.
You will find that the children will be unable to blow the paper from the neck into the main body of the bottle! In fact the opposite will happen, and the paper will be propelled backwards right out of the bottle. The harder someone blows, the faster and further the paper will be propelled away from Daniel and the bottle.
Explanation. There is already air in your 'empty' bottle, and when someone blows more air into the bottle (whilst attempting to blow the paper in), this will result in the air pressure inside the bottle now becoming higher than that outside - with the result that the paper is forced away from the bottle rather than into it.
Things kids say (4).
From mash: We were at my husband's grandmother's funeral with our four year old son. We were at the graveside and the casket was about to be lowered. Our son, being a keen Sunday School student, knew that when Jesus died, he rose again. When the casket began to be lowered, and many of our family were crying, our son said in his loudest voice "When is Great Nan going to rise again"! It certainly relieved the tension of the moment.
From Jennifer Raehl: My then two year old was trying very hard to remember her Bible memory verse the day of her sister's birthday party. After being prompted several times with "For God so loved...", she finally said, "For God so loved the world that He gave us cake."
From Mary Haines: During a quiet moment at a wedding rehearsal, a pastor friend's three-year-old loudly asked his mom, "Is this when they nail the guy to the cross?"
From Ann Bower: While teaching second grade Sunday School one of the scripture memory verses was Psalm 119:11. The next Sunday I asked the children, "Why do we have memory verses?" The answer of course was Psalm 119:11, but no one came up with it. One little girl's answer was: "So when we are 35 or so, we won't have to look them up."
From Gwen Hurst-Anderson:
I was teaching 1st & 2nd grade Sunday schoolers to pray the Lord's prayer. I encouraged the children to ask questions. As we were learning the first phrase of the prayer, "Our Father, who art in Heaven . . . " one of the children raised his hand. "Hey, who's Art?" he asked.
A group of 3rd & 4th graders was learning about Noah and the ark. We talked about the ark, the animals, the 40 days of rain, and about Noah. "At first Noah really didn't want to do what God asked," I said. "Can anyone tell me why?" One of the children blurted out, "Well, I wouldn't either if I knew I had to scoop all that poop!"
Contents.
Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?
- Story of Blondin.
Story - God uses children (Wesley Steelberg).
O.L. 56 - God's protection (Blow paper into bottle).
Things kids say (4).
I am happy to report that my Object lesson web site ( http://objectlessons.blogspot.com/ ) is now up and running again. I have also started a fourth "Blog' devoted exclusively to stories, skits and puppet plays. Check it out on :-http://christianstoriesandplays.blogspot.com
Maurice Sweetsur
Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?
Many children (and adults) say something like "I have always believed in Jesus Christ." We need to teach them the difference between 'head belief' (which many have) and 'heart belief' which is what the Bible means when it talks about "believing in Jesus." Head belief doesn't cost very much and is worth very little. It may satisfy someone's conscience, but it will not satisfy a holy God.
WHAT IS HEART BELIEF?
HEART BELIEF is the kind of belief in Christ that we will have if we are true Christians.
HEART BELIEF is in three parts.
1. We hear a truth.
2. We believe the truth.
3. We commit ourselves to that truth.
For example:
1. We hear a parachute will save us.
2. We believe a parachute will save us.
3.We are not actually being saved by the parachute until we have jumped from the doomed aircraft and committed ourselves to that parachute.
The same principles of belief can be applied to faith in Jesus Christ.
1. We hear that Jesus through his death and resurrection can save us.
2. We believe that Jesus can save us.
3. We are not actually being saved by Jesus until we have jumped from our trust in ourselves or anything that we can do and committed ourselves to Jesus Christ alone.
It is only then that Christ enters our lives to take up His rightful place as our Lord and begins to transform us into the people He intends us to be.
Story - Blondin.
In 1860 the famous French tight-rope walker Blondin walked across the top of Niagara gorge. The huge crowd that had gathered to watch the feat applauded loudly. But them Blondin challenged them "How many of you believe that I can walk back across the rope carrying a man on my back?" Everyone put a hand up. They all believed that Blondin could do this. "Right" said Blondin "Which one of you is going to be that man?" Everyone's hand went down!
Although everybody in the crowd really believed in their heads that Blondin could carry a man across that rope, not one of them believed it in their hearts and were prepared to be that man and commit themselves to the tight-rope walker.
This story is a good illustration of the difference between head and heart belief. Likewise, many people believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for their sins, but they are not prepared to commit their lives totally to Him. They believe with their heads, but not with their hearts. The Bible makes it clear, however, that head belief will not get us into heaven. Heart belief - a total commitment to and trust in Jesus alone - is what is needed.
God uses children - the story of Wesley Steelberg.
Almost 100 years ago young Wesley Steelberg was on his own in the basement of his house doing his weekly chore - cleaning it up. It was a job he didn't really like, but he knew he had to be obedient to whatever his parents asked him to do. Suddenly Wesley heard someone calling his name "Wesley, Wesley." "That's my Dad" thought Wesley "He's the only other person in the house right now." Ascending from the basement, Wesley approached his dad. "Yes dad, what do you want?" His dad replied "What do you mean, what do I want?" "You called me." responded Wesley. "I most certainly did not " replied his dad, "Now get back down to the basement and finish your chore."
Feeling rather puzzled, Wesley returned to the basement "I'm sure someone called my name, but if it wasn't my dad, who could it be?" thought Wesley. Wesley had hardly started work again when he heard the voice a second time "Wesley, Wesley." "That's definitely my dad this time" thought Wesley as he came up from the basement again. "Yes dad, you definitely called me this time" said Wesley as he approached his dad. Wesley's dad began to look rather angry. "I did not call you" he retorted "If this is some trick of yours to get out of cleaning the basement, it's not going to work. Now get back down those stairs and finish your job."
Back in the basement, Wesley was beginning to feel a little scared. If his dad hadn't been calling out his name, who could it have been? "Wesley, Wesley" came the voice for the third time. A rather frightened Wesley ran up the basement stairs, three at a time! "You've been kidding me" said Wesley as he came up to his dad. "Please tell me you're having a joke with me. You've been calling out my name, and then pretending it wasn't you?"
Wesley's dad was just about to send his son back to the basement when he suddenly remembered a story that he'd read in the Bible about a little boy called Samuel who was about the same age as Wesley. Samuel worked in God's temple for the High Priest, Eli. One night while in his bed Samuel heard someone calling his name. He thought it must be Eli, but Eli said that it wasn't and sent Samuel back to his bed. Twice more, Samuel heard his name being called. On the third occasion, Eli worked out what must be happening. If he wasn't calling Samuel, it must be God! So Eli told Samuel to go back to his bed, but if he heard his name being called again to say "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." That is what happened, and God did speak to Samuel in an audible voice - and told him lots of things that were going to happen to Eli's family.
Wesley's dad thought "If God could speak to Samuel in an audible voice, perhaps He also wanted to speak to Wesley in the same way." Thus Wesley was instructed to return to the basement, but if he heard his name being called again to say "Yes God, what do you want?"
A fourth time Wesley heard his name being called "Yes God, what do you want" he replied. And God did speak to him. He said "I want you to go to your next door neighbour and tell him that I love him and sent my Son, Jesus to die for his sins." Wow! Not only was God speaking to him, He was actually giving him a job to do - and there is nothing more important than being used by God. There was only one problem. Wesley didn't really like his next door neighbour, because he was a bit of a 'grumpy' man. However Wesley reasoned that if God was telling him to go to the man, it must be important, so he was obedient.
Wesley knocked on his neighbour's door, and asked to see the man. However, he was told that he couldn't do so because the man was very sick. In fact, he was not expected to live for much longer. Wesley pleaded to be allowed to see his neighbour, and eventually was allowed into his bedroom to deliver God's message. "God has sent me to tell you that He loves you, and sent his Son, Jesus to die for your sins." On hearing the message, the sick man immediately burst into tears.
As it transpired, that man had lived all his life as though God didn't exist. He just lived a very self-centred life. In fact, he wasn't even sure if God was real. But when he got sick and realised that he was dying, he became very worried because he didn't know what would happen to him after he died. So that very day he had prayed for probably one of the first times ever. His prayer was "God, if you are real, if you really exist, send someone to tell me about you." And God heard and answered his prayer. God didn't send a famous preacher to the man, or even the local Pastor. He sent the little boy from next door!
That night the sick man repented of his sins and gave his life to Jesus. Shortly afterwards he died, and we believe he went straight to heaven, not because he had led a good life, but because, in the end, he had put his trust in Jesus.
When Wesley Steelberg grew up, he became quite a famous preacher, and used to speak to thousands of people about Jesus in his meetings. But God first began to speak to and use Wesley while he was still a young boy. This reminds us that you don't have to be old (or clever, or rich) to be used by God. You only have to be one thing - Obedient, just like Wesley.
God can speak to us in many different ways (see Teaching tip 16 - How God speaks to us {Newsletter 28}). The way He choses to speak to us is not important. The important thing is: Are we like Wesley and obedient to what God says?
Object lesson 56 - God's protection (Blow paper into bottle).
Here is a simple, but intriguing object lesson that can be used to illustrate any story involving God's protection. This is how I would apply it for 'Daniel in the lion's den'.
Take an empty narrow-necked bottle (this could represent the den). Place a small model of a man (representing Daniel) into the bottle. Draw a picture of a lion on a small piece of paper. (Alternatively, you could just write 'Lion' on your paper). Screw the paper up into a small ball. Hold your bottle in a horizontal position, and place the paper into it's neck. Invite as many children as you wish to try and blow the paper into the bottle, thus representing the lion's attempt to get to Daniel.
You will find that the children will be unable to blow the paper from the neck into the main body of the bottle! In fact the opposite will happen, and the paper will be propelled backwards right out of the bottle. The harder someone blows, the faster and further the paper will be propelled away from Daniel and the bottle.
Explanation. There is already air in your 'empty' bottle, and when someone blows more air into the bottle (whilst attempting to blow the paper in), this will result in the air pressure inside the bottle now becoming higher than that outside - with the result that the paper is forced away from the bottle rather than into it.
Things kids say (4).
From mash: We were at my husband's grandmother's funeral with our four year old son. We were at the graveside and the casket was about to be lowered. Our son, being a keen Sunday School student, knew that when Jesus died, he rose again. When the casket began to be lowered, and many of our family were crying, our son said in his loudest voice "When is Great Nan going to rise again"! It certainly relieved the tension of the moment.
From Jennifer Raehl: My then two year old was trying very hard to remember her Bible memory verse the day of her sister's birthday party. After being prompted several times with "For God so loved...", she finally said, "For God so loved the world that He gave us cake."
From Mary Haines: During a quiet moment at a wedding rehearsal, a pastor friend's three-year-old loudly asked his mom, "Is this when they nail the guy to the cross?"
From Ann Bower: While teaching second grade Sunday School one of the scripture memory verses was Psalm 119:11. The next Sunday I asked the children, "Why do we have memory verses?" The answer of course was Psalm 119:11, but no one came up with it. One little girl's answer was: "So when we are 35 or so, we won't have to look them up."
From Gwen Hurst-Anderson:
I was teaching 1st & 2nd grade Sunday schoolers to pray the Lord's prayer. I encouraged the children to ask questions. As we were learning the first phrase of the prayer, "Our Father, who art in Heaven . . . " one of the children raised his hand. "Hey, who's Art?" he asked.
A group of 3rd & 4th graders was learning about Noah and the ark. We talked about the ark, the animals, the 40 days of rain, and about Noah. "At first Noah really didn't want to do what God asked," I said. "Can anyone tell me why?" One of the children blurted out, "Well, I wouldn't either if I knew I had to scoop all that poop!"
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 11:24 PM
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