Newsletter 82.
Newsletter 82
Ministry update.
2011 was another busy year for "Uncle Maurice", giving over 300 presentations at primary schools, family services, Sunday schools, kids clubs, holiday programmes, camps, Girls Brigade companies, and other organizations.
Children in my classes occasionally give me a card or write me a letter expressing their thoughts on my lessons. Sometimes the most common words in these are "Fun", "Magic tricks", "George" (my ventriloquism dummy), "Puppets", "Stories", "Plays" and "Balloon animals".
I am always pleased to know that the children have enjoyed my lessons. However, all these "props" are intended to be simply tools to aid a child's understanding of a Biblical truth. I am, therefore, much more encouraged when I receive a card or letter that indicates that the writer has really understood and responded to my teaching. Here are three recent comments that blessed me :-
"Thank you for teaching me about the Man above and about good and bad. It has changed me and I feel great." ------- Sue-Elyse (aged 10).
"I have learned a lot of values and to respect everyone, even people younger than me." ----- Ying (aged 11).
"I liked how you explained things through tricks." ------ Tim (aged 8).
Contents.
Teaching tip 54 - Playing for God's team
Object Lesson 72 - Feeding the 5,000.
Question - Did the Apostle John travel through time?
Laugh Break - "Praise the Lord."
T.T. 54 - Playing for God's team.
New Zealand recently hosted the Rugby world cup when the twenty best teams in the world came to compete for the Webb Ellis trophy.
Rugby is, of course, a team game. And the object of team games is that all the individual members work together for the benefit of the team. This is because people working together can achieve much more than a group of individuals. If each team member plays their part, the team usually does well. If, however, one player doesn't play the part he was chosen for, or is missing (perhaps having been sent off for foul play), or simply plays badly, then the whole team will suffer.
The idea of teams comes from God. Actually, God Himself is a team. There is one God, comprising three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, of course, all Three are essential.
Without the Father, there would be nothing. He is the Designer and Creator, so without Him, none of us would exist.
Without the Son (Jesus), we would all still be God's enemies, awaiting His righteous judgement for the sins we have committed. However, the good news is that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. So now we can be forgiven, receive God's gift of eternal life, and spend eternity in heaven.
Without the Holy Spirit, nobody would have believed that Jesus is the Son of God, The Holy Spirit, although He is a real Person, is also the power of God. God does whatever He wants to do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without this, Jesus couldn't have healed the sick, raised the dead, or performed any miracles. Jesus could still have died for us but, without the Holy Spirit, He would never have been raised back to life again.
When Jesus came to earth, He didn't try and do all that He had come to do by Himself. No, He chose a team to help him. Firstly, He chose twelve men (Disciples) whom He trained up on how to share God's love with this world. And then He sent them out to do it. Later, Jesus trained up seventy more disciples, before sending them out. In turn these disciples trained more people to share God's love, and so on and so on. This "training and sending out" still continues about 2000 years later. The members of "Team Jesus" now number in the billions and are found throughout the earth. They are usually simply called "The Church".
A good example of "Team Jesus" in action is in the "Feeding of the 5,000". A young boy gave up his lunch of two fish and fives loaves of bread, Jesus multiplied it, and the Disciples distributed it to the crowd. Without the boy, there would have been no food to multiply. Without Jesus, it would have remained just two fish and five loaves. Without the Disciples, it would have been impossible to distribute the food to all those thousands of people.
With every team, sporting or otherwise, you will notice that all the members have different jobs, skills and abilities. Rugby is an excellent example. If you have seen a Rugby team lining up before a game, you will note that the players are all different. Some are tall, some are short, some are muscular, and some are slim - and yet all still members of the same team! This is because they have different tasks to perform within the team. Some players (the locks) need to be able to jump high to catch the ball, some (e.g. the hooker) need to be able to get down low to scrummage for the ball, some (wingers) need to be able to run fast, some (the props) need to be very strong, some (half backs) need to be able to catch and handle the ball well.
It is, of course, important that each player plays in the right position. Imagine a team where the short half backs played as locks, the big burly props played on the wings and a tall lock played as hooker. Such a team would easily be beaten.
Conclusion.
As with Rugby teams, it is exactly the same with God's team, the Church. God has given us all different gifts and abilities. Some may find they are good at teaching, some at giving, some at helping those in need, some at comforting those who are sad, some at making friends, some at leading groups in singing, some at praying, etc, etc. So it is important to find out what you are good at, and then concentrate on doing that for the benefit and the building up of the Church as a whole.
Object Lesson 72- Feeding the 5,000.
One of the most famous miracles performed by Jesus is "the feeding of the 5,000." Here is an excellent object lesson to help children remember this dramatic story.
Equipment.
You will need a pair of Chinese rice bowls. These have been around for many years, and are available from most "Magic" stores.
Lesson.
The basic idea of the bowls is that you fill the first one with rice, place the empty second bowl over the first, remove the second bowl - and the first is overflowing with rice! In other words, the rice has been multiplied. This illusion can be achieved using many different substances as well as rice. This includes bread, which of course, would fit in very well with your story. However, the bowls are quite large and you would need quite a few slices of bread - which also goes stale after a while. Therefore, I have reverted to using rice, saying "If Jesus did this miracle today, he may well have multiplied rice (Probably the most used food worldwide) instead of bread."
Empty all the rice from the bowls. One of the now "empty" bowls then produces a stream of water. You could say "Maybe after eating the food the people were thirsty, and Jesus made some water for them to drink." Produce the water.
You could go even further with the illusion. "Maybe Jesus decided to give the people wine to drink instead of water. In fact, there was another occasion on which Jesus turned water into wine." Direct your stream of water into an "empty" wine glass (actually containing a little food coloring powder - See Object Lesson 21, Newsletter 8). "Actually, it turned out to be the very best wine." Finish by drinking the "wine".
QUESTION - Did the Apostle John travel through time?
God gave a number of people that we read about in the Bible visions of heaven. The most well known are the visions given to the Apostle John that are recorded in the book of "Revelation". Most Christians believe that these visions were God giving John a glimpse into the future of events that will take place in heaven. In other words, the events that John saw haven't actually happened. yet. Personally, I have never been really comfortable with this belief. To me it seems out of character for God to show people something that hasn't happened.
An alternative view is that God enabled John's spirit to travel through time to witness actual events taking place (In the future, from our perspective).
Is time travel possible? Until recently, If you asked that of any physicist, they would have adamantly denied it, quoting Einstein's special theory of relativity. According to this theory, which has been accepted by all physicists for about 100 years, the speed of light (C) is constant, and nothing can travel faster than light. This means that time travel is impossible. Today, however, many physicists are not so sure and are ready to admit that time travel, in theory, might be possible.
This change of beliefs is because some scientists recently conducted experiments that seem to show that subatomic particles, called neutrinos, can travel faster than light. This has yet to be verified, but if it proves to be true, it means that the cornerstone of our understanding of the Universe is wrong and, in theory at least, time travel is possible. Einstein himself stated that if anything could travel faster than light, then time travel would be possible in theory.
So maybe John, and a few others, did actually travel through time to witness actual events taking place in heaven. After all, if anyone could facilitate this, it would be God, Himself.
Laugh Break - "Praise the Lord."
An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. For instance, she would stand on her front porch and shout, "PRAISE THE LORD!"
Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, "There is no Lord!!"
Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD. GOD, I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!"
The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"
The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Aha! I told you there is no Lord. I bought those groceries, God didn't."
The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, "PRAISE THE LORD!! He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!"
[forwarded by Anne Subia]
Ministry update.
2011 was another busy year for "Uncle Maurice", giving over 300 presentations at primary schools, family services, Sunday schools, kids clubs, holiday programmes, camps, Girls Brigade companies, and other organizations.
Children in my classes occasionally give me a card or write me a letter expressing their thoughts on my lessons. Sometimes the most common words in these are "Fun", "Magic tricks", "George" (my ventriloquism dummy), "Puppets", "Stories", "Plays" and "Balloon animals".
I am always pleased to know that the children have enjoyed my lessons. However, all these "props" are intended to be simply tools to aid a child's understanding of a Biblical truth. I am, therefore, much more encouraged when I receive a card or letter that indicates that the writer has really understood and responded to my teaching. Here are three recent comments that blessed me :-
"Thank you for teaching me about the Man above and about good and bad. It has changed me and I feel great." ------- Sue-Elyse (aged 10).
"I have learned a lot of values and to respect everyone, even people younger than me." ----- Ying (aged 11).
"I liked how you explained things through tricks." ------ Tim (aged 8).
Contents.
Teaching tip 54 - Playing for God's team
Object Lesson 72 - Feeding the 5,000.
Question - Did the Apostle John travel through time?
Laugh Break - "Praise the Lord."
T.T. 54 - Playing for God's team.
New Zealand recently hosted the Rugby world cup when the twenty best teams in the world came to compete for the Webb Ellis trophy.
Rugby is, of course, a team game. And the object of team games is that all the individual members work together for the benefit of the team. This is because people working together can achieve much more than a group of individuals. If each team member plays their part, the team usually does well. If, however, one player doesn't play the part he was chosen for, or is missing (perhaps having been sent off for foul play), or simply plays badly, then the whole team will suffer.
The idea of teams comes from God. Actually, God Himself is a team. There is one God, comprising three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, of course, all Three are essential.
Without the Father, there would be nothing. He is the Designer and Creator, so without Him, none of us would exist.
Without the Son (Jesus), we would all still be God's enemies, awaiting His righteous judgement for the sins we have committed. However, the good news is that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. So now we can be forgiven, receive God's gift of eternal life, and spend eternity in heaven.
Without the Holy Spirit, nobody would have believed that Jesus is the Son of God, The Holy Spirit, although He is a real Person, is also the power of God. God does whatever He wants to do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without this, Jesus couldn't have healed the sick, raised the dead, or performed any miracles. Jesus could still have died for us but, without the Holy Spirit, He would never have been raised back to life again.
When Jesus came to earth, He didn't try and do all that He had come to do by Himself. No, He chose a team to help him. Firstly, He chose twelve men (Disciples) whom He trained up on how to share God's love with this world. And then He sent them out to do it. Later, Jesus trained up seventy more disciples, before sending them out. In turn these disciples trained more people to share God's love, and so on and so on. This "training and sending out" still continues about 2000 years later. The members of "Team Jesus" now number in the billions and are found throughout the earth. They are usually simply called "The Church".
A good example of "Team Jesus" in action is in the "Feeding of the 5,000". A young boy gave up his lunch of two fish and fives loaves of bread, Jesus multiplied it, and the Disciples distributed it to the crowd. Without the boy, there would have been no food to multiply. Without Jesus, it would have remained just two fish and five loaves. Without the Disciples, it would have been impossible to distribute the food to all those thousands of people.
With every team, sporting or otherwise, you will notice that all the members have different jobs, skills and abilities. Rugby is an excellent example. If you have seen a Rugby team lining up before a game, you will note that the players are all different. Some are tall, some are short, some are muscular, and some are slim - and yet all still members of the same team! This is because they have different tasks to perform within the team. Some players (the locks) need to be able to jump high to catch the ball, some (e.g. the hooker) need to be able to get down low to scrummage for the ball, some (wingers) need to be able to run fast, some (the props) need to be very strong, some (half backs) need to be able to catch and handle the ball well.
It is, of course, important that each player plays in the right position. Imagine a team where the short half backs played as locks, the big burly props played on the wings and a tall lock played as hooker. Such a team would easily be beaten.
Conclusion.
As with Rugby teams, it is exactly the same with God's team, the Church. God has given us all different gifts and abilities. Some may find they are good at teaching, some at giving, some at helping those in need, some at comforting those who are sad, some at making friends, some at leading groups in singing, some at praying, etc, etc. So it is important to find out what you are good at, and then concentrate on doing that for the benefit and the building up of the Church as a whole.
Object Lesson 72- Feeding the 5,000.
One of the most famous miracles performed by Jesus is "the feeding of the 5,000." Here is an excellent object lesson to help children remember this dramatic story.
Equipment.
You will need a pair of Chinese rice bowls. These have been around for many years, and are available from most "Magic" stores.
Lesson.
The basic idea of the bowls is that you fill the first one with rice, place the empty second bowl over the first, remove the second bowl - and the first is overflowing with rice! In other words, the rice has been multiplied. This illusion can be achieved using many different substances as well as rice. This includes bread, which of course, would fit in very well with your story. However, the bowls are quite large and you would need quite a few slices of bread - which also goes stale after a while. Therefore, I have reverted to using rice, saying "If Jesus did this miracle today, he may well have multiplied rice (Probably the most used food worldwide) instead of bread."
Empty all the rice from the bowls. One of the now "empty" bowls then produces a stream of water. You could say "Maybe after eating the food the people were thirsty, and Jesus made some water for them to drink." Produce the water.
You could go even further with the illusion. "Maybe Jesus decided to give the people wine to drink instead of water. In fact, there was another occasion on which Jesus turned water into wine." Direct your stream of water into an "empty" wine glass (actually containing a little food coloring powder - See Object Lesson 21, Newsletter 8). "Actually, it turned out to be the very best wine." Finish by drinking the "wine".
QUESTION - Did the Apostle John travel through time?
God gave a number of people that we read about in the Bible visions of heaven. The most well known are the visions given to the Apostle John that are recorded in the book of "Revelation". Most Christians believe that these visions were God giving John a glimpse into the future of events that will take place in heaven. In other words, the events that John saw haven't actually happened. yet. Personally, I have never been really comfortable with this belief. To me it seems out of character for God to show people something that hasn't happened.
An alternative view is that God enabled John's spirit to travel through time to witness actual events taking place (In the future, from our perspective).
Is time travel possible? Until recently, If you asked that of any physicist, they would have adamantly denied it, quoting Einstein's special theory of relativity. According to this theory, which has been accepted by all physicists for about 100 years, the speed of light (C) is constant, and nothing can travel faster than light. This means that time travel is impossible. Today, however, many physicists are not so sure and are ready to admit that time travel, in theory, might be possible.
This change of beliefs is because some scientists recently conducted experiments that seem to show that subatomic particles, called neutrinos, can travel faster than light. This has yet to be verified, but if it proves to be true, it means that the cornerstone of our understanding of the Universe is wrong and, in theory at least, time travel is possible. Einstein himself stated that if anything could travel faster than light, then time travel would be possible in theory.
So maybe John, and a few others, did actually travel through time to witness actual events taking place in heaven. After all, if anyone could facilitate this, it would be God, Himself.
Laugh Break - "Praise the Lord."
An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. For instance, she would stand on her front porch and shout, "PRAISE THE LORD!"
Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, "There is no Lord!!"
Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD. GOD, I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!"
The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"
The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Aha! I told you there is no Lord. I bought those groceries, God didn't."
The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, "PRAISE THE LORD!! He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!"
[forwarded by Anne Subia]
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 12:56 AM
