Being Thankful for Jesus

This week, our kids learned just what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, why Jesus is so important to us, and why we should be so very thankful for Him. In small group, the kids made necklaces to remind them why and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. The necklace will help the children tell their friends about Jesus too. The bead color representation and discussion is listed below so you can continue to learn with your child this week:

Black – represents our sin. God says that we all have sinned. Not one of us has ever been without sin except Jesus.
Purple – is a color of royalty, like a king. It represents Jesus, God’s Son and our king who came to earth and lived a life without sin so He could save us from our sinful life.
Red – represents what Jesus did on the cross for us. He chose to die on the cross to pay the price for our sins.
White – represents us when we when we believe in Jesus and accept His forgiveness of our sins. God sees us now as pure, white as snow…completely forgiven of all our sins. White represents the new life we have in Jesus.
Blue – represents eternal life. God tells us that when we believe in Jesus and accept His forgiveness, He gives us the gift of eternal life, a life that never ends.
Green – represents growing. Just as we grow taller every year, we want to grow in our relationship with Jesus. We do that by reading His word, coming to KidzStuff, praying, serving, and forgiving others just as Jesus has forgiven us.
Gold – represents heaven. This is where Jesus is today and He has gone there to prepare a place for us to come join Him there. Heaven is where we will live eternally with Jesus.

God Always Provides

This week in KidzStuff, our kids learned that God always provides. As we listened to the story of how God provided the Israelites with food by sending quail and manna, we learned a few valuable lessons. 1) God hears our prayers and even our grumblings. 2) God always gives us just what we need. 3) The way God chooses to provide for us may not be the way we want. 4) We should be thankful to God in all circumstances, good and bad.

In small group, the kids began making a door hanger to remind them of what they learned about giving thanks to God in all things. Be sure moms and dads to help your child finish their craft this week. Working on it together will give you an opportunity to further teach your child the value of having an attitude of gratitude, which is pleasing to God. Help your children to discover the gifts that God gives them each day, and spend time thanking Him together. Put your “Thankfulness” craft in a location where you can see it every day as a reminder of God’s desire for us to be thankful at all times.

How Thankful Are You For Your Family?

In a world that devalues the family unit, it is vital to the life and health of our families to teach our kids God’s perspective on family. Our families, in all our imperfections, are a precious gift to us. This week, we learned in KidzStuff, through the story of Ruth and Naomi, that when families stick together, encourage each other, help each other, love each other, treat each other with kindness and respect, and forgive each other, we are doing what is pleasing to God. We helped our kids to understand that God has given us our family, and that we can show God how thankful we are for our family by how we treat each other and how we help each other. Spend some time this week talking to your child about ways that they can show God’s love and their appreciation for the Family that God has given them. You will find a guide on the devotion page Monday evening.

The Gift of Friendship

A good friend is an awesome gift from God. That’s exactly what our kids took home today. Just like Jonathan helped his friend David out of a tough and dangerous situation in I Samuel 20, we too are to help our friends out in time of need. Thinking about all the good character traits that David and Jonathan had helped us to determine the kind of character that makes a good friend. We learned how to be a good friend and how to choose a good friend.

The children are understanding that being a good friend takes work and sacrifice. They are also learning that having a good friend is a gift from God in which we are to be very thankful for.

Celebration

This past Sunday, our whole church celebrated all that God has done in our lives over the past 40 days. In KidzStuff, the kids heard the story of the prodigal son, found in the book of Luke. Although the prodigal son had lived life his own way, eventually he came back to his father’s house. Because his father loved him so much, there was a great celebration when his son came home. Our heavenly Father also celebrates when we follow His plan for our life. In order to truly celebrate the life God has given us, we need to continually follow after God’s plan for our lives. We can learn from the prodigal son to follow God’s plan and not our own. When we do that, we’ll enjoy life to its fullest and find true celebration!

What an awesome lesson, not just for our kids, but for all of us, to live according to God’s plan and purpose and then experience Him working in us and through us.

During small group, we celebrated God with a pizza party. We sat around, sharing a meal and sharing all the ways that we have experienced God. I am forever amazed at how open our kids are to God’s working in their lives, from the small day in and day out things God does to the big ways He steps in and changes our situations. And then to watch them really celebrate God in all things makes me realize that we adults have a lot to learn from our kids.

Worshiping Together

This week in KidzStuff, our kids heard the story about Jesus healing the blind man. Through this story, the kids saw how Jesus showed his generosity to the blind man by healing him. The man responded to Jesus by immediately praising and worshipping him. After the healed man began to worship Jesus, others saw what he was doing. His worship was contagious to the entire crowd around him. As the kids heard this story, they began to see the value of expressing our gratitude to Jesus by praising him. They saw that when we worship Jesus, our worship will be contagious and others will follow as well.

It is so important to thank God for all that he has done for us. We do this by worshipping him. We can worship God by giving back to others. Some ways we can do this is by helping out in our community, tithing to our church (tithing means giving 10% of what we earn—like our allowance—back to God), and giving to those who are in need. We also worship God by talking to Him, listening to Him, and obeying Him. If we do these acts of worship, people will see God working through us. Through our act of giving, trusting, and following God, we are actually worshiping God!

In small groups this week, the kids made posters to remind them who God is to them so they can thank Him and worship Him everyday. Some of the names on their posters include, “The Good Shepherd”, “Savior”, “Forgiver”, “God of Peace”, etc. Moms and dads, I encourage you to put their posters in a place where you and your child can see it. That way, you will be reminded to talk about who Jesus is each day and worship Him together.

Serving Together

This week in KidzStuff, our children learned the value of serving together. Though the Bible story of the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus, who blessed it and then feed over 5000 people with it, the kids learned that you don’t have to wait to be a grown up to serve.

The boy had no idea what was about to happen. Can you imagine having someone taking your small lunch and trying to feed 5,000 hungry men? With the faith of the boy and the help from the disciples, Jesus performed a miracle and fed the 5,000! The boy and the disciples served God by helping to feed the people.

Our kids learned that we should pray for God to show us ways that we can serve him. Serving God is a way of showing our obedience to him. He doesn’t want our gifts and talents to be wasted. He wants us to use them. We need to find things that we are good at and use those things to serve God.

There are so many things we can do for others even though we are kids, just like the boy in the story. We could share our lunch with a friend, do extra chores around the house, or even sign up for a ministry at church. The church has many ways we can help. Jesus wants to use our gifts and talents to help others in need.

Our kids got the opportunity to serve 2 special people this week, one that is in the Persian Gulf, serving our country and one that is recovering from an accident at MCG. The kids prepared encouragement cards, pictures, and notes that will be sent to them. Through this activity, the kids learned that our simple acts of kindness and service can make a big difference, just like the boy’s act in our Bible Story.

Growing Together

In KidzStuff today, our kids learned just how important it is to grow in our walk with Jesus. They learned that what is in our heart determines what we say and eventually who we are. If we have Jesus in our hearts, choose the right friends, and read God’s Word daily, we will continue to grow spiritually. We will grow “good fruit”. We will make right choices that honor God and help others. We shouldn’t make wrong choices or say bad things if we have pure hearts. If we have Jesus in our hearts and we are growing spiritually, we won’t want to be mean to others or disobey our parents. As we keep growing spiritually, we will want to do what is right. By putting the right things in our hearts, the right things will come out of our hearts.

Our kids learned that we grow spiritually together by going to church, reading the Bible, praying, and hanging out with good friends. Each of these things will keep us connected to God. Then we will grow deeper spiritually and produce “good fruit”—just like it said in today’s story. These activities will keep us on the right “road”. By growing deeper, we will have the truth in our hearts, and from our hearts we will do and say the right things.

Belonging Together

It is important to have a group of friends that are there for us when we need them. Here are good questions for all of us to think about: How good are the friendships that we have? Are they strong? Can we trust our friends to do what is right? Can our friends trust us to help them? These are the values we need to think about when we choose our friends.

Get involved in a small group! By joining a small group at church and getting involved with church activities, we can find Christian friends and build healthy relationships. Having friends who go to church can help us behave in the right ways. We can also count on them to encourage and help us. We will be there to help them, too! It honors God to have healthy and long lasting relationships with other students who follow Jesus!

Reaching Out Together

God wants us to reach out to others around us by helping with their needs and telling them about Jesus, just like the story of Saul. Sometimes God causes things to happen in our lives that get our attention and encourage us to get involved and share with others.
When God has our attention, He can use us for his purposes. The experiences we go through in life can help us share God with others.

The kind way we treat others will also show God’s love to them. We can be kind toward the people around us. We can help others by giving our time and resources and helping them when they are in need. We can tell others about God and what he has done in our lives, and we can invite others to come to church with us this week who have not been before.

Reaching out to others to help them know the love and truth of Jesus Christ can change people’s lives.