Babies, Birth and Baptism--Jesus talks with Nicodemus

Mar 16: Babies, Birth and Baptism--Jesus talks with Nicodemus (John 3: 1-17, pages 416-418 in the spark bible)

(Begin with holding Rory or Grace)—Don’t you love babies?  Aren’t they cute?  Do you think Rory (or Grace) could go back to being inside their mommy’s tummy right now?  What about you—could you fit in your mommy’s tummy? NO? In our story for today, there is a wise man named Nicodemus who was confused by that very thing, and so, very late one night, he came to visit Jesus because he had a lot of questions that he thought were very important and couldn’t wait.

Nicodemus:  Jesus, you say that people must be born again.  How can they be born again when they are older and bigger?  They can’t go back in their mommy’s tummy, can they?

Jesus: No, to be born again is to be born of water and the spirit.  First, when we are born, we are born in flesh.  When we are born again, we experience the spirit, like the wind moving in and through us.

Nicodemus:  How does that work? Can you ask that with me?  How does that work?  How can that happen? How can that happen?

Jesus: I am talking to you about simple things here on earth.  If you can’t understand things about earth, how will you understand things about Heaven that you’ve never seen?  I’ll try once more.  It’s very simple—God loves you.  God loves everyone.  He sent me, his son, to the world to tell everyone how much they are loved and he sent me to save the world.”

Now, in our story, Jesus says that people must be born again of water and the spirit.  Can you say that with me?  Be born again of water and the spirit.     How are WE born again with water? When do we use water in church?  Baptism!  That's right!  When we’re baptized, we are made alive in Christ, as part of the church and supported by our church body. Can you sing the baptism song with me to help remind us of how we’re born again in Christ and the Holy Spirit?  (Sing: You have put on Christ)

Jesus is Tested

For March 9, we'll be having part of our KFW upstairs as part of our special Vibrant Faith kickoff.  I need 5 readers and would love to involve those who haven't had a chance to read with us much.  Let me know if you're interested :D 

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness (pages 248-251 in the spark bible

Narrator: After he was baptized in the Jordan River, God led Jesus into the desert. He was there for 40 (flash 10 fingers 4 times) days and 40 (flash 10 fingers 4 times) nights.  He didn’t eat at all—he was fasting.  He was HUNGRY.  His stomach was GRRRRRROOOOWWLLLLING! How does your stomach sound when it growls? 

He was very, very, very hungry, and then the devil came to tempt him.  He said:

Tempter 1:  “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

What do you think Jesus did?  He was very brave and very smart!  Jesus answered, quoting scripture

Jesus: “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[b]”

Narrator: Then the devil took him into the big city.  They stood on the HIIIIIGHEST point of the temple, and they looked down. The devil said:

Devil 2: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For the scriptures say: “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’

Narrator: Jesus was again very smart, and he again quoted scripture, saying:

Jesus: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[d]”

Narrator:  Now, the devil took him even HIGHER!  To the highest spot around—a mountain!  He showed Jesus allllllll the kingdoms in the world and how beautiful they were.

Devil 3:  “See allllll this? All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.”

Narrator:  By now, Jesus had had enough—and he had strong words for the Devil.

Jesus:   “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

Narrator: Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended Jesus.  What did we learn? 

(possible discussions—see what the kids say)

·     * Even Jesus faced times of being tempted

·      *We are called to serve God, even when other things seem like better ideas.

·      *We are called to let our relationships with God—our light in the world—shine!

Transfiguration Sunday & KFW lesson

Mountains as places of change & God sightings (Exodus 24:12-18; Matthew 17:1-9; in the spark bible pp. 358-359)

Do you remember a few weeks ago we started talking about God sightings and looking for God in everyday life?  Our story today is about seeing God on the mountains—but don’t take my word for it! Here come Peter, James and John to tell you the story!

Peter:  One day, Jesus asked us to go on a walk with him.  Can you walk with us?  Walk, walk, walk. 

James:  But it wasn’t just any walk—no!  Jesus asked us to walk up a mountain with him! How do you walk up a mountain?  Pretend with me—walk, walk, walk, walk.

John: As Jesus walked beside us, I noticed something different about him. 

Peter:  He was shining!

James:  His face and his clothes were as bright as the sun!

John: It was amazing—WOW!  Can you say “Wow” with me? WOW.

James: Not just that—all of a sudden, Moses and the prophet Elijah were standing next to Jesus! They told us about God’s promise to save the world.

Peter: I couldn’t believe my eyes—or my ears! Could it be true?  Would Jesus save the world?

John: Then a voice spoke from heaven

God:  This is my son.  Listen to him!

John: The voice belonged to God!  We were surprised and a little scared

Peter, John, and James cover their faces.

Peter: Jesus touched me.

John: and me

James: and me

Peter: we looked up and everything was back to normal.

James: On the way back down the mountain, we talked about God’s promise to save the world.

John: But we didn’t tell anyone else about what had happened for a long time.

Peter: It was amazing!  We had met God on the Mountain!  And he had promised to save us.  God promised to save the world—say it with me—God promised to save the world!

Where are some places you have seen God this week?

The Gospel According to Bob the Builder

The Gospel According to Bob the Builder (1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23)

Bob the Builder:  hi kids!  I’m so glad you could join me and the machines and tools today. We have a big project today—we’ve been asked to build a temple! Can we build it?

Kids (and adults familiar with the show)  YES WE CAN!

Bob the Builder:  First we need help from scoop, muck and Dizzy.  Do you know what they do?  (fingers crossed, maybe you’ll get some answers.  If not) I’ll tell you!  Scoop and muck are our diggers.  They clear out an area, and Dizzy pours our cement. What are we making when we clear an area and fill it with cement?  A foundation!  Did you know that God even tells us all buildings with wise builders need a foundation? He does!  In our building here, it’s cement—but he also talks about our relationship with him like a temple  with a foundation. In 1 Corinthians, the bible tells us today that Jesus is the foundation for our temple.  Knowing Jesus is like the cement for our relationship with God—it helps us stick (clap hands) together when things are rough and we are sad.  Jesus is the foundation.  Let’s build a foundation now together! (scoop with plastic tools, pretend to pour cement).

Now, though the foundation is very, very important, it’s not the only part of building our temple together.  Lofty can help us next.  What does Lofty do?  (see if they have any ideas).  Lofty helps us put walls in place, and helps us stack the bricks, and we follow our blueprints.  How do we build our relationship with God?  (read your bible which is like the blueprint, pray, spend time in worship).  Can we build it?  YES, WE CAN!  Lofty sometimes says “uh yeah, I think so!”  It’s not always so easy, right?  It takes a lot of hard work and sometimes we make mistakes—we fall asleep before we remember to pray at bedtime or we get so busy we forget to read our bible.  But our relationship with God is like a temple and it’s really important to him, so let’s build it together, okay?  Let’s pray together and then we’ll working on building up the temple through our song of the day!

February 16: Gospel Seed

Gospel Seed  (Drawn from 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 and Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; pages 292-293 in the spark bible).

To bring:  packet of seeds, watering can, soil, Dixie cups

How many of you like to grow things in your garden?  What do you grow?  Have you ever counted the seeds you plant and how many plants grow?  Are they the same? 

Both Jesus and Paul talked about the bible and the words of God like seeds growing in a garden.  People planted LOTS of things at that time, and so it was an idea they understood. Jesus said that sometimes our words about God are like seeds that fall in the road or on rocks or in the weeds—people have trouble hearing, understanding and accepting them.  BUT, you know what’s really exciting?  Sometimes people are like the flower or vegetable garden you have—they hear the words about Jesus and what they know GROWS!  And their love for God GROWS! That’s why it’s so important to keep talking about God and how much he loves us, because so many people need and want to hear that they are loved by God!  Can you help me practice planting seeds here?  We can put them in the windowsill here and help them grow the next few weeks to remind us how important it is to share God’s words and love with others.