"Do not just hear the Word of God and think hearing is enough. DO what it says!" James 1:22

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Isn't thanksgiving great?!
The history and meaning behind it all is so interesting.
History is awesome in and of itself.
That's why studying "HIS-story" (God's Word)
is so great... it's history.  And we have so much to learn!

Revelation 3:3
"Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent."
 
Thanksgiving can be a time for us as Believers in Jesus Christ
to REMEMBER all that God has done for us,
REPENT or say we are sorry for things we've done against God,
and REALIZE the second coming of Jesus is soon.
Only after we have done these three things
can we be READY
to share at the Lord's table of Thanksgiving.
 
1 Corinthians 10:21
"You cannot drink the cup of the Lord
and the cup of demons too;
you cannot have a part in both
the Lord’s table and the table of demons."

and

Luke 13:29
"People will come from east and west
and north and south,
and will take their places
at the feast in the kingdom of God."

What a wonderful thing God has done for us!
To send His Son, Jesus, and wipe clean our sins!
Yes, even us.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for
the Apostles and first Disciples.
And I am thankful to be studying their efforts
in sharing the Good News with the world.
I am thankful to be studying with each of YOU!
What a blessing!
May God bless each of the CBS students
and their families with a wondeful Thanksgiving!
We have so much to look forward to...

Matthew 26:64
“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you:
From now on you will see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One
and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Working Together to Share Jesus with Everyone

Acts 13
During our worship time today at CBS, the students were asked if someone... ANYONE walked up to them and asked "who is Jesus?" would they (the student) be able to share Jesus with that "someone?"



Nearly everyone said yes (so that is very very good!)

We sang a new song about Heaven and what it will be like.  I asked the students to "pose" as if Jesus stepped right in front of them at the very moment.  How would you react?  Most of the students looked either like the sweet little gal in the picture above or the guy in the picture below...
Too funny!

Our new song was titled "Alleluia" by Go Fish.
Within the song is a portion of fun music without words.
So I challenged the students on their willingness
to be bold in sharing Christ with others
by quickly jumping into the middle of our circle
during this fun music portion and "strike their pose" for Jesus.
If we think we can be brave enough
to talk to someone about Christ,
surely we can be brave enough to have some fun
and show Him how excited we'd be
if He chose to step right in front of us!
How FUN our loving Creator is!

Saul (whom we now know as Paul) and Barnabas
were more than brave enough to venture to new areas
and share the salvation of Jesus with more Jewish people
as well as people very different than themselves...
Gentiles.
As a matter of fact,
the five men mentioned in our study
this week were very different from each other.
Simon came all they way from Africa
to help spread the Good News!

Paul and Barnabas... working together as partners
on this Project for the Lord...
We know from Acts 13:2 that God set up this partnership.
Verse 5 goes on to tell us they didn't travel alone.
But as far as the purpose of preaching was concerned,
Paul and Barnabas would proclaim the Good News
while John Mark "helped."

"I am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
And I will not let what I cannot do
interfere with what I can do." ~Edward Everett Hale

What a difference it makes when we
WORK TOGETHER
without seeing our differences.

From Acts 13:6, we know that Elymas (the magician)
is a Jewish man in service to the Roman Governor.
The students were asked why they thought the Governor
would send for TWO Jewish men
when he had a Jewish man already consulting him.

“You can bend it and twist it...
You can misuse and abuse it...
But even God cannot change the Truth.” ~Unknown

And why would He want to change It?
God IS Truth!

Elymas was working alone... for his own self-purpose.
Paul and Barnabas were partners in sharing the Truth.
They worked TOGETHER... for God's Purpose.
From this, we can understand that God wants us to work
TOGETHER -all of us,
especially when it comes to the sharing of our faith with others.


The students were put into "teams"
to work together to solve a puzzle.
I, Mrs. Gettelfinger, put them in their teams.
Sometimes olders students have a difficult time wanting to
work alongside the younger students and vice versa.
Sometimes the whole gender thing plays an issue
of not wanting to work together.
And unfortunately, even at these young and sweet ages,
prejudices of many kind are already working
to keep us from willingly wanting to work together.

After stressing the Personal Challenge from our Lesson 13,
"Are there people you don't like to work with or play with
because they are different from you?
If so, will you ask God to take away your prejudice?"
and encouraging each team to WANT to solve the puzzle,
God gave Mrs. McKain and me the blessing
of seeing prejudices replaced with comfortable feelings
and enthusiastic teamwork.

"Coming together is the beginning.
Staying together is the progress.
Working together is success." ~Henry Ford  

Paul reminded the Jewish people of their history
because their history clearly told them
Jesus would come and forgive sin
-not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles...
for EVERYONE.
Paul points out in Acts 13:47, quoting Isaiah 49:6,
"I have made You a Light for the Gentiles,
that You may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."

My prayer is that each of these young CBS hearts (as well as mine)
will allow the TRUTH of Isaiah 49:6
to settle deep into our souls so that the Power of the Holy Spirit
will break through the deception of prejudices and
encourage others to know Jesus through our efforts
in serving our True and Living God.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Introducing... Peter

Acts 11:19-12:25

Mrs. McKain put a fun twist on our Lesson 12 Wrap Up today.
She came to class dressed as... the Apostle Peter!
(Although she didn't look quite like the picture above,
she DID have a very realistic beard. wink)

Mrs. McKain took us way back into the life of Peter
and brought us up to the time of our study.
We learned about who he was and who he had become in Christ.