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Showing posts from June, 2024

God Will Give Us Joy

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Habakkuk 3:17-18 Our true story comes from a part of the bible called the Book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk loved God very much and told people things that God wanted them to know. We begin with a man named Habakkuk. One day, Habakkuk was thinking about God, and he started to pray. Habakkuk prayed:  “Even if I don’t have any figs on my fig trees, I can have joy because God loves me.” “Even if I don’t have any grapes on my grapevines, I can have joy because God loves me.” “Even if no food grows in my garden, I can have joy because God loves me.” “Even if I don’t have any animals on my farm, I can have joy because God loves me.” Habakkuk knew that God loved him all the time, even when he didn’t have the things he wanted. And knowing that God loved him all the time meant that Habakkuk could have joy all the time. We can have joy all the time, because God loves us too! So, when anyone asks you, “Who can have joy all the time? You can say, “I can have joy all the time!” WATCH VIDEO Take-Home A...

Joy in the Psalms

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Psalms 8 and 19 Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Psalms. The word psalm means holy song or special song. Our story begins with a king named David. King David loved God. And King David liked to write songs to God. One time King David wrote a song because everywhere he looked he saw things God made that gave him joy. David saw the moon and the stars in the night sky. When King David saw the moon and the stars, he thought, “Wow, God! You are awesome!” Then David saw the sun coming up in the morning and how it was SO big and bright. When King David saw the sun, he thought, “Wow, God! You are awesome!” Then King David saw all the people God made—children and grandparents, farmers and fishermen, short people, tall people. And that includes you! Point to yourself because God made you, too. When King David saw all the people God made, he thought—say it with me! “Wow, God! You are awesome!” Each time King David saw something God made, it gave him joy and he wanted to celebra...

Ezra and the Rebuilding of the Temple

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Ezra 3:10-13 Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Ezra. Ezra loved God very much, helped to each the people about God, and helped to rebuild God's house, the temple in Jerusalem. We begin with a beautiful building called the temple. The temple is where God’s people would meet to learn about God and worship God, kind of like we do at church.  The temple was a very special place, but it had been destroyed. So, God’s people decided to rebuild the temple! Now rebuilding the temple was going to be a very hard job.  Pretend to help the people rebuild the temple. Take out your pretend saw. Back and forth! Back and forth! Back and forth! Good Job! You can put away your saw.  Pretend to hold a hammer. Tap, tap, tap! Tap, tap, tap! Tap, tap tap! Wonderful! You can put away your hammer. It’s time to lift some heavy bricks. Pretend you are holding something really heavy. Pretend to pick up a heavy brick with both hands. Now pass your brick to the worker next to you. T...

Feast of Booths

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Feast of Booths Deuteronomy 16:13-17 Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Deuteronomy. The word “Deuteronomy” is a funny word that means “second telling of the law.” We celebrate a lot of things, don’t we? We celebrate birthdays! We celebrate Christmas! And we celebrate New Year’s Eve! But in our Bible Story today, God wanted His people, the Israelites, to celebrate for a different reason. The people worked in their gardens every day, and they grew lots of food. But it was God who helped them. God made the sun to shine. God made the rain to water the plants. God even made the food grow. So God wanted His people to take time to thank Him for all He had done to help them. So that’s what they did! They got everyone together—sons, daughters, people who lived in town, people who lived out of town—EVERYONE came to do what God said. And they celebrated for . . . are you ready for this . . . SEVEN DAYS!  Let’s count to seven: One, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN! They ce...

Story of the Lost Sheep

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Luke 15:1-7 Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Gospel of Luke. Luke loved Jesus and wanted others to know and love Jesus, too. And the word gospel means “good news!” We begin with Jesus. Jesus is special because Jesus is God’s Son. One day, Jesus told a story to teach us about how much God loves us.  This story is about a shepherd who had 100 sheep. Wow! That’s a lot of sheep! Hmm . . . what does a sheep say? Does a sheep say, “Moooooo, moooooo?” No? Does a sheep say, “Quack, quack?” No? Well then, what does a sheep say? “Baaaaa, baaaaa!” Yes! And a shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep. A good shepherd makes sure their sheep have food and water and that they don’t get hurt or lost.  One day, the shepherd in Jesus’ story was counting his sheep, and the shepherd saw that one of them was missing! Oh no! What do you think the shepherd did?  The shepherd went to look for his one lost sheep because the shepherd loved each and every one of his sheep....