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5th July 2020View past Sundays

We are currently learning about some of the stories that Jesus told. We can read about these in the Bible and they each show us how much God loves us and how we can be more like Him.

Verse ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.’ Jeremiah 31v3

Book The story this week is ‘The Ten Silver Coins’ from Stories Jesus Told by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen (see link here). If you don’t have a copy of this book then have a look at this video of the story (see the video here) or have a look in your Bible at Luke 15v8-10.

Songs God's love is big - Guess what, God loves you - When I look - The wise man built his house (see the videos here).

Activity Coin rubbing. Put some coins underneath a piece of paper and using crayons rub over the coins to create an image of them on the paper. You could try to do ten coins like in the story or even draw a purse on the paper and put nine inside it and one outside to represent the lost coin.

Another way to do this activity is to use a sheet of tin foil with coins underneath. Your child can then do a rubbing with just their fingers to show the coins details through the foil.

As you do either or both of these coin rubbings remind your child that Jesus says ‘We are like the woman’s silver coins, God wants every single one of us’.

This week we’re going to be continuing in our Explorers theme, and learning about something that defied the laws of physics. 

Last week we were learning about Jesus feeding the 5000, and I’m sure he was pretty tired after this so he sent his disciples ahead of him on a boat to cross the sea of Gallilee while he went up a mountain to pray, as you do. 

I know after I’ve had a long day of being around a lot of people, the last thing I want to do is climb a mountain but what Jesus did here was bring himself to God in a way that mattered. Maybe we all should do this when we struggle for strength. 

WORSHIP

Choose from the resources page; here’s a suggestion of a song from the Treehouse Youtube playlist:

My God is so big

STORY

The miracle we’re going to talk about today though is Jesus walking on water……read Matthew 14 v 22-33. If you'd like a video of the story, there is one here.

In the space of 2 days, Jesus fed 5000 people and their families, then walked up a mountain, spent the night praying and resting, walked back down the mountain and walked 3-4 miles out to sea. Sounds do-able?? All before the sunrise?? 

It’s astounding that he did all of that if it was on dry land, but you add in the final 3-4 miles were on water, it kind of changes the perspective. 

As you can imagine the disciples were in a storm of their own, and then seeing Jesus walking towards them on the water, they were terrified. If the storm wasn’t enough, now there was this man walking towards their boat. But Jesus calls out to them ‘Don’t be afraid, it is I’ and then gives Peter the ability to defy physics and walk on water too! 

What does this tell us about Jesus? Not only does he have power over everything (even the laws of nature) but that he can give us that strength too. What Jesus did that day was use Peter’s faith in him to give him super powers, the fear however came in when Peter looked down and saw the stormy waves and realised what he was doing. I think I’d be scared too, and Peter started to sink. 

QUESTIONS

What can we know about Jesus through this story? He has super powers is a perfectly acceptable answer, but what does that mean for us? 

What challenges do we face where we can ask God for more faith or help? (Hint : All of them) 

Where else in the bible do we see God giving someone else super powers? 

David killed a lion! And a bear!

Samson pulled an entire temple down!

The disciples went out and healed and taught in God's strength. 

God performed a whole bunch of miracles through Moses. 

What else? 

ACTIVITY

Find yourself a jug or bucket and some things from round your house, can you predict what will float or sink? Were you right? 

Can we float? Can we walk on water? 

For the younger ones, why not colour this great printable in and explain to us the story? 

It’s maybe not warm enough for this now (or you could try it in the bath later), get your paddling pool out and see if you can walk on water? 

And just for fun, meet the Jesus Lizard, an extraordinary animal that can run on water (for a bit) check out the video and see if you can remember how far the lizard can run on water? How does this compare to Jesus? 

RESPOND

Now is a great time to talk to your children about the challenges they face, it’s been a long time since we faced the same challenges and the world has changed dramatically since then. 

They don’t think on such an existential level as us adults, and might be concerned about things we find trivial, this doesn’t make them small or unimportant. God still wants to help them, and give them the super powers to deal with these challenges. 

Ask your children what the challenges are and pray together through them for this week. 

What does a Christian life look like? Does God want us to spend all our time reading the bible and worshipping Him? Or does God want us to be busy, doing lots of things to help others? Is our mind so full of what we and our friends are planning, and our list of homework and chores, that we don’t have space to think about God? What is the Kingdom Perspective on this – should we be a Mary or a Martha?

Read

Luke 10:38-42

Mary chose listening to the teachings of Jesus over helping her sister prepare food. Jesus responded that Mary was right because only one thing is needed, "one thing" apparently meaning listening to Jesus. This goes in line with words by Jesus in Matthew 4:1-4: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Martha represents the anxious life associated with chasing after money, work and recognition in this world. Luke doubles her name (Martha, Martha) and uses alliteration to draw attention to her anxious behaviour, and “distress” in Greek can be translated as either “worry” or “distract”.

To simplify, these verses are frequently interpreted as spiritual values being more important than material business, such as preparation of food. However, even in the earliest church of Acts (Acts 6:1-6), followers of Jesus had jobs to do, to bring in money to support the needy, and in distributing food and other things amongst the followers.

So what is Jesus trying to say? He is telling us that the best way to follow Him is not to just work hard or spend time on what we think are good things to do, (Even if we are good at that. I know I am and will rush off with what I think is a great idea, which then goes wrong, instead of pausing to chat to Jesus first!)

Instead Jesus wants us to accept that it is more important for us to know that He loves us just as we are, even if we’re not able to do anything for others (doesn’t God love those with physical disability just as much as the able bodied?). To hear God telling us how He loves us we need to spend time with Jesus (reading the bible, praying, worshipping, listening).

During this time he will expand our hearts and minds to include those things that he knows he made us to do, and gives us the confidence and love to do a great job.

Even Jesus spent time alone with His father in order to regain energy and focus on his mission (Matthew 14:13)

Video

This is a great, and very relaxing explanation of how we can apply Jesus’ lessons on whether to choose busy time, or time with Him.

Song

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God 

Prayer

A version of the 23rd Psalm written by a Japanese woman:

The Lord is my Pace Setter, I shall not rush,
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals,
He provides me with images of stillness, which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency, through calmness of mind; and his guidance is peace. Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day,
I will not fret, for his presence is here.
His timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity,
By anointing my head with his oils of tranquillity, my cup of joyous energy overflows. Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruit of my hours,
For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord, and dwell in his house for ever.