This is taken from my notes for a lesson I taught the children in our At Sea theme. I felt that this was one of the more important lessons in this lesson series.
Matthew 4:18-20
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
How many of you have been fishing before? If you have, than, more than likely, what you did was considered sport fishing. You probably baited a hook for a particular kind of fish, and wrestled him out of the water using a rod, reel, and your own strength. Sport fishing is so called because it is not intended for commercial or life-sustaining purposes, but instead for the enjoyment of the fisherman.
A commercial fisherman typically is not trying to pull a prize fish out of the water, nor is he generally preoccupied with the type of fish that is captured in his nets. A commercial fisherman's main goal is to get as many fish out of the water and into his boat as he possibly can. This is why a fisherman will use a net instead of the line and reel that most sports fishermen will use, because a net does not care what kind of fish you are, it only wishes to pull you into the boat.
This is how we, as Christians reaching to a world that is lost, must also act. When we go fishing for men, or soul-reaching, we must not pick and chose who will try to get in the boat. We must not cast a line with a baited hook that only "our" kind of people will want to bite, and we certainly must not practice catch and release. What we must do is cast our nets into the sea of mankind, and pull in all of those who our nets can encompass. It doesn't matter if they act different than we do, or talk different, and it doesn't matter if we think that they are Christian material. The only thing that we need to do is cast our nets, and pull as many into the boat as we can.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
What Do I Do With All These Lemons?
These are my notes on one of the last lessons that Candace and I taught together. For an activity we made lemonade, and I also challenged any of the students to take one of the unpeeled lemons and take a bite. Please note that my notes function as a way for me to get ready to teach, and I do not take them into the classroom with me. I feel that it is easier for me to engage the students in what I am talking about if I am not constantly looking at my notes.
Have you ever eaten a lemon? A lemon is a fruit which by itself is very bitter and causes a puckering up of the mouth, and is, in general, not considered to be an enjoyable fruit to eat by itself, but instead requires dilution, the addition of a sweetener, or possibly even both. Lemons are often described as being sour, a homonym for rotten.
In fact, the word lemon, because of the fruit's sourness, is used in the auto industry to describe a car that is problem ridden, or does not perform as well as other cars of the same make or model do. The disappointing vehicle is called a lemon because it is a deal gone sour, or something that has not worked out quite like it was supposed to work out.
This happens to us in life as well. Sometimes things don't work out the way that we thought that they would. Sometimes it seems to us that we have been given the short end of the stick, and that we have, in fact, been handed, by life, a truck-full of lemons. Where we should have sweet memories we have, instead, a whole truckload of bad experiences, bad decisions, and disappointments.
What do we do with the things we have been handed? What do we do with the sharp-edged pieces of shattered dreams and broken goals? What do we do when it seems that all we have left is hope? What do we do with all of these lemons that we have lying around as a testament of the hard curves that life has thrown us?
It's simple, really.
When life gives you lemons...make lemonade.
You take all the darkness that has come into your life, all of the hurt and failures, all of the let-downs and short-comings, everything in your life that has ever made you doubt, everything that has ever caused your heart to break, all of the shadows...you take them all...and you crush them. You squeeze all of the sourness and bitterness out of them, and then you pour in the sweetness of the love and forgiveness of God, and you turn those lemons into liquid sunshine. It becomes lemonade, a sweet drink that can provide refreshment during even the most punishing summer day. Suddenly, because of how you've changed the way you look at your life, you take a look back at all of those things in your life that you thought were lemons, and they aren't just lemons anymore. You look back at your failures, and you see where they led you to victory. You look at your broken heart, and you see that there were better things on the way. These disappointments aren't really disappointments anymore, instead, what they have become is your hope, your strength,and the proof of God's power. What they have become is your testimony.
So what do we do the next time life gives us lemons?
We make testimonies.
Have you ever eaten a lemon? A lemon is a fruit which by itself is very bitter and causes a puckering up of the mouth, and is, in general, not considered to be an enjoyable fruit to eat by itself, but instead requires dilution, the addition of a sweetener, or possibly even both. Lemons are often described as being sour, a homonym for rotten.
In fact, the word lemon, because of the fruit's sourness, is used in the auto industry to describe a car that is problem ridden, or does not perform as well as other cars of the same make or model do. The disappointing vehicle is called a lemon because it is a deal gone sour, or something that has not worked out quite like it was supposed to work out.
This happens to us in life as well. Sometimes things don't work out the way that we thought that they would. Sometimes it seems to us that we have been given the short end of the stick, and that we have, in fact, been handed, by life, a truck-full of lemons. Where we should have sweet memories we have, instead, a whole truckload of bad experiences, bad decisions, and disappointments.
What do we do with the things we have been handed? What do we do with the sharp-edged pieces of shattered dreams and broken goals? What do we do when it seems that all we have left is hope? What do we do with all of these lemons that we have lying around as a testament of the hard curves that life has thrown us?
It's simple, really.
When life gives you lemons...make lemonade.
You take all the darkness that has come into your life, all of the hurt and failures, all of the let-downs and short-comings, everything in your life that has ever made you doubt, everything that has ever caused your heart to break, all of the shadows...you take them all...and you crush them. You squeeze all of the sourness and bitterness out of them, and then you pour in the sweetness of the love and forgiveness of God, and you turn those lemons into liquid sunshine. It becomes lemonade, a sweet drink that can provide refreshment during even the most punishing summer day. Suddenly, because of how you've changed the way you look at your life, you take a look back at all of those things in your life that you thought were lemons, and they aren't just lemons anymore. You look back at your failures, and you see where they led you to victory. You look at your broken heart, and you see that there were better things on the way. These disappointments aren't really disappointments anymore, instead, what they have become is your hope, your strength,and the proof of God's power. What they have become is your testimony.
So what do we do the next time life gives us lemons?
We make testimonies.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Lesson Series - Missions
One thing that has been of importance to the church since the in-filling of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost is reaching out to people who have not heard the truth of God's love for them. That is why we decided to take some time to teach the children about some of the missionaries that we support, and to teach them a bit about each country.
One of the first things that I tried to do was to help the children visualize how many people there are in the world, and for this I used the information that Megapenny Project has put together. By their estimation, one billion pennies stacked together is equal in size to five school buses. Since there are nearly seven billion people living in the world at present, that would mean that the population of the world in pennies would take up the same amount of space as thirty-five school buses. By using this example, I was able to help them understand how many souls there are out there.
I then explained to them that, out of these billions of pennies, if we were to take all of the pennies that are representative of people claiming Christianity, and put them by themselves, we would still have twenty-five school buses worth of pennies that are unbelievers.
If we are then to apply the same process, but this time only separate out those who are Pentecostal, we pull away from those thirty-five buses only one and a quarter. That means that, out of the seven billion people on the earth, only around two-hundred and fifty million of them are Apostolic in faith.(source)
In explaining all of this, I was attempting to show them the importance of what the missionaries were doing, and also show them that their task was a very large one. I then concluded the introductory lesson by telling them which missionaries that our church is funding, and what countries that they were called to.
I think that it is very important to take the time, either in a lesson series, or once a month, to tell the kids about the missionaries around the world, and in particular the ones that your church supports, and to even attempt to open a line of communication with them, perhaps learning about some of their Sunday School students while they in turn learn about your students.
Thank you for reading, and as always, please let me know what you think.
One of the first things that I tried to do was to help the children visualize how many people there are in the world, and for this I used the information that Megapenny Project has put together. By their estimation, one billion pennies stacked together is equal in size to five school buses. Since there are nearly seven billion people living in the world at present, that would mean that the population of the world in pennies would take up the same amount of space as thirty-five school buses. By using this example, I was able to help them understand how many souls there are out there.
I then explained to them that, out of these billions of pennies, if we were to take all of the pennies that are representative of people claiming Christianity, and put them by themselves, we would still have twenty-five school buses worth of pennies that are unbelievers.
If we are then to apply the same process, but this time only separate out those who are Pentecostal, we pull away from those thirty-five buses only one and a quarter. That means that, out of the seven billion people on the earth, only around two-hundred and fifty million of them are Apostolic in faith.(source)
In explaining all of this, I was attempting to show them the importance of what the missionaries were doing, and also show them that their task was a very large one. I then concluded the introductory lesson by telling them which missionaries that our church is funding, and what countries that they were called to.
I think that it is very important to take the time, either in a lesson series, or once a month, to tell the kids about the missionaries around the world, and in particular the ones that your church supports, and to even attempt to open a line of communication with them, perhaps learning about some of their Sunday School students while they in turn learn about your students.
Thank you for reading, and as always, please let me know what you think.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
A Little Bit of the Vision
Mark 10:14 (NIV) When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Many times in our churches, children are considered to be somewhat of a problem. At times the church believes that the primary objective is to teach the adults, and that there just needs to be a Sunday School so that the adult class can be taught in peace. Sunday School is not there to get the children out of their parents way, and Sunday School teachers are not just baby sitters. People, even ministry, can become so wrapped up in the message that is being delivered to the congregation that they forget that the children are part of the congregation as well. It is the job of every saint in the church to help teach the children the way that they must go, and it is our job, as Sunday School teachers, to make sure that the kids in our class feel as though they are a part of the congregation.
Perhaps you are a Sunday School teacher, and you feel as though your job is not the most important in the world. Perhaps, if that is the case, you should be doing something else. I am not trying to be offensive, but I can not stress to you enough the responsibility that is yours when you agree to become a Sunday School teacher. As a Sunday School teacher, you, many times, will be the children's primary source of the truth of God, and you have the ability to affect the minds of these young saints when they are at they're most impressionable, and, if you show them, through your actions, that what you do is not important, and that, by proxy, they are not important, then you are teaching them that they are not important to the church.
If they feel that they do not matter, why would they continue to come back?
How can they be excited to come to a classroom that is not excited to have them in it?
Be proud to serve as a Sunday School teacher, because, to children especially, actions speak louder than words.
Many times in our churches, children are considered to be somewhat of a problem. At times the church believes that the primary objective is to teach the adults, and that there just needs to be a Sunday School so that the adult class can be taught in peace. Sunday School is not there to get the children out of their parents way, and Sunday School teachers are not just baby sitters. People, even ministry, can become so wrapped up in the message that is being delivered to the congregation that they forget that the children are part of the congregation as well. It is the job of every saint in the church to help teach the children the way that they must go, and it is our job, as Sunday School teachers, to make sure that the kids in our class feel as though they are a part of the congregation.
Perhaps you are a Sunday School teacher, and you feel as though your job is not the most important in the world. Perhaps, if that is the case, you should be doing something else. I am not trying to be offensive, but I can not stress to you enough the responsibility that is yours when you agree to become a Sunday School teacher. As a Sunday School teacher, you, many times, will be the children's primary source of the truth of God, and you have the ability to affect the minds of these young saints when they are at they're most impressionable, and, if you show them, through your actions, that what you do is not important, and that, by proxy, they are not important, then you are teaching them that they are not important to the church.
If they feel that they do not matter, why would they continue to come back?
How can they be excited to come to a classroom that is not excited to have them in it?
Be proud to serve as a Sunday School teacher, because, to children especially, actions speak louder than words.
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