After School Program Week In Review (3/30 - 4/03)

FRIDAY AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM PREACHING:

[Fridays are always the highlight of our week...]  

First we distributed the Jesus Storybook Bibles to the kids. (Ages 7-10.) We will continue to distribute them on Fridays so that those who were absent will get their own Storybook in the future... We wrote their names in the front of the books, and they were all happy and said they would read it! :-)  

Second we walked the kids into the library, and we watched the scene from the Jesus Movie when the sinful woman anointed Jesus' feet with alabaster oil, tears, and wiped His feet with her hair. I told the kids that she loves him so much because she was forgiven so much, but the kids still had a lot of unanswered questions.  

Third we walked back into the main room and sat down with the new Jesus Storybook Bible's and we all turned the pages to the same story that we just watched on the Movie Screen. Now we read the story together, out loud. They were starting to understand more about what and why it was happening, but there was still much to be realized.  

We explained how their story Bible's are re-written in story language that is easy to understand, and how it comes from our Holy Bibles... We told them that one day, we pray and hope they will also read the full version of the stories from the Holy Bible like we do. However, I also admitted to them that I LIKE their storybook Bible's and I often sneak a peak into my story book Bible so that I can look at the pictures, too! (They laughed.)  

Lastly, Stephan and I read the same passage from the Gospel of Luke (ESV) out loud to the kids. After we prayed for the right words and that we would all have understanding from God, Stephan was first up. He summarized the story and spoke on the main points. He asked if we were "ever so happy to see somebody that you cried?" Well we should feel that way, too, especially about Jesus.  

I was up next, for round two... I dialogued with the kids and we talked out loud through the entire story. (In getting them to explain it back to me, it is my prayer that God will give them understanding and also future remembrance of the story.) I also asked the kids, "What is the correct way to meet a king?" I demonstrated the answer as I prostrated myself on the ground before them. "Knees bowed, Face-down, in the dirt-- that's how we meet a king." As I got up I showed the kids the picture of the woman doing the same thing in the storybook Bible. Then I preached to them how Jesus is the KING OF KINGS. I also preached on how there are two groups of people in this story. There is the woman, who WASTED the precious perfume and there was the group of people who complained that she should not have wasted it, but they did not realize who Jesus was-- the KING OF KINGS. I explained in simple terms and great detail how if they do not see themselves as being like the sinful woman, then they missed the point and DO NOT UNDERSTAND the story. (This suprised the kids.) I preached that we all are either going to be like the woman who worshiped Jesus, and wasted her life for Jesus, giving him everything (our hearts, our thoughts, our time, our money, everything we care about...) -- or we will be like the men who complained and did not worship Jesus. Then I challenged the kids... I told them that people are going to ask them, "Why should you waste your life for Jesus, for God that you cannot even see!?" I made them think, "What are you going to say to those people?" ... (They did not know) ... With a big smile we preached, "BECAUSE HE'S WORTH IT!" ... Towards the end a few kids had some questions, like "When is Jesus coming back?" "SOON. We replied, but the Bible says that nobody knows the day or the hour. So we must BE READY." Then we explained what we all must do to be ready for when Jesus comes back... At the end of the message, I begged the kids to live only for Jesus and to be like the woman we preached about. In closing we led a simple, yet serious, prayer-- I encouraged the kids to pray with me if they really meant it. It was a simple and slow, but very deep prayer of thankfulness and plea for forgiveness of sins and salvation. During the prayer, several of the kids got off of their chairs, and bowed down on both knees, face down to the ground-- they did this on their own, without my own instruction. PRAISE JESUS!

"AMEN."  

That very next minute the first parent walked into the room to pick up her child. It was perfect timing, as it is always frustrating when parents come in and take their children home before the end of the message or when they come and interrupt the meeting. The kids were very happy to carry their own Jesus Storybook Bible's out the door as they went home today!  

Well, it was a great day today. I really believe some of these young kids are starting to "get it!" Thank God. Amen.  

DAILY (MON-FRI) SNACK TIME BIBLE LESSONS: 

Monday's Story: 

Psalm 23. The Lord is my Shepherd... We read the story from the Jesus Story Book Bible and we talked about how if we are saved by Jesus, then we are God's sheep and Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Then we talked about how great it is that God is our Shepherd and about the various roles He plays in our lives. After the closing prayer, one child was able to quote the entire Psalm 23 for all of us to hear. It was powerful.

Tuesday's Story:

A little servant girl and the proud general. We talked about Namaan from 2 Kings 5. Namaan had leprosy and God used a little slave girl and Elisha to heal him. Elisha tells him to go wash in the river to be healed. He did it and was healed by God, (not the river!) We read about how we have a sinful, diseased heart-- which is worse than outward leprosy. And how God can cleanse us of that, too! (note to self: I wish I would have talked more about our inward sin-problem and the cleansing work of Christ...! Help me God.) ALSO: We watched the Chronicles of Narnia for the second time.  

Wednesday's Story: 

Operation: "No More Tears!" We talked about Isaiah and how he wrote a book of the Bible. We talked about his message that we all like sheep have gone astray. We illustrated this using an art picture that we drew during art time. We also illustrated it with many examples such as the question, "how many of you have ever had a pet cat or dog that ran away from home? Well, like that, we all have run away from God..." And the whole message climaxed at how Jesus is the Good Shepherd and how he came to seek and save those who were lost. We all must go to Jesus to be forgiven of the leprosy, disease, SIN which is in our hearts, and Jesus will cleanse our hearts, too. The kids really enjoyed the story and were hanging on to every word which was spoken.  

[Side note: We are beginning to see more fruit (possibly?)... One child brought some printed papers that he made on the computer at school this earlier in the day. It was an acrostic poem based on the words "SPRING" and for "S" he used Shepherd (the Lord is our shepherd) and for "G" he wrote "God is great." He also had typed out on another paper, "Obey God." This particular boy did not come running in showing his completed papers to us, we found it laying around later... So it appears he did not even have a hidden motive to impress us, but that he simply did part of his homework about God, on his own, regardless of what others think!]  

Thursday's Story: 

Daniel and the scary sleepover (lion's den)... The kids LOVED this story. It was their favorite one so far. They were laughing, smiling, and empathising with Daniel throughout the entire story. We related how it would be wrong for Daniel to pray to King Darious, and it would be like us praying to Obama-- all the kids agreed. Darious was crazy and we should only pray to Jesus, the KING OF KINGS. We also talked about prayer and how important it is. After the story all of the kids were clapping! (unusual!)... Also, after the closing prayer, one of the girls looked up at me with an excited smile and said, "I just prayed ALL BY MYSELF at the same you did!" Lol! Praise God! It is so amazing to see kids get excited about stories that are from the BIBLE. (Assuming the Lord genuinely works in the hearts' of these kids, God is going to do some amazing things through these kids!) I hope the Lord raises up a new generation of missionaries and godly men and women from this poor area within the small town of Coos Bay, Oregon!  

Friday's Story: 

God's Messenger. During snack we talked about Jonah. We talked about how God told him to go to Ninevah and tell the people to repent. Jonah said no and disobeyed. God sent a storm and he ended up in the belly of a big fish for THREE DAYS. Then Jonah repented while he was in the belly of the big fish, and so God had the whale spit him back up on the dry land. Then Jonah went and preached the gospel to the people. Not only did they enjoy a fun story, but we also talked about how this is a just like how Jesus died, and his body was in the grave for three days, then he came back to life. We also talked about how when God tells us to do something, (like, for example, to tell our friends about Jesus... and we are scared...) we must obey, otherwise God may just do something like he did to Jonah. So we should obey the first time!