This evening, after dinner, I started something new with my kids (ages 12, 7, 6, and 4.) it's a 25 day Bible study, kind of a devotional for the 25 day countdown to Christmas. I started by teaching them about establishing Christ as the center of our holiday season, of our family, and of our hearts.
I read them Epehsians 2:19-22:
"19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
I told them that before Jesus came, people called the Israelites worshipped God, but most nonIsraelites did not (Ok I know Ruth did but she was a rare exception.) I told them that the nonIsraelites were called Gentiles. I let them know that after Jesus came, everyone was welcome to worship the God of the Israelites. I told them that we need to be a dwelling for God, he needs to be in our hearts, and a focus for our family, and we need to tell othrs about His love. Then I asked them how we could plant God in our hearts. I told them that some of the ways we do this are to read our Bible and to pray, and to love other people.
Then I moved on to a couple of prophecies about Jesus. I explained that over 400 years before Jesus came, the Bible told us He would be coming. I read them Isaiah 7:14:
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you (plural) a sign. The virgin will be
with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." I let them know that Immanuel means "God with us." (I love teaching them about various names used in the Bible to describe Jesus and God, and hope to do a name study with them eventually.) I told them that God sending this baby was his way of showing us his love.
I read them Isaiah 9:6(NIV):
"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
I asked them if they knew who that child was, and asked if any of them could remember any of the names used to describe Jesus.
I went on to the New Testament and read them Luke 1:1-4:
"1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled mong us,
2just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."
and John 1:1-7
"1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it."
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe."
I explained to them that John and Luke were writing these passages to proclaim that the Gospel is the Truth, and that back then a lot of people didn't believe that Jesus was God. I told them that sometimes it's hard to believe things if you haven't seen them with your own two eyes, and Jesus' disciples, who did see these things, were eager to spread the good news about God and Jesus. I told them a little bit about John the Baptist, and that he baptized a lot of people, including Jesus himself. I aso told them that John 1:5 is one of my favorite verses, and that no matter how dark our lives may seem, the darkness cannot overcome the light unless we let it.
Then I asked them:
*Why were Luke and John so excited to spread the news of God?
(Jenna(6), and Gwen(7) excitedly exclaim "Because they love Jesus and want other people to know about Him!") Great job girls!
We discussed that people back then thought the story of Jesus was not true, so the people writing the Bible felt the need to proclaim it as truth. Then we discussed truth and dishonesty:
*Is it important to tell the truth?
*How do people feel when lies are told?
*Do you think the stories about Jesus were true? (I only asked this because they are little and sometimes I think they think this stuff is fairy tales instead of real stuff.)
We ended our talk with how we could center our holiday season around Jesus and caring for others rather than being greedy and wanting everything for ourselves.
It was a little wild (the kids aren't used to doing devotional type stuff with me yet) but i'm hoping as they get used to it, it might be a little lesss rowdy. All in all I was really pleased with our family's learning experience tonight.
