Today, Dec 22, 2013, in Sunday School, we talked about our appropriate response to Jesus’ first coming.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As we celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus, we discussed the idea that he did not stay in the manger. \u00a0It’s ok to celebrate the birth, but we should keep in mind why he was there. \u00a0He was born to die for the sins of the world. \u00a0Specifically, he came to die for ME. \u00a0You should read that last sentence as a personal reality. \u00a0Because of that, I decided to work on helping them to understand what God expects of us in response to His sacrifice on our behalf.<\/p>\n
To accomplish that end, we used Romans 12:1 as our memory verse and discussion points came from that verse. \u00a0Here is the text of the verse:<\/p>\n
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship.<\/p>\n
We discussed the meaning of the words holy, sacrifice and worship. \u00a0The kids amazed me in that they really have a pretty good grasp of what these things mean at their young age. \u00a0We really focused on the phrase “living sacrifice” and what that means. \u00a0You see, in the old testament, sacrifices involved the death of the animal being sacrificed. \u00a0The sacrifice itself did not provide for forgiveness of sin. \u00a0Rather, they represented God’s willingness to accept the sacrifice in lieu of the life of the one being forgiven. \u00a0Remember, the punishment for sin is death. \u00a0Jesus death on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. \u00a0Because of that, we no longer have to go through the ritual ourselves each time.<\/p>\n
A living sacrifice represents the idea that we are not our own. \u00a0We are bought with a price (as the bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). \u00a0So we use our life to represent God in our world. \u00a0We are to live according to his will and follow his commandments. \u00a0We are to show HIS love by the way we live.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, some of us offer God only a part of our lives. \u00a0We will often hold back something from God, so that we feel more “in control”. \u00a0The reality is that this is not something that is acceptable to God. \u00a0SO, since we are celebrating a birthday, I decided to give the kids a small “empty” box. \u00a0I asked them to think about what is in their life that they have been holding back from God. \u00a0I asked them to take that “thing” and pray about it and put it in their box and offer that to Jesus as a gift for his birthday. \u00a0We were going to wrap the gift, but time constraints made is so that we only had time to put a bow on the “packages”.<\/p>\n
SO….what would you have to put in YOUR box?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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