Parable of the Lost Sheep

Today's bible adventure is the parable of the good shepherd.      Jesus often used parables as he was teaching a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning     Jesus loved to tell stories and people loved listening to them his stories always taught important things about who god is and what he is doing.   One day the shepherd had 100 sheep and he took very good care of them.  Every day he led the sheep to fresh green grass and water so they had all they needed.  The shepherd knew every one of his 100 sheep so well that he could tell if they were doing well or if some of them were about to get ill.  The sheep learned to stay close to the shepherd because they knew everything would be fine as long as they were in his sight.  Every evening when they returned home, the shepherd carefully counted all his sheep to be sure they were all there then he locked them behind fences so they would be safe from the wild animals for the night. But one evening as the shepherd counted his sheep, he realized that one was missing.  He counted 99 so he knew one sheep was lost somewhere. It was now getting dark but the shepherd knew he had to leave the 99 sheep inside the fence and go out to find the one sheep that was missing.  The shepherd went out searching in the dark wilderness. As the sun was setting, the shepherd went further and further away to find his lost sheep. Then suddenly he heard the sheep bleating and he rushed to find it. When he found the sheep, he placed it on his shoulders and carried it all the way back home.  The shepherd was happy because his sheep that had been lost was found again.  Jesus then said "I told you this story to help you understand that god is exactly like this good shepherd who loves his sheep. If any person sins and strays from God, he will search for that person and bring him back to him no matter what it requires and just like the good shepherd in the story: God is very happy when that person comes back to him.  Video provided by Early Learning Adventures With Mrs. T

 

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The Gift of Giving (A Paper Tearing Story)

"The Gift of Giving - A Paper Tearing Story" by Donald Burns (Luke 6:38 and Galatians 5:22-23) Props: The items you will need are a handful of pennies that you are willing to loose, a letter size piece of paper, and a pair of scissors. Tell the story: Many of us have been taught to work to receive the things we want and to save the things we've got only to collect more and more things. So, when you first become a Christian you may not want to give away the good things that God gives you. (Ask:) If you give away all the things you have, will you eventually run out of them? Hmmm, lets try something with this money that the world has to give.  Who would like some money? (Take your handful of pennies and ask for volunteers to receive the pennies. Give away one penny to each person until they are all gone. Now have everyone that has the pennies give the penny away to someone who doesn't have a penny.)  Now I don't have any pennies left and I know some of you who received the pennies really didn't like giving that penny away did you? But you know what, God gives us spiritual gifts and he wants us to give them away too. When you give away the things God has given you, he will bless it and work miracles with it. Look at this piece of paper (Show the paper).  How many corners do you see?  If I tear this paper, will I have more or less?  Well, Gods Gifts for giving are like these four corners.  (Cut a large corner off the paper and give it away.)  When I give away one corner from this paper, lets count how many corners I have now. Wow! Now that I gave away one corner I now have 5 corners.  (Now cut a second corner away from the paper)  And now when I give away another corner I have 6 corners. And look at this, the first corner I gave away is not just one corner but three and the second corner is three.  That is the way it is when God gives us things to give away. He multiples his blessing on your giving and gives more than you give away just as when I gave away one corner and became three. God always supplies my needs and because I gave away the things that God wanted me to give away, he blesses the giving and multiplies my gift so that I have more to give!  The Bible says that the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. So as God gives you love, and brings you joy, or any of the other parts of the Fruit of the Spirit, be sure and give the same to everyone you meet! Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38 If you've used the resources at ChristianCrafters.Com, Click here!

 

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God and the Geese - All Things Are Possible

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments. One snowy Eve, his wife was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived. They were to talk about Jesus' birth She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!"  So she and the children left, and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn -- and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety. He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!" Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese--blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: "Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!" John Mark Ministries. Articles may be reproduced in any medium, without applying for permission (provided they are unedited, and retain the original author/copyright information) Source: Rootsweb / GrammaPoems

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~The Ninth Inning ~

Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children in Brooklyn, N.Y. At a fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child was asked to speak. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he suddenly stopped and cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God’s perfection?" The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish, and stilled by the piercing query. “I believe,” the father answered, “that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that He seeks is in the way people react to this child.” He then told the following story about his son. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   One afternoon, Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, “Do you think they will let me play?”   Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, “We’re losing by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team, and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.”   Shaya’s father was ecstatic, and Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field.   In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again, and now with two outs, the bases loaded, and the potential winning run on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let him bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?    Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew it was all but impossible because Shaya didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in, and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya, and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again stepped forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya.    As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat, and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman.   Shaya would have been out, and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it with a high arc to right field, far beyond the reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first. Run to first!”   Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman, who would have tagged out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood the pitcher’s intentions, and he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head.    Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second!” Shaya ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases toward home.   As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, “Run to third!”   As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya, run home!” Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate, and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a “grand slam” and won the game for his team.   “That day,” said the father softly, now with tears rolling down his face, “those 18 boys reached their level of God’s perfection.”   ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~    Original paintings by Jim Daly, used with permission of Christ Centered Art Mall

 

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An Athlete's Prayer

Help me to play the game, dear Lord, with all my might and main;
Grant me the courage born of right, a heart to stand the strain…

Send me a sense of humor, Lord, to laugh when victory’s mine;
To laugh, if I should meet defeat, without a fret or whine…

Give me the grace to follow rules, to ‘fess up when I’m wrong,
When silence or some other thing wins plaudits from the throng…

When foes are tough and fighting fierce and I am getting weak,
Dear God, don’t ever let me show a broad, bright, yellow streak.

And teach me, Lord, life’s a game to play just one day at a time.
With Thee as coach and trainer, Lord, real victory must be mine.

- Words of Champions

 

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I CANNOT Say - I CANNOT Pray

I cannot say OUR if my religion has no room for others and their needs. I cannot say FATHER if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily life. I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN if all my interests and pursuits are in earthly things. I cannot say HALLOWED BE THY NAME if I, who am called by his name am not holy. I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME if I am unwilling to give up my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God. I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life. I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN unless I am truly ready to give myself to his service here and now. I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD without expending honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my fellow men. I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted. I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL if I am not prepared to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer. I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM if I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject. I cannot say THINE IS THE POWER if I fear what my neighbors and friends may say or do. I cannot say THINE IS THE GLORY if I am seeking my own glory first. I cannot say FOREVER if I am too anxious about each day's affairs. I cannot say AMEN unless I honestly say, "Cost what it may, this is my prayer." -Unknown Image Source

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