On this Christmas morning Elfie was in the same spot he was yesterday……..ummmmm……..yeah, he must have forgotten to move. 🙂 He did however remember to bring us a new craft and bible lesson. And with all of the excitement that Christmas morning brings it was so great to make the time to dig into our last Bible story for this year! Acts 1 says:
1 Theophilus, I wrote about Jesus in my earlier book. I wrote about all he did and taught 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven. Before Jesus left, he gave orders to the apostles he had chosen. He did this through the Holy Spirit. 3 After his suffering and death, he appeared to them. In many ways he proved that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days. During that time he spoke about God’s kingdom. 4 One day Jesus was eating with them. He gave them a command. “Do not leave Jerusalem,” he said. “Wait for the gift my Father promised. You have heard me talk about it. 5 John baptized with water. But in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then the apostles gathered around Jesus and asked him a question. “Lord,” they said, “are you going to give the kingdom back to Israel now?”
7 He said to them, “You should not be concerned about times or dates. The Father has set them by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Then you will tell people about me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria. And you will even tell other people about me from one end of the earth to the other.”
9 After Jesus said this, he was taken up to heaven. The apostles watched until a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 While he was going up, they kept on looking at the sky. Suddenly two men dressed in white clothing stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. But he will come back in the same way you saw him go.”
Over the last month we have followed the life of Jesus. Over the last couple days we have seen Him betrayed, beaten, put to death, and we saw him rise from the grave. Today we learn that Jesus was with the people for 40 days after He rose from the dead. In this passage we learn about the gift that God gives to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We learn that the Holy Spirit will be with us until Christ comes again in the same way He left. This was an interesting lesson to talk with the boys about.
The boys loved to talk about and picture Jesus floating up to the heavens much like a balloon floats up into the clouds. Our craft was to make a white cloud ornament. We imagined how awesome and maybe confusing it would have been to watch this all happen that day. Our favorite song this year has been “There is Power in the Name of Jesus”, so we really enjoyed verse 8! The Holy Spirit is alive in us and gives us POWER!
We have talked a lot about the Holy Spirit and how that is how Jesus lives in our hearts and is here with us even though we can not see Him. The boys understand that as much as a 4 and 5-year-old can. We have not really talked about His return before though. Matthew 2:19-20 tells us:
19 So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And you can be sure that I am always with you, to the very end.”
I asked the boys what they thought Jesus would want us to do while we wait for Him to return? “Tell people about Jesus”…..correct answer……win for this whole 25 Days of Christmas idea! Yes! It was so important to Jesus that we tell others about Him that it was the last thing He told the disciples and all the people around Him. It is important! It is our job to take all that we have learned about Him and tell everyone we know. Jesus will be with us, by the Holy Spirit, and we have all the power we need to do whatever we need to do to make Him famous. There is power in the name of Jesus!
I have enjoyed the last 25 days with you and I hope you have as well. I know that my boys have come closer to our King and so have I! If you haven’t done something like this with your kids before I encourage you to make the time…..it is important, it is our command given to us by the Lord of Lords!
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