Tag: new-testament

Episode 4: Paul and his conversion

Everything You Need to Know (about God) You Can Learn in Sunday School Series

Have you ever felt like you don’t deserve God’s forgiveness? Have you ever felt like you have done too many bad things for God to love you? I think that most of use have felt this way at some time or another. What if I told you that the man that God chose to write most of the New Testament and was once feared all over the land by Christians. This man was feared because he would hurt believers and even have them put to death! His goal was literally to wipe out all of Christianity. I’m sure you are wondering why God would choose such an awful man to one day be a great Apostle. Maybe after you learn about his conversion you will start to understand God’s plan.

Today we are going to learn about a man called Paul (formerly known as Saul). Paul has become probably my favorite person in the New Testament (other than Jesus of course)! When I really started to study the Bible a few years ago I became fascinated by Paul and his conversion. Whenever I would think about my past or if I could really be forgiven- Paul’s life would give me comfort. Even after I had turned my life to Christ- I would still find myself questioning if I deserved God’s forgiveness. I hope that the story of Paul can give you some hope and comfort as well.

We are going to look at Saul’s conversion to Paul in the book of Acts (written by Luke). To summarize: Saul was an extremely religious Jewish leader, a Pharisee, who had been trained by a man named Gamaliel. Gamaliel was considered the finest Jewish teacher as well a saint and Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. Saul truly believed that the Christian movement was dangerous to his religion, Judaism, and persecuted any and all of the Christian believers without any mercy.

In the book of Acts it tells us that Saul was traveling far away from Jerusalem to a town called Damascus, where he planned on gathering believers of Christ to bring back to punish. On Saul’s way to Damascus here is what happened:

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Acts 9:3 NIV

After this Saul and the men traveled on to Damascus. The Lord had already spoken to a man named Ananias and told him that Saul would be coming and to go find him praying. Jesus also gave Saul a vision of a man named Ananias would put his hands on him and restore his sight. Ananias was scared because he had heard the stories of Saul. This is what Jesus said in response:

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

The two men finally meet up and Ananias speaks with Saul and prays with him and of the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fall off of Saul’s eyes and he is no longer blind! He got up and was baptized!

Saul started preaching that Jesus is the Son of God! Everyone was amazed and could not believe this was the same man that had been so feared by all of the followers of Christ.

God took one of the worst people at that time and turned him into one of the greatest followers of Christ! Paul spread the word of Christianity even to the non-Jewish people. This had really not been done before. God used him to do something extraordinary that others had not done- and Paul did it extremely well! He used his intensity that he once used for bad to spread the word of God!

If we ever think that our pasts are too bad for God to use us, forgive us or to love us please remember the story of Paul. Who knows…. one day God might use you for something extraordinary too!

The Books of the Bible believed to be written by Paul (according to my Bible: Life Application Study Bible- NIV):

  • Romans
  • 1 Corinthians
  • 2 Corinthians
  • Galatians
  • Ephesians
  • Philippians
  • Colossians
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians
  • 1 Timothy
  • 2 Timothy
  • Titus
  • Philemon
  • Partial- Hebrews along with others

Have a Blessed Day!

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** I am not theologically trained. This is just my explanation at a very basic level and hoping to make relatable for children and adults to understand to grow their relationship with God. The literature from my Sunday School class is from D6 – Elementary Teaching Guide through D6 Family Ministry – I have made all attempts to not reference their materials directly but they are great lessons and this is what I use in my class. I try to take as much from my own learnings from the Holy Bible in addition to the lessons for this blog. **

Episode 3: The Holy Spirit

Everything You Need to Know (about God) You Can Learn in Sunday School Series

The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. These three make up the Holy Trinity. The first two of these are very easy to understand and when explained to children and adults there usually are very little questions. The third, The Holy Spirit, can baffle the minds of believers of any age. Hopefully, today I can explain it in a way that will at least help you understand who the Holy Spirit is and how your relationship with all three in the Holy Trinity is important to your walk in your faith. This explanation is not a deep theological explanation but one at a very high overview so that you can at least start to wrap your mind around the Holy Spirit.

Let’s start with the first two parts of the Holy Trinity:

The Father- God, our Heavenly Father

The Son- God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior- the only way we can reach the Father

Now we are going to try to understand the Holy Spirit. The easiest way to start is we must understand the Good News of Jesus and why we have the Holy Spirit.

When I was teaching the lesson a few weeks ago we started by talking about what “the church” means. The children started out by answering with obvious explanations about the physical church building itself. Then we started talking through why we even have a “church” building in the first place. When did the first “church” start? What had to happen to start the belief in Christ and start the “Christian church” where followers gathered together?

Then we discussed how the “church” is not a place but it is the group of people who believe in Jesus Christ as their savior. The “church” was created as a way for us to learn about, praise and worship Jesus, as well hold each other accountable.

Children (and adults) that have been raised in church take our religion for granted. We don’t even consider how differently our lives would be and what a world without Christianity would be like. It shapes so many different aspects of our daily world. Children are alarmed when we remind them we would not have Christmas or Easter if Jesus was an ordinary man. We would not have church, Sunday school, VBS, Youth Group and the list goes on and on.

The Good News:

The reason we need to learn, praise and worship Jesus is because He was the Son of God (born of a virgin birth from Mary), He was crucified on the cross, died for our sins and rose from the grave on the third day. The payment for sin is death. The only way we can escape the payment of sin was for Jesus to pay for our sins. He was the perfect lamb that paid for our sins so that we do not have to.

He also was on earth for another 40 days until His “ascension” into heaven. When He left, He told the disciples that He would not leave them alone and that He would send the Holy Spirit to help them. The Holy Spirit would live in believers.

If you believe the Good News and invite Jesus into your heart the Holy Spirit resides in you too!

The Holy Spirit:

“for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.12.12.NIV

He Teaches Us

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.14.16.NIV

He Helps Us

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.16.13.NIV

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.26.NIV

He Makes Us Strong (when we are weak)

“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.27.NIV

He Connects us to the Father (can help us pray when we don’t know what to say)

““When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.15.26.NIV

He Tells Us Things About Jesus- (helps us to understand the Bible and God)

These are just some of the ways the Holy Spirit assists those of us who have invited Jesus Christ into our hearts. Scripture mentions the Holy Spirit from Genesis until Revelations.

Another way that I have explained the Holy Spirit to children is when we have the Holy Spirit we can listen for this voice to steer us in the right way.

Have you ever seen a cartoon where the character is battling with a big decision and on one should they have an angel directing them on the right path and the devil directing them on the wrong path? It seems funny as part of the cartoon but I like to think of the Holy Spirit in this way. He is there to teach us, help us, make us strong, connect us to the Father when we pray and can help us understand the Bible and what we need to know about God the Father and Jesus.

I hope this helps you understand the Holy Spirit more than you did or to share it with someone who could use some help understanding.

Have a Blessed Day!

Please Like, Share & Follow to receive the next episode.

** I am not theologically trained. This is just my explanation at a very basic level and hoping to make relatable for children and adults to understand to grow their relationship with God. The literature from my Sunday School class is from D6 – Elementary Teaching Guide through D6 Family Ministry – I have made all attempts to not reference their materials directly but they are great lessons and this is what I use in my class. I try to take as much from my own learnings from the Holy Bible in addition to the lessons for this blog. **

Holy Week

Day 2 Holy Monday

Happy Holy Week! Yesterday as we all know was Palm Sunday. If you want more activities for Palm Sunday please visit my post at http://www.tiffanyshepherd.com/palmsunday for scriptures, free coloring sheets, activities, crafts, puzzles, songs and more.

Today is Holy Monday, the second day of Holy Week. Todays post will be much shorter. I will try to post each day this week activities and scriptures for your family to celebrate!

Holy Monday is usually celebrated as the day that Jesus cleared/cleansed the temples.

Here are the scriptures and where else to find them:

When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. Luke 19: 45-48 NIV

Matthew 21:12-16; Mark 11:15-18; John 2:13-16

I couldn’t find a picture but something we have done before is take construction paper, write, ” My house will be a house of prayer.” or the whole scripture. We took popsicle sticks and made a table turned over and glued coins to the paper.

Here are some coloring sheet links:

http://www.sermons4kids.com/cleansing_temple_abda_colorpg.htm

Holy Week in Handprints

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

http://www.kidssundayschool.com/1483/preschool/jesus-cleansing-the-temple.php

I’ll be adding more tomorrow for Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus teaches in the Temple.

Thanks and have a Blessed day!