8.01.2006
Becoming Like Children
Sunday morning, Olya translated for me as I taught a combined Sunday school class during second service. Annika also joined us for a few minutes to help me tell the story. I mentioned in the previous post that our text was taken from Matthew 18:1-5. I ended up shortening it to the first four verses. Here they are again:
It was great to set Annika on my lap as I talked about Jesus putting a child in the midst of the disciples. We talked about what Jesus meant when He said that we needed to "turn and become like children." The kids were pretty sharp and understood that Jesus didn't want His disciples to start wearing children's clothing, have other people feed and dress them, play in the dirt, and other such things. The seemed to have a fairly good grasp on the concept that we need to be humble, teachable, and dependent on God for salvation and the power to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.
There were a couple of kids in attendance who do not attend regularly. I used the great opportunity presented by this story to tell them the gospel. I was also blessed to see how some of the other children wanted to help me tell about what Jesus did for us. It is always encouraging to see when our young ones are able to understand and talk about biblical truths. I am thankful for God's work in their lives.
It was fun to teach the class with Olya. Since Annika was born, we haven't had many opportunities to minister together, so I really enjoyed this chance. I also need to thank Olya's mom for walking Annika during the second half of the class so that we were free to teach together. I hope that we will have more of these opportunities again in the near future.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:1-4 ESV)
It was great to set Annika on my lap as I talked about Jesus putting a child in the midst of the disciples. We talked about what Jesus meant when He said that we needed to "turn and become like children." The kids were pretty sharp and understood that Jesus didn't want His disciples to start wearing children's clothing, have other people feed and dress them, play in the dirt, and other such things. The seemed to have a fairly good grasp on the concept that we need to be humble, teachable, and dependent on God for salvation and the power to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.
There were a couple of kids in attendance who do not attend regularly. I used the great opportunity presented by this story to tell them the gospel. I was also blessed to see how some of the other children wanted to help me tell about what Jesus did for us. It is always encouraging to see when our young ones are able to understand and talk about biblical truths. I am thankful for God's work in their lives.
It was fun to teach the class with Olya. Since Annika was born, we haven't had many opportunities to minister together, so I really enjoyed this chance. I also need to thank Olya's mom for walking Annika during the second half of the class so that we were free to teach together. I hope that we will have more of these opportunities again in the near future.
# posted by Dave : 2:49 PM
