September
Newsletter
Ideas to help you impact your children
September
Newsletter
Ideas to help you impact your children
Fall Festival Outreach Ideas Fall Reminds Me Like Football! Glow in the Dark Leaf Message Harvest All Sin's Apples Have Worms Seize the Opportunity Ever Wonder? Gathering Children Halloween Tracts Rake Up God's Promises Magic Markers Appreciation CD Christmas Music Christmas Resources
Articles and Specials in this Newsletter
It’s Dark New Orleans is experiencing a darkness that you can not
imagine unless you have experienced a power outage. But they are also
experiencing a darkness that goes beyond the physical darkness produced by power
outages. Many are engulfed by the darkness of hopelessness, fear and dread
complicated by the horrible acts of stealing and greed at a time when people are most
vulnerable. It is dark in New Orleans and they need help. I make an
effort to be a very good steward of every penny that comes into my hands. That’s
why I am careful where I send support. Convoy of Hope came to Florida last year
during our time of need. They were there giving out bags of ice, giving food and
supporting in ways that are too long to list in this article. That’s where I’m
going to send my money. I encourage you to do the same thing. I hope you’ll send
something, even if the amount is small. Encourage the children in your class to
get involved. But please do something. Don’t let this need fall on a hardened
heart and do nothing. You can make a secure donation online at
www.convoyofhope.org It is dark in New Orleans and we must do more than give.
We must pray. Prayer is powerful. Only prayer and the light of God’s love can
penetrate the darkness of hopelessness and fear. Pray that God will minister to
the people of the city. Pray that they will experience His peace, His love, His
comfort. Pray that He will be the lifter of their heads and hearts. Pray that
they will turn to Jesus and come to know Him in a way as never before. Pray for
the peace of that city. Pray for safety for the rescuers. Pray that God will
help the rescuers find people that are stranded. Pray that the city will
super-naturally begin to dry up. Pray that the looting will stop. Ask God to
show you how to pray. It is dark in New Orleans. It is dark in New York City. I
was reminded recently by Jim Cymbala, the pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle, while
reading one of his outstanding books on prayer, that methamphetamine is a
real problem not only in large cities but rural communities as well. Even in rural cities
of Georgia and South Carolina, I pass
billboards people to beware of the health risks of methamphetamine. The headlines are a constant reminder that we live in
a dark, sin filled society. Yes, it is dark in New Orleans. It is dark in New York
City, but it is vital that you realize it is dark in your city too. Oh I realize
all too well how easy it is to become so comfortable in our brightly lit
churches that we forgot the world really is dark. People scurry all around us
like ants desperately trying to fill their darkness with money, power or drugs.
It is so easy in our mad dash to achieve the American dream to forget that
people around us are not meaningless ants, but living breathing individuals that
God loves. Yes people living without the light of Jesus Christ sometimes do dark
and terrible things. People anywhere can be selfish and cruel, but God loves
them. Look outside the windows of your safe home or beautiful church. Look
outside. Is it dark enough for you? Is it dark enough to bring you to your
knees? Look at the people on your street. Do they know Jesus? Don’t complain
because it is dark. Bring the light into that dark area. Prayer suggestions to pass on to the children in your
class. When you have the
children pray,don't list all 7 prayer needs. Pick one or two from the list above
and make it the object of your prayer time.
GLOW IN THE DARK (You must
leave the object in the light for it to glow.) Maybe you’ve seen one of
these before. (Show the glow in the dark object.) Audrey’s teacher
wanted everyone to memorize their scriptures, so she offered them a special
prize. She showed the class the little figure of a girl posed on bent knees with
folded hands. She said, “Everyone who memorizes all their scriptures for four
weeks will win one of these for a prize.” Audrey learned her memory verse each week and carefully
quoted every single verse to her teacher. Audrey really wanted to earn one of
the praying hand figures with its black, shiny stand. As the teacher passed out the awards to each recipient she
explained. “This will glow in the dark only if you leave it in a place where it
can get sunlight.” Then she emphasized, “I want you to let your light shine like
this little praying child. If you pray every day, God will help you be a light
for Him. The love of God will shine through you like a light. This world is dark
with sin and confusion. The world needs the light of God’s love to bring them
hope. God wants you to shine in the dark.” Audrey put the little praying figure in her Bible and then
inside the nightstand beside her bed when she got home. It fell out of her Bible
and into the drawer. She had almost forgotten about the prize until one night
her friend was spending the night with her. She was digging in the drawer for a
deck of playing cards when she found the figure again. Excited she clicked off the light as she explained to her
friend, “Look at this. It glows in the dark.” But it didn’t glow. Audrey could
hardly wait to tell her teacher that her praying child didn’t glow in the dark. Audrey pulled the prize from her pocket and explained,
“Mine doesn’t work. “Did you leave it in the sunlight?” “It was in my dresser drawer all week.” “That explains why it won’t glow. You must leave it in the
sunlight and then it will glow in the dark. Try it!” Before leaving for school the next day Audrey stood the
figure on her window still and opened the blinds so it would get plenty of
light. When Audrey went to bed that night she noticed a light on her window
still. It was only then she remembered her glow in the dark prize. She sat up to
get a better look, just as her teacher had promised the little figure glowing in
the dark. (Turn out the lights to demonstrate.) You are not too young to shine for Jesus. Your friends need
to know Jesus and His love. Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see our good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” If you want your light to shine, you must spend time in the
“SON" LIGHT! Now think about it a minute, “How do you spend time in the Son light?”
Not sunlight, Son light. That’s right, by talking to God, spending time reading
the Bible and loving and worshipping Him. There are no shortcuts. If you are going to shine for Jesus
you must spend time with Him. You must read your Bible and pray. You pick up
habits from the people you spend time with. You pick up mannerism from people
you spend time with. When you spend time with Jesus going to church, listening
to Christian music and thinking about scriptures you will become more like
Jesus. When we spend time with the Son of God, we will want to be
more like Him and do things that please Him. That desire will produce good
works, when people see the good things you do they will recognize Jesus in your
life. If you’re not glowing in this dark world, maybe it’s because you’re not
spending time in the SONLIGHT! We have the "Glow in the Dark Stars" and the
story of Moses and his glowing face that you can purchase for $2.95. Has it happened to you? It's late
at night. You're home alone and the power goes out right in the middle of a
really good show. You peer out the window but the street is dark without a
street light shining anywhere up or down the street. What little moon there must
be in the sky is hidden by clouds because there doesn't seem to be any light
coming from the sky either. You stumble toward the closet to find a flashlight.
You stub your toe on a chair. Dancing around holding your toe you stumble on
something, but you don't know what you stumbled on because you're too busy
trying to see your injuries. Even with that experience you still don't really
know what darkness is unless you have
experienced darkness so real you can almost feel it. I'm talking a darkness even darker
than the kind you experience camping on a moonless night. Greater than the darkness that
keeps you in your tent until you can find a flashlight. The uneven ground and
protruding roots or even trees themselves are dangerous obstacles when it is
really dark. Or the darkness that comes after a hurricane leaves you without
power inside a house with board covered windows. I am talking about the darkness
of sin.
Sin
produced darkness. A darkness that caused Adam and Eve to hide. A darkness that
produced shame. Sin produced a darkness that even today prevents people from seeing things as they really are.
It produced a darkness that makes people think sin is good. A darkness that
blinds people as to what is right and what is wrong. Sin produced a darkness so
thick that only the love of God could penetrate it. That's why God sent His Son into the world. He knew that in
the darkness of sin people would need a light.
Bill Wilson an incredible minister to dark areas of New
York City tells a wonderful story that happened to him one Christmas several
years ago. It was the day of their big toy give-away. On that Sunday
they give every child that attends a toy. For many children that toy would be the only
toy many children would receive for Christmas. The attendance was always high and the
excitement matched the numbers. Bill Wilson was driving one of the routes. At
one stop a little child held out a tiny package, wrapped crudely in crumpled
paper. “You give me presents, I want to give you something,” the child
explained. Bill smiled, thanked the child and moved the bus back onto the busy
highway, putting the tiny package on the dash of the bus. But the child began to clamor, “No, I want you to open it
now.” The child was so insistent that he felt he had no choice but to find a
place to move to the side of the busy traffic and open the package. As Pastor Wilson pulled off the highway, all the children
gathered around the front to watch Bill Wilson open his tiny package. It was a
miniature baby Jesus in a manger. The kind that comes with a nativity set,
without all the other pieces. It was obviously something the child had found in
the garbage. It was dirty and the paint was chipped. Again Pastor Wilson thanked the child and started to put
the gift on the dash. Again she was persistent. She rescued the figure and
cupped the tiny Jesus in her hands to make it dark around the tiny figure. Look,
did you see it? “Jesus shines in the dark.” Sure as her words the tiny figure
glowed in the darkness of her hands. The figure was made of material that caused
it to glow in the dark. And Praise God, He does! Jesus shines in the dark.
There is no situation too dark that the light of God’s love will not shine in
it. That brings us to our responsibility as a Christian.
(Move to the candle and light it.) (Blow out the light) What happens if we don't let our light shine. Some
people may never see the light of God's love unless you show them. (Pour out the
salt) We are not only called to be light. We are called to be salt. Salt is a
preservative. Salt makes people thirsty. You know the drill. You eat potato
chips and then you want something to drink. We are supposed to be salty Christians. By that I mean, our testimony
and the way we live should make people want to know Jesus. But what happens if
we are not salty Christians? Without Jesus people will be lost for all eternity.
That puts a big responsibility on our shoulders. Be a light. Be salty. Share
Jesus with your friends. It's only polite to share good things with your
friends. You can illustrate this story with the Candle
to Salt trick.
Magic Light Bulb Or you could use this amazing light bulb that lights up in your hand. Easy to use. Comes with gospel dialogue or patter.
The Farmer Bliss story as told on the Make the
Bible Come Alive CD or DVD is a great story to use when encouraging children to
share Jesus with their friends. You can order the CD or DVD by clicking
Make the Bible Come Alive CD $4.95 Pray for Your Teacher Encourage children to pray for their teacher
now and at various times throughout the year. Here are some suggestions to help them pray
for their teacher. Children have amazing insight. Ask them for prayer
suggestions for their class. Put these suggestions on a transparency and
project them for the class to see during prayer time or incorporate them into a
personal prayer and have the children echo the prayer after you. 1. Father in the name of Jesus, please give my
teacher the strength and wisdom to be the teacher you have called her/him to be. 2. Help my teacher not to be totally stressed
from all the tasks that she/he must do as teacher. There is so much pressure on
teachers to get so much accomplished. Please help my teacher to use their time
wisely. Send people to help my teacher accomplish more. 3. Help my teacher to be a good teacher and to
make learning fun. 4. I pray for students in my class that have
discipline problems. Please give my teacher the wisdom to deal with them. Help
these students to make better choices. If there are problems in their
lives that are causing these problems, please bring solutions to these problems.
You are bigger than any problem they might have. 5. I pray that your peace, your love, your
kindness will fill my class. Help me to be a good student. Help me not to be
lazy, but to do my best. Help me to be a light in my class by the way I act and
the things I say. I pray that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ will shine
to students in my class that don't know you. I pray that their eyes will be
opened and they will see and respond to the need to make Jesus Lord of their
lives. Whether you are in public or private school
this should be a great year for you. But only you can make it great. That's
right. You decide whether this school year will be great. In our next newsletter
we'll give you suggestions to help your class have a great school year.
Follow
the Light
Loggerhead
turtles spend most of their lives in the water, but they are not born in
the water. The mama loggerhead crawls onto a moonlit beach, almost
dragging her heavy body through the sand. With her back legs she digs a
hole above the water line and lays her eggs on the beach. She lays almost
100 leathery ping-pong sized eggs. She covers the eggs with her back legs
and heads back to the refreshing waters to swim and eat. She lays them and
leaves them.
God
put a special alarm clock in the turtles. In about 60 days the tiniest
cutest little turtles will hatch out of their eggs at night. Now how do
they know to hatch out at night? God made them and He knew that in the
daylight more predators could see them and eat them. Birds, crabs and
lizards love to gobble the tiny turtles before they reach the water.
As
the turtles hatch one by one they head for the water. But how can they
find the water? Some people believe they see the reflection of the
moonlight on the water and trudge through the sand toward the light. But
environmentalist have noticed in recent years the turtles instead of
heading toward their soothing water home, they are traveling toward the
bright lights of buildings and roadsides. All the bright lights of homes,
roadways and business along the beach are confusing the newborn turtles.
Many of the newborns are crushed as they try to cross highways. They are
confused by the bright lights. They don't know which light to follow.
Sometimes
the lights can be confusing to people too. The bright lights of stardom and
popularity can be very appealing. Some people would rather be popular than
godly. Sometimes people follow the bright lights of drugs and alcohol,
only to end up in a dark lonely gutter. Jesus said "I am the light of
the World." Are you following Jesus? If you're not obeying His Word
you're not following Him. Jesus and obedience to His Word is the only
light that will lead you to abundant life. Following Jesus is the only
road to real joy and fulfillment in life. Every other light leads to
destruction. If you like this object lesson you can order
more like it and for a limited time you will receive the soft stuffed turtle
with your order for only $9.95. Use the turtle as a visual aid as you tell the
turtle story. To register for the free newsletter type your email address here.
©
Copyright 2005 Let Us Teach Kids 1453 Otoes Pl.; Jacksonville, FL 32259 904
287-2869 www.letusteachkids.com.
Did you know that we have all of our
training series in CD now for only $4.95 each. What you don't know, can really
Order this month's
featured CD "Skill Track" or DVD Set by September 30 and receive free
shipping within the Continental United States: Click here to
order
Altering Lives at the Altar
Another great CD in the RPM collection. Parody artist Mark Bradford
has written and recorded ten more songs with Christian lyrics. The tunes
from the past are hits most of you will recognize or remember. As always
with our RPM albums, the songs are great for puppets to perform, youth
and adults love listening to them and the lyrics are good for young
children to hear and learn. Song titles include:
Mary Rice Hopkins
$29.99 for lesson book and CD for preschoolers.
This beautiful crystal box is a utility
trick that you'll find all kinds of uses for. It is a clear box from all
sides. Your audience can clearly see that the box is empty then move the
spring on this spring loaded box to produce silks, spring money or
spring flowers which fill this box. It is an easy, amazing trick. It has
been one of my favorite tricks for years.
Great New Shoulder
Dragon Puppet $49.95
Dragon 25" long, operating rod is 24" long Workable mouth and tail,
swiveling head operate with levers
Hold still! There’s a dragon on your shoulder! With a long mechanical arm
that allows you to flip his tail, open his mouth, and turn his head remotely,
this dragon thinks your shoulder is the perfect perching place. What color to
match your wardrobe? Easy! The shoulder dragon comes in both red and purple.
Leading Like
Moses Leadership Training
$20.00
Invest in yourself!
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Teach Kids All rights reserved
Let Us Teach Kids 904 287-2869 fax 904 287-2580
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