WE NEED EACH OTHER...

Week 7
SIXTH JEWEL, we discovered the reason that WE NEED EACH OTHER.

In every human body, billions of cells live together and work together. Every cell has a part to play. When a cell is healthy, it does the work it is supposed to do. All those healthy cells together make a strong, healthy body. Every member of God’s family is like a cell or a part of a body. Each of us is important and together we are the Body of Christ. When each of us grows strong in knowing God, the Body of Christ is strong and healthy.

Barnabas was known as the great ENCOURAGER. To ENCOURAGE means to fill with courage. He was given the nickname Barnabas because it meant Son of Encouragement. He was always looking for ways to help others. Can you think of someone who ENCOURAGES you?

Can you think of how it feels when someone makes you feel special? Then you have experienced the blessing of ENCOURAGEMENT. God has given us all the gift of being able to ENCOURAGE each other. WE NEED EACH OTHER so that we can ENCOURAGE one another. When we become disciples of Jesus, He gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us so that we can love as He loves. God has given each one of us a special gift. I am praying that He will show us how we can ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER.

ANSWERS...

Week 6
FIFTH JEWEL, we discovered where we can go for ANSWERS. We can go to His Word for ANSWERS.

Knowing God’s Word… gives us a firm place to stand. When things are confusing, hard, and we don’t know what is right, we can go to the Bible. Once we discover the ANSWER and then obey the ANSWER, God will help us to stand strong. When we don’t obey, we are saying we do not TRUST Him.

Joshua and Caleb TRUSTED God. God told them that He would give them the land. And even though the people looked too tough to conquer, Joshua and Caleb TRUSTED God and were willing to obey. The ones who were afraid and chose not to TRUST wanted to go back to Egypt. They were showing by their words and actions that they did not believe that God was telling the truth.

Joshua and Caleb showed that they believed God by TRUSTING Him. They chose to obey by doing what God had said to do and they encouraged others to obey God too. God rewarded their TRUST and those who did not TRUST missed out. Once you know His ANSWERS, will you TRUST Him by obeying Him?

SIN...

Week 5
FOURTH JEWEL, we looked at what happens when we SIN.

SIN means to choose my way instead of His way. We all fail, sin, and do wrong things. No one in History has ever been perfect except for Jesus. Even though we are His disciples we will keep struggling with SIN as long as we are on this Earth.

Peter passionately loved Jesus. He thought he loved Jesus enough to die for Him. But when Peter thought he was in danger… he lied, and said that he did not even know Jesus. He sinned and he failed his dearest friend. **** What happened when Peter SINNED? Jesus could have said, “Well, Peter denied he even knows Me. I’ll just forget about him.” But Jesus did not give up on Peter. He forgave Peter. Jesus loved Peter and gave Peter a great future. We read in Acts about the great things Peter got to do.

God’s forgiveness is bigger than all of our failures. Jesus doesn’t give up on any of us, either. His Word says that if we admit our SINS, He will forgive us, and He will help us to obey His Word. His forgiveness is what makes it possible to be members of His family. Let’s admit we fail. Let’s celebrate that He will forgive and He will never give up on us.