Wonderful Gifts

Fun Days 1

“Wonderful Gifts”

This event has a Christmas / gift theme.

The memory verse is James 1:17

The Bible truth is “The gift of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit are perfect gifts from God.”

 

1. Open in prayer

2. Introduction

3. Praise and Worship

4. Memory Verse

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”    James 1:17  NKJV

5. The Sights And The Sounds Of Christmas

We would not be able to celebrate Christmas time if it wasn’t for Jesus. We should let the sights and the sounds of the Christmas season remind us of God’s great plan, love and provision for mankind. Jesus gave us two very wonderful gifts: the gift of salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

6. Game- “Balance The Gift”

Wrap up 2 empty shoeboxes or other small boxes for this game. The boxes should be equal in size and shape. Write the memory verse on each box.

Make a sign that says, “God Gives Good Gifts”. Place the sign a short distance from the two teams. Divide the group into two teams and have them line up in two lines. Give each team one wrapped box. The first child on each team is to balance the gift box on their head, hurry to the chair with the sign “God gives good gifts” . At the sign they are to take the box off their head, say the memory verse then run back to their team. The next person on the team will do the same. The team that finishes first is the winner.

7. Jesus Spices Up My Life

Gingerbread  can remind us that the gift of salvation spices up our life. Through the blood of Jesus our “stinky” lives become a sweet smell to God.

The sacrifices in the Old Testament, when properly done, were a “sweet aroma” to God. Aaron and his sons needed to offer sacrifices for themselves and for the people.

Exodus 29:15-18  NKJV   “You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram; and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the alter. Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash the entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head. And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.”

Leviticus 1:9  NKJV   “but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.”

     In the Bible when we read that something is a “stench” it means that God hates it or rejects it. When we read that something is a “sweet smell” it means that God is pleased or accepts it.

No sacrifices (burnt offerings) were needed after the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus left His place in heaven and came to this earth so that He could pay our penalty for our sin. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we a can be a sweet aroma (smell) to God. The “stench” of our sin is done away with when the blood of Jesus is applied to our life.

Jesus truly “spices up our live” and makes us acceptable to God, our Father. He paid for our salvation (made us acceptable to God) with His own life and blood.

Isaiah 53:10  NKJV   “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him,

He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin,

He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”

     Sin stinks to God. When we have sin in our life we stink to God, and we are unacceptable. God hates sin. He does not hate the sinner, but He hates the sin!

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we become a “sweet” smell to God. We are accept by God only through the blood of Jesus.

Ephesians 1:7  NKJV   “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

     If we have accepted salvation when God looks down upon us, he does not see the sin that we committed, all He sees is the blood of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:19-22  NKJV   “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

     Jesus turns our “stink” into a sweet aroma that God accepts. Jesus spices up our life!

8. Praise and Worship Songs

1. ___________________________________________

2. __________________________________________

9. Game – Gingerbread Man Jig-saw Relay Race

Need: 1 yellow  and one light blue poster board

Draw two large gingerbread men on two poster boards (1 yellow and one light blue). Write the memory verse on each one then cut them into pieces.

Mix the two sets up together and place on the floor a short distance from the two teams. Divide the group into two teams. Line the two teams up in two rows. Name one team the yellow team and the other team the blue team. At the signal the first person on each team must run to the front a get 1 piece of their team’s puzzle, then take it back to their team. The next person in line will run get another piece. The first team that has all their puzzle pieces and correctly arranges it is the winner.

9. Jesus Puts A Jingle In My Step

Jingle bells can remind us that the gift of the Holy Spirit puts a jingle in our steps. He will put a song on our lips and a melody in our heart.

Ephesians 5:18-20  NKJV    “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

      Before Jesus ascended to heaven, after His crucifixion and resurrection, He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to help and comfort us.

John 14:15-17  NKJV    “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you will know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Acts 1:4-9  NKJV    “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

         God desire for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The only way to do that is to allow the Holy Spirit to worship God through us. When we are filled with the Spirit, He will help us in our worship to God. He will put a song on our lips and a melody in our heart.

Psalm 33:3  NKJV    “Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.” 

Psalm 40:3  NKJV     “He has put a new song in my mouth –  Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear,

And will trust in the Lord.”

Psalm 96:1-3  NKJV    “Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name: Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.”

Psalm 144:9  NKJV    “I will sing a new song to You, O God; On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You”

 

Psalm 149:1  NKJV

“Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song,

And His praise in the assembly of saints.”

      The first thing that the people in the upper room did after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit was to praise and worship God.

Acts 2:11  NKJV  “Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

       They did so in a language that they had never learned. They praised and worshiped God in spirit and in truth through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. They were able to worship God in spirit and in truth because Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit to them, just like He had promised.

There is power in praise and worship, and even more power in praise and worship led and enabled by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 16:25-26  NKJV   “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”

       We should bless the Lord at all times. In order for us to do this we must have the Promise of the Father that Jesus said that He would sent to us. It is very hard to bless the Lord when things are bad or when everything seems to go wrong unless you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, the gift that Jesus said that He would send.

Psalm 34:1-3  NKJV    “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt His name together.”

10. Game – Jingle, Jingle, Jingle

Need: Eight strings or bracelets with jingle bells on them.

A sign (poster board) with this sentence written on it – “Jesus puts a song on my lips and a melody in my heart.” Place this sign a short distance from the two teams.

Divide the children into two groups and line them up in two rows.

Give the first person on each team 4 sets of bell. At the signal they are to put the bells on their wrists and ankles, then run, while making the bells jingle, to the sign and say, “Jesus puts a  song on my lips and a melody in my heart.” They will then run back to their team and give the bells to the next person and they will repeat the process. The team that finishes first is the winner.

11. Worship Song

12. Challenge and Altar

Have you taken time to remember, and thank God, for Jesus’ sacrifice which makes us a “sweet” smell to God, and for sending us His Holy Spirit to help and comfort us?

Is your life a “sweet smell” to God?

Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence?

13. Refreshments or light meal

14. Crafts

15. Dismissal

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