POWER that changed the world forever!

When’s your birthday?

How many candles will you have this time?

Did you know that the church has a birthday and the cake would have over 2000 candles on it! That’s one big cake!!!

The first birthday of the church was an amazing day….a great wind of God’s spirit came and filled up all the friends of Jesus with this amazing joy and

great power!

Peter, a fisherman, stood up in front of 1000’s of people, he was filled up with God’s spirit and talked like he had something really important to say,

something that everyone needed to hear.

Over 3000 people believed that Jesus was alive and wanted to be part of His church on that day, 3000 on one day!!!! This is awesome and this was the beginning of the church. (The whole story is

in Acts 1 and 2 in the bible)

We are going on an adventure to see what happened after Jesus came back alive on Easter Sunday to the ‘birthday’ of the church…..hold on tight…this

adventure is very, very, very powerful, an adventure full of great winds and fire and it changed the world forever!

Also, check out the Digital Family Prayer Adventure Map from Thy Kingdom Come …it’s great fun, even the Archbishop of Canterbury is having a go! https://www.thykingdomcome.global/resources/digital-family-prayer-adventure-map

Monday, 25th May 2020

Let’s go back to Easter Sunday, where there was great excitement and a lot of puzzling going on! Mary and some of her friends had

been to the tomb and seen that Jesus was not there! That evening the friends of Jesus were meeting behind locked doors because

they were very afraid.When SUDDENLY! Jesus was standing with them…how cool is that?

JESUS WAS ALIVE!The first thing Jesus said was “Peace be with you”. It was like Jesus saying “Don’t be afraid, I’m here with you again”. The friends of Jesus were a bit frightened but Jesus said “you can see, it’s really me”. He then stayed and had something to eat with them. Jesus hung around for a whole 40 days,

lots and lots of people saw him alive. (You can read this story in Luke chapter 24)

Things to do:

The door was locked because the friends of Jesus didn’t want anyone to find them or disturb them. Can you design a door hanger for your room. As you decorate it, think about what it would have been like to be in the room when Jesus appeared!

Jesus said to his friends “peace be with you”. He didn’t want them to be frightened. Sometimes we can be frightened, talk to someone in your house about what frightens you? Do you ever have bad dreams that frighten you? Towards the end of this pack you will find a little flyer that will help you talk to Jesus about bad dreams.

There was a lot of puzzling going on, the friends of Jesus couldn’t work out where Jesus had gone!? Write ‘Peace be with you’ on a piece of card then cut it up in pieces to make a jigsaw puzzle. How fast can you and others in your house put it back together again?

Tuesday 26th May 2020

After Jesus spent some time with his friends in the room on the Sunday evening Jesus said this:

“Stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven”

Jesus had been telling his friends about the amazing things they would be doing. They were going to tell everyone about Him and

this would change the world forever! But they needed some special power to do this. This special power is called the Holy

Spirit. Jesus said they must wait for this power before they started on the amazing adventure. The friends of Jesus waited and prayed

in Jerusalem for 10 days!

Things to do:

It’s hard to wait for things sometimes, like waiting to open a Christmas or birthday present, or waiting to go on a special trip, or waiting to move up classes at school. On a family holiday we went to an amusement park with lots of big roller coaster rides! We had to wait for a very long time to go on the ride so came up with some fun waiting games. I wonder what the friends of Jesus did whilst they were waiting? Have a chat with someone in your home about when you have had to wait for something. What did you feel like?

Try some waiting games:

Coin drop:- take a coin and try to drop it so it lands on your foot without falling off

Take 5 items from your kitchen and make up a story using these 5 items. You could give everyone playing a funny word that they have to include in their part of the story.

Scavenger hunt:- how fast can you find items that start with these letters P.E.N.T.E.C.O.S.T? (Jewish people gathered together to celebrate Pentecost every year …can you find out why?)

Spinning top: can you make a spinning top, the internet has lots of ideas on how to make one. Start it spinning …..how long do you have to wait for it to stop?

Wednesday 27th May 2020

Jesus went with his friends to a place called Bethany, where He prayed and asked God for good things for them. As Jesus was

praying, God took Jesus away to heaven. The friends of Jesus just couldn’t stop telling God how wonderful He was, they couldn’t stop

shouting out to Jesus with Joy and praising Him. Their faces had massive enormous smiles on them. They went to hang out in the

Temple, praising God non-stop!

Things to do:

Before Jesus went back to heaven he prayed for good things for them. God can only give good things. Listen and praise with this great song about how good God is. https://youtu.be/ulEAvK6FErc You are Good Good Good – Vineyard kids: We Shine Album. Count how many times do they sing the word ‘good’?

With an app on the phone see if you can make someone’s face have a great big smile!

Why not share these photos with us on the church members Facebook page, they would be fun to see.

The friends of Jesus were full of joy, dancing and praising God. Check out this experiment to make raisins dance! https://youtu.be/mEGCvj977_A

(you can also use lemonade or fizzy water)

Thursday 28th May 2020

The friends of Jesus spent their days together praying and hanging out talking about everything that had been going on……and there was a lot to talk about! They had just seen Jesus come back alive

and then disappear to heaven in a cloud!Their names were: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas,

Bartholomew, Matthew, another James, Simon and Judas. Peter was the new leader and was with his friends and all the others that had

joined them to pray and wait for the special power, there were about 120 people by now.

Peter explained that there were 12 in Jesus special friend group but because another Judas had let Jesus down really badly he wasn’t

around anymore. They decided that someone who’d seen all Jesus’s adventures, should take the place of Judas. They asked God to

choose who this should be, Barsabbas or Matthias …… God showed them that Matthias should be the new number 12.

Things to do:

Pairs game:- cut out all the special friends of Jesus, turn them over, take it in turns to match up the pairs. The person with the most pairs wins the game, have fun.

The friends of Jesus had a bit of a problem, they didn’t know who should replace Judas so they asked God. We can ask God to help us when we have problems and we just don’t know what to do. As you colour in the verse from Psalm 46 v 1 think about problems that you have. Stick up your colouring somewhere to remind you that God will ALWAYS help you with any problem.

Hand bookmark:- God knows everyone’s name, he knew all the friends of Jesus names and he knows your name! It tells us in the bible that God writes your name

on the palm of his Hand. This reminds me of Woody in Toy Story, when Andy writes his name on the bottom of Woody’s foot so everyone knew who he belonged to. Draw round your hand on a bit of card, cut it out and write your name on it, this

could make a great bookmark. Remember God writes your name on His palm, it can never be rubbed out, so He will never forget you!

Friday 29th May and Saturday 30th May 2020The next part of the story, this is the bit that is full of POWER and

lots of SUDDENLY moments!

All those who believed Jesus was alive and now in heaven were in the upper room where they were

meeting together to celebrate the Pentecost festival. SUDDENLY there was a sound from heaven like the

roaring of a mighty windstorm and it filled the house where they were sitting. It wasn’t a little breeze it was

like an enormous whirlwind! Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone there was filled with the special power, the Holy Spirit, that Jesus had told them about. They all started to speak in different languages as well.

Now the adventure begins………

WATCH THIS! https://youtu.be/OMQKy1Mx49M the whole story about how the Holy Spirit coming with wind and fire! (Saddleback Kids)

OR https://youtu.be/IqG_lvZhU-A The Holy Spirit comes (The day of Pentecost)

Things to do:

This was an amazing moment, the special power that Jesus had told them about, the Holy Spirit, had come. And WOW the Holy Spirit came with such Power. Sit on a cushion for a moment, shut your eyes and ask someone to read this part of the story to you again. As you listen to it imagine you are in that room…..what’s it like?

Pentecost streamers: find materials, paper….anything really that is red, yellow or orange….you are going to make a flame! Cut up all the colours then stick or tie it to a stick, straw, wooden spoon maybe! Go outside and wave it in the wind, as you wave wonder what it would have been like to see the fire flames and feel the whirlwind wind! It was very powerful!! Everyone there would have remembered this for the rest of their lives!

Have a wind and fire race:- take a straw and blow some fire coloured paper or a picture of fire to the finishing line….who’s the winner in your house?

Did you know that the Holy Spirit appears in lots of different ways in the bible,

not just wind ….. can you find anymore?

Sunday 31st May 2020All the people in the room were filled up with the SPECIAL POWER,

the Holy Spirit and then something else amazing happened. Everyone started speaking in different languages.

Outside the place was packed with people from all over the world celebrating Pentecost festival and they wanted to know what was

going on! The amazing thing was that the different languages being spoken were all saying the same thing! They were all

hearing about God’s amazing power and the incredible things he had done and that Jesus was alive but it was in a language they

could all understand….amazing!

Then Peter stood up, filled up with the Holy Spirit and talked and talked and talked and talked for ages about who God was and that Jesus was still alive. It was amazing because Peter had never

done anything like this before. He had been a fisherman and fishermen do not stand up and talk to massive crowds! The Holy

Spirit had made Peter very bold.

Peter asked everyone in the crowd to believe in Jesus and be baptised and he asked the children too! About 3000 people from the crowd were baptised that day and the Holy Spirit did amazing

things in their lives. Peter and the others taught the new believers everything they knew about God and Jesus. They spent the rest of their lives on amazing adventures sharing about Jesus and seeing the POWER of the Holy Spirit changing lots and lots and lots and

lots of lives. This was the first birthday of the church and it’s still celebrating

today!

Things to do:

Make a cake! Why not make a cake to celebrate the churches birthday? When you blow out the candles remember that the Holy Spirit gives you the same POWER that Peter and his friends were given……they changed the world with this POWER and so can you!

Google how many churches are there in the world today? You will be amazed! and it all started with a fisherman and his friends and the mighty POWER of the Holy Spirit making them bold!

People spoke in many different languages on the day of Pentecost, God wanted all the people to hear the amazing BIG STORY of how much He loved them. Why not try to learn how to

say “I love you” in as many different languages as you can?

The Holy Spirit can make you bold and help you to get to know Jesus more and more. You only have to ask, maybe find a quiet place and ask the Holy Spirit to let you see his power!

Peter was not only filled up with the POWER but he would also listen to what the Holy Spirit wanted to say and do and this is how he knew what to say and do.

Remember to keep looking and listening to see what happens.

Have fun!Lynda

Lynda Sanders

Assistant Pastor (Children)

Truro Baptist Church

Children@trurobaptist.co.uk