This week, we have discussed ways in which we can "walk in Jesus". This phrase comes from Colossians 2:6, one of the verses we meditated on during week twelve. One way we discussed walking in Jesus is giving to others. J.T. and Aysia are participating in a Sock-O-Thon at school. They have been challenged to earn coins by doing chores and collect their coins in a sock. Friday of this week they are to bring their socks to school and donate all the coins they have collected so our school can help various organizations around the globe. It was exciting for them to see money going into their socks this week after they put in hard work during chore time! I love that our school gives the opportunity to our students to help others. Another activity we did this week was a musical game that involved landing on a sheet of paper when the music stopped. If the sheet of paper had a kind gesture written on it, like help a student at recess, they were able to stay in the game. However, if the paper had an unkind action written on it, they were out! This game allowed our kids to distinguish between ways that we can walk according to the ways of the LORD and ways that are not what the LORD would want us to do! J.T., Aysia, and Ella each had an opportunity to win the game, so they were happy!
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Week nine and ten of our Colossians family Bible study took us from finishing up Colossians chapter one to beginning Colossians chapter two. The key words that stood out to us in Colossians 1:28-29 and Colossians 2:1-3 were wisdom and knowledge. We discussed that having wisdom is more than being smart. When we are wise, we do what is right according to what GOD says is right in His Word. We learned from Colossians that true wisdom and knowledge come from Jesus Christ. Furthermore, Proverbs 2:6 says, "For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding". Proverbs 2 makes it clear that if we actively seek wisdom, we will find it, and as we live uprightly, wisdom will be given.
Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, which is full of wise words. When Solomon was king of Israel and GOD asked him what he wanted, Solomon told GOD he wanted wisdom so he could guide GOD's people. Solomon knew where wisdom comes from and he received it upon asking. Other people in the Bible were wise, too. J.T., Aysia, and Ella thought about wise individuals they have learned about in the Bible and drew their pictures, which are featured above. The book of Colossians visualizes wisdom and knowledge as treasures hid in Christ Jesus. Being treasures, we must remember wisdom and knowledge are definitely worth searching for, and they can be found as we stay close to the One from Whom they are within. Colossians 1:23 not only carried us through week seven, but week eight as well. That's o.k., because this verse is essential to grasp in our walk with the LORD. When we receive Jesus as our Savior and invite Him into our lives, this is not the end! This is only the beginning of our journey with the LORD. Colossians 1:23 says to "continue in the faith". When we continue in something, we do not give up! We do not stop! With this verse came the awareness that it will not also be easy to stay the course in our Christian walk. Just like for the people at the church of Colosse, who Paul is writing to, times will come when we have to make a choice what we believe. Will we continue believing what GOD says in the Bible or will we fall away and turn to false teachings?
We want to continue in the faith, but how? Colossians 1:23 tells us to "continue in the faith being firmly established and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which we have heard". We must be immoveable, unshakeable in our faith in Jesus Christ. How? We helped the kids answer this question by giving them the illustration of those who build their house on rock verses those who build their house on sand. We taped together little cardboard boxes and first placed our houses in a platter of sand. When Shawn shook the platter the houses also shook. Then, we firmly taped our houses to a rock. When they were shaken this time, they stood firm! Who does the rock represent? Yes, Jesus Christ! It was fun teaching our children the song "The Wise Man Built His House" to go along with our lesson. By trusting in the LORD during hard times and good times, we can stand firm. It is GOD's strength alone that will pull us through!!!
Shawn, being the science teacher that he is, had a great time in week four of our study of Colossians teaching our children about the week of Creation we read about in Genesis 1. Colossians 1:15-17 were the verses we studied this week, but it was fun to take these verses in Colossians and expand our learning by linking them to other verses in the Bible. In Colossians, we read that "by Him (Jesus) all things were created", and in Genesis, we read that "GOD created the heavens and the earth". Is this a contradiction? NO! It is proof that Jesus is GOD and GOD is Jesus! Through expounding on Colossians 1 with Genesis 1, our children gained a deeper understanding of the Holy Trinity, GOD in three Persons. By using Genesis 1, Scripture our children were already familiar with, to shed light on less familiar Scripture, our children were able to appreciate and enjoy the verses in Colossians 1 so much more!
In week 3 we only studied two verses in Colossians chapter 1, but theses two verses are jam-packed with TRUTH - truth that can bring hope to the hopeless, joy to the joyless, and peace to those without peace!!! Colossians 1:13-14 spell out clearly what GOD has done for those who believe in JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and Savior. These verses are so exciting and important to us in our Christian walk that we took this week to not only learn and visualize what each word in the verses mean, but also to MEMORIZE these key verses. To help J.T., Aysia, and Ella memorize the verses we used fun motions as we repeated the verses over and over again. We also reused the idea of the Bible verse puzzle with Colossians 1:13, which allowed the kiddos to work together to piece the words of the verse back together. On the last day of our week, J.T., Aysia, and Ella did great saying the verses and each got to pick a small prize as an incentive for their hard work! As I look back on week two of our family's study of Colossians, I am reminded of some great Truths we all learned. From Colossians 1:9-12, our family learned about the importance of praying for others, growing in GOD as to bear fruit, becoming people of patience, and joyfully giving thanks for all GOD has done for us, especially His grace to "qualify us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light" (verse 12). As I put these truths into action, I want to give a big SHOUT OUT to my husband for his kindness in faithfully being our family's spiritual leader. Thank you Shawn for not only leading us in our Colossians study, but leading us in life! I know I often want to "rule the roost!", but as we learn in Ephesians 5:22-33, for husbands to love their wives and for wives to respect their husbands is crucial for having a successful marriage, for this is GOD's desire. May we all pray this short prayer together as we continue trusting the LORD to have His way in our marriages and/or other relationships: "Dear LORD, it is not easy for us to respect and love one another. Please help us to do so in our marriages and other relationships. We are thankful for the people in our lives. Just like You love us, help us love them more and more. In Your Name, Amen!" All praise to the LORD, our family kept our commitment this past week to study the Bible together! We began in the beginning of Colossians and read through to verse eight of chapter one. Each evening our study took a different direction. For example, in the beginning of the week we discussed the background of Colossians and read the verses straight through. As the week progressed, we focused in on key phrases/words of the text, such as hope, faith, and love. Toward the end of the week we had more relaxed times together with quizzing the kids about what we have learned and an opportunity for them to write/draw in their notebooks what they remembered from the lessons.
J.T. had a friend over for a sleepover one night this week. It was a great opportunity to include him in our study and allow our children to share with him what we have been doing and learning. On this particular evening J.T.'s friend joined us, we honed in on a phrase in Colossians 1:6 about the grace our LORD extends to us. Before the lesson, I researched ways we can share the grace of GOD with our children. Ideas abounded about how we can help our children come to understand the meaning of grace, specifically, GOD's grace. Wanting to respect our children and the amount of time they can endure sitting still or participating in a lesson, I picked out a just couple of fun ways we can share GOD's grace with them, one of these strategies being a Scripture puzzle,which is a unique way to learn a Bible verse. You can check out two websites I used for ideas about how to share GOD's grace with our children. Just click on the Bibles below! |
AuthorHI! My name is Allison Bertholf. I live in Seoul, South Korea with my wonderful husband, Shawn, and our three adorable children, J.T., Aysia, and Ella. Archives
October 2014
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