What Does It Mean to Follow JESUS?

What does it mean to follow JESUS?

Question to ask your kids: What are the four Gospels? Answer: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Question to ask your kids: How many times do you think Jesus said, “Follow Me,” in the four Gospels? Answer: 13

Tell your kids: Jesus used the words, “Follow Me,” to call His disciples.

Question to ask your kids: How many disciples did Jesus have? Answer: 12

Bible Study on Jesus calling the 12 disciples to follow Him from the four gospels (you could have your kids act this out)

Simon Peter (Fisherman) and Andrew (Fisherman) (Matthew 4:18-20)
18 Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

James (Fisherman) and John (Fisherman) (Matthew 4:21-22)
21 Jesus saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

Philip and Nathanael/Bartholomew (John 1:43-51)
43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Matthew/Levi (Tax Collector) (Matthew 9:9)
9 Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He said to him, “Follow Me.” So, he arose and followed Him.

The Twelve Chosen (Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-19)
13 Jesus went up on the mountain and prayed and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him.
14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,
15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:
16 Simon and Andrew,
17 James and John, that is, “Sons of Thunder”;
18 Philip, Nathanael/Bartholomew, Matthew/Levi, Thomas, James, Thaddaeus/Jude, Simon the Canaanite/Zealot;
19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

Question to ask your kids: What does it mean to follow Jesus? Answers: May vary, but some answers may be to love like Jesus loved, to walk like Jesus walked, to talk like Jesus talked, to live like Jesus lived, to obey like Jesus obeyed (discuss what they share)

Game to play with your kids: Follow the leader https://www.considerable.com/entertainment/games/follow-the-leader/

Song to sing with your kids: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8jvfdDtoqY

Prayer to pray with your kids: Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Your son, Jesus, to not only die on the cross for our sins, but to show us how to love, walk, talk, live, and obey. Please help us to follow Jesus and share Him with others. Amen.

Appreciation

D.L. Moody said, "Character is what a man is in the dark."

Instilling Godly character into our kids is crucial. Character is who they truly are.
After reading and highlighting so much of an awesome book,
Parenting With Scripture, by Kara Durbin,
I decided to make Character Studies for my kids and I am going to share one with you today.

Basically, you look up the definition of the character trait. Then, there is a verse to memorize.
Then, there is a passage of Scripture that illuminates the character trait in action.
After reading the passage, there are Observation and Application questions to go through.
Lastly, a place for prayer is given to encourage a time of prayer.

The first one is on Appreciation. Who doesn't appreciate being appreciated?
But what I have realized that more important than being appreciated by others
is having an attitude of appreciation toward God and others.

APPRECIATION

Word to Look Up: appreciation:

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Verse(s) to Memorize: Psalm 100:4:

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Scripture to Read/Study:
Luke 17:11-19:
¹¹ Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem
    that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
¹² Then as He entered a certain village,
    there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
¹³ And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
¹⁴ So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
    And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned,
    and with a loud voice glorified God,
¹⁶ and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
¹⁹ And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Questions to Answer:

Who are the key people in this lesson?

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Describe 9 Lepers: ________________________________________________________ 

Describe 1 Leper: _________________________________________________________

What happens?

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How does the 1 leper stand out?

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What does Jesus say to him?

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Application to Plan:

What is the key thing you learned from this lesson?

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 How can you apply what you learned from this lesson?

_________________________________________________________________________

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Prayer to Pray:

_________________________________________________________________________

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If you need an easier-to-print PDF version, please e-mail me at mightyacorns613@hotmail.com

The 3 Rs of Homeschooling (Not What You Are Thinking)

This year starts our 10th year of homeschooling (not counting what we did before Kindergarten). In a decade of home educating, I would like to think I've learned a few things along with my kiddos. LOL! Lately, God has really put it on my heart to focus on the 3 Rs of homeschooling.
It's not what you are thinking.

The 3 Rs of Homeschooling:

1) Relationships 

    Other than God calling me to homeschooling, which was reason enough, one of the biggest reasons
    we started homeschooling and continue homeschooling is to build relationships, both vertical and
    horizontal. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see The Great Commandment:

    "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
    Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
    and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. 
    And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 
    On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” 
    (Matthew 22:36-40)

    Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, 
    perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him,
    “Which is the first commandment of all?”
    Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: 
    ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 
    And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
    and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 
    And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
    There is no other commandment greater than these.”
    (Mark 12:28-31)

    So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
    with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
    (Luke 10:27)

    This actually isn't just in the New Testament. You can find loving the Lord all throughout the Bible
    especially in The Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-5:

    “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 
    You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

    The part about loving your neighbor as yourself is also in the Old Testament in Leviticus 19:18:

    "But you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."     

    It is our greatest desire to love God with everything we have and then love others.
    It is our next greatest desire for our kids to love God with everything they have and love others.

2) Rhythm

    I don't know about you, but I am naturally a person who thrives on structure, routine, and order.
    I love charts, checklists, calendars, planners, and all things that can make me more organized.
    Over the years, I have learned that it is really hard to get not just myself, but my husband, my kids,
    and anyone else to stick to a "at this time we do this" routine.

    Instead, I have been finding that it is better to have a rhythm to our life and our days.
    What does this mean? Well, we wake up, have time to get going for the day, eat breakfast, 
    do some chores, start school, have breaks as needed, have food as needed (LOL), stop for lunch,
    finish up school, have breaks as needed, have food as needed (LOL), have room time, eat dinner,
    have family time, get ready for bed, do family devotions, read books, and go to bed. 

    Having a rhythm keeps everyone from being stressed out about calendars, clocks, time limits, etc.
    It leaves room to breathe and room for flexibility. It's awesome.

3) Responsibility

    As a mom it is super easy to want to do too much for our kids. I am guilty of that myself. 
    I have learned over the years that the more I do for my kids, the less they do for themselves.
    We are working on taking as much responsibility for ourselves as possible. 
    This is not just with our actions, but also with our attitudes and responses to things.

    Obviously a 4-year-old can't clean an entire bathroom by himself, but he can collect towels for the
    laundry. A 9-year-old can't do all of the yardwork by himself, but he can pick up sticks and pull 
    weeds. A 14-year-old can do a lot (even if they don't agree LOL). 

It is my prayer this year that we will build our relationships with the Lord, each other, and others. 
It is my prayer that we will find and maintain a rhythm for our days and this season.
It is my prayer that we will each take responsibility for our tasks and our attitudes.

I hope this has helped. :)