Saturday, September 12, 2009

TWO BOOKS: Do-It-Yourself or Done-It-For-You


Objective: To show that salvation is of faith or belief, not work on my part
Objects: Cookbook and Bible
Vocabulary:
Same – like something else
Different – not like something else
Faith or Believe – rely only on God/Jesus to save me
Work – rely only on my self and what I can do to save myself

Indicate the two books—the cookbook and the Bible
What are these?

How are they the same?
Both are books
Both give directions to do something/both are "how to do it books"

How is the Bible different from the cookbook?
It is God's Word (God doesn't make mistakes)
The Bible tells us how we can know God
It tells us what God is like, that He is always right in everything He does and says
It tells us how God has told us to live
It tells us that we are sinners and that sin must be punished
It tells us that Jesus has died to take the punishment for our sin
It tells us that all we must do to have our sin forgiven is to trust God and believe what He says

How is the cookbook different?
It is a person's words (People sometimes make mistakes)
Tells us how to cook or bake something, like cookies or soup or fried chicken
We can't just read a recipe for cookies and then believe that there will be cookies—We must get the ingredients and the pans and make the cookies.
We have to do the work ourselves or there will be no cookies
If we don't want to follow the recipe and choose to forget some of the ingredients or put in too much of something, there will be awful cookies!

Cookbooks are important when we cook because we all want the cookies to taste good. Cookies are the result of work, of what we do, not what we believe.

The Bible is important when we want to know God and have our sin forgiven so that we can be with Him forever some day.

Going to Heaven is not like baking cookies. There is nothing we can do to be forgiven and saved. Being saved comes from what we believe about Jesus—That He is God who came to earth to live a perfect life, to die in our place to take the punishment for our sin.

There is nothing you or I can do—There is no recipe list of things like…
Going to church
Obeying your parents
Reading your Bible
Praying
Being really good and nice to people even when they aren't nice to you
Giving money to missionaries
That God has said will pay for your sin.

The difference between the cookbook and the Bible is that this one (cookbook) is a do-it-yourself book, and this one (Bible) is a done-it-for you book.

Jesus has done it for you and me. The only thing we can do is believe Him, and accept (take) what He has for us.

Have you done that? I have something for you. I have already done the work in your place (just like Jesus died for you), and you may have this gift…Just like Jesus' payment for your sin is His gift to you, you can't do any work for it.

Now it's up to you to decide whether or not you will accept it...It won't really belong to you unless you do.
Hand out homemade cookies to the children.

2 comments:

  1. I would like to use your material for my school. Our Spring program is just around the corner. Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. You are welcome to do that. I hope it will be a blessing.

      Kat

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