Philippi

Well, Paul is off on another trip.  But this trip has more terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days then terrific, wonderful, very good days!  Before the trip even began, Paul and Barnabas had a HUGE argument.  Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them.  But Paul said John Mark lost his chance when he deserted them on the last missions trip.  So Barnabas took John Mark and sailed for the island of Cyprus.  Now Paul needed to find a new partner.  He chose a man named Silas.

Paul wanted to visit the new Christians in the cities he had previously visited, so they set off for Derbe and Lystra.  When they got to Lystra, Paul met a young man named Timothy who was a believer.  Paul was so impressed with this young man, he asked him to join them on their trip.  Timothy agreed.

After encouraging the Christians in Iconomia and Pisidian Antioch, Paul decided to go to the region of Asia.  But God, the Holy Spirit, told Paul, "NO!"  Next Paul tried to go north.  Again the Holy Spirit told Paul, "NO!"  By this time they had run out of land.  But at night, Paul had a dream of a man begging them to come to Macedonia.  When Paul shared his dream with Silas and Timothy, they all agreed that God wanted them in Macedonia.  So they boarded a boat.

Once they arrived in Macedonia, they traveled to Philippi, the leading city in the area.  Here they found NO synagogue.  (This meant there were very few Jews living in this city.)  But they did hear that people would gather at the river to pray.  So on the Sabbath, they went to the river and found . . . only some women.  Although Paul must have been disappointed, he shared the Gospel (good news of Jesus) with them.  Lydia, a business women, believed their message and put her trust in Jesus.  She then invited them to stay at her home while they were in Philippi.

So far, Philippi had been a disappointment.  Yet, Paul and Silas continued to share the Gospel with whoever would listen.  Soon, wherever they would go a slave girl would follow them.  This slave girl was controlled by a demon (a follower of Satan, God's enemy).  This demon allowed the slave girl to tell people their fortune.  She earned A LOT of money for her masters in this way.  Anyway,  she began to follow Paul and Silas.  As she followed she would yell, "THESE MEN FOLLOW THE MOST HIGH GOD.  THEY CAN TELL YOU HOW TO BE SAVED."

After days of this, Paul got annoyed and commanded the evil spirit to leave the girl in Jesus' name.  Immediately the spirit left.  But the day just got worst for Paul and Silas.  When the slave girls masters discovered she could no longer tell people their fortune.  They grabbed Paul and Silas and accused them of teaching against the Roman law.  Soon a mob joined them.

The town officials decided to beat Paul and Silas and cast them into jail.    The jailer put them into the center most cell and put their hands and feet into chains.  Paul and Silas was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Yet Paul and Silas remembered all that God had done for them.  He directed them to Philippi.  He loved them so much that He sent Jesus to die for their sins.  He was even with them in that cell.  So Paul and Silas spent the evening and night praying and singing praised to God.  They were so loud in their praises that all the other prisoners could hear them.

Suddenly at midnight, there was an earthquake.  The prison's doors flew open and everyone's chains fell off.  Yet, no one ran to freedom.  The jailer seeing the prison's doors open assumed everyone had fled.  He know he would be killed for letting the prisoners escape.  So he decided to kill himself.   Paul and Silas stop him and inform him that everyone is still there.  When the jailer sees that all the prisoners are accounted for, he asked them, "What must I do to be saved?"

"Believe on the Lord Jesus."  they answered.  Immediately, the Jailer (and his family) believed.  Paul and Silas baptized them.  Then the jailer took care of Paul and Silas' wounds and fed them.

Later that morning, the town officials sent a message telling the jailer to release Paul and Silas.  They realized that they had not broken any Roman law.  Before Paul, Silas and Timothy left Philippi, they went to Lydia's house and encouraged them to live for Jesus.

If you have believed in Jesus as your Savior, you too can rejoice in your terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days AND on your wonderful, magnificent, very good days!  Just remember who God is and what He has done for you in the past.  Then rejoice!

The pictures of Week 3 are few.  My photographer (Joy) is on a mission's trip in Mexico.  But here is what I have!

 This week for crafts, we made Paul's traveling Buddies out of bead, straws and pipe cleaners.  They could choose to make either a Mohawk Boy and a Colorful Haired Girl. 

One girl came into my Newmanstown group excited to make a Traveling Buddy.  Apparently, she was meet with a friend who comes to my Campbelltown group.  She saw what we made in Campbelltown and couldn't wait to make one herself! 





















We learned a new song this week.

We played more gaga ball.  I am so sore from playing this game.  This game was definately NOT made for adults.  It was so hot on Wednesday evenings that at one point only us four adults were playing.  All the kids were laying on the grass under the shade. 

We also played Octopus Tag and Tail Tag.  Since ii rained AGAIN on Thursday evening, we played Mennonite Madness and Tenzie instead of a tag game.

Lystra

This week at club, we learned that God wants us to tell others about Him even when it is hard.  Last week, we had left Barnabas in Jerusalem and Saul/Paul in Tarsus.  The church in Jerusalem heard a large number of people in Antioch were coming to put their trust in Jesus.  So they sent Barnabas to check out the situation.  Barnabas found many new believers in Jesus.  He realized quickly that he needed help to teach these new believers about Jesus. So he went to Tarsus to get Paul to help him.  They spent a year in Antioch. 

One day as Barnabas, Saul and three other church leaders in Antioch were praying God, the Spirit, told them "to set Barnabas and Saul apart for the work that God had for them to do."  So the church in Antioch prayed and sent them on their way.         

Directed by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul set sail for the island of Cyprus.  Immediately upon landing, they began to preach the gospel.  The gospel is the good new of Jesus Christ.  (God loves you.  Jesus never sinned, but you have.  Jesus died and rose again.  You can put your trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins.  You can live for Jesus.)  Many people believed as they listened to Barnabas and Paul.  If you have put your trust in Jesus, God wants you to tell others about Him too.

In the city of Paphos, they met a Jewish man who was the governor's helper.  His name was Elymas.  When the governor of Cyprus sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear their message, Elymas tried to convince the governor not to put his trust in Jesus.  Paul then turned to Elymas and inflicted temporary blindness on him.  Seeing this miracle, the governor decided to put his trust in Jesus.  Satan, God's enemy, doesn't want anyone to hear and believe the gospel.  But Jesus has given you (like he did Paul) power to tell others of Him.  

Next Paul and Barnabas sailed for Perga.  From their they traveled to Pisidia Antioch.  Everywhere they went they shared the gospel to whoever would listen.  Because the Jews in Pisidia Anioch were jealous of Paul and Barnabas' popularity they first argued with them and finally tried to hurt them.  Paul and Barnabas left and went to Iconium.  And then to Lystra.

After Paul and Barnabas arrived in Lystra, a man who never walked in his life believed in Jesus and was healed.  The crowd seeing this miracle, believed Paul and Barnabas were gods and tried to worship them.  The crowd did not worship the true and living God.  They didn't know or believe the good news of Jesus.  After telling the crowd that "they are men just like them", Paul and Barnabas urged the crowd to turn to the true and living God - Jesus.  

Stirred up by the jealous Jews from Pisidia Antioch and Iconium, the crowd turned from trying to worship Paul and Barnabas to stoning Paul.  When they though Paul was dead they dragged his body outside the city.  When the believers in Jesus gathered around Paul, he got up from the ground and walked back into the city of Lystra!

The next day, Paul and Barnabas continued onto Derbe.  They didn't give up preaching the gospel.  (God loves you.  Jesus never sinned, but you have.  Jesus died and rose again.  You can put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.  You can live for Jesus.)  After Derbe.  They went back through some of the towns they had recently been at and then sailed for Antioch.  Returning to Antioch, they gave a detailed report of all God had done through them.  Very likely Satan will try to stop you from telling others about Jesus.  But God wants you to tell others about Him, even when it is hard!  So be a Paul and Barnabas.  

Here are some pictures of week 2.

Here they come. . .  I love it when the kids come running with smiles on their faces. 

Many of the kids answered last week's essay question.  Why would God still love a man like Saul/Paul?  I was really pleased how the kids answered this question.  For answering the question, each kid received 10 Bible Bucks.   

 Katelyn is all ready to sign the kids in this week at Newmanstown!  It was raining when we arrived so we set up inside.  Then it stopped so we set up games outside and everything else inside.  Didn't know if we would have many kids due to the weather, but we had only one less than last week.










Gaga ball fun!   We had some sibling rivalry in the pit. 

This week, we made string backpacks during craft time.  They turned out very cute.  The one boy told me, "Finally a cool craft."  They only glitch in the craft is that they didn't dry by the time club ended.  So I will be handing out most of them next week. 

Kids in line to go inside for Bible Time.  See how hot and sweaty they are from playing gaga ball?

 

This week's Bible verse is Romans 5:12.  We played a neat game to help us learn the verse.  As long as the "Go" sign was showing, we said the verse.  But when the "Stop" sign came out, no one could talk until the "Go" sign came again.  The kids loved taking turns controlling the signs.

 Because my South Annville Club is very large.  I split the kids into two groups (K-3 and 4-6).  Half the time the kids played Nine Square in the Air and half the time they played gaga ball.  The younger kids enjoyed playing gaga ball.  It was a much slower game than when the older kids played.

SNACK TIME!  Had a child ask a million time (OK maybe not that many, but a lot)  "When is snack time?"

 Soon it was time to for the kids to go to the Club Store. 

And then club was over for another day. . .

Damascus

The adventure began!  This week we followed Saul, who is also known as Paul, as he went from Jerusalem to Damascus in search of Jesus lovers.  He was convinced that these people were making fun of God by declaring Jesus is God.  His purpose in going to Damascus was to find these Jesus lovers who have fled Jerusalem, arrest them, and take them back to Jerusalem for trial.  But God loved him so much that before Saul/Paul reached Damascus God sent a bright light to get his attention. Then a voice said, "Saul, Saul, Why are you hurting me?" 

Immediately Saul/Paul recognized that God was talking to him.  "Who are you, Lord?" 

God answered, "I am Jesus, who you are hurting."  God wanted Saul/Paul to believe that Jesus is the Christ; the one God had promised to send to forgive sin.  God wants you to believe the same thing.  In astonishment, Saul/Paul believed in Jesus.  God told him to go to Damascus, but when Saul/Paul got up to obey he discovered that he was blind.  Where he spent three days not eating or drinking anything, but praying. 

Meanwhile in Damascus there was a Jesus lover named Ananias.   God instructed Ananias to go to Saul/Paul.  Ananias was to encourage Saul/Paul.  Even though Ananias knew that Saul/Paul was coming to Damascus to imprison Jesus lovers like him, he obeyed and went to Saul/Paul.  God used Ananias to heal Saul's blindness and to encourage him to obey Jesus.  Saul/Paul was so excited over Jesus that he began to preach Jesus is the Son of God to the people of Damascus!  God was going to use this Jesus hater-turn Jesus lover in an amazing way.  Next week we well see what plans God had for Saul/Paul. 

Pictures of our first week:  When the kids arrive they sign in, get a bag & Bible Buck, write their name on the bag and put the bag in the designated area. 

Then some of the kids head to the craft table.  This week we made a Passport Traveler's kit out of DVD cases (that I got for free from the Annville Free Library!)  They had to color a map of the Roman World.  Then they made a pocket our of cut felt and glued that to the inside of the case.  They added a pre-made Passport, a small pad of paper and a pencil.  The neat thing about these kits is the kids can trace Paul's travels on their maps using a Dry Erase Marker. 

Some of the kids really took their time coloring.  Others tried to see how fast they could get done!

 

When the kids were not at the craft table, they could play gaga ball.  They absolutely love this game.  I added a new pit this year.  It is made of PVC pipe and is SO MUCH lighter than the wooden one.  The wooden one will remain at the South Annville location, but the PVC pit travels with me to the other sites.  

  Then it was Tent Time!  Here we learned three new songs.  The kids really caught on to the motions.

This year I have a helper - Katelyn!  She will be teaching the Bible Verses, reading the Missionary Stories and overseeing the Review Games.  This year we will be learning the 8 verses that make up the Roman Road.  If the kids can say all 8 verse the same week, then they will earn the right to choose a book from the book box.  This week, Katelyn taught them Romans 3:23.

See how attentive the kids were while Katelyn taught Romans 2:23? 





Then I introduced them to the Wordless Flipper Flapper.  Eventually, the kids will make their own Wordless Flipper Flapper.  

Then it was our Bible Lesson: Damascus. 

SNACK TIME!  








GROUP GAMES
Now it was time to use some energy.  This week all our games involved bean bags.  For some groups, we had a bean bag toss.  Other groups played Bean Bag Madness.  An still other groups played Bonfire! 


Then we returned to the tent for our Missionary Story (ran out of time for the review game).  This week's missionary was Gladsy Awland, missionary to China.  After club, the kids could spend their Bible Bucks at the Club Store.  It was a fantastic first week of Backyard Bible Club 2017!

2017 Backyard Bible Club!

 

Friends + Food + Games + Stories + Songs + Crafts + Games = Backyard Bible Club

Over 90 kids attended Backyard Bible Club last summer.  Why?  Because it is fun!  Each week you get to spend time with friends, make something, sing songs, learn from the Bible, eat, play games and more. 

This year, we are going to be traveling with the apostle Paul throughout the Roman World: Damascus, Antioch, Lystra, Philippi, Ephesus, Jerusalem, Ceasarea, Malta, and Rome.

So if you are entering kindergarten through 6th grade register to join one of the various clubs throughout Lebanon County.  There is no cost, just register and come to one of the following clubs as much as you can. I hope to see you this summer! 

Becky Barnhart

Click to Register On-line or to see when and where the different clubs are being held:  2017 Backyard Bible Club Registration