Story - "I give you me!"
A teacher wanted to teach his pupils the real meaning of "Christmas". He explained that Christmas was Jesus' birthday, and that as it was customary to give a gift to people on their birthday, he asked all the children to bring in a gift for Jesus on that special day. He explained that he would like the children to all think hard about their gift and that it should be a one that would be worthy to give to Jesus, the Son of God and Saviour of the world.
The teacher placed a large box in the centre of the classroom and, as the children arrived - many of them obviously carrying a gift - , asked them to come out one at a time and place their gift for Jesus in the empty box.
Matthew was the first to come forward, and the other children gasped to see him pushing his bicycle towards the box. Everyone knew how much Matthew loved his bike. He had been saving up for it for months, and after he finally had enough to buy it just a few weeks ago, he was seen riding it for hour after hour. Surely Matthew wasn't going to give his precious bike away? But no. Matthew lifted his bike into the box, clasped his hands together and prayed "Jesus, I give you my bike."
Next to come forward was Amanda. Again their was a gasp from the other children as they saw her carrying her favourite Barbie doll. She was rarely seen without her precious Barbie doll. But she placed it in the box and prayed "Jesus, I give you my Barbie doll."
Next up was Big Joe. Everyone knew how much Joe liked chocolate. But there he was, carrying, a large box of chocolates to give to Jesus. How hard that must have been for Joe to give his chocolates away. And so it went on. Each child had obviously thought long and hard about their gift and gave up something that they were bound to miss.
Finally, there was only Poor Jimmy left. He was know as 'Poor Jimmy' because he obviously was very poor. He never seemed to wear any nice clothes, or have very much in his lunch box. In fact, sometimes, he didn't bring any lunch with him at all. It was said that his father had died, and that his mother didn't have much money to look after Jimmy and his brothers and sisters. What sort of gift would Jimmy give to Jesus?
"It's your turn now, Jimmy" said the teacher. "Bring your gift to Jesus." Slowly, Jimmy got up and started walking towards the box. A few children giggled and whispered "He's not got anything. Look. There is nothing in his hands. Jimmy is carrying nothing to give to Jesus." Eventually Jimmy arrived at the box. He hesitated for a moment, and then jumped right into the box and sat down. "Jimmy, What on earth are you doing" asked the teacher. But Jimmy just put his hands together and prayed "Jesus, I give you me! I give all of my life to you."
Question. Which of those children gave the best gift to Jesus? That's right, Jimmy did.
Jesus told us that when we are giving to others, we are actually giving to Him. Some people give money to Jesus (Perhaps when they give to the church offering, or to a charity), some give up some of their time or talents (abilities) to help others. And that is good. But what Jesus wants each one of us to give to him is all of our Lives, just like Jimmy did. He gave his life for us, and he wants us to give All of our lives back to him. He will never be satisfied with a little bit of our money, time, talents, or anything else we can offer him. No, He wants All of us.
What does this mean in practice? It means living for Jesus. It means putting Him first all the time. It means that our attitude should be not, "What is best for me, or what do I want to do?" but rather "What is best for Jesus. What does He want me to do?" That is giving yourself to Jesus.
Prayer. "Jesus, I give all of my life to you. I may not have a lot, but what I do have, I give it all to you. Help me to use my money, time, talents and everything else I have in a way that pleases you. Amen."
Illusion - Cutting a banana in half without touching it.
Jesus sometimes healed people from a distance - just by speaking a word of faith. In this illustration you appear to cut a banana in half just by speaking and / or by making a 'chopping' action with your hand towards it.
Preparation.
Take a banana, choose a point near the centre, and push a small sewing needle through the peel and most of the way through the soft centre. With the needle still in place, move it in an upwards and then a downwards direction a few times. This action will cause the centre to be cut in half, but leave the peel largely unaffected. On removing the needle, only a small prick should be visible in the otherwise 'normal' banana.
Illustration.
Show your friends your 'normal' (but prepared) banana. Select a volunteer and have them hold up the banana so that everyone can see it. Stand a few metres away from your volunteer and 'command' the banana to be cut in half. At the same time you could make a chopping motion with your hand in the direction of the banana. Finally, get your volunteer to carefully peel the banana. The banana centre should be clearly seen to have been cut into two halves.
Your questions answered - Where did Cain get his wife from?
The most common question that people ask Bible teachers is certainly "Who made God?" (For the answer - see Kidzone No.1). The next most common question is the one asked here.
Adam and Eve were the very first two people. Although the Bible only tells us the names of three of their children (Cain, Abel and Seth), it does tell us that they had other sons and daughters. As Adam lived until he was 930 years, there were probably lots of them.
At the beginning of human history, Adam's sons, including Cain, must have married their own sisters. This is because Adam and Eve were the parents of everyone. After that, their children's sons could have married their sisters or their girl cousins, and had children of their own. Very soon there would have been thousands of people living on the earth.
It is against the law for brothers to marry sisters today, why could they do it back then?
Let's first consider the world today. If brothers marry their sisters, then their children may be deformed or sick or handicapped in some way. This is because in our genes, we all have some 'copying mistakes' that have built up in our family over many generations. Different families have different copying mistakes. When people with different gene mistakes marry, the good genes from each partner tend to override the other partner's bad genes, so that deformities do not appear in their children. But if people with the same gene mistakes marry, then their children are liable to inherit two sets of bad genes, and so they can be handicapped in some way.
This was not a problem with Adam and Eve's children, because God created Adam and Eve perfect, with no genetic mistakes! So there was no problem with brothers marrying sisters.
But then, when sin entered the world, God withdrew some of His power that stopped things falling apart. His perfect creation began to degenerate. There was death and decay, and many genetic mistakes began to develop in all living things. This was minimal at the time of Cain, so intermarriage was okay, but by the time of Moses, about 2,500 years later, genetic mistakes had built up to the point where it was necessary for God to forbid brothers from marrying their own sisters. That is why it was okay at the beginning, but not okay today to marry your close relative.
Laugh break - Walking by faith.
One day a 6 year old girl was sitting in a classroom. The teacher was going to explain evolution to the children. The teacher asked a little boy: Tommy do you see the tree outside?
TOMMY: Yes.TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.
TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.
TEACHER: Did you see God up there?
TOMMY: No.
TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't there. Possibly he just doesn't exist.A little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions. The teacher agreed and the little girl asked the boy: Tommy, do you see the tree outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass outside?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the teacher?
TOMMY: Yes
LITTLE GIRL: Do you see her brain?
TOMMY: No
LITTLE GIRL: Then according to what we were taught today in school, she possibly may not even have one!
"FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT"
II CORINTHIANS 5:7
