Today we continued our journey through the book of Acts with some more about Peter.  A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Saul had a special calling on his life: to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.  But God has a message for Peter regarding the Gentiles as well.

When Peter was praying one day, he got very hungry.  He had a dream about a large sheet being lowered from Heaven, tied up at the corners.  When it came to the ground, it opened, and he saw all kinds of animals, birds and creepy things.  A voice said “Rise, Peter, Kill and eat!” But Peter was a devout Jew, and would not eat anything that was not permitted by the Law.  He would not touch unclean animals.  So he said “No!  (Imagine saying “No!” to God – but we do it all the time!!)  He says that he would never eat anything unclean.

God answers Peter, and says that what God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.   Peter still refused.  He refused three times!!  Then God removed the sheet. Peter thought God was talking about food.  But He wasn’t!!

Jews didn’t only not touch unclean food.  They didn’t want to spend time with anyone who wasn’t Jewish.  They though the “Gentiles” were unclean, too.  But – God had cleansed the Gentiles, and sent them a messenger.  It wasn’t up to Peter to turn away from them.

For Parents:

• Read Acts 10: 11-16 with your child.  See what your child can tell you about the story.
• Tell your child about a time when you thought something was “unclean” and God showed you differently.
• Pray together that you both will have open eyes and hearts toward those who might be considered “unclean.”

We will be participating in a special event in a couple of weeks: Kids Rock Day, hosted by House of Restoration Church in Hartford.  HoRC is a good friend of KidzPort, and we will be looking forward to this event.  All the kids and their families are invited, and we are hoping that the kids will invite some of their friends.  This will basically be a rock concert for kids, with an evangelistic message.

Next weekend will be our annual Father and Son Campout weekend, so we won’t have a regular KidzPort session, but we will still be working with the kids.   And of course, our Children’s Revival will be September 18 and 19.

This week we meet another man, named Ananias.  Ananias lives in Damascus, and is a follower of The Way. In other words, he is a Christian.  God appears to Ananias in a dream, and tells him to go see Saul and lay hands on him.  Ananias is afraid of this, because he knows exactly who Saul is, and what he does to Christians.  But God tells Ananias that Saul is the one He has chosen to bring the Good News to the Gentiles.  So Ananias goes and lays hands on Saul, and Saul is able to see again.  He stays with the Christians in Damascus for a short time, and right away, begins to preach publicly about what Jesus had done for him.

So who are the “Gentiles?”  Well, according to the Jewish people at the time, there  were two kinds  of people:  those who were Jewish, and those who were not.  And those who were not Jewish were called Gentiles.  You see, all the original twelve Apostles, and most of the early converts to Christianity were Jews who lived near or in Israel.  And they were uncomfortable with speaking to people who were not Jewish.

But Saul, even though he was a well-educated Jew, was also a Roman citizen, and lived in a city far away from Israel.  So he was used to dealing with Gentiles.  So God picked Saul to teach the Gentiles around the world about Jesus.  And he did that, in amazing ways.  We’ll be talking a lot about Saul, who is also called Paul, in the coming months.

For Parents:

• Continue reading the story of Saul with your child.  Acts 9:10-22 tells the story of Ananias and Saul.
• Go over last week’s memory verse.

Schedule Notes: We hope to see as many families as possible at this Friday’s “Rock the Block” event!  We want our neighborhood to see how strong KidzPort is.     We will also be participating in “Kids ROCK Day” at House of Restoration in Hartford.  It will be on August 21.  More details to come.

One day, our guy hears about something that makes his blood boil.  There’s this new group of activists who are trying to turn things upside down.  They’re trying to say that everything he believes in is wrong, and they are trying to change the order of what’s important.  Now, our guy isn’t going to take that sitting down.  He leaves his home city to try and chase down and rid the world of these rabblerousers.

Our guy’s name is Saul.  Saul lived during the time of Jesus, but he lived about 350 miles away from Jerusalem in a city called Tarsus.  He was a Pharisee, which meant that he was a very strict religious Jew.  And he was also a Roman citizen, which meant he had a lot of protection under the law.  And the group of activists he was chasing were early Christians, who were called followers of The Way.  In fact, Saul would be responsible for the deaths of many Christians.

One day, Saul was walking down the road toward a city called Damascus.  Suddenly, there was a bright light, and Saul felt himself falling to the ground.  He heard a voice saying “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”   When Saul asked who was speaking, the voice replied “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

When Saul rose up, he found himself to be blind, so that his companions (who also heard the voice) had to lead him into the city.  So why would Jesus seek after this persecutor of Christians?   Well, Saul’s story is not over, and we will be talking about him more in the coming weeks.

For Parents:

• Read the story of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9: 3-9 with your child.
• Our memory verse is Acts 9:4

Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

As a bonus, here’s a video of our kids singing on Sunday.

We also need to remember that we are not truly free apart from God.  Earthly freedom is one thing; without Jesus we would still be bound and held back by sin, and by our own weakness.  That’s why this weeks memory verse is taken from John 8:36:

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

We also are working on a new song, one that ties right into the lessons we have been doing on Pentecost and the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The kids did a great job with it, but they need to continue working on it.  The song is called “Fix My Eyes,” and it was written by Fred McKinnon,  a worship pastor from Georgia, and a friend of mine.  I’ve included a video below, so the kids can listen to it, and practice it.

For Parents:

• Help your child to memorize the memory verse, John 8:36
• Help your child to memorize the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
• Watch the video below, and encourage your child to get more familiar with the song.

KidzPort has been pretty active lately.   I’ll take this update to make sure everyone is aware of what we’ve been doing, and what things are coming up.

We’re looking forward to taking the kids on some trips this summer, so we held a carwash on June 19 to help raise funds for that.  It was a great day, and we had a lot of fun.  Look for another one in July.

KidzPort Carwash

We also participated in Gospel Light’s outreach efforts at the Barnum Festival Great Street Parade.  Some of the kids handed out free cold water bottles and invitations to people watching the parade.  It was hot, and tiring, but they got to speak with almost 100 people.

Coming up:  This week is Family Night at KidzPort. We’re meeting Wednesday, June 30 in the church at 7:15 for another night of fun and activities.  All families are welcome and encouraged to come!

There are still tickets left for KidzPort Night at the Bridgeport Bluefish.  Details and a link to buy tickets can be found here. The date is Tuesday, July 20.

Rock the Block is an outreach event sponsored by our Transformers Youth Ministry, which will involve the entire church.  More details to come!

Out Street Team

We have a tentative event scheduled on Saturday, August 21, so keep the date clear. It’s called ROCK Day, and it’s hosted by our friend at House of Restoration in Hartford.  More details are coming.

Our Chidren’s Revival Weekend is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20.   We will again be joined by Studio-Z.  Be sure to invite every child you know!

Don’t forget Hallelujah Night! Sunday, October 31.

If you were to visit Kidzport this week, you would know, too.  Pentecost is laid out in a storyboard of sorts, all around the room – from the gathering of devout men “in one accord” to the 3000 that were baptized that day.   What we’re seeing her is the beginning of something special, something that had never been seen before.  Pentecost is the beginning of the church as we know it… the beginning of men (and women) telling others about Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and making disciples – the heart of the Great Commission.

Beginning next week, we will start a new journey – through the Book of Acts, through the beginnings of the church that the Holy Spirit inspired the twelve to begin.  We will meet some fascinating people.  Some we already know – Peter, James, John…   We will meet others as well – Stephen, Simon Magnus, Cornelius, Barbabas, Silas – and, of course, Saul of Tarsus, otherwise known as Paul.

For Parents:

• Ask your child if they can recount for you the story of Pentecost. It’s OK to give them hints.
• We are still working on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Please see the last post.  The children should have them memorized by now.

Schedule Note:   Remember as of June, cell meetings for both children’s cells are on WEDNESDAYS, not Fridays.

Acts 2 tells us that the twelve were waiting in Jerusalem and were all “of one accord”, which is important. It means they were together, not only in place, but in mind and spirit.  Acts tells us that there was the sound like a mighty rushing wind, and that tongues of fire came on them.  They began speaking in strange tongues, and people around them thought they were drunk, because they didn’t understand what they were saying.

Then another miracle happened.  All the people around, no matter where they were from or what language they spoke, were able to understand what the apostles were saying.  They each heard in in their own language.  Then Peter spoke, and the bible tells us that 3,000 believers were added that day!

So what kind of things does the Holy Spirit give us?  We will be talking about this in the next few weeks, but the list of Gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in 1 Corinthians looks like this:

• Wisdom
• Knowledge
• Faith
• Healing
• Miracles
• Prophecy
• Discerning of Spirits
• Speaking in Tongues
• Interpreting Tongues

For Parents:

• Read with your child the story of Pentecost in Acts 2: 1-13.  See that they can recount the story with you.
• Tell your child of any times you feel that one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit was working in you
• Help your child to memorize the list above.  We’d like them to know it by May 23.

Seems like a long time.   Whenever we see the number 40 in the bible, it always points to a time of preparation.  Jesus was in the desert fasting for 40 days.  When Noah built the ark, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.   Three times, Moses went up to Mt. Sinai for 40 days.  The Israelites wandered the wilderness for 40 years.

Jesus stayed on Earth for 40 days following the Resurrection.  During that time, Luke tells us in the Book of Acts that He walked with the disciples, ate with them, taught them.  He was seen by many people.  In short, he was preparing his disciples for what was to come.

Once the 40 days was up, Jesus told the disciples that they were to wait in Jerusalem.  He told them that they would shortly be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and that they would be His witnesses.  And then something incredible happened.  Jesus – body and all – was taken up into Heaven, right in front of them.  He didn’t disappear like Enoch, and and there was no whirlwind and fiery chariot like Elijah.  He simply was lifted to heaven, and disappeared in a cloud.

The amazed disciples continued to stare at the sky.  But then two men appeared to them, and asked them why they were just standing there, when Jesus had left them.  They told the twelve that Jesus would return the same way He left.

For Parents:

• Read Acts 1:1-11 with your child.  Make sure they understand and can tell you what happened.
• Why do you think the disciples were just staring at the sky.  Can you remember a time when you just “stared” after Jesus?  Share with your child.
• Read Luke 21:25-28.  Does this description of Jesus’ return match what the two angels told the disciples?

After a long night of catching nothing, they saw a man on the shore, calling to them.   He asked them if they’d caught anything. They said they hadn’t, and the man told them to throw their nets over the right side of the boat.  When they hauled in a huge catch, Peter remembered that this had happened once before – and he recognized Jesus.

When they got to shore, Jesus took some of the fish, and made them breakfast.  And he gave them bread.  Which begs the question: where did Jesus get the bread?  How did He start the fire?

Remember when Jesus fasted in the desert for forty days.  Satan came to Him and tempted Him to turn stones into bread.  Jesus replied that “Man does not live on bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.”   (Mt 4:4)  But Satan knew Jesus could have turned the stones into bread if He wanted to.

Back to the story in John.  Jesus has fulfilled His mission, accomplished His task.  He is living now as the resurrected King of Kings.  So why not command the very stones to turn to bread to feed His friends?  Why not command the logs to burst into flames, to command the fish to jump into the nets? This simple act of love for His friends demonstrates Jesus’ heart – the heart we should share.

Following breakfast, Jesus asks Peter a strange question: does Peter love Him?  In fact, Jesus asks him the question three times.  Each time Peter responds that he does.  Each time, Jesus tells him to take care of His sheep.  Remember, Peter denied Jesus three times.  And now, Jesus has restored him three times.  Because that’s what God does; as often as we fall, He picks us up.

For Parents:

• Read John  21 with your child, verses 1 to 19.  Pay attention to the story of the fish and the breakfast.
• Challenge your child to find the story of the first miraculous catch of fish.  (Hint: it’s in Luke.)
• Compare both stories.  What is the same, and what is different?

Schedule note:   Friday, April 30th is Family Night!    Everyone is invited.