Second Stage Ministries

This past month, but mostly this past weekend, we looked at the following verse with the 4th and 5th graders at my church: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV When we look at Paul's life, we see this verse in a different light. Paul is not just telling the Thessalonians to be thankful because it's a good thing to do. Paul is writing these words after going through some rough times. At the beginning of his ministry he wasn't very well received. Paul, known as Saul at the time, was killing and persecuting followers of Jesus trying to eradicate the last bits of the ministry of Jesus. Then one day he was on his way to get more people and he met Jesus on the way there. A light blinded him and he had to be escorted to town. Paul then began to preach the gospel and the people were shocked. But they couldn't believe that he had changed. So they ran him out of town. [1] Paul would then...

Why Don't We Say Thank You? I presented this question this past weekend at church to the 4th and 5th grade students that I was teaching. Here are some of the answers that they came up with: Fear Excitement Forget to Don't want to Ashamed Don't think they deserve it Thank you is understand I want you to read a story from Bible that I saw in a little different light over the last few weeks and I want to show you what God showed me. The story is found in Luke 17: “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us!' When he saw them, he said, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked...