Once again, my apologies that you will have to wait a few days for the cleans. In the meantime, you can think abt whether you have a story of your own to tell. Maybe about how God has kept you safe and sound in this crazy world... It is easy to forget what you've been taught but also easy to remember stories about real people.

Lesson 2 – A Changed Life (How has God changed your life?)

Which one are you?

Main Point: Are you before or after? Being a living testimony.

Hook: Ok, someone needs to find the stuff for this hook. Or make some. You know how you’ve played the game where you have two pictures and you have to SPOT THE DIFFERENCE? Yeah, we need 3 sets of those, preferably 5. It’d be good if someone has time to get some original pictures and photoshop them coz it’s important that we know which picture is the original and which is the doctored ones. So anyway, game is pretty simple as things go, spot the difference in the pictures. After that, just ask them which picture they think is the original and the doctored one, ie. which picture is before.... and which is after? * HINT HINT.

Ok so after that we are diving straight into explanations by telling them that just as it’s not always easy to tell which is the b4 and which is the after pic/ or that sometimes it isn’t easy telling which is b4 or after (depending on whether your kids are smarter than we think); it is also difficult to tell i we are acting like we’re ‘before...or after’ Christians. Now here’s a question: Why is it important to know if we are acting like we are before and after? Here’s another one: Does a caterpillar that has become a butterfly still crawl around on it’s belly eating leaves? Or does it fly and drink nectar or pollen from flowers? Can you still call a butterfly that’s still crawling around on it’s belly a butterfly? So like, when we become a Christian, are we still one if we don’t act like one/ strive to be one? ( Again rhetorical question, don’t tell them the answer or that they are right, leave them hanging and let the question fester in their minds....BwAHAHA)

Remember last week’s waterfall metaphor? If we’re not moving forward towards Christ, we are moving backward away and towards a big, BIG waterfall.

1)So...eh how does a Christian behave? What defines the actions of a Christian after they accept Christ?

The answer, we’re looking for in this case is motivations. Ask them for example, why they come to church? What are their motivations? Why did they do the bookmark exercise last week? DID they do the bookmark thing? How did it go? Share how YOUR bookmark thing went.

2) Read Acts 2 , ALL of it.

3) Recall from last week’s lesson: why did the believers gather together?( v8, 14) To wait for the comforter who would anoint them with power and teach them what to do.

4) What was the result of their gathering?(2: 1-13) God fulfilled His promise and met with them, giving them the holy spirit.

5) The believers experienced a dramatic change in their lives when they received the Holy Spirit (met with God). Have you experienced a change in your life since becoming a Christian? When we come to Church for example, do we come with the expectation to meet with God and be transformed by Him?

6) Their faith and meeting with God also had a lasting effect on the believers. ( v 43-47) Do you notice anything interesting about the behaviour of the believers? They were sacrificial, living testimonies as though they had died and were given a second chance. What do you think was the reason behind their behaviours? Love of Christ, Love for God.

7) So what does it mean to love God? Read Matthew 25: 31-46. What is Love? Read 1 Corinthians 13:1. Jesus once said to Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep.( John 21: 15-19) If we don’t care does it mean we don’t Love God? 1 John 4:20-21. The believers did many things that even we now might consider fantastic. How many of us would be willing to say sell your ipod and give the proceeds to someone poor? And yet perhaps in our affluent Singapore such an analogy is a little off, so how many of us would be willing to ‘sell’ our TIME to our friends or maybe someone in need? Or even closer, our parents? How many of us would be willing to do something spontaneous in Love for these people, say mop or vacuum the floor at home without it being called for? To maybe bake something for your friends or even just show up with a bunch of flowers randomly for your mom? Well, you know, these people 2000 years ago did it, and they did it well. They shared their belongings and went more than the extra mile for their fellow Christians, and they MADE sacrifices for one another. Some made little sacrifices, some made bigger ones, but they all did it for one another and that is what Love is about. Sacrificing things, time, even money for others is hard at times, but you know? Sometimes, that is what Love calls us to do and sometimes Love is hard, Love is difficult. But, Love is a choice, not a feeling, not an emotion. We love because we choose to. And that is the part of being a living testimony. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, ALWAYS PERSEVERES. Love never fails. God loved us because He chose to. And that’s why, Jesus died for us on the cross. He chose to.

8) What are some ways we can love God? Pray that we will be open to meeting with God and to be transformed by Him and live according to His commands. He died to set us free, how can we reject Him?

9) Homework: Go pray for someone again this week, & also do something spontaneous in Love for a friend or family.