Week: Holy Spirit Adventures - the Book of Acts
We start by pausing and taking a deep breath:
In and out.
In and out.
We remember that God is here, and so together we prepare ourselves to be with God.
Pause
God of rescue and restoration, thank You for Your beautiful mission to save the whole world. Here we are, Lord. Fill us with Your Spirit, and send us so that we can join in with Your mission.
Charles and John Wesley were born in England in the 1700s. They were both very talented, but in very different ways. Let’s REFLECT on what the Bible says about how God gives each one of us unique gifts!
Read by Jackson J
1 Corinthians 12:4-7
There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve but the same Lord to serve. And there are different ways that God works through people but the same God. God works in all of us in everything we do. Something from the Spirit can be seen in each person, for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NCV)
Charles and John Wesley came from a big family. A VERY big family! They were their parents’ 15th and 18th children – imagine that! They both served God all their lives, but they did it in different ways.
John was a gifted preacher – he started the Methodist Church and he travelled thousands of miles on horseback (because there were no cars in those days) to tell hundreds of thousands of people about God’s love. Charles, on the other hand, was a talented musician who wrote over 6500 songs to encourage people to worship God. His worship songs were so good that, even though he lived 300 years ago, many of them are still being sung in churches today.
Let’s pause and talk about today’s question which is; What different gifts and talents do we each have? Perhaps we can tell each other what gifts and talents we see in each other?
John and Charles used their unique gifts and talents to communicate the love of Jesus. Let’s ASK God to help us do the same.
Creator God, whatever our gifts are – whether it’s talking to people like John Wesley or writing songs like Charles Wesley or something completely different – we offer them all back to You. We ASK You to help us use them well.
Who do we know that has worked hard to develop their gifts and talents? Maybe they’re good at dancing or playing an instrument or speaking another language or creating art or crafts? Or maybe it’s something totally different.
Creator God, as we think about these people, we ASK You to help them to use the gifts that You’ve given to them to the very best of their abilities.
What could we do to encourage someone in their gifts or talents today?
In one of his sermons, John Wesley encouraged people to share Jesus’ love by, doing ‘all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can.’*
Loving God, we say YES to this. We say YES to doing all the good we can, in every way we can, in every place we can, whenever we can, to everyone we can, for as long as we can.
Let’s put a hand on our heart.
Father God, fill us with Your love. Help us to love You, and everything that You’ve made.
Let’s point to our eyes.
Lord Jesus, help us to see You, and to see others the way that You see them too.
Let’s point to our ears.
Holy Spirit, help us to hear You, and give us courage to do what You say.
*Adapted from: 1799, Sermons on Several Occasions (A New Edition) by the Rev. John Wesley (Late Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford), Sermon 36: The Law Established through Faith: Discourse 2, Start Page 478, Quote Page 486, Printed by Edward Baines; Sold by T. Hannam, The Preachers in the New Itinerancy, and the Booksellers, Leeds, England.
Unathi lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with her husband and 5 kids; and has a passion for seeing families thriving.
You’ll most likely find her homeschooling the tribe, reading, writing, or dreaming about the next DIY project.
She also loves good coffee, dark chocolate and hiking.
Jackson is 11 and he lives in Chichester, on the south coast of England, with his parents and his sister. He loves Pokemon (who doesn’t?), music and having fun with his friends.
