Friday, December 23, 2011

W & X

W is for Worship.  Worship is to give praise, honor and respect for God.  We honor God when we celebrate Jesus birth each year, when we go to church, when we pray, and when we obey. We should not idolize anything but God.  When we choose a toy over praying or going to church or over our sibling, we are idolizing the toy...this does not honor God.
We are going to talk to about Wisdom and Wisemen and color a sheet with the 3 wisemen on it.  I actually found a child's sermon on the wisemen worshipping Baby Jesus here.  We will look at our Christmas book to see other pictures of wisemen.

X is for eXaltation (yes, sometimes you have to be creative).  In the Bible "exaltation" most often refers to the lofty position of God and of Jesus Christ. The most common Hebrew terms for "lift up, exalt. 
The Exaltation of Christ. (retrieved here) As the God-man, Jesus Christ entered the world to redeem humankind from their sinful condition. Through his death and resurrection Christ was exalted to the right hand of the Father. Both Isaiah 52:13 and the Gospel of John ( 3:14 ; 8:28 ; John 12:32John 12:34 ) speak of Christ's death in the double sense of being "lifted up" and being "highly exalted." By humbling himself and submitting to death by being "lifted" onto a Roman cross, Christ paid for the sin of humankind, and in so doing was exalted by the Father to the highest place and given "the name that is above every name" ( Php 2:8-9 ). It was through the resurrection from the dead that Christ's death was demonstrated in a powerful way ( Rom 1:4 ). By the resurrection Christ's human nature entered the glorious state of the unending life, and the risen Lord swallowed up death in victory ( 1 Cor 15:54 ).
Having finished his work on earth, Jesus was taken back to heaven and seated at the right hand of God. David had spoken of the Messiah's sitting at the Lord's right hand ( Psalm 110:1 ). This most exalted and honored position confirmed Christ's glory and authority as the supreme ruler ( Eph 1:20-21 ). Christ's exaltation and lordship are evident in the titles "Prince" and "Savior, " which are ascribed to him in his heavenly session ( Acts 5:31 ). The "prince" or "author" of our salvation was made "perfect through suffering" and then "sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" ( Heb 2:10 ; 12:2 ). The son of David was now a king far above any earthly ruler.
At his second coming the King of kings and Lord of lords will return to earth to defeat the nations and to rule them with an iron scepter ( Rev 19:15-16 ). Christ's sovereign authority will be displayed; every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord ( Php 2:10-11 ).

A little over their head but we will go through it anyway.  No craft for this one :)

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