Learning as a Believer

[Check out this post for an explanation of why we write our VBS curriculum.]

On Tuesday of VBS we'll be looking at how the Bible teaches us what it means to be a believer. Our key word is learning. Learning to live a life that honors God is not something that just happens over night or naturally. It takes work and practice, but thankfully, the Holy Spirit will help us. We hope that the kids will walk away from this day understanding that:
-We need to live in a way that honors God, and this way of living will make us stand out as believers. To know how to do that, we read the Bible.
-We need to let the Holy Spirit change us into a new person--put off the old self and put on the new.
-The Bible tells us specific things we should not do: lie, be controlled by anger, steal, use bad or mean words, be bitter or have rage.
-The Bible tells us specific things we should do: work hard, give generously, say good and helpful words, be encouraging, be kind, be tenderhearted, forgive.

In Tuesday’s teaching, we’ll be looking at Ephesians 4:17-32, but focusing in on 4:25-32. We’ll begin by building off of the point made the day before that we need to live in a way that shows we are different, that shows we are believers. But how do we know what that is? We look at the Bible. We’ll hear about how we need to put off the old self, and put on the new. We do that by letting the Holy Spirit transform us into people who do things that honor God. Things that honor God are: hard work, giving generously, saying good and helpful words, being encouraging, being kind, being tenderhearted, forgiving. The things that make God sad are when we: lie, are controlled by anger, steal, use bad or mean words, are bitter or have rage.

In the skit the GI Joe will be determined to teach the toys what it means to be a soldier. He’ll continually refer to his Army Manual, while the toys try to teach him what it means to be a toy by referring to their Toy Manual. At the end of the skit, they'll overhear Andy talking about how Slink is missing. Our soldier will leave to do some recon work.