Lesson 10 - Honesty Is Rewarded

Note: The lessons were taken from the Truth and Honesty Teachers Manual of Voice Philippines.

This is the last lesson for the Truth and Honesty series. We have learned a lot from these lessons and we pray that the children did too.

Teacher Joan started the lesson with an energizer game so that the children will be alert before the lesson proper. The theme of the game is finding the doggy bone, the volunteer will be blindfolded so that the "bone" will be hidden to one of the children. The volunteer will have three attempts to find the "bone" after which a new volunteer will be chosen.

Values Voice
"I will admit when I am wrong."

The story that was shared during this lesson is the test of honesty. There was an emperor who had to find a successor, instead of choosing among his children he tried something different. He called all the young people in their kingdom. They were given a special seed that they were to grow within one year. He will choose the next ruler from those who are able to grow the seed.

Among those who were given the seeds are two best friends, Ling and Kim. After a month of waiting there was still no growth on both their pots. Kim took another seed to grow while Ling got worried that he might have killed the seed but still he waited.

One year had passed and the emperor called all the people who were given the special seeds. All the pots have plants except that of Ling who was afraid, they all laughed at him except Kim who was now sorry for being dishonest.

The emperor looked among the pots and saw that Ling had not been able to make the seed grow, he asked his guard to bring Ling to him. Ling got scared because he was the only one who was not able to grow the seed.

Kim then admitted his mistake, he was put beside Ling. The emperor then announced that there was a new emperor, and his name is Ling. The emperor said that the seed will not really grow because it was already boiled.

Now everyone who had laughed at Ling were bowing down to the new emperor. Kim was given the honor of being the emperor's assistant because he was able to apply the values voice.

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully
to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."
Ephesians 4:25

Photos From The Father's Day Celebration 2008

Here are some photos of the Father's Day Celebration at Lift Jesus Higher Church. Our "tatays" were given small tokens of appreciation for their special day. They were brought by the children to the front during the presentation of Sherwin and his cousin singing "I Offer My Life".

They were then prayed for by Pastora Ranie, that they will be stronger in their Christian walk, and be shining examples to their family and those that they meet everyday.

The last photo is from the dance presentation of the children, "On The March". The song was about the Armor of God, this is a reminder on how we can overcome what we encounter in our lives.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind,
be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Ephesians 6:13-18

Father's Day Celebration

The following videos were taken during the Father's Day Celebration at Lift Jesus Higher Church. The first video is a song number by our kids in Sunday School, they sang "I Offer My Life". The children then got the fathers to stand up and be given small tokens of appreciation.

The dance number is from Hillsong Kids song - "On The March", it relays about the Armor of God and how it will help a person in their Christian walk.

This was a game that was done during Sunday School time, the venue is now the new classroom for the coming school year. I will be writing about this in the coming articles.

Lesson 9 - Honesty Is Often Difficult

Note: The lessons were taken from the Truth and Honesty Teachers Manual of Voice Philippines.

Often it is really difficult to be honest, this lesson shows the children to decide on doing the right thing.

I started the kids with a game that requires them to partner with each other. They were instructed to look each other straight and not blink, the one who does not blink will win the game. They were asked after the game how it felt that someone was staring at them. One child said it made her shy, another said it was making her giggle.

When someone stares at us, it makes us mindful on what we are doing, most especially when we did something wrong, others may not know what you did, but God does.

Values Voice - "I will be honest even if it is difficult."

The story we have shared is the one about Nestor Sulpico. He was one of the many Filipinos that have migrated to the United States. Nestor had a hard time when he came to New York. Eventually, he got a job as a taxi driver.

There were some incidents where he was attacked and robbed on his way home. One day, Nestor saw a black backpack at the backseat of the taxi he was driving. When he looked inside the bag there were black pearls inside which was worth at that time $70,000. It was a hard decision for anyone but in the end he did the right thing and returned it to the rightful owner.

Nestor Sulpico was rewarded by the owner and became an instant hero. He was hailed as the "New York's Most Honest Taxi Driver". Nestor was not expecting any reward but God blessed him because he chose to be honest even if it was truly difficult.

"For we are taking pains to do what is right not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men." 2 Corinthians 8:21

Photos, Videos of The Hillsong United Manila 2008

Note: The pictures and videos shown were taken from other sites.

You might want to check out on the following pictures, videos and links of the Hillsong United Concert in Manila.

Other pictures can be seen from the following links:

Hillsong United Concert 2008 Pictures

Another Set Of Pictures

Hillsong United Concert 2008 Press Conference


Here are the videos that I have picked. For a complete list of videos from Youtube of this event.
















Of course "One Way" will not be forgotten, the crowd requested it and Hillsong United obliged.







[images from winnerscircle06]


[videos from youtube]