Storytime At Church: Experience of Salvation--Fundamental Belief #10

Fundamental Belief #10-- Experience of Salvation
In infinite love and mercy God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might be made the righteousness of God. Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Lord and Christ, as Substitute and Example. This faith which receives salvation comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God's grace. Through Christ we are justified, adopted as God's sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin. Through the Spirit we are born again and sanctified; the Spirit renews our minds, writes God's law of love in our hearts, and we are given the power to live a holy life. Abiding in Him we become partakers of the divine nature and have the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment. (Read verses here. 2 Cor. 5:17-21; John 3:16; Gal. 1:4; 4:4-7; Titus 3:3-7; John 16:8; Gal. 3:13, 14; 1 Peter 2:21, 22; Rom. 10:17; Luke 17:5; Mark 9:23, 24; Eph. 2:5-10; Rom. 3:21-26; Col. 1:13, 14; Rom. 8:14-17; Gal. 3:26; John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:23; Rom. 12:2; Heb. 8:7-12; Eze. 36:25-27; 2 Peter 1:3, 4; Rom. 8:1-4; 5:6-10.)

The Book Steps to Christ is a wonderful resource for this belief.

The Story:

Information about the life-cycle of butterflies can be found by doing a search on the internet. Here are two sites with lots of pictures.

http://www.thebutterflysite.com/life-cycle.shtml http://www.butterflyschool.org/new/meta.html

The story of the demon possessed man may be found in the following scriptures:

Mark 5:1-20

Luke 8:26-39

Matthew 8:28-34

Changed From the Inside

How many of you have ever seen a butterfly or a moth? Of course you all have. Butterflies are beautiful, fluttering about with their pretty wings, flying from flower to flower or flitting around your yard. I don't know of anyone who is afraid of the pretty butterfly.

Butterflies and moths looks much alike and they have the similar life cycle. You may already know that the butterfly or moth was once a caterpillar crawling about on the leaves and trees. The caterpillar eats and eats as soon as it hatches from a tiny egg. It grows from a small grub-like creature to a nice, fat, caterpillar. Have you ever picked up a caterpillar and let it crawl over your hand. It's little feet tickle as he moves up your arm. You may have even caught caterpillars and put them in a jar with leaves and grass. They are fun to watch.

One day a little boy was out in the school yard playing at recess when he noticed a funny looking leaf on bush. He went closer and realized he was looking at a little cocoon. He broke off the little branch and carefully brought it to his teacher. The teacher found a large jar and they laid the branch with the cocoon inside, nestled between some grass and leaves. Then they carefully covered the jar with a lid that had small holes punched in it so air could flow through to the little cocoon. For the first few days the children in the classroom were very interested in the jar but soon they grew tired of watching because nothing changed. Every day the little branch with the cocoon just sat in the jar looking as if nothing was happening. But unknown to the boys and girls big things were happening inside that cocoon. The little caterpillar was changing into an adult moth. Wings and antennae were forming and even the caterpillars mouth was changing from a chewing mouth to a sucking mouth. But no one in the classroom could see this.

A few weeks went by, when one day someone shouted, "Come quick and see what's happened in the jar!"

The children all gathered about the jar and there flitting about was a little yellow moth. It was no longer a caterpillar. It had been born again as a moth. It had come from the cocoon all ready to begin life as an adult moth. How different it looked from the caterpillar and how different it's life would be as a moth. Now it could fly. It didn't have to stay on a leaf or tree.

The teacher and children took the jar outside and took off the cover. They watched the little yellow moth fly away flapping it's wings as if to say, "Good bye. I'm happy with my new life."

Boys and girls, caterpillars are not the only ones that can change from the inside. People can change as well from the inside out. When we invite Jesus into our lives things will happen.

When Jesus was on earth He sailed across the Sea of Galilee to another country. When He and His disciples stepped out of the boat they were met with an awful sight. Running toward them was a demon possessed man. He was dirty, smelly and full of dried bloody scabs where he cut himself with sharp stones. He was fierce like a wild animal and wore no clothing. His family, friends and townspeople were so afraid of him they had bound him in chains but he broke loose and, driven by the demons, ran away to the caves where the dead were buried. That's where he lived and anyone who dared pass by could hear him screaming day or night. And now this man was running toward Jesus. What would happen?

When the wretched man came to Jesus he fell at His feet and Jesus, knowing what this man longed for, commanded the demons to leave him. But the demons did not want to leave and screamed at Jesus to leave them alone. But Jesus is more powerful than Satan and the demons could not stay where Jesus was so they left the man and went into a herd of pigs. The pigs went mad and plunged over a cliff into the sea.

People from town heard what had happened to the man and the pigs and came out to see for themselves. There they found the man, in his right mind, dressed in clothing and sitting at the feet of Jesus. He was changed into a new man. They hardly recognized him. Now, instead of screaming and cutting himself he sat at Jesus' feet and worshipped Him. No longer did he belong to Satan because Jesus had made him all new and clean inside. The things he once loved to do, he now hated. He could now go back to his town and live and work and tell others what Jesus had done for him. He had been saved from a horrible, wretched life. He knew Jesus had saved him and he would love and serve Him forever.

You know, boys and girls when we ask Jesus into our lives, when we say we're sorry for the naughty things we do and ask Jesus to forgive us He will treat us just as if we had never done anything wrong. We will become a new person from the inside out, just as if we had been born again, all new and clean. We will become more like Jesus every day.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, change our hearts. We want to become new inside and live for you. Amen.

The Bible Verse:

When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (TLB)

The Song: This is an older and almost unknown chorus but it was stored away somewhere in the recesses of my mind and it seems to be the perfect song for "The Experience of Salvation". I could only find one You Tube video of the song which is sung at a United Methodist Church meeting. It isn't found in many songbooks but the old blue "Advent Youth Sing" contains the song (#186) which I have scanned and you can see it below. You can also find a power point presentation for "Advent Youth Sing" with the words ready to project on a screen. Although the song is not well-known the words and guitar chords are available online. I guess someone is still singing the song and I hope you will learn it as well.

Things are Different Now
Things are different now, something happened to me
Since I gave my heart to Jesus.
Things are different now; I was changed it must be,
Since I gave my heart to Him.
Things I loved before have passed away,
Things I love far more have come to stay.
Things are different now; something happened that day
When I gave my heart to Him.
~Words and Music by Stanton W. Gavitt
#186 Adventist Youth Sing