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"Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long" Psalm 25:4-5 (NIV). 

 

Sunday School Lessons for Children - 2018 

Teach kids to follow Jesus---Make every minute count! Check out our Bible lesson plans, Sunday school curriculum, Children's sermons, Bible games, Christian skits, and Christian craft activities--for elementary-aged classes, kids' church, midweek, and Bible clubs too! 

 

 

 

 

The Story of Jesus Film for Children (06/07/2018)

Plan a Summer Movie Night

Invite friends and family to watch The Story of Jesus Film for Children. This is a great opportunity to spread the Gospel message to your neighborhoods this summer! Visit the Jesus Film Project page to download it for FREE! It is a wonderfully produced movie!

 

 

Also check out Tell Me the Story of Jesus Bible Lessons  
from Childhood to Pentecost for K-5th grade.

 

 

 

 

Bible Lesson: You Are the Salt of the Earth(06/05/2018)

-- from The Sermon on the Mount--Lesson One

You will need two pitchers of water, one with saltwater and one without salt. Ask children to taste the water. Once they've tasted the water, ask them what the difference is between them?

There is no mistaking the difference. One is noticeably, without a doubt salty and the other is not. In today's Bible lesson, Jesus has something important to say about salt. Listen now as we read from God's Holy Word. (Read Matthew 5:13-16 from a child-friendly Bible.)

During Jesus' day, salt in that part of the world was mined from rocks underground. It was mixed with clay and sand. Over time---due to exposure to rain and sun---the salt near the surface of the rock lost its saltiness, making it useless. As a result, it was tossed out and walked on. However, the salt that was closest to the inside of the rock stayed salty!

Today we mainly use salt to flavor foods. However, in Jesus' day, salt was used to keep foods from rotting. Now we have refrigerators to keep foods fresh. So maybe if Jesus were speaking to us today he might say, "You are the refrigerators of the earth!" Knowing these two things about salt: being connected to the rock and keeping us from rotting, what do you think Jesus wants his children to know? Why do you suppose he says we are the salt of the earth? (Receive answers.)

Jesus wants us to understand that, as we remain connected to him---the Rock---we stay salty. When we move further away from him, we lose our saltiness! We're good for nothing. Jesus was perfect. He lived a perfect life. But, the Bible says we're dead in our sins without him. Jesus died on the cross, and took our punishment for doing wrong things, for disobeying God's rules.

When you're a Christ-follower, a Christian, you have Jesus living in you. He keeps you from spiritually rotting. As a result, Christians keep the rest of the world from rotting too! Just as the salty water was noticeably different, Christians should be uniquely different from other people! If we're not, what does Jesus say will happen? (If salt loses its saltiness, it is good for nothing, throw it out!)

Discuss the ways Christians keep the world from rotting. (Receive answers. Our lives should reflect a noticeable difference in our speech, our behavior, the way we treat others, our plans and goals in life, the things we value, the way we spend our time, money, resources, talents, etc.)

What does the Bible say is the purpose of being salty Christians? (Receive answers.) We do these good things to give God the credit, the honor, and the glory.  Learn more about Jesus' Sermons for Kids!

Find more Sunday school lessons.

 

Children's Sermons Book (06/04/2018)

--from It's in the Bag--52 Bible Talks for Children's Ministry 

Focus: All Scripture is God-breathed . . . (You will need various medicine bottles to present this sermon. Remove one medicine bottle after the other and tell children what they're used for, e.g. headache, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, sore feet, water retention, etc.)

These are all great medicines. A lot of time and money went into developing them to help people feel better. We can admire them and think how wonderful it is to have these great medicines. We can line them up neatly on our medicine cabinet shelves and admire the nice colors! But, there's one thing that people have to do to get the health benefit from all these pills. What do you suppose that is? (Receive answers) Yes, take them! The bottles need to be opened, the directions followed, and the pills swallowed! If we don't open them up, follow the directions, and take them into our bodies, they will never help us! Sometimes we treat our Bibles like unopened medicine bottles. Unless we open them, read them, and take God's Word into our lives by following the directions, we will never benefit from it! Let's read what the Bible has to say about this. (Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 from a child-friendly Bible.) These verses tell us that God breathed life into the words of the Bible. This means they are his words to us. The Bible is useful for teaching what is true, for correcting our mistakes, for making our lives complete, and training us to do what is right. God's Word gets us ready to do every good thing! We are to take the Bible off our bookshelves, and then read and obey it! God's Word is great medicine for our lives! (Close in prayer.) Download more samples and learn about our big book of children's sermons!


 

Yielding to God (06/02/2018)

--Check out this FREE idea from Lesson Two of Signs of the Times Bible Lesson Plans

Begin with class discussion: 
1) What does it mean to yield? (To yield means to give in, to surrender or submit to another. When drivers see yield signs, they are to look out for the other driver, to be prepared to stop and allow him or her to go first.) 
2) Is a Yield Sign a warning or a directional sign? (A warning sign) 
3) What might happen if a driver disregards a yield sign? (Car crash)
4) What do you think it means to yield to God? (To submit to his authority, to obey or give in to him. To allow God to be first in your life.) 
5) What happens if we disregard yielding to God? (We can ruin our lives.)

Christian Craft: Clay Dough Creations

Clay is a perfect hands-on craft activity to illustrate yielding. As we mold and shape the dough, it must conform, that is, yield its shape, according to the pressure that is placed on it. (Illustrate this point by pushing and forming clay into different shapes while reading the following Bible memory verse, below.)

O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8. 

This verse tells us that God's children are like clay in our Father God's hands. As we learn to yield our lives to him, he molds us and makes us to be like him. We're going to make clay dough to remember that when we yield our lives to God, he molds us to become the people he wants us to be.

Have children play with the clay, making it yield (conforming, submitting to the pressure applied) to different shapes. Store in clean baggie with the yield sign.

(Pattern, supplies, and instructions are included with the purchase of Signs of the Times--Modern Parables for Children's Ministry. 

 

 

Sunday School Teaching Methods(05/29/2018)

--Goin' A.P.E. Sparking Your Creativity

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

*Make every minute count! 
*Infuse your Bible lessons with creative teaching techniques.
*Motivate children to listen, learn, and enjoy class time. 
*Teach according to your students' abilities---their God-given bent.
*Enhance your existing programs.
*Create effective and engaging lessons.
*Use exciting Bible memorization techniques.

 

Some people believe Proverbs 22:6 is a promise from God that if we do our jobs well---as Christian parents or educators---our children will eventually follow him. Others interpret it has to do with recognizing the God-given abilities or bent of our children, and then fostering those skills and gifts, so that when they are old, they will not depart from them. Ted Hildebrandt, of Grace Theological Seminary, suggests it has to do with initiating a late adolescent into his official capacity and responsibilities of society. "According to his way---or in the way he should go---meant according to the standard and status of what would be demanded of him in that culture." 

Because some of us learn in different ways---visual, auditory, verbal, kinesthetic (touching, feeling, moving), solitary or social---the Active Participation Experience (A.P.E.) provides children with a method of learning Biblical truths according to their bent; and I believe this is in keeping with the intent of Proverbs 22:6. I also think there are fundamental strategies children's ministers and teachers can do to spark their own creativity to enhance their Bible lesson time.

Continue reading about Effective Teaching Methods for Children's Ministry.

 

Where will you spend eternity? Are you going to heaven?

 


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