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The Lord Is My Shepherd
Introduction To Students
In the Old Testament, the part of the Bible written before Jesus came to earth, there is a collection of 150 prayer and praise poems called "Psalms." The Psalms were, and still are, used to worship and sing to God. The Twenty-Third Psalm is probably one of the most loved and read passages of the Psalms. It was written a long time ago by a young man named David, when he was a shepherd. What is a shepherd? (A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep.) David eventually grew up to become one of the greatest kings in Israel.
Over the next several lessons we are going to learn about, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, and memorize the Twenty-Third Psalm. During each session we will do some fun activities to help us learn about this great Psalm, and how we can follow our Shepherd.
Song Time Suggestions
The Lord is My Shepherd (For a fun variation, sing in rounds a cappella. Begin singing softly, and then gradually get louder with each additional round.)
Lyrics:
The Lord is my Shepherd, I'll walk with Him always
He leads me by still waters, I'll walk with Him always
Always, always, I'll walk with Him always.
Always, always, I'll walk with Him always.
When Adam and Eve sinned, not only was their intimate relationship with God
destroyed, but God’s plan for humankind to be fruitful and multiply, and subdue the
earth and rule over it, was postponed, but not thwarted.
When God destroyed the earth in the great flood, he again made a similar command to
Noah: to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 8:15-17). The command to be fruitful and
multiply was given to Abraham too, when God made an everlasting covenant with him.
Throughout time, God’s plan for the earth to be subdued, and God’s people to be
fruitful, has steadfastly moved forward, climaxing in Jesus, the Christ, who brings all
creation under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25, 27; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:8).
When Jesus ascended into heaven, his final command to his followers was, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, (because I have
subdued it) go and make disciples of all nations (be fruitful and multiply), baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age."
When Jesus cursed the fig tree, because it had no fruit, it was a warning that a life
without fruit is cursed (Matthew 21:19). In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul paints a word-picture
of a fruit-filled life: “...The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no
law.” These Christian virtues are produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit; not by
observing the law and moral self-discipline. These Christ-like characteristics cannot be
squeezed out or forced to occur; in fact they flow naturally from a life that keeps in step
with the Holy Spirit, yielding to Him and his prompting (Galatians 5:25).
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We used the Parables
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study and adapted the lessons to suit our needs. The lessons provided fun and
easy ways to teach the parables. ~ Michle
We have a very small church (28 to 30 people total on average) and it is
hard to find programs to do for VBS. So when I went looking for something that I could do with a group of
kids, the Prayer of Jesus stood out. There are six,
two-hour lessons and we did a lesson a day. The book has game and craft ideas to go with each lesson.
. . . I am already looking into buying more books from Sunday School Network. I feel that learning to pray together as a group, a family, we have grown even closer to God.Thank you, ~ April G.
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Soap Cross
Hold up a bar of soap and ask the children
why they use it. Yes, it is used to clean away the dirt.
In today's lesson we learned about asking God to clean away the sin in our lives so we can live with God for eternity. This craft will help us to remember that Jesus died on the cross to cleanse us from our sins.
What you need: A bar of Ivory Soap for each crafter (other brands do not work as well), a plastic picnic knife, a toothpick. Have a few extra bars on hand in case the soap breaks during carving.
What you do: Draw an outline of a cross on the soap. Make the cross bars approximately 1-1/2" wide. Whittle away the soap a little bit at a time . . .
Get the Soap
Cross craft with accompanying lessons from the Psalms.
I find these
Bible skits
to be BEAUTIFUL! Thank you very
much.
________________________________________________
Bible Bumpers
Can be played indoors or out and used with a variety of Bible stories.
Set up: You will need a chair or place marker (such as a Polyspot) for every player, minus one. Arrange the chairs or markers in a large circle. Use your Bible story to determine the words (a person, place, or thing) that will be used during the game. Write each word on a card and give one card to each player. For example, words from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, from Luke 10:30-37, would be: man, Jericho, Jerusalem, robbers, clothes, priest, road, Levite, Samaritan, donkey, innkeeper, etc. There should be at least two cards with the same word written on them. It's also ok to have more than two cards for each word.
How To Play: Players begin by sitting in the chairs or standing on their place markers. The player without a chair or place marker stands at the center of the playing area. Teacher reads the Bible story. When players hear their word called, teacher pauses, at which time players race to switch places with another player who has the same word. At the same time the
. . . get the complete rules for this Bible
Game.
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What a wonderful
site! I love it! It has such great ideas.
Thank you so much!
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Another sister in Christ,
Mable D.
[The teacher's newsletter]
is an awesome resource for anyone that works with kids! You never know what will come from
it. I met a new friend in South Africa and the Lord is doing a great outreach there---so many children have been reached and so many teachers trained and given resources, and it started with this connection.
~ PTL for this site.
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Bible-4-Life series
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. . . ~ K. Eriksen
In the Old Testament, the part of the Bible written before Jesus came to earth, there is a collection of 150 prayer and praise poems called "Psalms." The Psalms were, and still are, used to worship and sing to God. The Twenty-Third Psalm is probably one of the most loved and read passages of the Psalms. It was written a long time ago by a young man named David, when he was a shepherd. What is a shepherd? (A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep.) David eventually grew up to become one of the greatest kings in Israel. 
When God destroyed the earth in the great flood, he again made a similar command to
Noah: to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 8:15-17). The command to be fruitful and
multiply was given to Abraham too, when God made an everlasting covenant with him.
Throughout time, God’s plan for the earth to be subdued, and God’s people to be
fruitful, has steadfastly moved forward, climaxing in Jesus, the Christ, who brings all
creation under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25, 27; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:8).
Hold up a bar of soap and ask the children
why they use it. Yes, it is used to clean away the dirt. 
