God Welcomes the Lost: The Parable of the Prodigal Son

The Parable of the Two Sons (image from freebibleimages.org).

Central Truth: God wants all those who are lost to return to him.

Scriptures: Luke 15:11-32

This week the children learned about the Prodigal Son who left his father's house and squandered his inheritance. Much like the Prodigal Son, God also desires for the lost to return to him. Those who do return to God are honored and cherished. God celebrates those who believe in him.

As part of the lesson, I created a video book. I used pictures from freebibleimages.org, a wonderful website of visual materials that can be used for Sunday School classes. I used their synopsis of the story and narrated it using the Book Creator app, and I added the final touches using iMovies on my iPad. The children enjoyed the video and were excited about helping me narrate the next one for Christmas.

This week's lesson comes from the book Children Sunday School Lessons: The Parables and Teachings of Jesus, Vol. 2 by Rev. Stephen R. Wilson.

On This Rock: Peter's Confession of Christ

Central Truth: Jesus is God's son and he came to save us.

Scriptures: Matthew 16:13-18

In this week's Sunday School lesson, we asked ourselves why do we come to church? And what is the most important thing for a Christian to believe? We looked at Peter's confession that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus wants us to believe but not because others believe, but because we want to believe through our own personal relationships with our Savior. Jesus revealed to Peter that his church is built on the foundation that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God. It is our strong conviction and belief that Jesus saved us, and it is only through his sacrifice that we are saved.

This week's lesson comes from the book Children Sunday School Lessons: The Parables and Teachings of Jesus, Vol. 2by Rev. Stephen R. Wilson. 

Destinee learning the books of the Old Testament.

For the past few weeks, I have been preparing the students to learn the books of the Bible. In an effort to help them, I created a fun game for them to play that will teach them the Old and New Testament. I cut some index cards in half. Then I wrote the name of a book of the Bible on the front, and on the back I gave them a number (the order in which the books are found within the Bible) with some information about that book, including the time period that the events in the book happened, a short summary of the events, the setting, and the author of the book. A trophy will be given away to the children who know the books of the Bible.

Enemies of Prayer

Destinee showing off her artistic talents.

Central Truth: There are many obstacles to prayer, and Satan is constantly at work trying to interfere with prayer life.

Memory Verse: "God within us will always conquer the world outside us." (I John 5:4)

This week wraps up a seven-part bible study on prayer with a discussion of how Satan throws many obstacles in our way to keep us from praying. It is important for us to pray daily and to not let life intrude on our time with God.

After our lesson, we played a game called a Bubble Puzzle, which is a game that encourages the children to learn how to look up bible scriptures. One of the next areas of concentration for the children's church is to have the children begin learning the books of the bible and how to look up scriptures.

"Power of Prayer" Bubble Puzzle

Finding God's Way

Central Truth: God's way can be found through prayer and reading the Word.

Memory Verse: "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths." Psalms 25:4

In this week's lesson, the children learned how to find God's way, which is by reading God's word. I explained to them that the Bible works like a road map. When we are lost, we use a map to find our way, but we can not find our way if we do not use the map. The Bible is our map to God's will, but if we never read it, then we will never know what his will is.

We also did a fun demonstration using Alpha-Bits cereal. I poured some out in the middle of the table on a paper towel and spelled the word "box." I told the children that the cereal is fun because, not only can you make words, but you can eat them as well. The children spelled out words of their own and had a fun time, sharing and laughing at their choices. I told the children that the cereal and the Bible have something in common: the cereal is food for our physical bodies, and the Bible is food for our spiritual selves. We must feed our spiritual side by reading the Word of God. If we do not, then our spiritual selves will starve.

Pray with Faith

Memory Verse: "All things are possible to those who believe." Mark 9:23

Scriptures: Luke 17:7-19

The children continued their study on prayer with today's lesson about praying with faith. When we pray, we must have faith that Jesus loves us and will answer our prayers. A look at the story of the ten lepers found in the Gospel of Luke demonstrates the power of faith-based prayer. The lepers called to Jesus for mercy, and Jesus healed them but only one returned to thank him. Jesus told him that it was his faith that healed him. 

After our lesson this morning, we made Father's Day cards using construction paper, scissors, color pencils, and stencil.