Giving Thanks

Only one of the ten lepers returned to thank Jesus for his healing (picture from freebibleimages.org).

Central Truth: We should always give thanks to God for everything he does for us.

Scriptures: Luke 17:12-19

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, the children and I looked at what it means to be thankful by looking at the story of the ten lepers. In this story, there were ten men who were lepers and, when they heard that Jesus was in their village, they cried for him to heal them. Jesus commanded them to go to the priests to show themselves because it was tradition that anyone healed must go to the Temple and testify about their miracle. On their way to the see the priests, all ten were miraculously healed, but only one of them returned to Jesus to give thanks. When he gave thanks for his healing, Jesus blessed him even more.

To reinforce the idea of giving thanks, I found a fun activity book online that I downloaded and passed out copies to each of the children. It contained scriptures and activities that made the children think of all the things they are thankful for and how to thank God for them.

Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself

The Good Samaritan (picture from freebibleimages.org).

Central Truth: Love your enemies and your neighbors as you love yourself.

Scriptures: Luke 10:25-35

Jesus was asked how to gain eternal life, and Jesus answers him with the story of the Good Samaritan. Along the road to Jericho, a Hebrew man was attacked by robbers and left for dead. As he laid wounded along the road, a priest came along and saw the man but continued on his way. Then a Levite passed by and did not stop to help the man. Finally, a Samaritan, an enemy of the Hebrews, saw the man and stopped to help. He bandaged the wound and paid for a room at an inn for the man's care. When we help others is when we love others as ourselves.

After our lesson, we played a board game I found online called Treasures in Heaven. Last Sunday, we colored the game board and the pieces and I glued it to the file folder. We played two rounds, Destinee winning every one of them. It was a fun game and will be played again. I especially loved all of the good deeds that the children came up with during the game.


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.

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. 

Persistence in Prayer

Memory verse: "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." Luke 11:9

Scriptures: Luke 11:1-13

In today's lesson, the kids learned to continually pray to God for our needs and for the people around us. We read in Luke 11 how Jesus taught his disciples to pray and the story of the neighbor who needed bread at midnight and kept knocking on the door until his neighbor got up and helped him. When we pray to God, we must not give up and keep praying. At the end of the lesson, we read about the comparison Jesus made to parents giving good things to their children much like God gives good blessing to his people.

For our activity, the children learned the importance of keeping a prayer journal. It is important to not leave anyone out when we pray and keeping a journal is a good way to keep up with who you are praying for as well as the answered prayers.

I made 10 prayer journals ahead of time because I knew it would take the children a long time to do it during class. I used construction paper for the outside and stapled four blank sheets on the inside. I gave the children construction paper, stencil, colored pencils, markers, and glue to decorate and personalize their prayer journal. Below is an example of one:

Pray in Jesus' Name

The second part of our prayer series discusses the importance of praying in the name of Jesus. By praying using the name of Jesus, the prayer is a recognition of his life, death, and resurrection, which is what has brought us back to God. Because of our belief in Jesus, we can pray and receive anything that God wants us to have, including all of the promises in the Bible.

Memory verse: "Jesus said, 'I am telling you the truth; the Father will give you anything you ask Him for in My name'." John 16:23

Our lesson began with a story called "Aisha's Letter," which is a story of an old woman's faith in a letter that helped her to gain the access she needed to heal her blindness, which is a parallel to how we have faith that in the name of Jesus we can have our prayers heard.

After the story of Aisha's letter, I gave the children color paper, markers, envelopes, and colored pencils. We wrote out our memory verse across the top of the page. Beneath the memory verse, we wrote "In the name of Jesus, I pray that..." and we wrote what we desired of the Lord. We decorated our pages and folded them and stuffed them into an envelope with our name (I decorated mine), and then we sealed our prayers inside the envelope. We agreed that once a day we will pray in the name of Jesus with our envelope - this is to get the children practicing prayer and developing a prayer life.

At the end of the church service when Pastor Horne asked for any prayer requests, we told the congregation about our prayer envelopes, and we had the church pray with the children and their envelopes. It was a moving event, and one I believe that instilled the importance of prayer.

Why Pray?

From "Prayer" and can be found at bibletoday4kids.com

This week, the children began a seven-part lesson on prayer, using a lesson plan developed by Margaret Law and can be downloaded for free from www.bibletoday4kids.com. Part one of "Prayer" discusses why we should pray - because prayer is "our lifeline to God." The children learned that they should pray at all times and talk with God as if talking to a friend. We pray to develop a relationship with the Father. Prayer is something that should be a big part of a Christian's life.

Memory Verse: "Pray at all times." (I Thessalonians 5:17)

I also introduced a fun app on the iPad called Jesus Loves Me by Listener Kids. It is a fun app mainly for smaller children, but my ten-year-olds had fun with the recording section of the app where they sang "Jesus Loves Me" to several different music mixes, including dance, hip-hop, and video game. There are more games and songs that are not free ($2.99), but I think it is worth the price. Below you will find Listener Kids's video on YouTube.



The kids did their own recording of "Jesus Loves Me" to the dance mix and can be found on the Tabernacle of Praise website. Unfortunately, Blogger does not have a way to share audio. 

He is Risen

Central Truth: God sent his Son to bring eternal life to his people.

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36

Memory Verse: "The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!" Psalms 18:46

Scripture: Matthew 28


Kids' Bulletin

The Crucifixion of Christ

"The Crucifixion" from Bible for Kids app

Central Truth: Jesus came to put mankind in right standing with God.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Memory Verse: “A merry heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

Scriptures: John 18:28-19:42; Luke 23:34-35

On this Palm Sunday, the kids and I talked about Passion Week and the Crucifixion. The bible tells us that Pilate did not believe that Jesus deserved to die, but the leaders of the Temple encouraged the mob to demand that Pilate crucify Jesus. When Jesus was crucified, he gave his life so that we can have eternal life in Heaven.

Easter Garden

As part of our lesson today, we also created an Easter Garden using the instructions found on The Fugal Homemaker blog.

We used a flat container, a small container, pebbles, grass seeds, and a white crystal to create our Easter Garden.

I filled the bottom of the flat container with soil and then placed the small pot on top. I then covered the small pot with the remaining soil, burying it. The kids and I then laid out the pebbles to make a path to the empty tomb. Then, we placed the stone in front of the tomb. The last thing we did was spread grass seeds all over the soil and then added another layer of soil to bury the seeds.

 Hopefully, on Easter Sunday, grass sprigs will cover our garden.

Kids' Bulletin

John 3:16

Central Truth: The theme for the Bible can be found in John 3:16.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” John 14:6

Memory Verse:  “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:37

Scriptures: John 3:16

We had fun with this lesson. The kids and I practiced saying the verse over and over with a video and played bingo. (I downloaded the bingo cards and the video from Children's Ministry Deals).

Kids' Bulletin



After our lesson today, we had a few extra minutes to play with a video app on my iPad called "Reverse Camera Fun," which turns video play in reverse. Here is one of our practice takes:

Fun with the iPad and "Reverse Camera Fun" app

Cleansed by the Blood

Central Truth: The blood of Jesus had to be shed in order for the sins of mankind to be forgiven.

Memory Verse: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (the children said that my original one was too long).

In this week's lesson, we discussed how Peter denied Jesus three times at his trial, and how Jesus knew that he would and forgave him.

We also took turns reading "The First Sin: The Fall" from Bible for Kids app on the iPad. It's a fun way to get the kids interested in reading. Afterwards, we played games from Superbook app, which included a trivia game (our highest score this week is 80 points!) and a word search.

Kids' Bulletin

What is God Like?

In today's Sunday School Lesson, the children discussed the question "What is God like?" They learned that God is...

* God is a person.
* God is a spirit.
* God is glorious.
* God is Holy.
* God is love.

The lesson came from the Mailbox Club. They have many fantastic lessons to help children understand God and his Word. I downloaded a .pdf copy of the lesson to my iPad and, together, the kids and I played a secret code game and discovered that that we should "love God with all [our] heart[s]."

The Life of Jesus

A fun project that the children did was a mini book called "The Life of Jesus." The project can be found on the DLTK's website. This one was colored by Destinee:

Elijah and the False Prophets

Central Truth: The believer has a Greater One inside him than the evil forces that dwell in the world.

"Ye are of God, little children and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." I John 4:4

Memory Verse: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Scriptures: I Kings 18:17-40

This week's lesson is about Elijah and the false prophets of Baal. Under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, the kingdom fell into idol worship. Elijah challenged the followers of Baal to see who was God: Jehovah or Baal.

Jesus Feeds the 5,000

Central Truth: Jesus cares about the needs of his people.

"I will never leave you or forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Scriptures: Matthew 14; Mark 6:30-44; John 5

After our opening prayer we read Mark 6:30-44 and discussed how Jesus taught the people and, when it became late in the day, he was concerned about their needs. He knew that the people would be hungry, but the only food they had was two fishes and five loaves of bread a small boy had for his lunch. After Jesus prayed over the food, it was passed out to the people and everyone ate and was fed. When the scraps were collected, five baskets were taken up. It was an incredible miracle and demonstrates the Lord's love for his people.

While we watched the power point called "Jesus Feeds 5000 People," the children each had baskets with crackers to represent the loaves and fish puffs to represent the fish (of course!).

Baptism of Jesus

Central Truth: Jesus' baptism was a sign that Jesus is God's son. Baptism is a sign that we are part of God's children and the church.

"John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh...he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." John 8:36

Scriptures: Matthew 3

The children learned about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and how important it is to be baptized because baptism is a sign that we are no longer going to sin but live for God. Jesus was without sin, but Jesus was a good example and obeyed God by being baptized.

Power point can be found at sugardoodle.net

The Kids' Bulletin:

Spies Sent Into Canaan

Central Truth: We will believe the report of the Lord!

"For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth." Psalms 33:4

Scriptures: Numbers 13:1

God commanded Moses to send 12 spies into Canaan (one man from each of the tribes of Israel) to report back what the strength of the Canaanites as well as how fruitful the land is. Of the twelve spies who returned, only two, Caleb and Joshua, recommended that they try to take the land from the Canaanites. God told Moses to take back the land of Canaan because it was the land God promised to Abraham and to his seed.

In this lesson the children learned to not depend upon the evil report of the world but to lesson to the report of the Lord. Moses obeyed God and reclaimed the inheritance and promises of God.

Map from Wiki-commons.