Year B. 4th Term. Lesson 1. Bible buddy - Peter.

Scripture: for teacher background:  Luke 5  John 1:35-42

Making contact:

Use sticks with string and magnets to “catch” cardboard fish that have a paper clip on the end. You could have the memory verse on these and do this as an introduction, instead of at the end.

Alternatively you could discuss the Christian symbol of the fish.

 It stands for IXOYC - The Greek word for fish is “Ichthus” 

This is made up of the initial letters of the words “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour.” When the early Christians were being persecuted the fish drawing was a secret signal between them. 

Today, some Christians still use the fish symbol, perhaps on car bumpers to tell other Christians that we also love Jesus.

 Exploration:

We are now going to learn about some of Jesus’ buddies in the New Testament. The first one was a very special friend of Jesus. He was a very interesting character who made lots of mistakes, but Jesus chose him – just an ordinary fisherman.

We first hear about him as Simon. (Jesus called him Peter and this means Rock.)

He had a brother called Andrew who was a friend of John the Baptist.  When he met Jesus, he said to his brother – “Come and see, I have found the Messiah!”

Andrew and Simon were both fisherman on Lake Galilee.

One day Jesus used Simon’s boat to preach from. He pushed off a little way from the shore and taught the people. 

When he had finished speaking He said – “Push your boat out further to deep water and let down the nets to catch fish.” 

Simon said they’d been fishing all night and caught nothing, but he decided to listen to Jesus’ advice. They caught so many fish that their friends in the other boat had to come and help them. 

Both the boats were so full of fish that they were about to sink.

Simon Peter got on his knees in front of Jesus and said – “I am just a sinful man – Go away from me.” 

But Jesus said – “Don’t be afraid – from now on you will be catching men.” 

Jesus gave him the new name of Peter, which means rock and later on He told Peter that he was going to build His church on Him. Peter did become the first minister.

Peter and the other fishermen pulled up the boats on the beach, left everything and followed Jesus.

Peter was quite often the spokesman of the group of Jesus disciples, but sometimes he really said the wrong thing and Jesus spoke to him sternly. 

During a bad storm, Peter was just as scared as the other disciples and Jesus asked them where their faith was. Other times Peter showed such faith.

One day, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick and Jesus healed her. She got up and served the disciples some food. 

Peter watched Jesus heal many, many people and one day he and 2 other disciples were allowed in the room when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

Jesus needed money to pay the temple tax for the disciples so He told Peter to catch a fish and look inside. There was a coin inside which paid the tax.

There was the amazing experience Peter had when Jesus walked on the water towards their boat and Peter stepped out the boat and walked on water. Then his faith failed him and he started to sink, but Jesus rescued him.

Jesus asked once who people were saying He was and who the disciples thought He was. Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter was one of three disciples who climbed a mountain with Jesus. 

Jesus was transfigured – He shone like a bright light and Moses and Elijah talked with Him. 

Peter wanted to build tents so they could stay there. God spoke to Peter and told him to listen to Jesus.

At the last supper Jesus wanted to wash the disciples’ feet and at first Peter said no, but Jesus said then he couldn’t be His friend.

When Jesus began telling his friends that he was going to die, Peter said he’d die with Him, but Jesus warned him and said he was about to deny Him – that before the rooster crowed he would say 3 times that he didn’t know Jesus. 

This happened just as Jesus said and Peter was heartbroken. After Jesus died, it was Peter who was at that tomb early in the morning and Jesus appeared and spoke to him. How happy Peter was that Jesus rose from death!

A while later, Peter and the others had gone back fishing and they could see someone on the water’s edge – it was Jesus. He told them to cast their nets on the other side. Again they caught a miraculous amount of fish.

Later, Peter and Jesus had a good talk and Peter told Jesus how much He loved him. Jesus told him to look after all the Christians and to help them grow. 

Peter preached the first sermon on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came and he was the leader of the first church in Jerusalem. Years later he became a martyr – dying for Jesus. He was crucified upside down.

He was a good friend to Jesus and we can learn so many lessons from him.

  

Application

Peter was called by Jesus, like we are, and even although he made mistakes, he learned from them and became very wise. 

He was so passionate about following Jesus. 

You can read his 2 short letters near the end of the Bible to see how our rough fisherman buddy became a wonderful minister of God.

Challenge to Mission

 We don’t hear much about Andrew, but he was also a good Buddy of Jesus and he was the one who introduced his brother, Simon, to Jesus. 

Have you introduced your family members and friends to Jesus?

Consolidation

 There is a worksheet. There is an extra page showing the highs and lows of Peter’s life. 

For the older children, a very meaningful exercise is to plot a graph of the ups and downs of Peter’s life.

Memory Verse.

"Jesus told Peter, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you will bring in people instead of fish.” Luke 5:10