Scripture: for teacher background: Acts 6,7,8:26-40
Making contact:
Play a game of guessing who has been
chosen. Send a child out of the room. Always send a teacher or helper with them
to look after them.
Select one child in the room to be the one!
Call the first child back and give them 4
chances to guess who was chosen. Some children just give the game away by
having the broadest smile on their face.
Tell them that we have all been chosen to
be God’s children and that we have also been chosen to serve Him.
I know that
you can easily guess that I have been chosen by God to teach Sunday school and
look at the broad smile on my face!
Exploration:
A) The First Christian Martyr
The apostles were so busy in those early
days. They were preaching and teaching and praying and sorting out problems
with funds for the poor widows.
They decided they needed to appoint seven people
who would be in charge of the finances and administration.
One of these was a man named Stephen
who was richly blessed by God. He was full of the Holy Spirit and power.
He was serving God so well, but some people
from the synagogue started arguing with him. They took him before the Temple Council
When it was his turn to speak he told them
all about how the Old Testament pointed to Jesus. It was a wonderful lesson and
you can read it all in Acts 7. But the people were furious and were grinding
their teeth.
Stephen looked up and said that he could
see Heaven and God’s glory and Jesus standing there. They covered their ears
and shouted and threw him out of the city.
They stoned him to death. The men
throwing the heavy rocks at Stephen gave their cloaks to a young man to hold who stood
there approving of his death.
This man’s name was Saul. Remember that for
another lesson.
Just before he died he prayed “Lord receive
my spirit and please forgive these people. Do not hold this sin against them.”
Stephen was the first Christian martyr –
the first person to die for Jesus. He had done nothing wrong. All he had done
was to speak about Jesus.
Even in some countries today, people who talk about
Jesus are put to death.
We
may not be called on to die for Jesus but we may be persecuted in other ways.
People may mock us or gang up against us and make us feel stupid and different.
Are you prepared to suffer for Jesus and forgive those who persecute you? Will
you be loyal? Jesus will give you strength.
B) The Vanishing
Evangelist
A very important official from Ethiopia
He was the treasurer for Queen Candice of Ethiopia and he had been to Jerusalem
The Holy Spirit spoke inside
Philip’s heart and told him to go and run next to the carriage.
Even stranger!
As he did this he heard the
Ethiopian reading from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. So this gave
Philip an idea.
He started up a conversation – just like your mother does in
lifts and shopping queues! This was a total stranger but Philip started talking
to him about what he was reading.
“Do
you understand what you are reading?” He asked the man.
“How can I if no one explains it to me?”
said the man.
He invited Philip to get up into the carriage and Philip
explained that the prophet Isaiah was talking about Jesus.
It was the passage
that speaks about a sheep that is slaughtered.
Philip told him all about how Jesus had
died and been raised from the dead. As they traveled along, they came to a
river and the Ethiopian asked if he could be baptized there, straight away.
He
became a Christian.
When they came out of the river Philip was
whisked away by the Holy Spirit and just found himself in another town!
He
preached about Jesus in every town he went to.
The Ethiopian went back home to his country
Ethiopia.
Application
This Ethiopian man was
the first Christian in Africa .
He probably
went back home and spread the Gospel as the first missionary to Africa .
We are very grateful that over the centuries
people like the Ethiopian and Philip have faithfully been spreading the Gospel
so that today you and I know all about it.
We must carry on this important job.
God used Philip
because he was obedient even when the instructions seemed strange. He was able
to explain to the man all about Jesus and how to become a Christian. Do you
know how to do this?
Challenge to Mission
You too can be God’s missionary at home or somewhere on
the road or in another town.
On the worksheet is
the memory verse, a picture of someone running next to a carriage and a simple
song.
They children can write other verses E.g. 'I’ll be somewhere singing for
my Lord, speaking…'
This is a simple song
that describes what Philip was doing for His Lord.
On the
Highways
On the highways;
on the by-ways
On the highways
and on the by-ways
On the highways
and on the by-ways
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
For my Lord
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
For my Lord.
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
I’ll be somewhere
WORKING
For my Lord.
Memory Verse
“Do the work of a preacher of the Good News
and perform your duty as a servant of God.” 2 Timothy 4:5
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