Year C. 4th Term. Lesson 7. Bible Buddy: PHILIPPIAN JAILER

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 16:16-40

 Making contact:

Play a game of catches where the children who are “caught” must stand still on that spot and be “in jail”. 

Other children who have not yet been caught can then come and either crawl through their legs to free them or touch their hands – you decide.

You can have more than one “catcher.”

Today’s lesson is about being in jail.

 Exploration:

(This is a good story for acting out. You need chains, a sword, a bowl of water and a towel and some breakfast cereal.)

One day, Paul and his friend Silas had been preaching in the town of Philippi and they were arrested and thrown into prison. 

Their feet were fastened with heavy blocks of wood. They were not afraid and at midnight they were singing hymns and praising God. All the other prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a violent earthquake and all the doors opened and the chains fell off the prisoners. The jailer rushed in and was about to kill himself because he thought all the prisoners had escaped, but they called out to him –“We are all here.”

The jailer came to Paul and Silas and trembling before them he asked what he must do to be saved. 

They answered: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved – you and your family.”

The jailer took them to his house and washed their wounds and gave them food. He and his family were filled with joy. 

They were all baptized right away. The next day the Roman officers came and apologized to Paul and Silas and released them from jail.

Application

 A hardened jailer was saved. God brought an earthquake to get his attention.

 Even today when there are tsunamis and floods, God can use them to call people to believe.

Paul and Silas were praising God and this is a powerful weapon. Instead of sitting in a heap and feeling sorry for ourselves, let’s praise God and watch to see what miracles He does.

Challenge to Mission

God wants all people to be saved and we need to pray and witness to people that God leads us to. Don’t give up because the person seems to have a hard heart. 

Let your prayers soften that heart and then one day you might have the chance to speak to them about Jesus. 

Paul and Silas’ singing, and the earthquake prepared the way. The man even asked what he must do to be saved, and then they told him about Jesus.

 They didn’t say to themselves – “Oh no, he is a bully and a rough jailer – he can stay there!”

Did you know that there are people who go and visit prisoners and tell them about Jesus?

They too can be forgiven and saved.

 Consolidation

The worksheet has pictures of Paul and Silas singing during the earthquake and then preaching the Gospel to the jailer. It has the memory verse and another verse of comfort.

Memory Verse

“God our Saviour wants all everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth.”

1 Timothy 2:4

Year C. 4th Term. Lesson 6. Bible Buddies: LYDIA, ACQUILA and PRISCILLA

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 16:3-5,11-15 Acts 18 Romans 16:3,4 1 Cor 16:19 2 Tim 4:19

Making contact:

Maybe you managed to get the children to wear or bring something purple.

Talk about the colour purple and what it means today – a lovely bright colour. 

Long ago only the very rich people could afford purple material and it was often the colour that the king wore. 

Try and have pictures of a crown or purple robe. They even put one on Jesus when they were mocking Him just before they crucified Him.

A different idea is to talk about jobs and careers and what they would like to be when they grow up. Explain what full time ministry means.

 Exploration:

We learnt about a boy and his mother and granny last week – do you remember their names? Today we are going to learn about a rich lady called Lydia. She was a dealer in purple cloth.

Paul and his helpers went to the city of Philippi. On the Sabbath day they went out of the city to the riverside where they thought there would be a place where Jews met together to pray. 

There were a group of women gathered there. One of these was Lydia who sold purple cloth. She loved God and she listened very carefully to what Paul said about Jesus. Then she said: “If you think that I am a true believer then please come and stay in my house.”

It was so special that she could use her wealth – her home and money to support these travelling missionaries.

Later on Paul traveled to Corinth. He used to do his work during the day and every free moment he had he would preach.

Paul was a tent maker. He met another tent maker called Acquila and his wife Priscilla. They invited Paul to stay with them. 

Every Sabbath, he would hold discussions in the synagogue. When his helpers Timothy and Silas arrived, then he could preach full time. Acquila and Priscilla were a big help to Paul and taught the Christians how to follow Jesus.

 Application

God needs everyone to help spread the Gospel and support the work of the Kingdom. Today we have seen how a rich lady and a married couple served God. 

They carried on doing their daily work – selling purple cloth, making tents, and they put God first and learnt all they could about Jesus and then used their work to support the Gospel. 

Not everyone will become a full time missionary or minister like Paul; some people will keep to their trades and give money and hospitality to others. All work is very, very important.

We actually call work that people do on the side “tent making”. This is to keep bringing in money, but their main work is to spread the Gospel.

Challenge to Mission

 Discuss what hobbies the children have. Do any of them make things with their hands? 

A friend of mine makes little bars of soap with praying hands on them. She is donating 50 for a mission that we are having. 

Somebody else can draw well and they are making a poster. 

There are ladies who are going to make food and milk tarts for the weekend.

 The Gospel needs our support and talents as well as our feet and voices.

Think about what you can do to help at your church or in a mission outreach. You can have a tent-making job one day – not making tents, but doing work that brings in cash to live on.

All work is holy to God and some people can be separated to work full time in the church and mission field, but all work is just as important to God.

 Consolidation

The worksheet has a sketch of Lydia – the children can use lots of purple colour to colour her in. 

They can tick a picture of a job they would like to do one day.

 Discuss these and explain that it is good to work at jobs like these, but we should all do Gospel work all the time too.

Explain how people with jobs give their offering to support the people who do full time work in the church.

 Memory Verse

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord.”  Colossians 3:23

Year C. 4th Term. Lesson 5. Bible Buddies: BARNABAS and TIMOTHY

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 9:26,27 Ch 11:19-26, Ch 13:1-5 Ch 16:1-5 1 Timothy 1:1-7; 2 Timothy 3:15

 Making contact:

Take the first name of each child and think of a word to describe each person, beginning with the same letter as his or her name. E.g.  “Strong Simon.”

Otherwise get the children to give ideas of what nice things you could say about each child. “What I like about Susan is that she is truthful and helpful.”

You could set up an obstacle course with tables and chairs and put the children in pairs to help each other go over and under the tables and chairs. 

You could make it a rule that they have to keep holding hands and if they let go they have to start again.

Explain to the children how good it is to be an encouraging person and a helper and how good everyone feels when they are encouraged and helped.

 Exploration:

The Bible tells us about someone who was a really encouraging person and a helper. His name was Barnabas.

Do you remember how Paul was persecuting the Christians but changed and became such a zealous preacher?

Well, the Christians were nervous of him and some didn’t believe that he was a disciple. Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles.

 He explained the whole story to them. Because of Barnabas’ encouragement, Paul stayed in Jerusalem for a while and preached about Jesus. 

However, some Jews were furious and tried to kill him, so he went away.

Barnabas always seemed to be encouraging. We read about him again in a town called Antioch. The leaders had sent him there to encourage the believers there. 

He decided he needed to go and find Paul. Barnabas and Paul stayed in Antioch and taught the people there. 

It was here that believers in Jesus Christ were first called Christians.

Later on Barnabas joined Paul on his first missionary journey.

Another very good friend and helper for Paul was young Timothy.

We first read about his granny called Lois and his mother called Eunice.

Eunice had a son named Timothy. His father was Greek and Eunice and Lois were Jewish. His mother and grandmother taught him all the stories in the Old Testament.

 They hadn’t heard about Jesus yet. When Paul came to their town and preached, they believed and were baptized. 

They taught the boy Timothy all about being a Christian. Paul visited a few years later and the boy Timothy had grown into a fine young man.

Paul asked if Timothy would travel with him and be his secretary and help him spread the Gospel. Sometimes Paul sent Timothy to churches to help teach the people. He often preached. Timothy was like a son to Paul.

Two of Paul’s letters to Timothy still exist. They are in the Bible. 

I have kept some letters from my mother – that’s one generation ago. Imagine keeping letters from 2 000 years ago!

Sometime why don’t you sit down and read what Paul was telling Timothy. It is still good advice for us today and especially for young people.

 Application

Guess what Barnabas’ name means? (Encourager). Let’s all be encouragers and help other people. Let’s be positive and humble like Barnabas.

It is wonderful to learn about a child who grew up to be a teacher and preacher in the church. Timothy is a wonderful example to all of us.

His granny and mother are also good examples. I am sure many of you first learnt about Jesus when you were little and sitting on your mother’s lap while she read you Bible stories.

One day when you grow up, won’t it be wonderful to teach your children all about Jesus and read to them the Bible stories. Then your parents can help too and be encouraging grandparents.

 Challenge to Mission

You might know someone who does not have parents or grandparents who can teach them about Jesus – maybe because they are not alive anymore or because they don’t believe. 

Then it is your privilege to tell them and teach them the Gospel. While you are still young you can be a helper like Timothy was. 

Then as you grow up you could maybe even become a preacher.

Next week –encourage the children to wear or bring something purple. They could draw a purple flower, bring a purple flower or bring a scarf or even wear a purple T-shirt if they have. Be sensitive if they are disadvantaged children and don’t ask this of them.

 Consolidation

Worksheet. As Christians were first named “Christians” in Antioch, let’s learn this song:

I am a “C”

I am a “CH”

I am a “CHRISTIAN”

And I’ve got “J” “E”  “ S”  “ U”  “ S”

In my “H”  “E”  “A”  “R” “T” and I will

“L” “I” “V” “E”  “E”  “T” “E” “R” “N” “A” “L”  “L”  “Y”

The children can fill in Timothy’s mother’s name and granny’s name.

Memory Verse

“They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith.”

Acts 14:22

Year C. 4th Term. Lesson 4. Bible Buddy: PAUL

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 8:1-3, Ch 9

Making contact:

Play pin the donkey’s tail – blind fold the children one by one and get them to pin the donkey’s tail on.

Another game is to blindfold the children and get them to draw a horse.

 Exploration:

There was a man named Saul who held the cloaks of the people who stoned Steven. He went from house to house dragging out all the Christian believers and throwing them into jail. 

He was a Pharisee of Pharisees – the best. His teacher was Gamaliel and he was the best Jewish young man.

He knew the law and kept it perfectly. He was zealous and enthusiastic. He was enjoying his job of persecuting these Christians. 

He thought they were so wrong and such a threat that they had to be put in jail and even killed!

Have you heard about someone falling from his or her high horse? It is an expression about someone who think that they are high and mighty being humbled, not actually falling from a horse.

Well, our buddy Paul had to fall off his high horse in every sense of the word!

Saul had permission from the High Priest to go to Damascus to arrest Christians there and he was arrogantly and triumphantly riding there on his “high horse” when there was suddenly a blinding light.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying: “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?”

He asked: “Lord who are you?”  “I am Jesus whom you persecute!”

Paul got up but was blind. His friends led him into Damascus where he waited for three days without eating or drinking.

God spoke to a Christian called Ananias and told him to go to the house where Saul was and to lay hands on him and pray for him.

Ananias was worried – this was the Christian persecutor they all dreaded and he had to go to him!

But he obeyed and when he laid hands on Paul he could see again. Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and straight away began preaching about Jesus. From being the strongest enemy of Jesus he become the most powerful missionary.

Paul visited many, many places. He faced danger in every place. There were sometimes plots to kill him and he had to escape.

Listen to how he describes all this: “I have been in prison, whipped – five times I was given the 39 lashes, 3 times I was whipped by the Romans; I was stoned once; I have been in 3 shipwrecks and once I spent 34 hours in the water. I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas and danger from false friends.” 2 Cor 11:23-25

Many people accepted his message and became Christians. In one town, Ephesus, the people made a huge bonfire and burned all their magic art books – worth 50 000 silver coins. 

One night Paul preached for so long that a boy fell asleep and fell out the window. Paul prayed over him and he was fine – miracles were happening like in the days of Jesus, Elijah and Elisha.

Paul received wonderful visions and felt the Holy Spirit guiding him very clearly where he was to go and preach.

Challenge to Mission

Remember that when you spread the Gospel, this is a powerful message.

God can use anybody and He can use you. It might not be easy but God will protect you and always be with you.

Don’t ever think you are not good enough. Be careful of being high and mighty. God humbles the proud like he did with Saul.

 Consolidation

On the worksheet are a series of pictures describing Paul’s conversion. Get the children to retell the story using these pictures. There is also the memory verse and a description of some of the things Paul went through.

There is a word search using words from the story that will help them retell it. Some of the words overlap and there is one diagonal word.

Memory Verse

“Fight a good fight for the faith and claim eternal life.” 1 Timothy 6:12

Year C. 4th Term. Lesson 3. Bible Buddies: STEPHEN and PHILIP

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 and had a court case against him.

 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

 One day an angel told Philip to go to the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. That was a strange instruction. What was he to do that for? He didn’t argue but just obeyed.

A very important official from Ethiopia was travelling along that road that day.

He was the treasurer for Queen Candice of Ethiopia and he had been to Jerusalem to worship God. Gentiles were allowed in the outside courts of the temple.

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

 The message must spread and we must do our part. Think about who told you and how that person is a missionary for God. 

You too can be God’s missionary at home or somewhere on the road or in another town.

 Consolidation

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

Year C. 4th Term. Lesson 2. Bible Buddy: CORNELIUS

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 10,11 Lev 11

Making contact:

Play a game with matching the pairs of animals. Have two identical pictures of animals on cards. 

Choose animals that can be eaten, like sheep and cows and have others like lions. Place the pictures face down. 

A child picks one up and then guesses where its partner is. If they find the partner they keep both the cards. If not, both cards get turned over again and everyone tries to memorize where those animals are for when it is their chance to turn two cards over. 

Don’t let this go on for too long. It is just an introduction.

Speak about the difference between animals that can be eaten and those that can’t. In the Old Testament God said people could eat animals if their hoofs were split and they chewed the cud. (Lev 11:3) 

For instance you couldn’t eat pigs or rabbits and this was to protect the people, because you could get sick from these other animals. 

Today people take a chance because conditions are cleaner.

In today’s story Peter has a dream about all these animals together on a tablecloth.

 Exploration:

(As you tell this story you could have key words on cards that you hold up or a child holds up when you get to that part in the story. (The key words are in bold.)

Otherwise you could use the cards to revise the story afterwards. There is a different word for every letter of the alphabet but they aren’t used in order– see under Consolidation)

(Another idea is for the children to act out the story as you tell it.)

The apostles had been spreading the Gospel of Jesus to Jewish people in all the synagogues. Peter had been travelling around a lot and he went to stay at Simon’s house – the leatherworker, in Joppa. 

There he had a vision. It was noon and he was resting on the flat veranda on the roof. 

In his dream a huge sheet was being lowered down and on it were many kinds of animals, birds and reptiles.

 A voice said: “Get up Peter, kill and eat!” Peter said: “No, I have never eaten anything unclean!”

The voice came again and said: “Don’t think of anything unclean that God has declared clean.”

This happened three times and Peter wondered what it meant.

Meanwhile, there was a man named Cornelius, an officer in the Roman army from Italy who was not Jewish, but he worshiped God and was a good man who prayed and helped poor people.

He also had a vision where he saw an angel. The angel spoke to him and told him to send three men to Joppa, to Simons’ house where Peter was staying and give him a message to come and visit Cornelius.

Peter had just had his vision when the men arrived and as soon as he had questioned them and heard that he was invited to the house of a Gentile he understood what the vision had meant. 

It was not about animals but people. God’s plan all along was to bring the Gentiles – non-Jews, into the Kingdom. This was the beginning.

 So the next day he and some other friends hurried off to Caesarea to Cornelius’s house.

There was quite a crowd gathered there of relatives and friends.

 Now Jews would not normally go into the home of a Gentile, but God had clearly shown him through that vision that they can. 

So they went inside and Peter explained the Gospel to them. He told them all about Jesus and about His death and resurrection. 

He explained how they could believe and have their sins forgiven.

He was still speaking and something wonderful happened.

 It was just like Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came upon all those listening to his message. They started praising God and also spoke in strange tongues. 

Peter decided that if God had already blessed these Gentiles so much, what would stop him from baptizing them in water. He stayed for a few days.

Of course, back in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians heard about all this and were very worried. What was going on? 

Why had Peter been to a Gentile home? So Peter traveled to Jerusalem and explained about the two visions. 

He told how the Spirit had come upon these people even though they weren’t Jewish.

 After this the Christian Church was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles who believed in Jesus, the Saviour.

Application

At last the people were realizing that this Gospel was for the whole world. 

They had thought it was part of the Jewish religion only. If you read the Old Testament carefully, you will often see how God speaks about His dream for the whole world and blessing all nations.

 Today there are Jews who believe in Jesus, but there are others who don’t. Just as there are some Gentiles who believe and others who don’t.

Do you believe?

 Challenge to Mission

The Gospel is for everyone and everyone needs to hear it. We need to spread it to all people, even if they are of a different race and culture.

Consolidation

On the worksheet are the following words in alphabetical order:

Angel, Birds, Cornelius, Death, Eat, Forgiven, God, Holy Spirit, Italy, Joppa, Kill, Leatherworker, Message, Noon Officer, Peter, Question. Roof, Simon, Three, Unclean, Vision, Worship X+Y = your ideas, Z = zzzzzzzzz

The children can retell the story using all these words to their family and friends.

There are also pictures of animals. They can cross out the ones they don’t eat. There is also the memory verse.

 Memory Verse

“The Lord’s power was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” Acts 11:21

Year C. 4th Term.Lesson 1. Bible Buddy - PETER

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 2,3,4 and 9:32-43 and Ch12

Making contact:

Make paper jets with the memory verse written on them and use them in your introduction.

What would you think if you saw two grown men playing with a kite every day and writing things down every time it came down? 

At the beginning of last century there were two brothers who did this. They were the Wright brothers.

They believed that a machine could fly and they did many experiments. Other people mocked them and even said they should be put in jail for being crazy. 

But they believed and with lots of courage they invented the first aeroplane. They were RIGHT and the others were wrong.

In the Bible we read about people who also believed something so strongly that they were put in jail. The question for you to think about – were they right?

 Exploration:

We are going to learn about some friends of Jesus in the first church. This is straight after Jesus had died, risen and ascended. 

At first His friends were very scared, but then Pentecost happened and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they bravely and boldly began spreading the message. 

All these stories are written in the book in the Bible called the Acts of the Apostles. ‘Apostles’ was the name given to these disciples of Jesus, meaning ‘leaders’.

The leader of these apostles was our fisherman friend called Peter – remember him?

On the day of Pentecost he preached to the people and 3 000 believed and became Christians.

They all prayed together and had lessons like we are and had communion like Jesus taught them to have.

One day Peter and John were going to the temple to pray and at the gate was a beggar. He was lame and every day he sat there to ask for money. 

He begged Peter and John to give him money. They stopped and Peter said:” I have no money for you, but in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I command you to get up and walk.” 

He did!! He jumped and ran!

He went into the temple and praised God. 

Some priests, officers and temple guards arrived and arrested Peter and John and threw them into jail. The next day they had to come before the High Priest and others and they were asked how they did this. Peter told them all about the power of Jesus and how they had crucified Him but He was raised from death.

They didn’t know what to say, so they released the men telling them that they were not allowed to preach in the name of Jesus any more.

Peter said that they couldn’t stop speaking of what they had seen and heard.

Peter and John went back to all the other believers and they praised God together. They asked God to make them bold and help them to carry on spreading the Good News. The building where they were meeting shook with the power of God.

Much later on Peter was arrested again, this time by King Herod. 

His friend James was put to death by a sword and Peter was going to be next. 

Peter was in jail and he was fast asleep with two guards. He was chained and there were two other guards on duty at the prison gate. 

Suddenly an angel was shaking him to wake him up. The chains just fell off Peter and he put his sandals on and followed the angel out of the prison. 

He actually thought he was dreaming. The gate opened for him and then the angel left him. He went to the house where the rest of the disciples were praying all night for him. 

Peter knocked on the door and Rhoda the servant girl saw who it was. She was so excited that she ran to tell the others but forgot to let him in.

 Eventually he went inside and told everyone what had happened. They were amazed. The next morning Herod sent for Peter and when he couldn’t be found in jail, he had all those guards put to death.

Peter traveled everywhere and one day he was called to go to Joppa because a wonderful lady there called Dorcas had died. 

The people loved her and they all gathered around him and showed him the clothes she had made for them. He was taken upstairs were her body lay. 

He knelt down and prayed and then he said “Get up!” 

She did and everyone was amazed and praised God. The news spread everywhere.

Quick Quiz

1.What does Peter’s name mean? (Rock)

2.What was Peter’s brother’s name? (Andrew)

3.What was Peter’s occupation? (Fisherman)

4.What did He say about Jesus when Jesus asked who he thought He was? (Son of God)

5.How many times did Peter deny Jesus? (3)

6.What did Peter walk on to meet Jesus? (Water)

7.How many people were converted when Peter first preached? (3 000)

8.What books in the Bible did he write? (First and 2^nd letters of Peter)

9. In whose name did he heal the lame man? (Jesus)

10. What was the lady’s name that he prayed would live again? (Dorcas)

Application

 It is so amazing to think that Peter could be the same man who denied Jesus. He was a strong leader and believed in the power of the name of Jesus. 

He wasn’t afraid even in jail. He was so secure that he was fast asleep and the angel had to shake him to wake him up. That is wonderful faith.

We can also grow like Peter, even if we let Jesus down sometimes, we can also become stronger and do more and more things in His name.

There will be times for us when just like Peter and John we will have to decide whether to obey the voices of people or the voice of God. 

The leaders told Peter and John not to speak about Jesus. God told them to spread the news. Who did they listen to and whom will you listen to?

 A friend might encourage you to steal. Do you listen to that voice or the voice of God telling you that all stealing is wrong?

Will you keep quiet about the Gospel if you are ever told to? Is it the right thing to spread the Gospel? See Matthew 28:19,20

Challenge to Mission

Peter gave his whole life to spread the Gospel and went everywhere telling people about Jesus. He knew it was the right thing to do and even if he suffered he carried on anyway. 

Who can we tell this week that Jesus loves them and died for them?

 Consolidation

There is a work sheet of pictures showing Peter preaching and healing. There are the 10 quiz questions too and the memory verse.

Memory Verse

“We cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard” Acts 4:20