Hamburger Series: I am the BREAD of LIFE

Scripture: for teacher background:  John 6:32-58

(Bread part of hamburger)

Making contact:

You could give the children a slice of bread to eat and talk about different kinds of bread,

Or

Ask the children what they like to put on a hamburger.

Or

Play a game about a hamburger. You start and say: “I am so hungry I could eat a hamburger”.

The first child says: “I am so hungry I could eat a hamburger with tomato sauce.” 

The next child repeats the whole thing and adds something else e.g. a slice of pineapple, lettuce, tomato, chips, etc.

Explain again that just as the game built a huge hamburger, today we are going to begin our “I AM” burger, beginning with the bread or roll.

 Exploration:

The first “I AM” we are going to learn about is when Jesus said: “I am the bread of life.”

Bread is a very important basic food for us. I am sure we all have bread every day.

Bread gives us strength and energy.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say: “Give us this day our daily bread.” 

We are praying that God will provide for our daily needs. We didn’t say cake or sweets – not luxuries, we aren’t greedy, we prayed for bread – the basics.

Now when Jesus was teaching all the people and they had been following Him around for a couple of days, they were very hungry. 

Do you remember what special thing happened? 

Do you remember about the little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus?  

Jesus first said grace and then He broke up 6 little loaves of bread and the 2 fish and 5 000 men got food, plus all the woman and children. 

The disciples collected 12 baskets of leftovers after the meal. Jesus did this again on the other side of the lake for 4 000 people.

It was after this that the people demanded another miracle. They asked Him to always give them bread. 

Jesus then said these famous words: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”

Application

 It was at the last supper that Jesus took bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples and told them to eat it in REMEMBRANCE of Him, because just like He broke the bread, His body would be broken. 

He then took the cup and gave thanks and told them to drink from it to remember how His blood was shed for us. 

Every time we have communion, we are remembering how much Jesus did for us and we are eating the bread in faith. It strengthens us, and we believe as we eat it that Jesus is the Bread of life!

We do need to eat real bread each day, and we do get hungry again, but Jesus feeds our hearts and souls, giving us peace and joy. 

When we ask Jesus to live in our hearts we never have that soul hunger again.

That’s why people get into alcohol and drugs and wrong sex, they are looking for something to fill their empty souls. 

But Jesus must fill that gap in our hearts. Nothing else will satisfy for long –Only He is the Bread of Life.

Challenge to Mission

Starving people can’t just be told that Jesus is the Bread of life. Let’s first help them by giving them something to eat and then help them to get work so that they can buy their own bread, with dignity but MOST important of all we must tell them about Jesus. 

God blesses us that we bless others. Jesus first fed the people with actual bread and then He told them that He was the bread of life.

 Consolidation

On the worksheet, the children need to fill in BREAD. (Give us our daily……..) There is a reminder to say  ‘Thank you for food.”

Memory Verse

Jesus said to them: “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35

This is printed on a picture of half a bread roll on the worksheet.

Tell the children to practice this verse all week and next week they will get a little picture of a hamburger to keep if they can say the verse. See sheet of small hamburger pictures.

Hamburger Series. Introductory lesson: Jesus said, "I AM"

This lesson is to introduce the series to the children and to tell them about the "I am" hamburgers. They will begin to build their burger next time.

Scripture: for teacher background:  Exodus 3:1-14  Psalm 46:10  John 8:48-59  John 18:1-7

Making contact:

Talk to the children about the meanings of their names. Find out some of them before hand in case they don’t know. 

A naming baby book could come in handy. Tell them what your name means.

How many names do we know that mean God?

Lord, King, Jesus, Saviour, Holy Spirit, Father, The Shepherd, Abba………..are some examples.

There are names for God using every letter of the Alphabet.

 Exploration:

You may remember when we learned the story of Moses, that he had an amazing experience one day when he was looking after sheep. 

He had run away from Egypt because in his hurry to help his people he had killed an Egyptian and now he was hiding in another country. 

Do you remember what strange thing he saw, and he went closer to have a look? It was a bush that was burning but it wasn’t burning up.

 As he got closer, he heard God’s voice telling him that he must take off his shoes because he was standing on very holy ground. That was how people showed honour in those days.

By the way, if you happen to go in a mosque, you have to take your shoes off to show honour to that god. I don’t know about you, but I would rather only honour Jesus. Be careful not to give glory to other gods.

Anyway, God spoke to Moses at the burning bush that day. This was before the Bible was written. God told Moses that he had to go back to Egypt and that he had to lead them out of that country, back to Israel.

Moses doubted and argued. 

He said he was a “Nobody.” and would not be able to do this. Then he tried a different argument. He said: “When I go to the Israelites and say to them The God of your ancestors sent me to you, they will ask me “What is His name?” So what must I tell them?

God said: “I am who I am. This is what you must say to them. The One who is called

I AM has sent you to them.” (Ex 3)

Now, think about that – what does it mean? It means… God is everything. “I Am.” -full stop.

Not I was or will be………but I am!

Many years later Jesus was talking to some very religious people, some Pharisees, and they were asking Jesus if he was a Samaritan (a half Jew – they hated Samaritans) or if He was demon possessed, possessed by the devil!

They asked Him how He could be greater than Abraham?

He said Abraham was very happy that Jesus was coming to earth.

They told Him he wasn’t even 50 years old, and asked Him how it was possible for Him to claim to know Abraham? He then said these famous words:

“I am telling you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM.” (John 8:58)

It was a while later that they sent soldiers to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. They arrested Him and killed Him because He claimed to be the Son of God. To them it was blasphemy but Jesus was brave and true.

 As the soldiers came closer to Him in the garden, He asked them “Who are you looking for?” They replied “Jesus of Nazareth. Instead of running away Jesus replied: “I am He.” 

As Jesus said, “I am”, they moved back and fell to the ground. Then they got up and He asked them again before they arrested Him.

Why did they fall to the ground? They were in the presence of God, which is overwhelming. For that moment His power and holiness overcame them and they fell down.

During His teachings Jesus often used these words “I am”, when He was teaching about whom He was, but He put something after it. Do you know what He said?

Well, He said seven different things and in the next seven Sundays we are going to learn about these is a fun way.

Who likes hamburgers?

They say the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach! We are going to get the truths about Jesus into our hearts through our stomachs – through HAMBURGERS!

But we are going to call them I AM BURGERS instead.

So, come each week and we are going to build an “I AM BURGER”, and at the end of the term we will actually eat a real hamburger if we can say all seven memory verses.

 Application

God is your “I am”.

Who is your God? He replies: “I am.”

Who is my strength? “I AM.”

Who is my guide? “I AM.”

Who is my protector? “I AM.”

Who is my friend? “I AM.”

God is your “I am” He is everything to you and me.

Challenge to Mission

 We must not be shy to tell people that we believe in THE GOD of the Holy Trinity! – He is the great “I AM”

The world needs to know who God is and maybe you could begin by telling a family member or friend about your God.

Consolidation

 There is a worksheet where the children can colour in the name of God – I AM.

There is a list of questions. The children can write I AM next to each one.

There is a burning bush picture. They can colour it in to make flames or stick orange paper or cellophane paper over the bush.

Memory Verse

“I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” (John 8:58)

Hamburger Series - INTRODUCTION for teachers: Jesus seven 'I AM" sayings

This series teaches the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus. 

I got this idea from SANSSA years ago where a hamburger is used to teach the I AM sayings.

It is helpful to make a big poster of a hamburger and each week to stick the memory verse on the poster.

You can also prepare stickers of burgers to use each week for the memory verses if the children have a little booklet or worksheets.

Memory verses should be RETAINED memory from the previous week, before moving onto a new verse.

Stickers:

Preparation for Hamburger Day

After reading through all the lessons for this series you need to decide how you will bring it all to a close. 

You can plan a Hamburger Day and during Sunday school get the children to recite their memory verses to receive each part of their real burger?

You could include the whole church family and involve the parents to prepare the burgers and even join in saying memory verses.

Whatever you decide to do, remember to plan ahead and get others to help with the food preparation.

Posters:

Term C. 4th Term. Lesson 8. Bible Buddy: PAUL - prison and shipwreck

Scripture: for teacher background:  Acts 21:27-40 Ch 23,27,28

Making contact:

Play the game of shipwreck.

The children all stand in the front of the room and you explain that the bow of the ship is the front, the stern is the back, and port is the left and starboard is the right. 

When these are called out they must run there. If the leader says salute the captain, they must all line up and salute. 

Hit the deck means lie down flat and climb the ropes means to climb up chairs or whatever they can. 

You can say that the children who are last to arrive are out, but I prefer not to do elimination games, to protect their sensitive egos.

 Exploration:

Paul had done an amazing job of spreading the Gospel and starting churches all through Europe and Asia, but his enemies were becoming more and more adamant to deal with him. Forty men had even taken a vow not to eat anything until they had killed him.

God spoke to Paul in the night and said: “Don’t be afraid! Your have given your witness for me here in Jerusalem and you must also do the same in Rome.”

Paul was kept in prison and was moved from Jerusalem to Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, two hundred spearmen and seventy horsemen guarding him, because of the Jews trying to kill him. 

Two years passed and the governors in a row, Felix and then Festus gave Paul court hearings but couldn’t decide what to do with him. 

Eventually Paul appealed to the Emperor and that meant he had to have a court hearing in Rome. This was how Paul was sent to Rome with soldiers guarding him. He had always wanted to go to Rome and God had promised him that he would testify there for Him. Now his long trip was paid for!!

The journey was very interesting. Paul could see that it would be too dangerous to sail so close to winter and all the storms but the captain wouldn’t listen to Paul.

They were caught in a huge storm and thought they would die, but Paul knew that he was going to get to Rome alive because God said so.

He encouraged them and told them that he trusted his God. There were 276 people on board and everyone survived. 

They had managed to run the ship into a bay on the island of Malta and it hit a sandbank. They all got to shore.

They were warming themselves next to a fire and the people on the island were very kind, but when they saw a snake suddenly wrap itself around Paul they thought he was cursed and would die.

Instead Paul just shook it off into the fire. Then they realized he had special power and they asked him to pray for sick people. They all got better.

They stayed there for 3 months and then once again sailed for Rome. 

In Rome Paul was allowed to live by himself with one soldier guarding him under house arrest for two years. Many people visited him. He wrote many letters to the churches he had started to encourage them. 

We still have some of these letters in our Bibles today. E.g. Philippians is the one he wrote to those Christian living in Philippi – like the jailer and Lydia. 

He wrote to Timothy and Titus. Look in your Bible and at the beginning of the letters it says “From Paul to…” 

Count how many letters he wrote. 

You can learn a song about all the New Testament books. It is to the tune of “Here we go round the mulberry bush.”

Application 

God had His hand on Paul and even though he suffered many things, he kept his eye on the goal. He trusted God to protect him and use him.

In the difficulties God brought glory. He could have just sat in a heap in prison and moaned, but instead he wrote many letters and reached the whole world. 

If he hadn’t been in prison he might never have written those letters and we wouldn’t have half our New Testament.

Challenge to Mission

 Paul preached and taught and wrote at every opportunity. Can we be zealous for mission like this? 

He could say near the end of his life that he had fought the fight, run the race, finished the work that God gave him to do and that he was happy to be on earth serving Jesus but would be even happier to go to be with Jesus forever.

“As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed. I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance and I have kept the faith. And now there is waiting for me the prize of victory.” 2 Tim 4:6-8

Will we be able to say the same?

Consolidation

 On the worksheet there is the song about the books of the New Testament. The children can underline which ones Paul wrote. 

There are pictures of Paul writing letters, a shipwreck and the snake he shook off into the fire.

Memory Verse

(This is a long verse but very powerful and helpful to know if we ourselves are ever in trouble, this verse will comfort us.)

“Who then can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution…? No, in all these things we have complete victory through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:36,37

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