John 10:28

Thursday:	Sheep Security
Bible Lesson:	Jesus is the good shepherd and always looks after his sheep.
Memory Verse:	John 10:28, I give them eternal life, and they will never die. No one can snatch them out of my hand.

Introduction: The Good Shepherd

Our verse today is from the book of John, in the New Testament. In chapter 10, Jesus is telling how he is the good shepherd, and he's talking about his sheep. His sheep are the ones who know and obey him — Jesus is talking about people who follow God.

Explanation: John 10:28

[Show the posterboard with the verse.] I give them eternal life, and they will never die. Can a regular shepherd do that for his sheep? (No.) A shepherd can lead his sheep to water and grass and protect them from lions and wolves, so that they can live, but sooner or later they still die.

So how can Jesus give us eternal life? He's talking about heaven - about how we can live with God forever someday, if we are his sheep. If we make Jesus our shepherd and follow him, he has taken away our sin (when he died on the cross), so that instead of paying for our own wrongdoings, we can go to heaven and live forever with God.

Then Jesus says, No one can snatch them out of my hand. What does that mean? If we belong to Jesus - if he paid with his own blood and bought us - do you think he's going to let someone take us away from him? No! Who might want to snatch us away from Jesus? Satan? Can he do it? (No.) Jesus would never let that happen. If we trust in Jesus, we don't have to be afraid of the devil or anyone. No one can snatch us away.

Game: Show Your Card

Hand out 3x5 cards with one word of the verse written on each. (You can divide into groups if there are too many children for the number of words in the verse - have more than one set of cards ready if attendance is running that high.) Stand (each group) in a big circle. Have each child hold their card facing themselves, so only they can see their word. Then go through the verse, everyone saying it together, and for each word, the person with that card turns their card around for the group to see, until all the cards are turned around. Shuffle and repeat as necessary until the children all know the verse cold or you run out of time.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.