Feeding the Sheep (God's Sheep Missions 2013, Day One)

Monday:	Feeding the Sheep
Bible Lesson:	Straying Sheep: Everyone has sinned. Sin has a penalty. (Moses and the Rock)
Memory Verse:	Isaiah 53:6
Missions Concepts:	A missionary must teach God's word.
Missions Examples:	India: Paul Rajan
Bible Passages:	Psalm 23; John 21:15-18; Numbers 27:12-21; Jeremiah 23, Matthew 2:6, 9:16; Psalm 100; Isaiah 40:9-11; Jeremiah 3:15; 2nd Samuel 5:2; Acts 20:27-28; Jude:12

Introduction: Sheep

All week at Bible School we're going to be talking about sheep. Who knows what you call a person who takes care of sheep? [A shepherd.] One of the things a shepherd has to do to take good care of his sheep is to make sure they have enough to eat. If the shepherd keeps his sheep in one place, they eat up all the grass there, and then what? They need new grass every day. The shepherd has to lead the sheep to more grass.

Main Point: Teaching the Bible

The Bible says that people need a shepherd, just like sheep do. Except, our shepherds don't find us grass to eat. Yuck. We can find our own food anyway. But our shepherds have to feed us in a different way: they feed us God's word. We call these shepherds pastors and missionaries. They teach us the Bible. We can feed our own bodies, but our shepherds help feed our souls.

Pastor Jeff is our shepherd here in this church, in Galion; but people in other places need to hear God's teaching too.

Example: India

For example, there are people in India who need to hear God's message. That's why we have pastors and missionaries in India, to teach people there about God.

One group of people in India lives in houses built for them by the government. They used to live in the mountains. When Paul Rajan, a pastor and missionary in India, asked one of them if anyone had ever come to talk to his people about God. He said No. These people need someone to tell them the truth about the only true God.

Pastor Rajan would like to teach them about God, but he has his own church to look out for, in Coimbatore, and there are also many other places in India where people need Bible teachers. There are 327 adults and 161 children in a place called Golamunda, where some men Pastor Paul knows are trying to start a church. There are 103 adults and 24 children in an area called Semala, where a man named Nehemiah lives, and there are 53 adults and 36 children in a place called Umarcot, where a man named Joseph is starting a church. All of these people need someone to teach them the Bible. The missionaries in India have a lot of work to do, teaching the Bible to all those people!

Conclusion: Shepherds Must Feed Their Sheep

If God's people are like sheep, and the people who teach them are like shepherds, and the Bible is like food for their souls, then teaching the Bible is just as important as a shepherd leading his flock of sheep to good grass. It's the most important thing pastors and missionaries do.

Invitation: Missions

Invite any children who want to do missions work to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.