Acts 2:32

Friday:	Acts 2:32
Bible Lesson:	Beginning of the Churc: The church was begun in order to witness for God in all parts of the earth.
Memory Verse:	God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Acts 2:32

Introduction: Witnesses

What's a witness? Have you ever seen a court trial? On television, or in a movie, maybe, a court scene? What does a witness do in a court room? A witness is called to do what? To tell what they saw or heard. When a witness tells what he saw or heard, that's evidence. If several witnesses saw the same thing, that's good evidence. If six different people all saw the bad guy breaking into the store, what's the jury going to do? They'll find him guilty – they know he did it, because there were six witnesses.

Explanation: Acts 2:32

[Show the card with the verse.] Let's look at today's verse. [Read it through a couple of times.]

Who was talking in this verse? Who's the “we”? Who wrote the book of Acts? [Luke did.] Luke is the author. When he says “we”, he's talking about himself, and other people who saw what he saw. What do we call those people, who saw something – in this case, people who saw Jesus after he raised from the dead? Witnesses!

How many witnesses were there, people who saw Jesus raised from the dead? John did. Peter. Mary Magdelene? All eleven of the disciples (except Judas). 1 Corinthians 15 says that he appeared to more than 500 people at one time. That's a lot of witnesses! That's a lot of people, who saw that Jesus really was alive.

Game: Popcorn

Whoever the teacher points to with the ruler/pointer/whatever has to pop up like popcorn (i.e., stand up quickly out of their seat) and say the next word of the verse. Leave the poster displayed at first, then after a while cover it up. Go through the verse this way until time expires. Make sure to point to all the children so that everyone participates, but don't go in order; jump around so that they never know when it's going to come to them.

Announcement: Verse Points

Tomorrow, when you come to Bible School, if you can say your memory verse without looking, you can earn points for your team's score. Each person who can say the verse can earn 200 points. So, if you want to help your team win more points, go home and practice your verse a few times. Don't forget the reference! On your way out the door tonight, you will be given a slip of paper with your verse on it. Don't lose it, because if you learn your verse, your team gets 200 more points!

You can say your verse for points tomorrow when you check in at the registration table.

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