Free Bible School Materials

John 3:14-15

Wednesday:	John 3:14-15
Bible Lesson:	Look and Live: The Bronze Snake and the Son of Man: We should look to Jesus, trusting God for our salvation.
Memory Verse:	Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15

Introduction: Snake on a Stick

In our lesson today we learned that when the Israelites were bitten by snakes, God provided a way for them to live. They were saved if they looked at the snake that Moses lifted up on a pole.

Explanation: John 3:14-15

That was a symbol of how the Son of Man, Jesus, had to be lifted up on a cross, so that we could be saved from our sins if we trust in him.

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

When we let Jesus pay for our sins, we can be saved. Looking at a cross is not any kind of magic: it's the belief in Jesus, who paid the penalty for our sin, that allows us to be saved.

In the book of John (which is in the New Testament), Jesus was talking to a man who named Nicodemus came to ask him questions. Jesus was telling him about salvation. This is what he said: [Quote the verse.]

Game: Portion Motions

Divide the verse into four main parts:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert
so the Son of Man must be lifted up
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life
John 3:14-15

Have the children march in place while saying the first part of the verse. Repeat it enough times that they sort of know it.

Now have them jump up and down repeatedly while saying the next part of the verse. Repeat it enough times that they sort of know it. Go back and put the two together: have them march in place saying the first part, then jump up and down saying the second part.

Now say the third part of the verse while turning in circles. Repeat it until they sort of know it. Add the reference, having them sit down as they say it. Then have them stand up again so you can practice these two parts again.

Now put it all together, and practice the whole way through: march in place through the first part, jump up and down through the second part, spin through the third part, and sit down saying the reference. Repeat the whole thing as long as there's time left.

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.

James 1:22

Tuesday:	James 1:22
Bible Lesson:	Do What It Says: We should study God's word and obey it. (Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Feast of Booths)
Memory Verse:	Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22

Introduction:

[needed]

Explanation: James 1:22

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

The word merely means something like only. So when it says Do not merely listen to the word, it means you don't just listen, you also do what it says. You listen, and then you obey.

Then it says, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. To deceive someone is to trick or fool them. So if you're deceiving yourself, you're tricking or fooling yourself. This verse tells us that if we only listen to the word and we don't obey it, we're fooling ourselves. We think we're listening to the word, but if we don't obey, are were really listening?

If your mom tells you to clean up your room, you hear the words, but did you listen to her, if you didn't actually clean your room? It's the same thing with God's word. We don't want to deceive ourselves. We want to do what God says.

Game: Chipmunk Voices

Announce that you will be having a contest between groups to see which group can say the verse better. Practice reading the verse off the posterboard together (in normal voices) two or three times first, to get everyone familiar with the wording.

Divide the children into approximately equal groups, as many as you have leaders for (preferably at least three). Give the groups no more than two minutes to practice within their group, saying the verse in chimpunk voices. After the two minutes, call everyone back together. Have each group in turn stand in front and say the verse in their chipmunk voices. If there's enough time left, say you aren't sure which group was best and have them all do it again. Give everyone a big round of applause.

Announcement: Verse Points

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

1 John 2:5

Monday:	1^st John 2:5
Bible Lesson:	Caleb & Joshua: We should trust and obey God.
Memory Verse:	But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. 1^st John 2:5

Preparation: Workday

Cut out about fifty footprints. Write one word on each footprint, making sure to use all the words from the verse, as well as a number of additional decoy words. (Do this part at one of your VBS workdays.)

Preparation: Setup

Lay the footprints out, with the verse words in the correct arrangement for stepping and the decoy words intermixed among them, side by side with them, so that the children will have to select the correct footprint to step on for each word.

Introduction: Caleb & Joshua

Earlier, we learned about Caleb and Joshua, and how they trusted and obeyed God.

[Hold up the posterboard with the verse on it. Read it through once.]

Ten of the spies didn't trust and obey God. God told them something to do, and they disobeyed, because they didn't have faith. Caleb and Joshua saw the same thing that the other ten men saw, but they trusted that God would take care of them and give them what he had promised. When they did this, they showed that they loved God, and God blessed them by allowing them to enter the promised land.

Explanation: 1^st John 2:5

Everyone who loves God and wants to live for him should be acting this verse out in their lives. God doesn't give us the option to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we will obey. We have to obey all of it. And then God's live will be complete in us.

I don't know about you, but I want to be the best Christian that I can be. One way that I do that is by obeying God's word.

Game: Footsteps

Allow one child at a time to walk through the footsteps as the entire group says the verse through slowly. Pace the saying of the verse so that the child has a chance to figure out where to step. (For younger children, an older child can assist by pointing out where they should step next.)

Continue allowing additional children to go through until your time is up.

Announcement: Verse Points

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

The Beginning of the Church

Friday:	The Beginning of the Church
Story Passages:	Acts 1:1-11, Acts 2:22-24, 29-41
Other Passages:	Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-20, Luke 24:36-49, John 10:16, John 21:15-19
Objective:	The church was begun in order to witness for God in all parts of the earth.
Memory Verse:	Acts 2:32, God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

Introduction: Where did the Church Come From?

Has there always been a church? If you had been in the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve, was there a church there? What about if you were on the ark, with Noah and his family? Was there a church then? Did Abraham go to church? Abraham worshiped God, but he didn't have a church. Where did the church come from?

Story: The Beginning of the Church

After Jesus was raised from the dead, and had been walking around for a few weeks, Jesus told his disciples, Don't leave Jerusalem yet, wait for the Holy Spirit. The disciples asked if Jesus was going to be king right now, in Israel. Jesus said, God the Father decides when that will be. You don't need to know that right now. But when the Holy Spirit comes, you will receive power, and you will be my witnesses all over the world. Soon after that, Jesus went up into the sky, toward heaven, and a cloud hid him from them. Two angels came and told the disciples that he would come back in the same way some day.

A few weeks later, the disciples were sitting in a house in Jerusalem, together, doing just what Jesus had told them to do, waiting for the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus had promised, he came. They said it looked like tongues of fire, and the power that they were promised came too! A crowd of believing Jews from all over the world were staying in the city of Jerusalem that day, because it was a holiday. They all heard the noise, and came to the house where the disciples were. And the disciples spoke to them, and they all understood in their own languages what was being said about Jesus. After this day, all of those people from all over the world were able to go home and start churches of believers, because they all heard the good news about Jesus from the disciples in Jerusalem that day. The disciples really were witnesses for all over the world, before they even left Jerusalem.

Transition: Waiting for the Spirit

Why do you suppose Jesus told them to wait for the Holy Spirit? Jesus knew that when the holiday of Pentecost came, all those people would be there from all over the world. Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem, because he wanted them to tell all of those people about Jesus. He wanted the people from all those different countries to all have churches, so they could worship God, learn about Jesus, and be witnesses to their own people. Jesus knew that the best missionaries of all are the people who live there.

The Point: Witnesses in the Church

How do you suppose churches came to [your town]? Somebody came here, who knew about Jesus, and when they came, guess what? They told people about Jesus, right here where they lived. The people who believed got together to pray, to study the Bible, and to worship God, and they invited friends, and pretty soon there was a church. What's a church? Is it a building? (No.) A church might have a building, but what is a church? A church is a group of people, people who believe in Jesus, and tell other people about Him. Are you part of a church? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you tell other people about him?

Invitation: Church Membership

[Invite the children to stay after the lesson and discuss how to belong to the church.]

The Beginning of the Promise

Thursday:	The Beginning of the Promise
Story Passage:	Genesis 15
Other Passages:	Romans 4:3-16, Genesis 3:15, 9:8-17, 12:2-3, 15:1-21, 17:15-22, 28:10-15; Isaiah 9:1-7, Isaiah 53; Malachi 3:1, 3:16-4:6
Objective:	We should have faith like Abraham.
Memory Verse:	Hebrews 11:6, Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Introduction: Abraham

Has anyone here heard of Abraham before? Who was Abraham? Abraham lived in the Bible times. It talks about him in the book of Genesis. God called Abraham to leave his home land and go to the place God would show him. Abraham took off walking, and he didn't know the place where he was going. God took him through several different places before he finally got where he was going. Did you ever get in the car and go all sorts of places and not know where you would end up? Abraham wasn't worried, though, because he trusted God, just like you probably trusted your parents when they took you places in the car. Abraham finally came to the land we now call Israel, and God promised Abraham that his children, his offspring, would live in that land, that it would be theirs.

Story: The Promise

One evening, Abraham was whining. He said, My wife and I don't have any children, and when we die, all of our stuff will go to our servant, Eliezer. But God said, Eliezer is not your heir. You will have a child. Abraham and Sarah were old, and old people don't usually have kids. But God showed Abraham the stars in the sky, and said, Count them, if you can. That's how your offspring will be. Now, there are a lot of stars, but Abraham believed God. Would you believe God, if he told you that you would have that many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren? Abraham believed. Abraham did have a son – two sons, in fact, but the son God promised him was named Isaac.

God had already promised Abraham that all the peoples on the earth would be blessed through him. Now he had promised him children, and later he promised Abraham more things. God also promised Abraham's grandson, Jacob, that all the peoples on the earth would be blessed through him and his offspring. What was God talking about?

Transition: The Woman's Seed

Who remembers what we talked about on Tuesday? What did Adam and Eve do? Were they supposed to eat from that tree? When they did, God told them some things. One of the things he told them was about their offspring. He said to the serpent, The woman's offspring will crush your head. Now, hundreds of years later, he's telling Abraham and his grandson Jacob that their offspring will bless the whole world. God was talking about the same person. Who do you suppose he was talking about, who would crush Satan and bless the whole world?

Application: Faith

God was talking about Jesus. Jesus was descended from Jacob, from Abraham, and from Eve. How did Jesus bless the whole world? By dying? Yes, by dying. How did Jesus' dying bless the world? He gave the whole world the chance to have their sins paid. He gave us the gift of life, eternal life, a chance to live forever in heaven with God, if we have faith in what Jesus has done for us. Abraham had faith in what God was going to do for him. God said what he would do, and Abraham believed it, and it was counted as righteousness. We have to have faith in what God already did for us, and it will be counted as righteousness for us. Then we can live with God forever in heaven.

Invitation: Salvation

[Invite the children to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.]

The Beginning of Salvation

Wednesday:	The Beginning of Salvation
Story Passage:	Genesis 6-9 (especially 6:13, 6:22, 7:18-8:1, 8:21-22)
Other Passages:	Matthew 24:36-42, 1^st Peter 3:18-22, Genesis 3:15, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 9:26-28, 2^nd Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Objective:	Sin brings a penalty. Jesus paid our penalty so that we can be saved.
Memory Verse:	1^st Corinthians 15:22, For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Introduction: Review

Who remembers what we talked about yesterday? We talked about how Adam sinned, and now all people are sinful, and how you can't live forever, unless someone pays for that sin. What is sin? Sin is anything you do or think that displeases God. In the Bible, there's a true story about a man named Noah, who lived a long time ago.

Story: The Flood

God gave Noah a special job to do, because all the people were sinning so much. God was tired of their sin, fed up, and he decided to judge the world, and start over again with Noah and his family. The Bible says that Noah was a righteous man; he loved God very much, but his neighbors didn't!

God told Noah, build an ark – a box. He told him how big to make it, and what to make it out of. The ark was going to be a boat, because God was going to send a flood. The ark had to be really big, so it took Noah and his three sons a long time to make it. Now they didn't live by a lake, and it hadn't ever rained, so Noah looked kind of funny to his neighbors, building that great big box in his yard, out of wood. He would tell his neighbors why he was building it, but do you think they listened? They didn't care about God. When the time came to get on the ark, do you suppose any of them got on with him? Only his wife, and his sons, and their wives. Nobody else believed that a flood was really coming.

God sent all the animals, at least two of every kind (seven of some kinds), and they all got on the Ark, with Noah and his family. Then God shut the door, and it rained. And rained. And rained. Do you remember on Monday, when we learned that there was water up above the sky? Is it there today? No. There are little bits of water in the sky, called clouds, but it's not very much. Before the flood, there was a lot of water, an ocean of water, up above the sky, and now it all came raining down, for forty days. Remember how we said the land was all in one big piece. Now it broke up, and water that had been under the ground came up, in fountains, and helped the rainwater to cover the land. Even the highest mountains were flooded, and nobody that was outside the ark could live, except fish.

Transition: The Ark as a Type of Christ

The Ark saved Noah, and his family, and the animals that were with them, from the flood. The flood was God's judgment against the world, for sin, but the Ark, which God told Noah how to build, was the way that they could be saved from that judgment, and live. It's a good thing Noah believed God, and did what he said, because if he hadn't, we wouldn't be here!

The Point: Substitutionary Atonement

Yesterday, we talked about sin, and how all of us sin, and somebody has to pay for it. The only way we can live, is if somebody will save us from God's judgment, by paying for the sin. God always makes a way for us to live. The ark was the way God made for Noah and his family, and anybody else who would get on it, to live through the flood. Jesus, who paid for our sin on the cross, is the way God has made for us, so that we can live with him, in heaven, forever.

Invitation: Salvation

Now I suppose that after it started raining, some of Noah's neighbors might have decided that they wanted on the ark after all, but it was too late; God had already shut the door. There will come a day when it's too late for you to accept Jesus. Don't wait until it's too late. The Bible says that now is the time of salvation.

[Invite the children to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.]

The Beginning of Sin

Tuesday:	The Beginning of Sin
Story Passage:	Genesis 3
Other Passages:	Romans 3:9-26, Hebrews 9:23-28, Revelation 12:9, Isaiah 64:6
Objective:	We are sinful and require salvation.
Memory Verse:	Romans 3:22, This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Introduction: Rules

When you go to school, does your teacher have rules? What rules do you have? [Accept some examples from the children.] Can you follow all of those rules all the time every day? Do you ever talk without raising your hand? Have you ever forgotten your homework? When you miss one of the rules, and don't follow it, what happens? You're not perfect. You messed up. We all do it, sometimes. Now, your teacher doesn't always notice, and if your teacher does notice, you might not get into very much trouble, depending on what rule you broke, and whether the teacher thinks you did it on purpose. But the rule is there, and you still broke it.

Story: The Fall into Sin

When God placed the man and the woman in the Garden of Eden, how many rules did he give them? He just gave them one: don't eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. It was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and he told Adam, If you eat from that tree, you will die.

So what do you suppose Adam and Eve did? They had a little help. There was a serpent. The serpent was very crafty. (It wasn't a regular snake, like we have today. The Bible says that this serpent was really Satan.) Now he knew just what to do, to get Adam to misbehave. He went straight to Eve. Satan figured that if Eve gave Adam the fruit, he'd eat it. So he went to Eve, and he tricked her.

Did God really say, that if you eat from any of the trees in the garden, you'll die?, he asked her. Was that what God said? Eve knew the answer: We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say not to eat fruit from this tree, or we'll die. Then the serpent lied to Eve: You will not die.

So Eve looked at the fruit, and it looked good. The serpent told her, that if she ate the fruit, she would be like God, knowing good and evil. Was that true? Sort of. It's true that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they knew good and evil. They already knew good; now, they knew evil as well, because they'd just done evil. Were they like God? Not really.

So the serpent lied, and Eve ate the fruit, and she gave it to Adam, and he ate it too. That was the first sin, and the Bible tells us that now all of us are sinful, because the sin comes down to us from Adam. There's a penalty for that sin. God threw Adam and Eve out of the garden, and took away the Tree of Life, so they could not live forever, because they disobeyed. So they died. Before they died, they had children, and that's why we're here.

The Point: We Need Salvation

How do you live forever? Do people today live forever, usually? No. We all die. We all die, because we all sin, because Adam and Eve sinned. To live forever, we'd have to pay for that sin, or someone would have to pay for us. Can you pay for your own sin, by being good? The Bible says that you could never be good enough, that all our righteous acts are like filthy rags to God, because we're sinful. If we can't be good enough to pay our own penalty for our own sin, how can it be paid? Someone else has to pay it for us. Who could do that? Can your mom and dad pay your penalty for you? No! They aren't good enough, either. They can't pay their own penalty, just like you can't. Only Jesus could pay your penalty.

Invitation: Salvation

Jesus died to pay for your sin. If you want Jesus to pay for your sin, all you have to do is ask. [Invite the children to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.]

The Beginning of Creation

Monday:	The Beginning of Creation
Story Passages:	Genesis 1, Acts 17:16-33
Other Passages:	Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:15-16, Romans 1:16-21, Romans 8:18-25
Objective:	God created the world and deserves our worship.
Memory Verse:	Acts 17:24, The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
Visuals:	Available here

Introduction: Where did it come from?

Out in the back yard, there's a big tree. Was it always that big? How did it get to be that big? How long has it been there? What did it come from, before it was a big tree? It was a little tree, once, but what about before that? [A seed.] Where did the seed come from? [Another tree.] Well, where did that tree come from? Where did all the seeds, and all the trees, come from originally? [God created them.] The world hasn't always been here. There was a beginning. Let's go back to the beginning, and explore where things came from...

Story: Paul in Athens

The apostle Paul was waiting in Athens for his two friends, Timothy and Silas, to come meet him. While he was there waiting, he got into a discussion with some of the people of the city, about religion. Paul was telling them about Jesus, and how he died for them and raised from the dead, but these people didn't know Jesus. They didn't know God at all! They had a lot of idols (false gods), but they did not know the true God, the creator.

Paul said he would tell them about the God they did not know. They were interested in this, because they had an altar set up just for a god they might not know. So Paul told them about the God who created the world and everything in it, the heaven and the earth. He said that this God does not live in temples built by human hands, and is not served by human hands, because he doesn't need anything, because God is the one who gives everyone life, breath, and everything else. Then he told them that God had sent Jesus and raised him from the dead, to prove that he is the God who will judge everyone. When the men heard this, some of them laughed, but others believed, including a man named Dionysius and a woman named Damaris.

Transition: Creation

Paul told them that God created the world. How did he know that? Where did he find that out? How did God create the world?

The book of Genesis tells us all about it. Paul had studied the Old Testament (the part of the Bible that was already written back then), including Genesis, so he knew about creation. The Bible says that in the beginning, when nothing was around, not even light or darkness, God created the heavens and the earth. They were pretty plain at first, but in six days God created all the details: light and darkness, the water and the sky, plants, the sun, moon, and stars, birds and fish, animals, and finally people. Then God rested on the seventh day, because his work of creation was done. When the world was first made, all the land was in one place. There weren't different continents like now, and the water was in two places: up above the sky, and down below in one big ocean. There were four rivers that flowed out of a special Garden, called Eden, where God put the man and the woman he had created. All the animals that have ever lived were born from animals that God created in those first six days, and all the people are from Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.

Some people haven't read the Bible, and they try to decide how the world got here, and they come up with all kinds of ideas about that, some sillier than others. Aren't you glad that we know what God says? And God is the only one who was there, so he's the only one who really knows. Everybody else is just guessing, or making stuff up.

Application: Worship the Creator

Since God made the whole world, don't you think that he deserves your respect? We honor God and worship him, because he's God, and because he made us, and made the world, and gave us everything. The Bible tells us, in Ephesians 2, that he made us so that we could worship him, by doing the things he has planned for us to do. Isn't it great to have such a great God we can worship?

Invitation: Commitment to God

Wouldn't you like to promise God that you will worship him, and do the things the he has planned for you to do? [Invite the children to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.]

The Finish Line: Heaven

Friday:	The Finish Line: Heaven
Story Passage:	Revelation 1:1-20
Other Passages:	2^nd Timothy 4:7-8, John 14:1-14, Revelation 21:1-22:6
Objective:	Rewards in heaven await believers who finish the race.
Memory Verse:	2^nd Timothy 4:7-8, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day...

Introduction: Crown of Righteousness

Who remembers what out theme is for this week? (Running the Race.) [Read 2^nd Timothy 4:7-8.] When is this crown of righteousness going to be awarded? (On that day.) After we have finished the race. What race are we running? (The race of life for God.) So after we finish the race, where will be go to be awarded that crown of righteousness? (Heaven.) Who would like to know about what heaven is like?

Story: The Revelation

When the Apostle John was very old, he was exiled to the island of Patmos. That means he wasn't allowed to leave. He says, that it was because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus that he was exiled on the island. He had been teaching about Jesus, and they stuck him on Patmos to get rid of him. But God had a plan for him while he was there. On the Lord's day, a loud voice, like a trumpet, told him to write down what he saw on a scroll and send it to the churches. The voice that was talking to him was Jesus, and Jesus was about to show John things that would happen in the future, including heaven.

When Jesus showed John heaven, he showed him a holy city coming down out of the sky from God. The voice of God said that in heaven God will live with men, and they will be his people, and he will be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. Everything will be new.

Then John saw the place where the people who love Jesus will go: the city will shine with the glory of God. It has a great high wall, and it is decorated with precious stones: sapphire, emerald, topaz, and others. There are twelve gates, three on each side, and each gate is made of a giant pearl. The city is going to be huge, bigger than Ohio, so big it would take an entire day and night to drive across it at 60 miles/hour without stopping. The great street of the city is of pure gold, clear like glass. It doesn't need a temple or a church, because God himself lives there. It doesn't need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God is the light. The gates will always be open, because it will never be night: just like you don't lock your house up in the daytime, the city won't need to be closed up, because it will always be day. A river of clear water flows from the throne of God down the middle of the great street of the city, and the tree of life (from the garden of Eden) grows beside the river.

Invitation: Getting to Heaven

Who gets to go to heaven? Do people who don't believe in Jesus get to go? (No.) The only people who get to enter heaven are the ones whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Everyone else goes to the fiery lake of burning sulfer to be alone without God (or anyone else) forever. So, who gets to go to heaven? Whose name is written in the Lamb's book of life?

The people who love Jesus, who look forward to his coming, the people who live for Jesus, who run the race of life for him, those are the people whose name is written in the book of life, and those are the people who will go to heaven to be with Jesus forever. If you would like to find out how to get your name written in the book of life, stay after the lesson and talk with the teacher or [one of these other counsellors] about how to make Jesus your Lord and Savior.

Free Bible School Materials

Complete Themes

Almost Complete

Bits and Pieces

General Information

What's New

John 3:14-15

James 1:22

1 John 2:5

The Beginning of the Church

The Beginning of the Promise

The Beginning of Salvation

The Beginning of Sin

The Beginning of Creation

The Finish Line: Heaven