Associating with a Skunk

Friday:	Associating with a Skunk
Bible Passages:	1st Corinthians 15:33-34, 1st John 2:15-26
Objective:	We should be careful about the corrupting influence of the world.

Introduction: Excursions

Zeke likes to go for walks. He likes to go for walks in the woods, and across the fields, around the neighborhood, and through the parks. He's willing to go any time of day or night.

Story: Playing with Skunks

Sometimes Zeke gets to go for a walk in places where there are other animals. He loves to chase bunny rabbits, butterflies, squirrels, and geese. But there are some kinds of animals Zeke shouldn't get too close to.

One time, Zeke got very close to a skunk. That was bad. Do you know why it's bad to get very close to a skunk? The skunk sprayed its stink all over Zeke's face, and he came back smelling like skunk spray. It smelled very bad. Zeke had to have two baths, with special soap, and then he still smelled bad for a month. Yuck! Zeke shouldn't play with skunks.

Application: Bad Friends

Just like Zeke should be careful about getting close to some kinds of animals, there are some people we need to be careful about being around too much, because they don't love God, and they act in very bad ways. Sometimes those people talk us into doing the wrong kinds of things. We start to behave the way they do. We might start talking like they do, or disobeying our parents like they do, or other yucky things. When that happens, God thinks we stink. He still loves us, but he doesn't like the stink.

So we should be careful who our best friends are, to pick people who don't make us stink to God.

Invitation: Picking Good Friends

Invite any children who want to pick good friends to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Unconditional Love

Thursday:	Unconditional Love
Bible Passages:	Romans 5:6-11, Romans 8:29-39, Romans 9:10-16
Objective:	God loves us unconditionally.

Introduction: Mrs. Eady Wants a Dog

Mrs. Eady wanted a dog for a long time. She prayed for a dog to come into the home. One day, when she least expected it, she came home, and there was Zeke! Zeke jumped into Mrs. Eady's arms and licked her, and she was very happy, because she had a doggy. She loved him right away. She even loved him before he came into the family.

Explanation: We Love Our Dogs

Sometimes Zeke isn't as well behaved as Mrs. Eady could want. He tears up Klenex, sneaks food off the counter and stove, and accidentally scratches people when he's playing. Mrs. Eady loves him anyway. She loves Zeke because he's her doggy. She tries to teach him to do better, because she wants him to be a good dog. But even when he misbehaves, she still loves him. She would never get rid of him.

Mr. Eady loves Zeke too. He didn't know that he wanted a dog. He said he didn't. But he shares his food with Zeke, and lets him sleep on his lap, and sometimes he takes him for a walk. Mr. Eady loves Zeke, even when Zeke is bad.

Application: God Loves Us

Did you know that God loves us? He loves us even more than Mrs. Eady loves Zeke. Now, he doesn't always like everything we do, just like Mrs. Eady doesn't like everything Zeke does. But even when we do things he doesn't like, he still loves us.

The Bible says that God loved us before we were born. Just like Mrs. Eady loved Zeke before he even came to her house, God always loved you.

Invitation: Subtitle

Invite any children who want to love God the way he loves us to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Doggies Don't Like Baffs

Wednesday:	Doggies Don't Like Baffs
Bible Passages:	[Needed]
Objective:	Even though we don't always like the changes God wants us to make in our lives, we still need to do it.

Introduction: Stinky Dog

Zeke is a nice doggy, but sometimes he gets dirty and smelly. Like the time that he ran away on his walk and got sprayed by a skunk, or the time that he rolled in nasty yucky stuff and came home smelling like a swamp. Sometimes he needs a bath.

Explanation: Baths

Now, Zeke doesn't like baths. He doesn't think he needs them.

He doesn't want to get into the bathtub, and when you manage to get him in, he tries to escape. It takes two people to keep Zeke in the tub long enough to wash him and rinse him, to get him clean.

But Zeke needs to obey and stay in the bath until he's clean and rinsed, so he won't stink, and so he can stay in the house (because he can't stay in the house smelling like a skunk), and so he won't have itchy soap all over him when he dries. Zeke doesn't always understand why he needs to stay in the bath. But he still needs to obey and do it.

When Zeke is out for a walk, he doesn't always understand why he needs to wait. He has to be on a leash, because otherwise he might run out into the street. Zeke doesn't understand that the street is dangerous, because he doesn't understand that that's where the cars go. But when the people take Zeke for a walk, they keep him on the leash and make him obey, to protect him.

Application: Obedience

Sometimes your mom or dad, or your teacher, will tell you to do something, or you might even find something in the Bible that God wants you to do. It's not always something you think you want to do. You might not even know why you need to do it. But you still need to do it. You still need to obey.

Invitation: Obedience

Invite any children who want to learn to obey to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

The Misbehaving Doggy

Tuesday:	The Misbehaving Doggy
Bible Passages:	[Needed]
Objective:	Our sin alienates us from God.

Introduction: Nice Doggy

Zeke is a nice doggy. He's cute, and cuddly, and lovable. He has nice doggy ears, and a cute doggy nose, and he does nice doggy things. He eats his dog food, and he likes to go on walks, and he doesn't bite, and he always goes potty outside. He's a good doggy.

Explanation: Misbehavior

But sometimes Zekiel (Zeke) doesn't do what he's supposed to do. Sometimes he does wrong things that he knows he's not supposed to do.

Sometimes early in the morning, when nobody's watching, he sneaks into the bathroom, grabs some toilet paper, shreds it into little pieces, and scatters them all down the hallway. Zeke knows that he's not supposed to do that, and when he gets caught he hangs his head or runs away. He knows that he'll be in trouble. But he does it again the next day anyway.

Zeke also likes to get yucky things out of the trash and drag them around the house, like old butter wrappers and dirty napkins. He knows he's not supposed to. He knows he'll get in trouble. He hides when he does it, so that the people won't find out. But he still does it.

Application: Sin

Zekiel is just a dog. When Zeke misbehaves, that's bad doggy behavior. But dogs aren't the only ones who ever misbehave, are they? Sometimes people misbehave too.

When people misbehave, we call it sin. Sin is the wrong things that we do, and it makes God very sad. Because we're people, and because we can know God, we're supposed to be able to do better than the animals. God made us to be like him. We're not supposed to sin. When we do sin, it keeps us from being with God. We're in big trouble.

When you do something that you know is wrong, even though you know you're not supposed to, you're choosing to sin, to disobey God. Even though most of the time you do the right thing... most of the time you don't hit your brother... most of the time you don't lie to your parents... but when you do, that's sin, and it's bad, and it keeps you from being with God.

In other words, it's because of our sin that we're at the pound, and God had to pay to get us out. Our sin is a big problem, and we need to ask for God's forgiveness.

Invitation: Repentance

Invite any children who want to turn away from their sin to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Redeeming a Dog

Monday:	Redeeming a Dog
Bible Passages:	[Needed]
Objective:	God has paid to adopt us and bring us into his family.

Introduction: The Dog Pound

When dogs don't have a home, they get taken to the dog pound and locked up. The Humane Society keeps the dogs at the pound for a little while, hoping that someone will come and take them home. They feed them a little bit, but they don't play with them, and they don't hug them, and they don't give them treats, and they don't have time to be friends with every doggy that's there. They don't love them. It's not a very nice place for a doggy to live.

When Zeke was little, he ended up at the dog pound. He was sad, and he was afraid, and just a little bit hungry. He didn't like it at the pound. But somebody came and wanted to take Zeke home.

Story: Redemption

Did you know that to bring a dog home from the pound, you have to pay money? It costs a lot of money, more than fifty dollars. But somebody came and loved Zeke enough to pay the price. They willingly paid the money, so that Zeke could go home with them.

But Zeke had to choose to go. He had to let them put the leash on him, and he had to go with them. He was scared, but he didn't want to stay at the pound either.

Application: God has redeemed us.

Just like somebody paid to redeem Zeke from the dog pound, somebody paid to redeem us, too. Jesus paid the price so that we could some day go home with him. Just like Zeke had to choose to go on the leash and leave the pound, we have to choose to follow Jesus so that we can go with him.

Invitation: Salvation

Invite any children who want to be adopted by God to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Jesus Wants to Be Your Shepherd

Friday:	Jesus Wants to be Your Shepherd
Objective:	Jesus wants to be my shepherd.
Prop:	Picture of Jesus with a lamb.
Bible Passages:	John 10, Romans 3-6, 1st John 1

Introduction: Little Lamb

Boys and girls, (show puppet). This is Little Lamb. He's been coming to Bible School every night with us. He's helping us learn more about sheep. He doesn't talk out loud, but sometimes he whispers to me, and I'll tell you what he says, OK?

Story: Lost Little Lamb

(Little Lamb shows a picture of Jesus holding a lamb and whispers to the teacher). Little Lamb says that once he didn't come when the shepherd called. He wandered off, got lost, and fell down a hill and he couldn't get back up. The hill was too steep. But his shepherd came and got him, just like in our Bible lesson today.

Application: Jesus Wants to Be Your Shepherd

(L L whispers again). Little Lamb says that all of you are like sheep and Jesus wants to be your shepherd. All of us, like sheep, have wandered off. All of us have disobeyed God. Maybe we have disobeyed our parents or maybe we have told a lie. Maybe we have said mean things or hit someone. All these things are disobeying God. The Bible calls it sin. God wants us to be sorry for our sin. Not pretend sorry, but real sorry. He wants us to ask him to forgive our sin. If we ask him, he will forgive us.

Copyright © 2004—2013, Jill Eady, Nathan Eady, and the Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.

The Shepherd Knows His Sheep

Thursday:	The Shepherd Knows His Sheep
Objective:	God Loves Me
Prop:	either a horn of oil (empty) or a picture of one
Bible Passages:	Psalm 23, Psalm 71, Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5, Galatians 1:15

Introduction: Little Lamb

Boys and girls, (show puppet). This is Little Lamb. He's been coming to Bible School every night with us. He's helping us learn more about sheep. He doesn't talk out loud, but sometimes he whispers to me, and I'll tell you what he says, OK?

Story: The Shepherd's Care

Well, Little Lamb, what's this? (He whispers). A horn of oil? What's it for? (He whispers again.). Oh, it has oil in it that is like medicine. So if you get a cut or scratch your shepherd puts in on the hurt and it feels better? (nods yes). I think your shepherd does a lot for you. He helps you find water and grass. If there's not enough, he leads you to a new place where there is more. He keeps you safe, and helps you when you get hurt. (Nods yes).

You know, Little Lamb, I can tell that your shepherd loves you a lot. He even knows each one of you by name, doesn't he. (nods yes).

Application: The Good Shepherd

Did you know that the Bible says that God knows each one of us by name too? He does. It even says he knows our name and all about us before we are even born. Yes, God loves each one of us very, very much. Little Lamb, do you love your shepherd? (Nods yes vigorously). Good.

Boys and girls, since God loves us so much, we should love him too, shouldn't we. (yes).

Copyright © 2004—2013, Jill Eady, Nathan Eady, and the Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.

Obey the Shepherd

Wednesday:	Obey the Shepherd
Objective:	God protects us too, but we need to obey him. One way to obey is to tell the truth.
Props:	Sling shot, shepherd's crook/staff, picture of sheepfold
Bible Passages:	Psalm 23, 1st Samuel 17, John 10

Introduction: Little Lamb

Boys and girls, (show puppet). This is Little Lamb. He's been coming to Bible School every night with us. He's helping us learn more about sheep. He doesn't talk out loud, but sometimes he whispers to me, and I'll tell you what he says, OK?

Story: The Shepherd's Protection

Little Lamb, I see you brought something new to show us tonight. What is this? (He whispers to the teacher.) He says a shepherds crook and a slingshot. Let's see, (Pointing), this must be the shepherd's crook and this the slingshot, right? (L L nods). What does the shepherd use the crook for? ( L L whispers) He says the shepherd uses the crook to remind the sheep to stay on the right path. Or if they fall down into a ditch, he can reach down and pull them back up to safety. (If you use a real "crook" like a cane or something, the teacher can use the crook to demonstrate while she talks.) What about the slingshot? (L L whispers again). He says the shepherd uses that to chase away wild animals like lions or bears that might want to hurt the sheep. That's good.

(Show a picture of a sheepfold). Little Lamb, I've heard that this is called a sheepfold. Do you have one of these where you live? What is it for? (L L whispers). Oh, so at night the shepherd calls and all you sheep come and get inside this stone wall? (nods yes). What if you don't come when you are called? (whispers) Oh, my. Little Lamb says if you don't come, you might get left out or get hurt. Maybe a lion or bear would hurt you. Sounds scary.

Obey the Shepherd

So, the shepherd takes good care of you, but you have to obey him, right? (nods yes). God takes care of boys and girls, but they need to obey God. Monday we talked about obeying God by obeying our parents. In our Bible lesson today, we also learned that God wants us to always tell the truth, and not tell lies.

Copyright © 2004—2013, Jill Eady, Nathan Eady, and the Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.

Thanking the Creator

Tuesday:	Thanking the Creator
Objective:	We should thank God for making everything.
Prop:	Colored picture of a shepherd with sheep, water, grass.
Bible Passages:	Psalm 23, Genesis 1, Psalm 139:13-16

Introduction: Little Lamb

Boys and girls, (show puppet). This is Little Lamb. He's going to come to Bible School every night with us. He's going to help us learn more about sheep. He doesn't talk out loud, but he might whisper to me sometimes, and I'll tell you what he says, OK?

Little Lamb, I see you brought something with you. What is this? Is this a picture you colored? (Little Lamb nods.) Good job, Little Lamb! You've colored this very nicely. A shepherd helps his sheep find grass to eat and water to drink, doesn't he. So, if you and your friends eat up all the grass in one place, does your shepherd lead you to another place where there is more? (Nods yes).

Story: Creation

Did you know, Little Lamb, that God made the world and everything in it? (Nods yes). Oh, I suppose your shepherd sings songs about God just like David did. (Nods yes vigorously.) Well, that's great Little Lamb. I'm glad you know that God made the world and everything in it. That means he made the water and grass for you, Little Lamb.

God also made other plants like apple trees and berry bushes and vegetable plants so that boys and girls can have lots of good things to eat too.

Application: Thanksgiving

We should thank God for our food and things to drink. Let's pray right now. (Perhaps some of the kids would like to thank God for something.)

Copyright © 2004—2013, Jill Eady and the Galion Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.

We All Sin

Monday:	We All Sin
Objective:	We should obey God. When we disobey, that is called sin.
Prop:	Picture of a shepherd.
Bible Passages:	Romans 3, Isaiah 53

Introduction: Little Lamb

Boys and girls, (show puppet). This is Little Lamb. He's going to come to Bible School every night with us. He's going to help us learn more about sheep. He doesn't talk out loud, but he might whisper to me sometimes, and I'll tell you what he says, OK?

Concept: Shepherd

(Speak to lamb), Little Lamb, I see you've brought a picture to show us tonight. Who is this man? (Little Lamb whispers in teacher's ear). Oh, it's your shepherd. A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep, right? (L.L. nods yes). Do you have to obey your shepherd? (nods yes). So, when he call you, you come. (nods yes). What would happen if you didn't come when he called? (Whispers in ear). Oh, my. Little Lamb says he could get lost or hurt. That wouldn't be good. So, Little Lamb, you try to remember to obey? (nods yes).

Story: Moses and the Rock

(Address children). Did Moses in our Bible lesson remember to obey God? (No) What was he supposed to do? (Speak to the rock). But what DID he do? (Yes, he hit the rock with a stick.) He didn't obey, did he.

The Point: Obedience

Do we always obey God? No, sometimes we don't. One thing that God wants us to do is to obey our parents. We don't always do that. Disobeying our parents is disobeying God. The Bible calls that sin when we disobey God. We have all sinned. We've all disobeyed God sometimes. When we sin, we need to ask God to forgive us.

(Pray with the children. Ask God to help them to remember to obey him by obeying their parents. Ask God to help them to remember to ask him for forgiveness when they sin.)

Copyright © 2004—2013, Jill Eady, Nathan Eady, and the Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.

Preschool Shapes Lessons

Preschool Shapes Lessons

Ball

Summary: The ball is shaped like the world and represents the fact that God is the creator.

Have the children sit in a circle and tell them that they're going to learn something about God. When you have their attention, reach into the Special Box and pull out today's shape.

This ball is shaped like our world. Did you know that our world is shaped like a ball? No matter how far around it you walk, you can't fall off - you just get to a new place. When you see a ball, you can think of the world.

How do you think the world got here? Did it just appear? Did it come from a cereal box? No! Somebody made the world. Who made the world?

God made the world. How did Jesus make the world? Did he glue a whole bunch of sand together? No. Did he find it already there? No. Did he blow up a bunch of baloons and stick them together? No. How did he make the world, then?

God made the world out of nothing. He spoke, and it was there. How could he do that? Let's see if we can do that. (Select a child.) Talk to the air over there and tell a bowl of ice-cream to just appear. Go ahead, make a bowl of ice cream. Talk to it, and make it appear. Can you do that? No.

We can't do that. Only God can create things out of nothing. Our God is pretty special, isn't he? He made the world, just for us. So, when you see a ball, and you think of the world, remember who made the world, and everything in it.

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Book

Summary: The book represents God's word, the Bible.

Have the children sit in a circle and tell them that they're going to learn something about God. When you have their attention, reach into the Special Box and pull out today's shape.

(Hold up the book, and ask if anyone knows what it is.) Yes, it's a book. What's a special book, that has to do with God? (Wait for the answer.) Yes, the Bible. Who gave us the Bible? God gave us the Bible. (Sing the B-I-B-L-E song.) What does it mean to stand on the word of God? Are we supposed to put it down on the floor and put our feet on it? No, that would be silly.

What's the song talking about, then? We use the Bible to tell us how to live. Why do we listen to the Bible? Who wrote it? God told men what to write, didn't he? The Bible is what God wants us to know, all written down so we can read it. Should we read our Bibles a lot? What should we do when we read them? We should listen to it, and do what it says.

Did God write any other books? No, just the Bible. That's why we call the Bible God's word. It's the only words he gave to us. I'm glad that our God gave us the Bible. Since we have the Bible, we can know about God, and we can know what he wants us to do.

So, what does this book shape remind us of? That God gave us the Bible.

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Heart

Summary: The heart represents the fact that God loves us.

Have the children sit in a circle and tell them that they're going to learn something about God. When you have their attention, reach into the Special Box and pull out today's shape.

(Hold up the heart and ask the kids what shape it is.) What does a heart shape remind people of? Have you seen a heart shape before? What does it mean? It means somebody loves you!

Did you know that God loves you? Sure, he does. God made you. Remember, we talked about the ball on Monday? God made the world, and everything in it, and he made us too. God made you, and he loves you. Because God loves you, he'll take care of you.

God took care of Daniel, didn't he? Did he let the lions eat Daniel? No! Why not? Why didn't God let the lions eat Daniel? Daniel obeyed God, and he loved God, and God loved Daniel, and he took care of Daniel.

God loves you too. He can take care of you. Does that mean you will never get sick? No, sometimes God lets us get sick. Does that mean he doesn't love us? No, God loves us. He loves us so much, he sent Jesus. Even when you die some day, God still loves you, and he wants to take you to heaven to be with him.

So, what does this heart shape remind us? God loves us!

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Cross

Summary: Jesus died on a cross. The cross represents the fact that God is willing to forgive us.

Have the children sit in a circle and tell them that they're going to learn something about God. When you have their attention, reach into the Special Box and pull out today's shape.

(Hold up the cross and ask the children what shape it is.) That's right, it's a cross shape. Who remembers what happened on a cross? Did something happen to Jesus on a cross? He died! Why did Jesus die on a cross? Was it because he was bad? No, Jesus didn't do anything wrong. Did he want to die? Didn't that hurt? Yes, it hurt. Jesus didn't want to die. But he did. Why?

Does anyone remember yesterday's shape? The heart? What does the heart remind us? Yes, God loves us. Jesus loves us. That's why he died for us. You see, we had a problem. We do bad things sometimes, don't we? What does God call it when we do bad things? Sin. Are we supposed to sin? What happens when we sin? God can't let us into heaven, if we have sin. But, God wants to let us into heaven, because he loves us. So Jesus came and died on a cross. When Jesus died on the cross, what happened? What was he doing?

Jesus died on the cross, to pay for our sin. He took the punishment. He died. Was he paying for his own sin? No, Jesus didn't have any sin. He was perfect. He paid for our sin. On the cross.

So, when you see a cross shape, remember that Jesus died, to pay for our sin, so that God can forgive us and let us into heaven.

Invitation: If any of you want Jesus to pay for your sin, come talk to us during games, and we can explain to you about how to do that, and help you ask Jesus to take away your sin.

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Crown

Summary: The crown represents God's heavenly kingdom.

Have the children sit in a circle and tell them that they're going to learn something about God. When you have their attention, reach into the Special Box and pull out today's shape.

(Hold up a crown. Ask them what it's called.) Who usually wears a crown? A king or a queen. What does a crown mean? Why does a king wear a crown? It means he's in charge. If he's wearing the crown, it means everybody else has to do what he says.

Who's in charge of us? Our parents? Our teachers? But who's in charge of them? Who's in charge of everybody? God's in charge. God is our king. Jesus is going to be king of the whole world some day, when he comes back. Where is Jesus right now? He's in heaven, his home, with the Father. What's he doing there? Making a place for us, so we can have a place to live in heaven. Where does a king usually sit, when he wears his crown? On a throne. Where is God's throne? Did you know, God has a throne in heaven? Some day, God's throne will be on earth, down here with us. Right now he's king from heaven, but some day God's kingdom will be on earth.

Who remembers how we get to heaven, so we can be with God? Can we go to heaven by ourselves? What did the cross remind us? Jesus had to die, so that we could go to heaven. Can we be good, and get to heaven by being good? No, not good enough. We have sin. We do bad things. Even if you stopped doing bad things right now, and never did anything bad again, you have already sinned, right? You were already bad. You could never get to heaven. The only way you can get to heaven is if Jesus takes away your sin. Jesus can take away your sin, because he paid for it on the cross. If he takes away your sin, you can be with God again, and you can go to heaven. Jesus loves you, and he wants you with him in heaven. He wants to take away your sin, so you can go there with him.

So, what does the crown remind us? It reminds us that God is the king, and he is in heaven.

Invitation: If any of you want Jesus to pay for your sin, come talk to us during games, and we can explain to you about how to do that, and help you ask Jesus to take away your sin.