Free Bible School Materials

Running the Race: Lordship

Monday:	Running the Race: Lordship
Story Passages:	1^st Samuel 24, 1^st Samuel 26, 2^nd Samuel 1:1-16
Other Passages:	2^nd Timothy 2:3-5, 1^st Samuel 10:1, 1^st Samuel 16
Objective:	Jesus should be Lord and Master of our lives.
Memory Verse:	1^st John 2:3, We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.

Introduction: Athletes and Soldiers

How many of you have ever run in a race? What do you call someone who runs in races or plays other sports? An athlete. What do you get when you win a race? (A prize.) Do you get to keep the prize if you cheat? (No.) If you don't follow the rules, you are disqualified, and you can't win. Who else has to follow strict rules? What about soldiers? Can a soldier go anywhere he wants, whenever he wants? Can he go home and visit his family any time he wants? (No.) He has to go wherever his commanding officer tells him to go. [Read 2^nd Timothy 2:3-5]

Transition: Following God

The Bible says that Christians are like athletes, running a race. If we believe in Jesus, we are supposed to follow what he says. Those are our rules. When we do whatever Jesus says, we make him the Lord and Master of our lives. In the Bible, David was a man after God's own heart, and he made God the Lord of his life. David followed God, even when it was hard.

Story: The Lord's Annointed

Saul was the king when David was a young man, but Saul the king didn't like David. Saul was afraid David would take his kingdom away from him. The prophet Samuel had annointed David, just like he'd annointed Saul before, so that after Saul, David would be the next king. It was a sure thing, but Saul kept chasing after David with armies, trying to kill him. Saul was afraid that David would try to kill him, so that David could be king. But David wouldn't do that, because God had chosen Saul and annointed him, and David knew that God wouldn't want anyone to kill Saul.

One time, Saul and his army were chasing David, and David and his men hid in the back of a cave. Saul didn't see them go into the cave, but Saul had to go. You know. He had to go. So when he got to the cave, guess where he decided to go? He was a long way from the bathroom, so he went into the cave. It was dark in the cave, and Saul didn't see David. David's friend wanted David to kill Saul, but David wouldn't do it. He took his sword, and just cut off a piece of Saul's robe. After Saul finished in the cave and went out and was leaving, David and his men went out, and David yelled to Saul, Look at this piece of your robe! I could have killed you, but I didn't, because you are the Lord's anointed. Saul was ashamed and left David alone for a while and went home.

Another time, some time later, Saul and his army were out chasing David again, and they camped for the night, and fell asleep. David and one of his men snuck into the camp, and they could have killed Saul, but David wouldn't. They only took the spear and water jug that were next to Saul's head, and left the camp. From across the way, on the top of a hill, they called down to the army that was with Saul. You didn't do a very good job of guarding your king! Look, where are the water jug and spear that were by his head? Right here! We could have killed him, but I wouldn't do that, because Saul is the Lord's anointed. Again, Saul was ashamed and left David alone for a while and went home.

David would not kill Saul, his enemy, because God had chosen Saul, and David obeyed God, his Lord and Master. David was a man after God's own heart. David said that God would take care of Saul.

Application: Lordship

What have we learned from David? [Accept some answers from the children.] David let God be in charge. The Bible says that we need to let God be in charge, too. If you were running in a race, you would have to follow the rules set up by the people who organized the race. In life, you follow the rules God gave us, because he is the one who organized the whole world.

Invitation: Lordship

[Invite children to stay after the lesson and discuss further if they want to make Jesus the Lord of their lives.]

Posting up some existing materials out of order.

While we're waiting for the Following the Footsteps memory verse lessons to be approved, I'm going to go ahead and post up some of the existing materials for the two themes that aren't online yet (Running the Race and Back to the Beginning), starting with the Bible lessons for the elementary age group. These were already completed, and approved by our Pastor (Russ Simpson at the time), back when we used them in Galion (in 2005 and 2006), so they're basically ready to go; I just hadn't gotten around to posting them here until now. So I'm going to start doing that in the next few days. Watch this space.

Footsteps of Service Discussion Questions

Friday:	Footsteps of Service
Main Passage:	Philippians 4:10-19, 2^nd Kings 4:8-13
Other Passages:	Acts 9:36-39, 1^st Corinthians 12-14, Romans 12:4-13
Memory Verse:	Philippians 2:4

What was the name of the man who helped Paul by taking him the money collected by the churches?
How are prisons today different from prisons in Bible times?
Can you think of any other examples in the Bible of people who served God by serving people?
Why did the church in Philippi collect money for Paul? Why is their motive important?
Does following the Shunnemite's footsteps mean that each one of you will have to have missionaries or pastors stay in your home? Why or why not?
How do we figure out what we can do in the church to serve God by serving others?

If you need hints to answer some of the questions, look up the listed scripture passages.

Footsteps of Service, Teen Version

Friday:	Footsteps of Service
Main Passages:	Philippians 4:10-19, 2^nd Kings 4:8-13
Other Passages:	Acts 9:36-39, 1^st Corinthians 12-14, Romans 12:4-13
Objective:	We should serve God by serving others.
Visuals	Available (updated 2016)
Memory Verse:	Philippians 2:4, Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.

Introduction: Footsteps

This week we're learning about people in the Bible, whose footsteps we should follow. Following their footsteps means doing the same kinds of things that they did, or being the kind of people that they were. Tonight we're going to talk about two examples – one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament – of people who offered God their time and money. These people served God by the way that they served other people. The first example is a man named Epaphroditus, who helped the apostle Paul.

Story: Epaphroditus

Paul spent many years in prison. He had been put in prison for telling people about Jesus. Back then, the government didn't guarantee people the freedom to talk about their religion, so if you were talking about Jesus and there were some people in town who didn't like it, sometimes they could get you arrested and thrown into prison. This happened to Paul a lot.

Prisons were different in Paul's day, too. While he was in prison, the prison guards were not going to bring him food. If his friends and family didn't bring it to him, he would starve, and would no longer be able to help the churches. So it was important for others who believed in Jesus to take care of Paul. Someone needed to bring him food and other things that he needed. Someone did. Someone named Epaphroditus left his home, his job, and his family, and took the gifts that the church collected to help Paul. He took it all the way to Rome, where Paul was, and brought it to him. Because Epaphroditus did that, Paul was able to write letters to churches, letters that we now have in our Bible: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Epaphroditus served God by taking care of Paul.

Application: Giving Time

[On the blackboard/whiteboard/overhead/whatever, write Giving Your Time at the top, and underline it. Ask the class for ways that we today can spend our time to serve other people and thus to serve God. e.g., we can rake leaves for the pastor, we can pray for missionaries, we can serve food at a funeral dinner, we can babysit kids for a sick woman at church, etc. List a whole bunch of possibilities – things that don't cost money, but are just things we can do that are a service.]

Story: The Shunemmite

In the Old Testament, there was a prophet named Elisha. Sometimes Elisha had to go to Shunem, and he had no place to stay. He would have been sleeping outside. But there was a woman who lived there, whose husband was old and rich. She noticed that Elisha was a man of God. So one day, when Elisha came to Shunem, the woman asked him to stay for a meal and eat with her family. She had plenty, so it was no big deal. So then every time Elisha passed through Shunem, he stayed for a meal at her house.

Then the woman noticed that he was coming to town a lot, and had no place to stay. There were no hotels. So she said to her husband, I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us. So they did. She wanted to serve God by taking care of the prophet Elisha.

Elisha noticed her kindness, and wanted to repay her, by giving her a blessing. But he didn't know what she wanted. So he asked her, You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? But the woman didn't want to be repaid for her service. She said, I have a home among my own people. In other words, I'm already taken care of. When you're serving God, you don't need to be repaid. You're not doing it to gain something. You're doing it for God. (Now, Elisha did go on to do something very special for the woman later. But that's another story.)

Application: Giving Stuff

[On the blackboard/whatever, write Giving Stuff, and underline it. Ask the class for ways that we today can give stuff to other people and thus serve God. e.g., we can send money to missionaries, bring food to people who are sick, letting traveling missionaries stay in your home, helping people who have lost their jobs, contributing money for poor kids to go to church camp, etc.]

Invitation: Service

Invite any children who want to serve God in the church to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Hannah's Prayer Discussion Questions

Thursday:	Hannah's Prayer
Main Passage:	1^st Samuel 1
Other Passages:	Matthew 6:24-34, James 5:13-20, Luke 18:1-14, Philippians 4:6-7, Deuteronomy 16:16-17
Memory Verse:	James 5:16

What was the name of Hannah's husband?
What was Hannah's problem?
Why did Elkanah and his family go year after year to Shiloh to worship the Lord? Shouldn't we worship the Lord day by day all year long?
What kinds of things should we pray about?
- Answer from James 5.
- Answer from Luke 18.
- Answer from Philippians 4.
In the last two or three weeks, has there been something you should have prayed about, that you didn't think to pray about at the time?
Should we pray alone, or in groups? Why?

If you need hints to answer some of the questions, look up the listed scripture passages.

Hannah's Prayer, Teen Version

Thursday:	Hannah's Prayer
Main Passage:	1^st Samuel 1
Other Passages:	Matthew 6:24-34, James 5:13-20, Luke 18:1-8, Philippians 4:6-7
Objective:	When we have problems, we should pray to God.
Visuals	Available (updated 2016)
Memory Verse:	from James 5:6, The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Introduction: Footsteps

Story: Hannah

In the Old Testament, there's a story about a woman named Hannah, who was married to a man named Elkanah. Even though they had been married for a while, Hannah had no children. She wanted to have children, but she was barren. Being barren wasn't her fault; sometimes a woman, medically, just can't have children. It happens. Even today with more advanced medical care, some women can't get pregnant. And it was happening to Hannah. Other women were having children, but Hannah was barren. Hannah's husband loved her very much. He said, Am I not better to you than ten sons? But she still wanted children.

Peninnah had children, and she taunted Hannah and made fun of her because she didn't have any. Peninnah irritated Hannah deliberately. This bothered Hannah, not just because she didn't like being picked on, but also because it reminded her of a sad thing – that she couldn't have any children. Hannah wanted children, and Peninnah knew it. Picking on her for it wasn't very nice, but Peninnah kept doing it anyway. Every time Hannah went up to the temple to worship God, Peninnah was there, picking on her, making fun of her for not having any children. This went on for years.

Hannah could have been angry at Peninnah. But what Hannah really wanted was to have a child. She knew that attacking Peninnah wouldn't solve her problem. Only God could give her a child.

So one year, when they made their trip all the way to Shiloh to visit the temple, when Hannah went up to the temple to worship the Lord that year, she prayed to God for a child. She took her request to him. Hannah didn't just pray a simple, short, mindless prayer: Dear God, please give me a child, amen. She cried to the Lord, and she wept, and she prayed and prayed for God to see her misery and give her a son. And she promised that if she could only have a son, she would give him back to God: she would send him to work in the temple and serve the Lord.

As she was praying, one of the priests, a man named Eli, noticed that she was crying and her mouth was moving. He didn't know about her situation, so he didn't realize she was praying for a child. In fact, when he saw her lips moving and no sound coming out, Eli assumed she was drunk! Then he spoke to her. He yelled at her for being drunk and told her to get rid of her wine.

Hannah told Eli the priest that she wasn't drunk, just deeply troubled and sad, and that she had been praying earnestly to God. Then Eli told her to go in peace. May the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him, he said.

And God did. Later that year, Hannah had a son. She named him Samuel, and when he was old enough, she took him to the temple to serve the Lord, just like she had promised. When he grew up, Samuel became a prophet and a leader, one of the most famous men in the whole history of Israel. The books of 1^st and 2^nd Samuel, in the Bible, are named for him. And he was born because Hannah prayed to God. Hannah believed God could help her, and he did.

Application: Prayer

When there's something that you need, or that you want, do you pray, or do you just wish for it and forget to tell God? And if you do pray, do you really trust that God can answer your prayer? When we go to God, and we ask him for what we need, he listens. The Bible says that God loves us. He made the flowers, and he made them beautiful. He takes care of the birds. But he loves us more than the birds or the flowers. So when we ask him for something that we need, he's even more likely to give it to us.

Invitation: Prayer

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

Look and Live Discussion Questions

Wednesday:	Look and Live
Main Passage:	Numbers 21:4-9
Other Passages:	John 3:1-18, Hebrews 4
Memory Verse:	John 3:14-15

How did God save the Israelites when they were bitten by snakes?
Why were there venomous snakes among them in the first place?
How did Jesus explain salvation to Nicodemus? What does it mean to be born again?
Why did Jesus expect Nicodemus to understand what he was saying?
Why did Nicodemus have difficulty understanding what Jesus was talking about?
The usual answer to the question, Why did Jesus die on the cross? is that the penalty for our sins had to be paid. This is true, but Jesus gives Nicodemus another reason. What is it?
In Hebrews 4, what is the relationship between belief and obedience?

If you need hints to answer some of the questions, look up the listed scripture passages.

Look and Live, Teen Version

Wednesday:	Look and Live
Main Passage:	Numbers 21:4-9
Other Passages:	John 3:1-18
Objective:	We should look to Jesus, trusting God for our salvation.
Visuals	Available (updated 2016)
Memory Verse:	John 3:14-15, 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.

Introduction: Footsteps

This week we're learning about people in the Bible, whose footsteps we should follow. Following their footsteps means doing the same kinds of things that they did, or being the kind of people that they were. Today's lesson is about some people who had to learn to trust God, just like people today also need to learn to trust God. We aren't born trusting God. We need to follow in their footsteps and make the right choice to trust God, just like they did.

Story: The Bronze Snake

When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, they started to complain and grumble. They blamed God and they blamed their leader Moses for their unhappiness. Because they spoke against God and didn't trust him, God punished them by sending poisonous snakes to bite them!

So the people ran to Moses and begged for help. They said they were sorry, that they were wrong to rebel against God, and they asked Moses to pray to God, and remove the snakes. Moses did pray to God, but God didn't take the snakes away.

Instead, he told Moses how to keep the people from dying from the poison when they were bitten. He told him to make a bronze snake, and put it up high on a pole, where anyone could see it. God said that if someone was bitten by one of the snakes, they should look at the bronze snake on the pole, and then they wouldn't die. And because God said it, it worked: when people who were bitten by the snakes looked at the bronze snake, they didn't die. But people who didn't look at the snake on the pole died from the snakebites. It was their choice. They had to believe God and trust in his ability to save them from the snake venom.

Looking at the snake on the pole didn't work because bronze snakes are magic. If you get bitten by a poisonous snake today, you wouldn't look for a bronze snake. You'd look for a hospital. So why did looking at the snake on the pole work for the Israelites?

The snakes weren't their real problem. Their real problem was that they needed to trust God. That's why God sent them the snakes in the first place: because they needed to trust God. Looking to the snake, like God said to do, was something they could do to obey and to show that they were trusting in God to save them. Bronze snakes don't save people from snakebite venom. But God can.

Application: Salvation

In the New Testament, a pharisee named Nicodemus came to talk with Jesus. Nicodemus knew that Jesus was from God. Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again, but Nicodemus didn't understand what it meant.

So Jesus explained it with a simile: 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. Jesus was saying that in order to be saved from our sins, we have to trust in him, just as the Israelites in the desert who needed to be saved from snake poison had to trust in God's ability to save them, by looking at the bronze serpent. Jesus was going to be lifted up on the cross, and when we look to him in faith, believing that God can save us through him, we can be saved from our sins.

Invitation: Salvation

Invite anyone who wants to be saved to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Do What It Says Discussion Questions

Tuesday:	Do What It Says
Main Passage:	Nehemiah 7-8
Other Passages:	Leviticus 23:33-43, Numbers 29:12-39, Deuteronomy 16:13-17, 2^nd Chronicles 36:14-21, Hebrews 3:7-4:2, Exodus 23:10-11, Jeremiah 25:1-14
Memory Verse:	James 1:22

Why were the people weeping?
Why did Nehemiah tell them not to grieve?
What was the point of the booths? Why did God want them to observe this holiday?
Why had the people been in exile in the first place? Why were they back now?
How long had it been since the Israelites had celebrated the holiday like this? (See 8:17.) Why had they let it go for so long?
Why did the Levites have to explain the meaning of the text to the people? It was written in Hebrew. What language had the people been speaking? Why?

If you need hints to answer some of the questions, look up the listed scripture passages.

Free Bible School Materials

Complete Themes

Almost Complete

Bits and Pieces

General Information

What's New

Running the Race: Lordship

Posting up some existing materials out of order.

Footsteps of Service Discussion Questions

Footsteps of Service, Teen Version

Hannah's Prayer Discussion Questions

Hannah's Prayer, Teen Version

Look and Live Discussion Questions

Look and Live, Teen Version

Do What It Says Discussion Questions