Bible Verses

Work with your child and your students to learn each verse. Then, discuss the meaning of the verse and how it can be applied to our everyday lives. On Sundays during class, riding in the car, or at dinner, it's fun to share stories of how the children have used the verse in their lives that week.

We provide memorization verses for each week. You can add your own.

Sunday Jan. 1 Eph 4:23,24
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

• What is this “new man?”
• How do we put on the “new man?”

Sunday Jan. 8 Acts 5:39 if   
if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it;

• What things are of God?
• Why can’t you overthrow anything from God?

Sunday Jan. 15 Acts 9:15 Go
Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

• Who is speaking?
• Who is the chosen vessel?
• What is a vessel?
• Are you a chosen vessel?

Sunday Jan. 22 Acts 18:9 Be,10 (to :)
Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee:

• Who is talking to Paul?
• Why is Paul to speak out?
• What does God promise him?
• Does God keep His promise?
• Name three incidents where God kept Paul safe?

Sunday Jan. 29 Acts 20:32 brethren
brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

• What is our inheritance?
• How does God build us up?
• What does it mean to be sanctified?

Sunday Feb. 5 Rom 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Bible Stories

Select one or more Bible stories for the children to learn this month.

• Peter and John heal lame man (Acts 3:1-11)
• Philip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8:27-40)
• Peter heals
  • Aeneas (Acts 9:32-35)
  • Raises Dorcas (Acts 9:36-43)
• Peter in prison (Acts 12:3-18)
• Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1-22)
• Paul heals a cripple (Acts 14:6-18)
• Paul stoned (Acts 14:19-25)
• Paul raises Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12)
• Paul‘s trials (Acts 23:12-13)
• Paul’s shipwreck (Acts 27)

Exercise: Look at the Swap Shop exercise on goals for the new year.

Col 3:10 put

…put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

As we ring in the New Year, we can help our pupils see the differences between the old person we were in the past year and the new person we want to be in the new year.

Ask the students to make a list of the past year’s mental garbage they are willing to throw away and what new qualities or concepts they want to replace it with for the new year. Find the labels that seem to fit the “old you” and pull them off and replace them with your goals for the new year – what will the “new you” do instead?

In the past, middle school and high school students have shared the following ideas:

Fear – I was afraid of being alone at night, but now I want to trust God more.

Jealousy – My best friend has all the guys in school drooling over her, but I want to be grateful for who I am.

Comparisons – I want to stop comparing my life (body, complexion, grades, clothes) with my friends and be grateful for how God made me.

Criticism - I sometimes find more things wrong with life than is right. This next year, I want to find the good and be less critical.

Gossip – I have a tendency to share bits and pieces of information about people without really knowing what’s true. I want to stop spreading gossip and only tell the truth about people.

Complaining – I complain about everything, my teachers, my parents, sister, brother, friends, classes, food at school, my allowance (what allowance?) no car, you name it. This is going to be a tough one to stop, but I want to see how much more I can praise the people in my life.

Stupid mistakes – I want to totally forget all the dumb things I did this past year trying to be someone I’m not. I really want to be happy with being me.

Cheating – I want to quit thinking someone else has better answers and trust what I know.

You might also work on making a list of goals for the new year.

Goals
To:

• Forgive
• Be a better athlete
• Use wisdom about what I eat
• Master the unsaid, rather than be a slave of the said
• Be kinder
• Be more thoughtful
• Be a better student
• Be nicer to my siblings
• Tell the truth to my parents

Help them discover what states of thought they have out grown. A poem by Samuel Longfellow concludes: “The Life that makes all things new.” Help them see how God is making them “new” moment by moment. They never have to wait for January 1 to be made new. It takes place hourly.

Exercise: 

This is a good time to read through these wonderful stories of the early Christian church. Take some of the stories where Peter and Paul are thrown into prison. Would you be willing to die for Jesus and the church? What kind of individual would give his/her all for the success of the church? Do you know anyone today working that hard? Write them a letter of gratitude. Discuss what impresses you about their witness for Christ.

Exercise:

The early church prayed for Peter and he was freed from prison.

• What needs prayerful attention in our lives?
• Write out a prayer for:
  • All God has given you
  • Your family members
    • wisdom for your parents
    • peace with your siblings
• Your school teachers
• Honesty for your friends
• The president and other government leaders
• Men and women defending their country

Exercise:

Take the following map from Paul’s journeys and circle the cities he visited.

Print version of map

Circle the cities Barnabas and Silas traveled to with Paul.

• Iconium
• Lystra
• Damascus
• Antioch
• Cyprus
• Derbe
• Jerusalem
• Thessalonica
• Berea
• Athens
• Corinth
• Ephesus
• Troas

Add any other cities. Which cities did he travel with Barnabas? Silas?

Would you have been willing to travel with Paul?

Exercise: Peter, Philip, Paul

As the students respond to each statement below, ask them to read or discuss the specific story from Acts. All their answers must be related back to specific scripture.

Determine if each statement is about Peter (Pt), Philip (Ph), Paul (Pl), more than one with their initials listed, or All (A).

_____   1. Name Change

_____   2. Helped build the early Christian church

_____   3. Raised the dead

_____   4. Healed a crippled man

_____   5. Put in prison

_____   6. Shipwrecked

_____   7. Stoned

_____   8. An angel freed him from prison

_____   9. Had a dream about clean and unclean

_____   10. Barnabas was his traveling companion

_____   11. Preached Jesus Christ

_____   12. Baptized an Ethiopian

_____   13. A viper fastened on his hand

_____   14. Angels spoke to him

_____   15. Obediently followed God

Exercise:

Have the students create flash cards with the names and deeds of the earlier workers in the church.  Example of some of the names:

• Lydia
• Matthias
• John
• Philip
• Stephen
• Ananias
• Peter
• Paul
• Rhoda
• John Mark
• Silas
• Barnabas
• Add more

Exercise:

Reading the Bible through in a year or a couple of years. This is a great task to help students increase their awareness of the Bible.

With younger classes, take one of the toddler or pre-school Bibles we use in Kids Korner. Ask the parents to read at least one story (or more a week) to their children. Discuss this story in class each Sunday. With older children, use an Adventure Bible or Hurlbut’s Kid’s Bible. Give specific reading assignments for each week. For teens, use Eugene Peterson’s The Message or a translation of their liking. The important thing is to begin this wonderful journey. Don’t let getting behind keep you from finishing this goal. There are rich rewards for completing this assignment. If it takes two or three years to accomplish, stay with it. Look at Bible Overview for different ways to read through the Bible.

Discussion questions about the Acts

Peter and John heal lame man (Acts 3:1-11)

• Who said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.” ?
• What did Peter ask the lame man to do?
• What was the man’s response?
• Which of Jesus’ healings does this remind you of?

Philip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8:27-40)

• Who told Philip to go to Gaza?
• Who asked Philip to talk to the Ethiopian?
• What was the Ethiopian doing when Philip saw him?
• Why did Philip explain the passage that the Ethiopian was reading?
• Who was the passage really about?
• What did the Ethiopian desire?

Peter heals

• Aeneas (Acts 9:32-35)
  • Where did Aeneas live?
  • How long had Aeneas been ill?
  • What did Peter say to him?
  • Which of Jesus’ healings does this remind you of?
• Raises Dorcas (Acts 9:36-43)
  • What kind of work did Dorcas do?
  • What were the people around Dorcas saying?
  • Why did Peter ask them to leave the room?
  • What was Dorcas’ other name?
  • What did Peter say to Dorcas?
  • How is this like Jesus’ healing of Jairus’ daughter?

Peter in prison (Acts 12:3-18)

• Who killed James, the brother of John, and put Peter in prison?
• What did the church members do while Peter was in prison?
• How did Peter get out of prison?
• Did Peter know what was actually happening?
• Where did Peter go after he got out of prison?
• Who answered the door?
• What did she do?
• How did the people there respond?
• Do we sometimes question the answers to our prayers?

Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1-22)

• Who consented to Stephen’s death?
• Where was Saul going and what was he going to do?
• What happened as he traveled?
• Who talked with Saul?
• Why was Saul blinded?
• Which disciple was told to go and heal Saul?
• Why didn’t he want to see Saul?
• Would you have trusted God and visited Saul, a killer of those who followed Jesus?
• How did Ananias greet Saul?
• What did Saul do after his healing?
• Why was Saul so important to the Christian church?
• What name is he best known by?

Paul heals a cripple (Acts 14:6-18)

• How do we know that Paul is a follower of Christ Jesus?
• Who did Paul heal?
• What did Paul say to him?
• What did the man do?

Paul is stoned (Acts 14:19-25)

• Why was Paul stoned?
• Who healed Paul?
• Who accompanied Paul to Derbe the day after the stoning?

Paul raises Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12)

• What words indicate that Paul talked a long, long time?
• Where was Eutychus sitting? Was this a good spot?
• What happened to Eutychus?
• What did Paul do?
• What did Paul say to his friends about Eutychus?
• Did Paul then continue to preach?

Paul ‘s trials (Acts 23:12-33; 25; 26)

• Who were the three individuals that tried Paul at different times?
• Who was Felix?
• What was the charge against Paul?
• Did Felix free Paul?
• Who was Festus?
• What was Paul accused of this time?
• Who was the king who visited Festus?
• Who was Bernice?
• What events of his life does Paul recount to King Agrippa?
• What was King Agrippa’s response?
  

Paul’s shipwreck (Acts 27)

• Why did Paul tell his fellow passengers to be of good cheer?
• What happened to the ship?
• Why did the soldiers think they should kill Paul and the other prisoners?
• How did everyone escape?
• What was the name of the island to which they escaped?
• What happened when they built a fire?
• Why did the people think Paul was a god?