Lydia Believes In Jesus (Acts 16:9-15)
Open In Prayer–
Children what do we do first? Pray……
Okay children -Teacher says,
“Hands together, heads down and hearts open to God.”
This gets the children’s attention easily while helping them to have a respectful heart during prayer time. If the children are being a bit boisterous, noisy or disrespectful I remind them that they are speaking with God and we are to be very respectful of Him.
The children’s first activity is a coloring page about the lesson.
(So if some children are late they will not miss the important lesson part. They can always color it at home.)
Color “Jesus Loves Me” Bible Coloring Page
Teacher sings, “It is bible story time, bible story time….”
and children know from previous times that it is time to read the bible.
Everyone come and sit and listen to our bible story for today.
If you have a large enough space have children leave the coloring table and join you on the rug.
While you are reading the bible to the children the helpers are cleaning up the table and preparing for the next activity.
1) Read story from the bible. Today we are going to read from the New Testament.
-Does anyone know why we call it the New Testament?
Because it was written after Jesus came to Earth. Good!
Bible Verses: Acts 16:9-15
9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we[a] decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
Lydia of Philippi Believes in Jesus
11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. 15 She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.
2) Simply explain the story
Lydia and the other women believed in God, but they did not know about Jesus yet. God told all the disciples to go into all the world and tell everyone about Jesus and what He did for us.
-What did Jesus do for us?
-Died on the cross.
-Took away our sins
-Made a way for us to be friends with God
-We can go to heaven now
-Good!
So Paul listened to God and went to Macedonia and found some women who were at church (temple) and told them all about what Jesus had done for them. Paul told them that Jesus Who is God came down and lived a perfect life. He took our place on the cross so God doesn’t count our sins against us. Jesus died and was buried, but He rose the third day and went up to heaven and is praying for us right now. That just like Lydia when she heard what Jesus had done for her she believed that we too should believe in Jesus too!
-We are going to pray right now, we will all bow our heads and if we want to have Jesus come and live in our hearts because we believe in Him we can do that now.
-Pray and lead children in prayer to receive Jesus-
-You can ask children after prayer if any of them prayed the prayer and give them a children’s bible that they or their parents can read with them daily.
3) Have the children act out the story
The children come to understand and remember the bible story when they act it out.
Have 4 children in one group they are Paul, Silas & Timothy, and the man in vision.
Have the rest of the children be the group of people who were at Macedonia, and one child to be Lydia.
Place a scarf, blanket or towel be the sea
Everyone makes pretend to be asleep. The man in Paul’s vision says,
“Come over to Macedonia & help us.”
So Paul, Silas 7 Timothy get in a boat and sail to Macedonia and find people who are at church (Temple) and tell them about Jesus.
Lydia says I believe in Jesus and my whole family does too!
Baptize us
Come stay with us while you are here.
Jesus wants the whole world to know what He has dome for them and believe in Him and get baptized, and live for Him.
4) Sing “He’s got the whole world in His Hands”
We use a Kids Worship CD and Player.
5) Cut hearts out of red paper and write someone name on that you want to prayer for to receive Jesus.
6) Snack
7) Clean up, clean up everybody everywhere
by Camille from CCIOG