Mustard Seed Children s Lesson Summary for October 14, 2012 Released on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 Stephen is Faithful to Death Lesson Text: Acts 7:51 60 Background Scripture: Acts 7:1-60 Memory Verse: Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60). Acts 7:51-60 (NIV) 51 You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it. 54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 8:1 (NIV) 1 And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. KEY CONCEPT Even when everyone was mad at him and hurt him, Stephen still stood up for God. We can stand up for God today.
MESSAGE TO CHILDREN 1. Be brave when you tell others what you believe about God and Jesus. 2. When scary things happen, remember that Jesus is with you. 3. Stephen was brave while he was living, and when he was dying. PLANNING YOUR LESSON For Today s Story Lesson, you will need your Bible and pictures of Stephen, Abraham, Moses, the Ten Commandments, the temple, and the cross. For Helping Hands, you will need a toilet paper tube for each student, aluminum foil, tape, streamers, markers, and crayons. WORDS TO KNOW Bold to be brave and have courage Deacons helpers in the church who serve others Faith to trust someone or something; belief and trust that the Bible is true Gospel the message of Jesus life and teachings; the good news of salvation in Jesus Miracle special things only God s power can do Temple building where the people worshipped God TEACHER S NOTES Time: A.D. 32 Place: Jerusalem This lesson is a continuation of last week s lesson Stephen Defends His Faith. Stephen was charged with blasphemy against God, Moses, the law, and the temple. His defense addressed every charge, one by one. Even while dying, Stephen was unafraid. His last words were much like those of Christ in praying for the forgiveness of his murderers. You will want to focus on Stephen s unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. The lesson need not focus on the gruesome details of Stephen s death. Be sensitive to the kids. Ask them questions about the lesson. Be sure they do not become scared of what happened. Be sure it does not make them not want to share their beliefs with others. TODAY S STORY LESSON Does anyone remember our lesson from last week? We learned that Stephen and six other men were chosen as deacons to help the apostles with the work in the church. (Show Stephen.) Stephen also helped preach the gospel and did many amazing miracles. Do you also remember how the leaders felt about Stephen s work? The leaders did not like what Stephen was doing. Some of the leaders got very angry because they did not want the people to listen to Stephen and become believers in Jesus.
When we ended our lesson last week, Stephen was just given the chance to defend himself against the false reports that some people had made up about Him. Some people had told others that Stephen said bad things about God, Moses, God s rules for His people, and the temple. So Stephen told the leaders what He really believed by sharing stories from the Old Testament. (Show your Bible.) The Old Testament is the first part of the Bible before the time when Jesus was born. This is what Stephen told the leaders: God promised His friend Abraham a new land to live in. (Show Abraham.) He led Abraham to the new land. God kept His promises. Abraham s family grew to be very big and lived in another country for a while. They worked very hard for the evil king until God sent Moses to lead them back to Abraham s land. (Show Moses.) Moses was a good leader. God gave Moses some rules for the people to obey. (Show 10 Commandments.) These were good rules. God would be very pleased if His people obey the rules. God chose King Solomon to build the temple. (Show the temple.) God is everywhere, but the temple was God s special place. The people called it God s house. Stephen was brave enough to also tell the leaders that God had been good to His people, but they had not listened to God. They had not followed God s rules, and had not listened to the men who told them that Jesus was coming. Stephen told them that when Jesus came, the leaders killed Him. (Show the cross.) Stephen s speech made the leaders really angry. While he was talking to them, Stephen looked up and saw a vision of heaven. Stephen said, I see Jesus in heaven beside God! That made the leader so angry that they began yelling and covering their ears so they couldn t hear any more of what Stephen was saying. They dragged Stephen out of the town and began throwing big stones at him. They wanted to hurt Stephen. Stephen just prayed to God while they were hitting him with the stones. He asked God to forgive the men that were killing him. Stephen was brave because he knew that he would be with Jesus. Do you think Stephen was brave to tell the truth? TELLING HOW TO LIVE Not everyone will like us for telling them what we believe about Jesus. But if we have the chance, we should tell them anyway. Sometimes scary things do happen to believers, but this should not make us afraid. Jesus is always with us. He is always in charge of what happens to His children. Knowing this should help us to be brave! HELPING HANDS Today we will make a play microphone. You can use it to tell what you believe about Jesus, and to interview others about what they believe. Each student should take a toilet paper tube and decorate it using the items on hand. Take a piece of aluminum foil and wad it up so that it is a little larger than the opening in the tube the aluminum foil is top of the microphone, and the tube is the handle. Stick the foil in the opening of the tube. Tape the streamers to the bottom of the tube. Have fun interviewing others about what they believe about Jesus! EXPLAINING THE MEMORY VERSE
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60). Some angry men were throwing stones at Stephen. Stephen knew that he would soon be with Jesus. The last thing he did was pray and ask God to forgive the men for what they were doing. Stephen s last thought was for others and not himself. CONCLUSION Stephen was brave because of his faith in Jesus. Even in hard times, we need to remember that Jesus is always with us. He will never leave us. PRAYER Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross to save us. Help us to live a life that pleases You, in Jesus name. Amen. LESSON SUMMARIZED BY Renee Little Jesus is All Ministries www.jesusisall.com WORKS CITED Holman Bible Dictionary, Holman Bible Publishers. Life Application Bible New Revised Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. Scofield, C.I., ed. The New Scofield Study Bible King James Version. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Summary and commentary derived from Standard Lesson Commentary Copyright 2012 by permission of Standard Publishing. The KJV Parallel Bible Commentary, by Nelson Books. The Pulpit Commentary, Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Hrsg.), Bellingham, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Cook
WORD SEARCH PUZZLE Stephen is Faithful to Death (Acts 7:51-8:1) NAME: DATE: A H K G E Z J V W L X A L E V Q C V Y L L B M S P H S J A F Z N B N P X B X M N E V A E H B B S M M Z Z A F R T P Z S W O X U G E N D J E S D R U W C T J S V T H H S T E D F L H N R L E K L C S R A C K T E S J E O J W C Z G T V S W T A Z Z R J U I D T H M Y F J P D B F Y F J P C G F O R G I V E T F K A L P P M W S G X E Y R M Z Y I B N J U O E N V A E S M D M T B R S X C S A R I M R W U F H Q Q A D W V C J F R A O K D F Z J Y H B F A K K Z I P J P U T S S A A J G P F I Z S Z U L Z T G C W M E P C Z T R V B Q F E D X K C T L B O K F R M G U P W I J U E C N L K K U N B R H Q F A W W E T J H Z L X F R E F N D T S Z N I H L E O P Q N B T F D E Y A R P U S C W P I Y H H C E E P S F J Y D J B Y N U J H E I N S C I K ABRAHAM ANGRY DEATH FAITHFUL FORGIVE HEAVEN JESUS LEADERS MOSES PRAYED RULES SPEECH STEPHEN STONES TEMPLE