VBS Lessons

Lesson 1

· Have you ever found buried treasure? (Let kids answer). To find treasure, you have to look in many places, so I’m glad that you’re here to help me! We may have to travel through jungles and through deserts and sometimes, you even have to travel through an ocean! (Ocean card). The surface seems so calm doesn’t it? (Let kids answer).

o Well, under the surface, there’s lots of life! There’s many big fish, there’s squid and octopi, there’s even sharks! Now, if you look at the top of the water in this picture, you don’t see any of these things!

o You also don’t see the treasure I was searching for!

§ To find that treasure, I had to dive deep underwater! (Show underwater visual). Even once I was down there, I had to look very carefully to find what I was looking for!

§ To find the treasure, I had to look through many clues, just like this one!

· (Show message.) Can one of you help me figure out this clue? I want to figure out where our next treasure is!

o (After kid can’t get it, highlight in order:

§ God

§ Helps US

§ TO KNOW HIM

§ AND TO SEE

§ HIDDEN

§ SPIRITUAL

§ TRUTH)

· See, finding hidden treasure requires looking everywhere!

· This card says, “God helps us to know him and to see hidden spiritual truth.”)

o I think this is something hidden that we should find!

o When I hear about God, I like to read my Bible. Do you know what the Bible is? (Questions/Answer)

o There’s a story in the Bible that I want to read to us. I think it will help us on our treasure hunt. How does that sound?

§ Our story comes from the book of Matthew 13:45-46. Matthew is all about Jesus. Don’t worry if you don’t know who Jesus is, we’re going to talk about Jesus this week while we try to find the hidden treasure we’re looking for!

· Matthew 13:45-46 say, “Again the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

o Now, do you know much about buying and selling things? (Answers). Have you ever heard of a concept called profit? (Answers and explain)

o The merchant in this story needs to make money to feed his family!

§ So, how much was this pearl worth? (Answers- worth more than everything he owned).

§ Show coins. These are worth a lot! They are very pretty to look at, aren’t they? These are from an ancient picture called a mosaic! They are worth a lot!

§ Now, look at these very important Pearls! Would you trade me?HY OR WHY NOT? TALK ABOUT VALUE!)

· Pearls and gems were worth a lot of money in ancient times. Some people even WORSHIPPED THEM!

· So, why don’t we read the parable again now that we know that?

· Matthew 13:45-46 say, “Again the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

o Now that we know how valuable pearls were to a merchant, what do you think this is teaching? (Answers)

o Do you know what I think this is saying? I think this is saying that heaven is WORTH MORE THAN EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!

§ (OPTIONAL- MATTHEW 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

· This is very similar isn’t it! THE TREASURE OF THIS STORY IS WORTH EVERYTHING TO THIS MAN!

· Jesus says that this is just like heaven!

§ So, you guys are going to move on to your next activity, but before you go, let’s talk about what we learned from these story/ies. We learned that:

· Kingdom of Heaven is not visible

· Kingdom of Heaven is Real

· Kingdom of Heaven is worth EVERYTHING!

§ This week, we are going to try to figure out more about this hidden KINGDOM OF HEAVEN TOGETHER!

§ Just like how we needed to slow down and read carefully to figure out the hidden message earlier, we are going to slow down and READ THE BIBLE together to help us find this heavenly treasure!

· We need help to do this and we can only get this help through God. Let’s pray, or talk with God right now and ask for God to help us find out more about Him.

· Close with prayer

LESSON 2

MARSHMALLOW- You have a choice. You can either eat it now, or you can hold onto it, keeping it safe in your hand and you will get a special prize!

Now, what does a seed need to grow (Q/A- Sun, soil, water).

Our next story we are going to look at as we search for our treasure is about seeds! In Bible times, farmers would “sow seed,” or scatter it, kind of throwing it onto the ground. When farmers did that, some seed fell in good soil and some in not so good soil. Let’s see what the Bible says about this farmer. This is a special type of story called a parable. We’ll talk more about that once we read it together.

“And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Show visuals as we go)

Let’s talk about each type of soil; remember a parable is a special type of story.

The first type of soil is the road! Some seed lands on the road. Do you think that seed will grow? (Q/A- answer is no!). Pretend that _____ is the road. What would happen if I put seedl on this and then put it outside? (It wouldn’t grow)

The second type of soil is full of rocks. Did this seed grow? (NO! Q/A) What about this bowl of rocks? Would this be good for our seed? (Q/A)

The third type of soil is full of thorns and weeds! Do you remember what happened to that seed? (Q/A). What about this bowl with a little soil and all the dirt? (No, because there’s too much competition for the soil that is in there!)

The fourth place that seed was spread was good soil. What happened to that seed? (IT MULTIPLIED- Q/A) Can you pretend with me that this bowl is full of good soil? Do you think that if our seeds had good soil and had good water and good sunlight that they would grow?

Now, do you remember how I said that a parable is a special type of story? A parable is a story with a hidden meaning; kind of like the hidden message we had earlier!

This parable has a special meaning! Jesus tells us what he means in verses 9-15! He says, “9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

Each soil type represents a different type of heart! The first one just doesn’t care! They don’t want to find God!

The second type, the type with rocks, gets excited about things easily. They get excited about God, but when a hard time comes, they give up. They don’t want to give up anything to find God! But, what did we say about finding treasures? (Q/A- YOU HAVE TO GIVE SOMETHING UP! THINK ABOUT THE MERCHANT AND THE PEARLS). For instance, can I get a volunteer to come up here? (Example of holding on to poster that’s rolled up with no fingers, two fingers, whole hand. Explain how rock people are like holding the poster with no fingers! Thorny have a few fingers, but eventually, they give up! They still love the world.)

What about the final type of soil? That’s the good soil! The good soil want to know God! They want to know who Jesus is! They want to know about the hidden treasure of heaven! (Talk to marshmallow kid- Did you hold onto the marshmallow the entire time? Did you take care of it? Now, I promised you a greater prize and I’ll give you your treasure in a minute. But for now, let’s tlak about the good seeds.)

Good seeds are people who want to know God! (GOSPEL!)

Pray

Now, I’m sure everyone wanted to know what the treasure was for our friend! Pull out box, let the child open it.). This marshmallow represented us! We have a seed. Our heart is the soil. Just as _____ held onto the marshmallow and took good care of it, we need to take care of our hearts and seek God!

Lesson 3

Luke 15:11-24

John 6:37

WELCOME, WELCOME! DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE ARE SEARCHING FOR? (KINGDOM OF GOD!)

Now, I have one more question, do youremember what a parable is? (A special story with a hidden meaning!)

Walk through story- explaining what a parable is- a story with a hidden meaning. Explain how the characters in the story represent us!

Illustrations: God can take anything and make it good!

POINTS TO BRING OUT:

1. Act it out!

2. Foolish son eventually has his eyes opened

3. Other son takes longer to open his eyes

4. We are the sons

5. God is the FATHER!

6. Will you accept Jesus, or will you run from Him?

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[b] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[c] 22 But the father said to his servants,[d] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Application:

Show JOHN DEERE medal. “Does this look impressive? (No not really). Well, to us it may not look important, but to someone else, this is extremely important! See, this medal represents many years of working at the same job and doing a good job. There’s a hidden message to it! It’s kind of like our hearts. See, we can’t see someone else’s heart, only God can. God gives us a whole new meaning when we come to know Him!

Lesson 4

THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS STORY! WE NEED TO PUT ON OUR MOST FOCUSED FACES AND BE SERIOUS!

POINTS TO BRING OUT:

· Jesus sows the seed

· The field is the world

· Those who trust in Jesus (Christians) are the good seed

· Romans 10:9-10- GOSPEL! EXCLUSIVE

“If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”s and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation”

s Mt 10:32; Lk 12:8; Rm 14:9; 1Co 12:3; Php 2:11

t Ac 16:31; Rm 4:24

u Ac 2:24

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ro 10:9–10.

Sorting activities (height, hair color, age, etc)

Passage:

“He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds[a] among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants[b] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

What does it mean? It means that there will be judgement! There WILL be a time of separation. Either you place your faith in Jesus and follow HIM, or you will be separated from God! This isn’t a fun message, this is very serious and it is the truth!

Lesson 5

If you lost something valuable, you’d go find it! Did you know that Jesus came and FOUND US?!?! We started this week off talking about these hidden treasures! It’s hard to find something if you don’t know what you’re looking for! But through this week, we’ve seen that the most important treasure in the entire world is GOD! Jesus came to earth so that God wasn’t hidden! He came to show us God and He showed us how to follow God; to put our faith in HIM!

All week long, we’ve been searching for a treasure! Do you remember what we are searching for? (HEAVEN!) Do you remember what we’ve been reading that have been helping us find out where the Kingdom of Heaven is? (PARABLES) Just one more time, could someone remind me what we said a parable is? (A special story with a special, hidden meaning!). Well, we have one more parable to look at that is going to help us FIND OUR TREASURE! So, can you put on your best treasure-finding ears and let’s listen to find some clues!

“So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

What do you know about sheep? (THEY NEED A SHEPHERD! THEY NEED TO BE CARED FOR!) Well, in scripture, Jesus talked about sheep often and they represent us! WE are the sheep in this story!

So, we see that the shepherd leaves the 99 safe sheep and he does what? (HE FINDS THE LOST SHEEP). Then what does he do? (He picks it up and CARRIES IT TO SAFETY!). What happens next? (THE SHEPHERD COMES HOME AND CALLS HIS FRIENDS TO CELEBRATE!)

What is the meaning that Jesus tells us? (THE JOY IN HEAVEN WHEN JUST ONE SINNER REPENTS!)

God, Man, SIN (BAD WE’VE DONE), JESUS, SALVATION/RESPONSE!

TALK TO ME OR TO ONE OF YOUR TEACHERS! WE WANT YOU TO KNOW JESUS! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER! Just like we talked about last night, and like Jesus says in John 14:6, THE ONLY WAY TO BE SAVED IS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS!!

GOSPEL! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU COULD EVER KNOW- THAT JESUS LOVES YOU DESPITE YOUR SIN, THAT HE DIED FOR YOU AND ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY SO THAT YOU MAY BE SAVED! HE COMES AFTER YOU LIKE THAT SHEEP! WILL YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE TO JESUS!