Short Bible Lessons

As I list these scriptures, each one has a story. Note the judgmental attitude of the people and then what God thinks about it.

Luke 19:1-10 1.Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.2. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7. All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner."

Matthew 18:10-14 10."See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 12. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13. And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."

John 8:3-11 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6. They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. 6 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11. "No one,
sir, " she said. "Then neither do I condemn you, " Jesus declared " Go now and leave your life of sin.".

2 Corinthians 6:18 "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters." says the Lord Almighty.

(We are all his children). If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are God's child!

Let everyone make their own hot chocolate from the package or preferably from a jar that makes hot chocolate (only the hot chocolate is homemade). Did you know that hot chocolate has powdered milk in it? My grandkids won't drink powdered milk, they don't like it. But they will drink commercial hot chocolate because of the packaging. If you could make your own hot chocolate and put in commercial packaging, would you know the difference? You are judging the outside appearance, not what's inside. Everyone knows that sometimes there are ingredients that are not good for you and some that are good. But if you don't look past the package and look to the inside you won't see that. Same goes for people.

Isn't it wonderful how Jesus can look past the package and see when we have the one good ingredient (Jesus in our heart through the Holy Spirit), and knows the rest will come?

We should be like Jesus and do the same. We should not judge a person by his looks or actions but see his heart . See the good ingredient. Jesus saw the good ingredient in the woman who was caught in adultery. He saw it in Zacchaeus, the tax collector, and He sees it in ALL of us. When we look at another person and judge, we should remind ourselves that we are ALL God's creation, we ALL have been made in His image including that person you are judging, James 3:9 says; "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness". As I saw a t-shirt saying "God is not finished with me yet." God is not finished with that person and he's not finished with us.

Mathew 6:22-23 22. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23. But if your eyes are bad your whole body will be full of darkness, how great is that darkness!

John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Have you ever seen a person that their eyes just sparkle and they seem to be radiant or annointed as some put it? God is light. If you are keeping your eyes fixed on God in everything you do, say, or hear... then that light (God's light) will reflect in your eyes (spirit). A good eye is one that is fixed on God. The radiance belongs to Him!

Know what that is? The Holy Spirit. He deposits the Holy Spirit into your spirit and there starts the work. Like a seed. Water it with the Word (the Bible), and your soul which is your (mind, will, and emotions), grows and becomes more like Jesus. Pretty cool,huh?
God is so omnipotent (which is having all the power) "totally awesome", unlimited in His power and authority, that we as mere humans cannot understand or even fathom what he is about, let alone what He knows!
When you are trying to explain to a child about growing in the Word, would you use adult analogies and examples? Or do you try to get it across to them on their level?
God does this for us. Through the Holy Spirit, God guides us. Gives us the knowledge we can handle for where we are at in life. And does it in words we can understand. All we need to do is ask and we shall receive.

Luke 24:49 "I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He who is in Me at all times, as I am in him, gives much fruit because without me you are able to do nothing.

Have the young'uns run around with a flashlight without batteries and try to turn the flashlight on. Do this in a darkened room. Talk to them about how the flashlight cannot work without their source. Tell them to pretend they are the flashlight and Jesus is the battery. Now put the batteries in and have them turn the flashlights on. You now have put the source of the flashlights power inside it. "I am the vine, you are the branches

without me you are able to do nothing.

When you have Jesus inside you (in your heart) your light shines and you can do all things!

Now have them flash the light from their flashlight onto their feet, making sure the room is darkened again.

Psalm 119:105 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Thy Word (which is God) is a lamp unto my feet. As the light shines on their feet they can see where to go without stumbling onto obstacles in the way. Tell them the light that they see shining on their feet is God (His Word, the Bible) and it's showing them where to go. When they read the Bible, learning the scriptures, they are shinning a flashlight on their feet to see where to go or to know what to do. Have them repeat the scriptures as they play with the flashlights.

(You can also use the light switch in the room instead of flashlights but it might be more effective to them if they personally do it. Also since children have such a short attention span, you can split this lesson up).