Lesson: God's Word is Alive!

This is the first lesson for my class as they start a new school year.  The focus of the lesson is to encourage and help students to be excited to study God’s Word.  The lesson was prepared for older elementary students and can be adapted as needed for your ministry needs.

Bible Story: God’s Word is Alive!
Scripture: Selected Scriptures Below
Target Age Group: Age 9 – 11 (U.S. 3rd – 5th Grade)
Learning Context: Sunday School
Target Time Frame: 60 minutes
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Supply List: Bibles, objects that symbolize the Word of God (seeds, hammer, etc.), puppet, real food, toy food, children’s fictional book,
Learning Goal:  Students will learn that because God’s Word is alive and powerful it is important for believers to daily study and apply what they learn.
Learning Activity #1:  God’s Word is:

Double-edged Sword (toy sword)	Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Fire (matches)	Jeremiah 20:9 “But if I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His Name, His Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.”Luke 24:32 “They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Hammer Free 🍂 Thanksgiving Lessons 8 FREE Thanksgiving Coloring Pages🖍️🖍️ FREE 📩 30-minute Lessons 🎉 $97 for 3+ Years of Curriculum Deal	Jeremiah 23:29””Is not My Word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”Ezekiel 11:19 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
Seed	Luke 8:11 “This is the meaning of the parable:  The seed is the Word of God.”
Light	Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Medicine	Proverbs 4:22-23 “For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.  Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. (Amplified)
Food	Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, “It is written:  ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’.”
Mirror	James 1:22-24 “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
Wash cloth	Ephesians 5:26-27 “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

 
Learning Activity #2:  Live vs Dead: Use a puppet and have a student feed real food to the puppet.  Is this food going to help this puppet grow?  No because the puppet is not alive.  Now use a toy food product (fake fruit or vegetable) and give to student.  Will this food help Jim to nourish his body and grow? No because it is not real food.  Living people need real food.  In the same way a person who believes in the Lord Jesus needs to feed his spirit to nourish and mature in their relationship with God.  How does a believer feed his spirit?  (Allow responses) If we were going to go a step further with our puppet/fake food example would this book (children’s book) make a believer grow and mature?  Why or why not?  Unlike the Bible this book is not real.  It might teach us life lessons but it is not alive.  Did you know that God’s Word is alive?  (Memory verse) (Another option is to use a fake plant and live plant, use an empty watering  can to water the live plant and pretend like you are going to pour the water on the fake plant.)
Memory Verse:   Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Bible Lesson:  God’s Word is Alive!

In a bag place these items:  toy sword, matches, hammer, seed packet, flash light, medicine bottle, food item, hand mirror.  As students take an item out of the bag say, “How does this _____make us think about the Bible?”  Today we are going to focus on God’s Word and why and how believers study God’s Word.
On the board have the phrase God’s Word Is _______. (Alive) Let students solve the phrase by guessing letters.
What does it mean when we say God’s word is alive? Let’s turn to John 1 and read verses 1-2.  From these verses who is the Word? (God) In Revelation 19:13 when Jesus returns as King His Name is the Word of God.  Jesus is God and is alive.  Jesus is the Word of God making His Words alive.  Each one of us is holding in our hands an amazing treasure!  We are holding the very Words of God written for us to hear His voice.
Why do believers study God’s Word?  This seems like a silly question when we truly understand that we hold in our hands the very Word of God.  As believers we would want to hear what God has to say from His Word so we can walk closely in obedience to His instructions to us.
Reasons believers study God’s Word:

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• To nourish and mature-1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,” Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant usehave trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
  • Believers need to study God’s Word to feed their spirit and to mature in their understanding of God and His Word.
• To stand strong-Ephesians 6:10,14 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…”
  • Believers need to study God’s word to stand firm against spiritual attacks.
• To recognize truth from lies-Matthew 24:4-5 “Jesus answered:  “Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My Name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
  • Believers need to study God’s Word to know God’s truth and recognize the Devil’s lies.

Who instructs believers to understand God’s Word?

• The Holy Spirit-John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come.”  John 14:26 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My (Jesus), will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Last year many of you studied the Book of Acts.  We learned that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity who comes to live in the heart of everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus as Savior.

• If you are a believer you always have a Teacher to help you as you read and study God’s Word.

How should believers respond to God’s Word?
When Paul was traveling as a missionary he went to a place called Berea.  The Bereans are a good example for how all believers should respond to the Word of God.
Read Acts 17:11.  International Standard Version “These people were more receptive than those in Thessalonica. They were very willing to receive the message, and every day they carefully examined the Scriptures to see if those things were so.”

• What is the response of this group of people to the Good News? (Eager, attentive, believe)
• The Bereans were listening to Paul teach but they didn’t just accept what he said was true, they went home and every day searched the Scriptures to see for themselves if he was teaching the truth. (Studying and comparing helped them to recognize truth from lies.)

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
As a class we are going to be learning a method to study the Bible called the inductive study method.  To give you an idea of what inductive means we are going to look at our take home page (Discipleland) to discover deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.
Studying God’s Word is exciting because His Word is alive!  As we have discussed why we should study God’s Word it is my prayer that this week you would take time each day to truly read and study God’s Word.
Close in prayer.