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UnderStanding the

BibLe

▫▫ indicates items you will need to prepare before class

Bible Basis:Peter uses his God-given gift of healing to restore the lame beggar and Dorcas (Acts 3:1-22; 9:36-43).

Bible Truth:God gives all believers abilities, great and small, to use in His work.

Lesson Aim:That your students will explore ways to use their abilities for God.

Using Our Gifts

lesson 8Unit 21 Theme:How Believers Live

Memory Verse

STEP 1 . Life Need (5–10 minutes)

• Fill in “baseball cards” with one another’s talents and abilities.

 M Bible Adventures p. 1 M Whiteboard and marker, pencils

STEP 2 . Bible Learning (15–20 minutes)

• Bible Study: Discover how Peter used his spiritual gifts to help others.

 M Bible Adventures pp. 2-3 M Bibles

• Bible Review: Learn individual talents in context of the Bible study. ▫ “Helper Search” Teaching Aid—prepare before class, scissors, pencils

• Memory Work: Learn Colossians 3:17. M Bibles M Whiteboard, marker, eraser

STEP 3 . Bible Application (5–10 minutes)

• Read a story about a girl who discovers that everyone’s gifts are necessary to do God’s work.

 M Bible Adventures p. 4

STEP 4 . Life Response (about 5 minutes)

• Students learn how the Holy Spirit empowers us and leads us to help others.

 M Index cards, pens or pencils for each student

• Optional Activity: Prayer journal assignment

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

—Colossians 3:17

This week you’ll see how God gives Peter the gift of healing and uses him to restore the lame beggar and raise Dorcas.

The two incidents in this week’s Bible story—the healing of the lame man and the raising of Dorcas—are unrelated, except that both show Peter being used by God. The two miracles are divided from each other in both time and place.

The healing of the lame man took place near the Jerusalem temple. On the east side of the temple was the Beautiful Gate. (Perhaps it was the main entrance from the east into the inner court; this gate was made of Corinthian bronze.) Beside it sat a beggar who had been lame from birth. As Peter and John approached the temple, the beg-gar made his plea. Instead of giving him money, God used Peter to heal the man in the name of Jesus. The healing was instantaneous and complete—the man was standing, walk-ing, and even leaping for the first time in his life!

This was the first healing miracle of the apostles to be recorded in detail. It was followed by Peter’s second sermon (Acts 3:11-26). Peter preached about Jesus and said that

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Understanding Your Students

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Understanding the BibLe —cont’d

Select from the following activities as students arrive.

n Have students write down as many different names of people they know who help them and the abilities they used. For example: Mrs. Nakamoto gives me piano lessons because she is musical; Mr. Ortega is my scoutmaster, he knows how to lead; Jason, my older brother who is good at math, helped me with fractions.

M Whiteboard, markers

n To explain that each person is “gifted” by God, you may want to try this fun activity. Bring a large roll of wrapping paper and some ribbon. Choose someone to wrap up as a large gift and decorate with the ribbon!

M wrapping paper and ribbon

n For Worship Time: Use the song for this unit “Do It” on the DisKit CD, found in the Creative Teaching Aids packet.

M DisKit CD, CD player

You may want to try these techniques to let your students know that you find something valuable and special about each of them.

• Unfortunately, the students who get the most attention are often the exceedingly bright or perpetually disruptive ones. The quiet ones may get overlooked. Try to give attention and affirmation to these students in the middle.

• Your students will be discussing one another’s spiritual gifts this week. Point out the fact that the “behind-the-scenes” gifts are just as important as the highly visible ones.

• Help your students see that it is not their talents and abilities that make them worthy in your eyes. Rather, it is their willingness to use the talents and abilities that they do have in God-pleasing ways that gives their lives meaning.

it was through His name that this man was made strong. Then Peter called on the people to repent and be converted.

The second miracle was even more startling. Peter was at Lydda, where he had healed Aeneas, paralyzed for eight years (Acts 9:32-35). While there, Peter had an urgent message to come to nearby Joppa. Dorcas, a Christian woman, had died. When Peter arrived, the widows whom Dorcas had helped showed him the clothes she had sewn for them. Peter followed the same pattern as Jesus did when He raised Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:37-42). Peter sent everyone out of the room, prayed, and addressed Dorcas directly, telling her to get up. Dorcas (Greek), also called Tabitha (Aramaic), opened her eyes and sat up.

Through Peter’s gift of healing, many came to believe in Jesus, and the church grew.

The lives of your upper-elementary students are filled with lots of things that can tend to make them feel hesitant and insecure. Rapid physical changes have them constantly comparing themselves with their peers. They may be uncertain about their role in the family and in peer groups as abilities and expectations grow. Some may try to cover

these insecure feelings with bravado, put-downs, or silliness.

As their teacher, you can look beyond the surface behavior of your students to their real needs and fears.

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STEP 1 .

Life Need (5–10 minutes)

Lesson 8 73

Lesson Aim:

Objective: That your students will see the importance of everyone’s gifts in God’s work.

Materials:  M Bible Adventures, p. 1  M Whiteboard and markers  M Pencils

Today’s lesson, from Acts 3:1-22; 9:36-43, will show students how Peter uses his God-given gift of healing to heal the lame beggar and bring Dorcas to life. The students will learn that God gives believers different abilities to use in His work. To connect to today’s lesson, use this activity to help students see the importance of each person’s gift and abilities.

Everyone has gifts and abilities. Sometimes we just need a prompt to think and talk about them. We see our gifts demonstrated in our activities.

Let’s survey all your activities other than your normal schoolwork.

. What hobbies, clubs, lessons, music, or sports are you involved in? (Write reponses on the board.)

Although our class is made up of people who are involved in very different and interesting activities, there’s one very important thing we all have in common. We’re all on a team together. This is a very special team where everyone is an MVP, most valuable player. Page 1 in Bible Adventures will explain what I’m talking about.

Ask a student to read aloud the instructions at the top of the page. Each student will begin working on his or her own paper by drawing the face on the player and filling in the other blanks on the card. Next, students will pass their papers around the table and write positive comments in the box on the right on another student’s paper.

Make all your comments positive by thinking about what makes each person special. This activity will be very interesting if you focus on less obvious qualities—like being a good listener, an encourager when someone is upset, or a cheerful person who can make you laugh. If you have more time, the pages may be passed to several students.

When students receive their pages back, ask them to read to themselves what their classmates have written. Then have them sign the pledge to use their abilities to serve God.

God uses many different types of people and skills to do His work. Part of being the Church, the Body of Christ, is that we work together to do God’s work. A big part of working together is helping others. The people of the early church used their gifts for God. In our lesson toay, we’ll see how Peter used his gift to help others. Let’s find out how Peter was enabled to help.

That your students will explore ways to use

their abilities for God.

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74 Lesson 8

STEP 2 .

Bible Learning (15–20 minutes)

Bible Basis:

Objective: That your students will appreciate the variety of gifts God gave the apostles.

Materials:   M Bible Adventures, pp. 2-3  M Bibles   M “Helper Search” Teaching Aid—prepare before class, scissors  M Pencils  M Whiteboard, marker, eraser

Bible StudyAsk students to find Acts 3 and 9 in their Bibles and bookmark these chapters to use later in the lesson. Distribute Bible Adventures and have your students turn to pages 2 and 3, “Power to Help.” Ask them to read the introduction and the footnotes to themselves.

Choose a volunteer to read the first Scripture Spotlight section (Acts 3:3-5) from Bible Adventures.

. What did the man expect from Peter and John? (Money, or perhaps food.)

. Why do you think Peter told the man to look at him and John? (Perhaps the man was used to people passing him by without even looking at him. He may have been looking around for other people from whom to beg.)

Choose another student to read the next section, Acts 3:6-8.

. What did Peter give the man instead of money? (The ability to walk) Point out to your students the implications of the man’s healing: now he would have the ability to go out and earn money instead of begging.

. If you were the man and had never heard of Jesus, what would you think of Him after being healed? (You would probably want to know more about this Jesus. You would be in awe of His power. You would believe He had come from God.)

Read the transitional paragraph, then ask a student to read Acts 3:12-13, 19-20 from their Bible.

. What did Peter say about healing the man? (The people shouldn’t be surprised; it was not Peter or John who had healed the man. It was by faith in Jesus that the man was healed.) Point out that the people had not believed in Jesus, so it may have been shocking to hear Peter say the healing came through Jesus.

. What did Peter tell the people to do? (Turn away from their sins and turn to God so their sins could be wiped out.)

After reading the transition paragraph, have a

Peter uses his God-given gift of healing to

restore the lame beggar and Dorcas (Acts 3:1-

22; 9:36-43).

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student read Acts 9:36-37, 39-42 from their Bible.

. How did Dorcas show her Christian love to others? (She was always doing good and helping poor people.)

. In Acts 9:42, what clue do we have that Dorcas’s death actually helped the early church? (It caused many people to believe in the Lord.)

Have a student read the concluding paragraph. Help your students see that it was the Holy Spirit’s power—not Peter’s—at work in these miracles. Peter used his spiritual gifts because he cared about others, not because he wanted to bring attention to himself. When the Holy Spirit is at work, the glory goes to God.

Bible ReviewPrepare the Teaching Aid for Lesson 8, “Helper Search.” Before class, cut out the cards from Teaching Aid 9. If you need more cards, photocopy several (each card is different, so all students don’t fill up a line at the same time. Make sure not to photocopy just one card) or have students play in teams. In class, give each student or team a card and a pencil. They should go around the room finding someone with the talent listed on the card. Every time they find a match, the person must sign their name on the card.

To start, students should sign their name in only one square on the card. If needed, students can sign more squares if no one fills a line. The game is over when someone fills one line of the card—vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

. How can using your talents be a way that the Holy Spirit helps you help others?

Memory WorkHave your preteens find Colossians 3:17 in their Bibles. You don’t have to wait until you’re older to play on God’s team. The gifts you have are needed right now. Our Key Verse encourages us to dedicate everything we have to the Lord. Let’s read it aloud together.

Ask a volunteer to write Colossians 3:17 on the board. Next, invite volunteers to come up and erase one word at a time. Each time, have the students read the verse and fill in the missing word(s). Continue until the entire verse has been erased and students can say the verse by memory.

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STEP 3 .

Bible Application(5–10 minutes)

Objective: That your students will see that all gifts are important for God’s work.

Materials:   M Bible Adventures, p. 4

In the early part of the Book of Acts, there were lots of other people besides Peter playing an important part in spreading the Gospel—people whose names appear only once or twice in the Bible, or not at all.

. What kinds of people might have played an important—but quiet—role in the early church? (People who fed and housed the apostles; people who shared the Good News with their neighbors; people who gave the apostles money. Some of the gifts that they used were generosity, encouragement, and service.)

It takes all kinds of people with all kinds of spiritual gifts, working together, to make God’s kingdom grow. The upfront people are important, but so are those who work behind the scenes. Turn to page 4 in Bible Adventures and read about a girl who learned that we all need each other.

. Your students may take turns reading the story “Eileen the Great.” How would you describe Eileen? (Talented, capable, hardworking.)

. Why do you think Eileen decided to do everything for the party by herself? (She had all the talents needed for the tasks; it was easier.)

. Suppose Eileen hadn’t gotten sick and had gone ahead with her plans—do you think the party would have been a success? (It probably would have been all right, but the other children wouldn’t have felt as good about it.)

. Why is it so important for everyone to have a part in this kind of activity? (We all need to work together, with each person doing his part. Working together develops cooperation and makes people feel good about themselves.)

. Why was Eileen embarrassed at the end of the story? (Because she had planned to do everything herself. Then she discovered what a good job other people could do and realized that she should have asked for their help in the first place.)

. What do you think Eileen learned from this experience? (She learned that things turn out better when everyone’s gifts are used, thus making them feel needed.)

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STEP 4 .

Life Response(5–10 minutes)

Bible Truth:

Lesson 8 77

God gives all believers abilities, great and

small, to use in His work.

Objective: That your students learn about how the Holy Spirit empowers us and leads us to help others.

Materials:  M Index cards  M Pens or pencils for each student

We have the same Holy Spirit living in us that lived in Peter. The Holy Spirit wants to empower us to help others. When we are busy with school, sports, and the busyness of our daily lives, it’s easy to do our own thing and forget what’s really important. We are frequently so busy that we don’t bother to listen to the nudging of the Holy Spirit. If we want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, we must spend time with the Lord so we recognize His voice. Before Peter raised Dorcas from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit, he got down on his knees and prayed (Acts 9:40). Let’s look at some quotes about prayer. Have volunteers read the following quotes about prayer.

“Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees.”—William CowperDiscussion:

. What does this quote say about the power of prayer?

. How much time do you spend in prayer during each day?

“Ten minutes spent in the presence of Christ every day, aye, two minutes, will make the whole day different.”—Henry Drummond

Discussion:

. What things can you pray about?

. What will be your strategy this week for spending time with the Lord so you don’t miss the power of the Holy Spirit?

God has a unique purpose for each of us to help others. Let’s follow the example of Peter and pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to help others. Let’s spend some quiet time to write a prayer for God to help us follow the Holy Spirit. Pass out index cards to each student, and have students take a few minutes to write a personal prayer asking the Lord to empower them by the Holy Spirit to help others and make a commitment to spend time in prayer. Give students a few ideas for prayers and share your own as an example before you start. Have students work in groups if you wish. Have students share their prayers.

Closing ActivityHave a few students close in prayer by reading the prayers they wrote down.

Optional ActivityIn your prayer journal, make a list of what you think are your gifts and abilities. Thank God for them and ask Him to show you how to use them for His glory.