We are learning about a time when Jesus healed two people. When you hear today’s Bible story, listen closely for these words from our

puzzle to discover how they are connected.

MONDAY Matthew 13:1-91. Where did Jesus go? ______________________________________________________

2. Why did he have to get on a boat? ___________________________________________

3. How did he speak to them? ________________________________________________

4. Name four places seed fell and what happened to it: ____________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

5. What was the last command that Jesus gave?__________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

TUESDAY Matthew 13:18-23

1. What was the seed supposed to represent?

_________________________________________

2. What did the birds represent? ________________

_________________________________________

3. Why does the seed on the rocky ground only last a

short time? _______________________________

4. What causes them to fall away? ______________

_________________________________________

5. What chokes the Word? ____________________

_________________________________________

6. What is the result of the seed on good soil?

________________________________________

MEMORY VERSE 1 John 5:3

"In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.”

Parables—Lesson 6

Name: _______________________

WEDNESDAY Psalm 15 1. What does the author of this psalm ask?

____________________________

2. Name three important characteristics of

the person described in Psalm 15:

_______________________________

_______________________________

3. What does it mean to speak truth from

their heart? ______________________

________________________________

4. What is the result of having these

characteristics? ___________________

________________________________

Which of the characteristics are hardest for

you to have? Ask God to help you follow

the wisdom in this Psalm this week!

FRIDAY Psalm 8 1. What are three things from this Psalm that

make you praise God? _________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

2. Why is it amazing that God cares for

mankind? __________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

3. What honor has God given to men and

women? ____________________________

____________________________________

4. Take a moment and write out your own

prayer of praise to God! ________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

THURSDAY Proverbs 1:8-19 1. What is the command given in verse 8?

___________________________________

___________________________________

2. What type of men might try to entice you?

___________________________________

___________________________________

3. What are two things that you might be

enticed to do? ______________________

___________________________________

4. Why should you not follow their paths?

___________________________________

___________________________________

Parables—Lesson 6

1. Jesus is a good _____________________.

2. God’s plan is not always ___________________.

3. __________________ happens outside of God’s plans.

4. The truth is revealed to those willing to ___________________.

5. God ______________ you where you are now.

Name: _______________________

Parables—Lesson 1

1. Jesus is a good ___TEACHER__.

2. God’s plan is not always __OBVIOUS__.

3. __NOTHING__ happens outside of God’s plans.

4. The truth is revealed to those willing to __LISTEN__.

5. God __VALUES_ you where you are now.

Name: _______________________

Parables—Lesson 1

Parables Lesson 1

Why Parables?

Activity 1: Story Discussion/Application Activity

What to do: Review Matthew 13:10-17 Note: Possible Answers are italicized as a prompt only if students are stuck on question. 1) When you were little, what kind of books did your parents read to you? Did you ever listen to

stories? Why do you think that is the case? Often times, story books for children are renowned not

only because they are captivating and interesting but also because they teach lessons about how to

live or face certain situations. How does this relate to Jesus’ teachings? Jesus taught in parables. He

taught stories that were captivating and interesting to the listeners and to those who were seeking

to know Him, they could learn valuable lessons from the stories.

2) Take a minute and try to remember your favorite story book (it can be recent or from a long time

ago) and turn to a partner and tell them the name of it and a 30 second description of what

happened. You see? Remembering stories is fairly easy. Jesus was a good teacher who wanted to

share truth not only with the disciples but with people in future generations as well. By telling the

truths and lessons that He wanted to pass on in stories, the disciples were able to listen and

remember to share with others.

3) What does it mean to have a hardened heart? People with hard hearts come to Jesus without a

desire to be humble or learn. They have their own agenda and reasons why they are going through a

tough time. What things might cause your heart to be hard? Sin in general – specifically, pride,

anger, frustration, dissapointment, impatience… How does this affect your ability to read or

understand Jesus’ messages to you? If you don’t allow yourself to come before Christ with a humble,

listening heart, you will miss out on a BIG part of His message to you.

4) When you come to church to learn about the Bible do you have a soft heart? Or do you have a hard

heart that does not want to learn more about God’s Word? Read James 1:21. What do you have to

put away to receive the word? Getting rid of filthiness and wickedness, the sin in our lives, allows us

to be open to hear God’s instructions. What attribute should you have when you read the word?

SMALL GROUPS: Make sure to:

• Sign in kids as they arrive

• Check off sign in sheet if they have completed their devo, if they can recite

this unit’s memory verse, and if they brought their Bible.

• Matthew 6:33—But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and

all these things will be added to you.

Parables Lesson 1

Meekeness/Submissiveness, a willingness to humbly submit to God’s Word. Why is the word

important? The Word gives instructions about how to have your sins forgiven and live a fulfilling life

in Christ.

Activity 2: Application activity

What to do: Instruct the students that you will be playing a game called Egyptian Numbers. Use the

small index cards provided and take your time to arrange them in a random, but complicated looking

pattern. Instruct students that this “arrangement” represents a specific number from 0-10. Allow

students to guess at which number it is. If students guess right, rearrange the cards and allow them to

try again.

Here is the trick:

• You as a leader are randomly arranging the cards with no knowledge of how Egyptian numbers

work.

• The key is to rest your fingers on the table after you arrange them and have the “number” it

represents on your fingers.

• At the beginning of the game, try to make this unobvious by choosing a natural looking number

like five, ten, or even zero. As you try several rounds, you can add hints by making it more and

more apparent what the trick is.

• Helpful hint: sometimes arranging them, staring hard at it, and then fixing one or two can make

it more believable.

As students figure out how this works, instruct them to keep it to themselves and allow other kids to try

to figure it out.

Bring it home: In this game, it wasn’t obvious at first why you should be able to determine what the

number was. However, as the game went on, you began to see patterns and understand it.

Often when Jesus spoke in parables, the disciples or other listeners didn’t understand the first time.

However, Jesus took time to explain certain parables to the disciples and other parables were easier to

understand in certain situations or commented on by later Christians. This summer, we will be diving

into several of the parables from God’s Word and learning about their importance!

Remember what we said about stories being easy to remember? I challenge you to share the stories we

learn in here with one other person each week. Just like Jesus told the disciples, and the disciples told

others, now you can be a part of Jesus’ ministry too!

Parables Lesson 1

Activity 3: Prayer / Closing

What to do: Each month, we have a new memory verse. This month’s verse is the theme of Launch, the

4th-6th grade ministry, Matthew 6:33! Using the memory verse written on the whiteboard, read through

it together. Ask for a volunteer to pick one letter out of the verse. Have everyone stand up and squat

with their hands on their knees. When you get to that letter in the verse, everyone must pop up like

popcorn! Then repeat with a different letter.

Do this several times as a class.

Bring it home: Just a reminder that each week, we will be checking for three things from you: Bible, Devos, and

Verse! The group who gets the highest percent gets donuts that week! Encourage each other to do all three things!

Close in prayer together.

If you still have time after completing the activities, work on the following:

• Memorizing the memory verse

• Working on day 1 of the take-home devotion

• Review the books of the Bible

• Retelling today’s Bible story