Acts 5:27-32, New International Reader's Version

²⁷They brought the apostles to the Sanhedrin. The high priest questioned them. ²⁸“We gave you clear orders not to teach in Jesus’ name,” he said. “But you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. You want to make us guilty of this man’s death.”

²⁹Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God instead of people! ³⁰You had Jesus killed by nailing him to a cross. But the God of our people raised Jesus from the dead. ³¹Now Jesus is Prince and Savior. God has proved this by giving Jesus a place of honor with him. He did it to turn Israel away from their sins and forgive them. ³²We are telling people about these things. And so is the Holy Spirit. God has given the Spirit to those who obey him.”

‘Show’ Visual:

#2 pencil for each child to represent “teaching” mentioned in the passage.

Message:

Have you ever been put down by someone? I wonder if you have ever been put down because someone made fun of for believing in Jesus. How did you feel when that happened? What did you do? (Allow children to answer.)

The Bible says that some of the apostles, who were followers of Jesus, were teaching people about him.

Today’s “show-and-tell” item is a pencil, just like this one that I am holding. When you see a pencil, what comes to your mind? (Allow children to respond.) When I see a pencil like this, I think of school and teaching, don’t you?

The apostles were teaching others about Jesus, but there were people in those days who didn’t like what the apostles were saying, and they didn’t believe Jesus was God’s Son. They were called Sadducees, and they decided to put the apostles in jail. They were being punished for following Jesus. If you knew that someone would make fun of you and get angry at you for talking about Jesus, would you do it anyway? (Allow children to express their feelings.) What important thing would you like to tell others about Jesus? (Allow children to respond.)

As a matter of fact, let’s practice that “show and tell” now. Let’s pretend that we are apostles and that we are going to tell others what we believe about Jesus. I will go first. (Stand tall and exclaim) “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and he rose from the tomb!” Who else would want to state what you believe? (Invite children to share their exclamations. Don’t force them to participate. Guide them with suggestions by repeating “Jesus is the Son of God” and “Jesus is alive!”)

How did it feel to share your feelings in front of others? It can be scary to talk about Jesus in front of people sometimes. It does become easier when we “show and tell” others about Jesus.

I have a pencil for each of you to take home as a reminder of teaching others about Jesus. Use this pencil this week while at school or doing your homework. When you use the pencil, remember to tell others about what the apostles were trying to teach others. The more we tell, the easier it may become. It is important to remember what we believe about Jesus so we can be more comfortable when we tell others about him.

Prayer:

Loving God, thank you for helping our faith grow stronger, even when we may be nervous. Guide us when it may become difficult to talk about Jesus to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.