The Gospel is Given To Gentiles Too!

2/19/2024

When Jesus left for heaven, he told the disciples to "go into all the world and preach the good news." He also promised that he would be with them always, even to the end of the age. God sent the Holy Spirit to help the disciples fulfill this important work. Luke recorded the history of the church in the book of Acts. This is the story about how Peter, one of Jesus's first disciples, learned about God's plan more clearly and shared the gospel with the Gentiles.

Key Themes:
1. The good news, the gospel, is for all!
2. The disciples continued Jesus's work on Earth.
3. Baptism is an important step in obeying the gospel.

Memory Verse

19 So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to obey everything that I have told you. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of the world.” -Matthew 28:19-20

Songs

Begin Class with Songs, Games, Table Activity, or Sharing Time

Open Class in Prayer

Introducing the Story Ideas
1. Animal Sort
Materials: Pictures of different animals (farm animals, wild animals, pets, etc.) Two large baskets with labels.
Instructions: Show the child the pictures of different animals and ask them if they know the names of any of the animals.
Ask the child to sort the animals into two groups. E.g. farm animals and wild animals. Putting them in the correct box.
As they work, encourage them to name the animals they are sorting and talk about any interesting characteristics of the animals. Repeat the activity again with different animal pictures or categories of animals. (Idea from TruewayKids.com)

2. Special Delivery
Tell the kids you have a special message to give to them. How could I get you that message? (They may say: the mail, e-mail, text, etc.). Say: God had a very special message he needed to give to Peter. He used an unusual way to do it! He gave Peter the message through a very interesting vision or dream!

4. Apples and OrangesSupplies: an apple, an orange

Play: Form a circle. One child will pass an apple to the right around the circle. Another child will pass an orange to the left around the circle. This seems easy right? Once the apple and oranges have made it around the circle, say now we are going to change the rules.
In the second round, the kids can’t pass the fruit with their hands. Kids can use their feet, elbows, or knees to pass the fruit. If someone drops the fruit or it touches the ground, the child must close his eyes to continue playing. Play continues until only one person with his or her eyes open remains.
Discussion: For most of the Old Testament, God's people were divided into two groups-Jews and Gentiles (or apples and oranges!). At first, God used the Jewish people to fulfill his plan for redemption. He wanted to keep them separate to keep them holy for his plan. However, once Jesus came and died for EVERYONE's sins, the game changed. Now, God is calling EVERYONE to be his people-the Jews and the Gentiles. Today's lesson is about how God made this known through the apostle Peter.

Story: When Jesus left for heaven, he told the disciples to "go into all the world and preach the good news." He gave them the important work of spreading his message of salvation. But, Jesus' new way of salvation (sometimes we call it the New Law) was much, much different than the Old Law that God had given to Moses thousands of years ago. The old law required animal sacrifices and had important rules like which animals were clean and could be eaten and which animals must not be eaten. The Law also said what kind of people the Jewish people could associate with and which ones they could not.

This was a BIG change for the new Jewish Christians who had been following some of these rules their entire life! Fortunately, God was there to help the apostles in this important work. Luke recorded the history of the church in the book of Acts. This is the story about how Peter, one of Jesus's first disciples, learned about God's plan more clearly and shared the gospel with the Gentiles.

READ the story Peter Tells Cornelius about Jesus or read Acts 10:1-48 in the Bible.
EMPHASIZE that:

Jesus's death was the final sacrifice for all people to have a relationship with God.
Peter obeyed God's call to minister to Cornelius, even though it was against his culture.
Cornelius and his family obeyed and was baptized.