Theme: Jobs in our community
Bible Story: The sower and the seeds
Value: Be obedient
The sower and the seeds
Jesus, the Son of God, did many amazing things when He was on earth. He healed people who were sick, made blind people see and fed lots of hungry people. One day, Jesus told a story to help people understand how to listen to God and obey Him.
“There was a farmer,” Jesus said, “who went out to plant seeds.” The farmer scattered the seeds everywhere. Some fell on the hard path. Birds flew down and ate them up! Some seeds fell on rocky ground. They started to grow, but the roots couldn’t go deep and the sun made them dry up. Other seeds fell among thorns. The thorns grew bigger and choked the plants.
But some seeds fell on good soil. These seeds grew strong and healthy. They made lots of grain, many times more than the seed the farmer planted!
Jesus explained, “The seeds are like God’s Word. When we listen to God and obey Him, we are like the good soil, and our lives can grow full of good things. But if we don’t listen or we let other things distract us, we’re like the hard path, the rocky ground or the thorny soil.”
Jesus wants us to hear His words and obey Him, so we can grow strong and share His love with others!
(Mark 4:1-20)
- Opening
What do you want to be when you grow up? People do all sorts of important jobs. One of these is being a farmer. Can you tell me what a farmer does?
Today we will learn about a farmer who planted seeds. Let’s read the Bible story.
- Discovery
Can you remember the story that you heard yesterday?
Yes, we talked about the farmer who planted seeds. Let’s read the Bible story again.
What is your favourite part of the story?
Can you show me the seeds that fell on the road?
And the seeds that grew on the good soil?
- Retell
Can you tell me what happened in our story yesterday? (Ask leading questions and guide the child using the picture and story.)
What happened to the seeds that fell on the rocky soil?
What happened to the seeds that fell among the thorny weeds?
What happened to the seeds that fell on the good soil?
- Value
This week we’ve been talking about a farmer who planted seeds. Just like seeds need good soil to grow, we can only grow when we listen and obey God. When we listen and obey God, our hearts become like good soil where good things can grow. Being obedient means doing what God asks us to do, like being kind to others, sharing and listening to our parents.
In what ways can you be obedient to God?
- Activity
In our story this week we learned that amazing things can happen when we listen and obey God. Let’s draw some plants that can grow from seeds, just like the seeds in our story.
(Hand out a piece of paper and crayons and/or paint and encourage the children to draw and colour any plant they can think of. It can be a flower, a tree or even fruit or vegetables.)