Tuesday, October 23, 2012
This lesson combines both Peter's Vision he had on the rooftop and continues with Peter traveling to see Cornelius and teaching him about Jesus.
Today we are studying about Cornelius found in Acts 10:1-48. He lived in Caesarea and was a centurion(captain of 100 men) of the Italian Regiment (military). He was faithful andfeared God. He gladly gave gifts to the poor and he prayed a lot.
About three in the afternoon anangel of God came to him and said, “Cornelius.” He was scared when he saw theangel! The angel told him that God has heard his prayers. The angel told him to "Sendfor Simon Peter, and he will tell you what to do." The angel left andCornelius told two servants and a soldier to go to Joppa to get Simon Peter. It was a 10-hour trip.
While he was thinking aboutit, the three men sent by Cornelius asked if Peter was there. Peter went down andtold them that he was the Peter they were looking for. After they explained whyCornelius sent them, Peter invited them into his house.
Petergot up in the morning and prepared to travel with Cornelius’ men. Petertook six Jewish believers along with him (Acts 11:12) on this journey. They split the traveling into a two-day journey from Joppa to Caesarea.
When they went into thehouse, all the people that Cornelius had invited were there to greet Peter.
(Acts 10:34) God sent Peter toteach Cornelius and his family. Peter told them that God doesn’t showfavoritism. Everyone is treated the same in every nation that fears Him and isfaithful to Him. He told them about Jesus and how He died. He said that we arecommanded to preach to all people so all can go to Heaven.
The thing was that at anyother time, Peter and Cornelius wouldn’t be seen together, especially talkingto each other because it was unlawful for a Jewish man to associate withsomeone from another country. (Acts 10:28)
But when the people that wereat the house of Cornelius heard what Peter had to say, they believed. The lastverse (Acts 10:48) says that Peter told them to be baptized in the name of the Lord andthen they asked Peter to stay for a few days with them.
These updated Roman Centurion posters can be used for any lesson with a centurion. The last poster is Cornelius. These are in color only. Click here to download.
This is my visual for this week. The 'sheet tied by the 4 corners' is hanging from the ceiling. I used fishing line to hang it. There are 2 dowel rods that the sheet is tied to keep it from sagging, and the fishing line is tied around the dowel rods. Peter's housetop is a piece of plywood on dowel rod legs.
White fabric (that won't fray) cut into 12" large squares. This is about what I cut them. It depends on the fabric, andI just cut them to get the least amount of waste. In the picture, you see I used a white felt, and cut the squares into 18-inch pieces.
(Picture 1) Cut two 40" lengths of fishing line,and tie to the opposite corners of the 'sheet'. (Picture 2) I pulled the fishing line up in the center of both pieces and made a loop to gather them.You can give thekidsa dowel rod to hang it on tomake it go up and down easier.
The students will add any animals you hand out and take home their animals they brought. (I sent a note home with them last week and sent email reminders during the week) They can raise and lower the sheet like the vision.
Click here to print the note from last week.
You can print the left clean vs. unclean worksheet by clicking here.
The chart on the rightis an updated chart of clean and unclean animals. It is a very basic list with animals that are in the Bible or easily recognized animals. It is not intended to be an in-depth list. This includes the color and black & white. Click here to download.
These posters are more of a teacher's visual when discussing clean and unclean and were used with the above student handout chart of clean and unclean animals. Remember, this is intended for early elementary and is not an in-depth adult study on the laws God made for clean and unclean. There is a very basic outline that can be used with the posters and this lesson. Click here to download.
This Bible lessonhas so many good points that can be discussed. One point that Luke keeps makingin Acts is that when people hear the Gospel, they believe in Jesus andimmediately are baptized. Another is that Jesus loves everyone and salvationis for everyone. Since those points are made repeatedly in the followinglessons, I took this time to talk about some of the old laws from the OldTestament, and some of the new laws that came into effect when Jesus died onthe cross.
We discussed the old law ofsacrificing animals, and we are very thankful we don't have to do that! But, the new law includes baptism. We still worship, but the old law was on the Sabbath, being Saturday. Exodus 31:16And, the new law on the first day of the week, being Sunday. (Acts 20:7)
We mostly talked about clean and unclean food. The food choices werepart of the new laws.
I had a bigger table and moreanimals, but this will give you an idea of what I did. I gathered up animals,even my granddaughters Fisher Price ones, and the kids looked at their chartsand we put the animal with the correct tag.
These hanging monkeys and thesnakes are from Dollar Tree. They LOVE the monkeys!I hang them on my armsand let them pick their color. But, the object is to discuss the clean vs.unclean according to God.
These rats and bats are only soldaround October. The first packs are at Wal Mart, the second ones inthe mesh bags are at Dollar Tree. They love those, because they glow in thedark!You can also use theblack birds (ravens for Elijah)fromDollar Treefor several Biblelessons, and thisis one of thelessons!
You can find all the Acts worksheets here.
Click here to print the lesson.
Click here to download the updated visuals as shown above.
The visuals are for Acts 10-11. Not all are shown.
Click here to download the pictures to color.
(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.Copyright © 1982by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission.
