LESSON 14: NICODEMUS
THEME: You Must be Born Again (John 3)
VOCABULARY: important, confused, understand, born again, trust
STORY: There was a man. He was an important man. His name was Nicodemus. He knows that Jesus is a great teacher and is important to God because of all of the amazing things that Jesus is doing. But Nicodemus is a bit confused. Jesus says that no one can enter the kingdom of Heaven without being born again. Nicodemus does not understand how someone can be born two times. But God is not telling us that we have to be born again from our mothers. Jesus is telling Nicodemus and the rest of us that it is important for us to be born again through baptism and through God’s spirit. After Nicodemus hears this he is still confused and still does not understand. But how is this possible? Jesus agrees that it is pretty mysterious but we do not have to fully understand how God works because Jesus does. And if Jesus knows how God works we can trust in Him.
STORY WITH QUESTIONS: There was a man. (Is there a man or a woman?) He was an important man.(Is he an important man?) His name was Nicodemus. (What is his name?) He knows that Jesus is a great teacher and is important to God because of all of the amazing things that Jesus is doing. (Who is a great teacher? And why is he a great teacher?) But Nicodemus is a bit confused. (Who is confused: Jesus or Nicodemus?) Jesus says that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven without being born again. (Why do you have to be born again?) Nicodemus does not understand how someone can be born two times. (Can you be born two times?) But God is not telling us that we have to be born again from our mothers. Jesus is telling Nicodemus and the rest of us that it is important for us to be born again through baptism and through God’s spirit. (What do we need to do to be born again?) After Nicodemus hears this he is still confused and still does not understand. (Who is confused?) But how is this possible? Jesus agrees that it is pretty mysterious but we do not have to fully understand how God works because Jesus does. (Who understands how God works?) And if Jesus knows how God works we can trust in Him. (Who can we trust?)
ACTIVITIES:
- Review the vocabulary words. Listen to the Vocabulary File for pronunciation. Look up the meaning of any words you don’t know.
- Listen to Audio 1 as you read through the story.
- Listen to Audio 2 – Story with Questions as you read through the story and answer the questions.
- Have a discussion about baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit. Talk about what each of them is and how they play into faith. (This will be a harder concept so you might have to explain some in Spanish)
- Craft day! Have materials prepared so that kids can create their own Jesus puppet. Allow them to use crayons or markers. Give them a shirt to color, a face to color, and the toilet paper roll. Talk about how Jesus died for us.
- Have a student pray in English.