FAITH QUEST

 Peter’s Denial

February 6 –March 6, 2005

Holywood

 

Scripture:  Matthew 26:31-35 and 57-75

 

Memory Verse:

“All of us have sinned and fallen short of the God’s glory.”  Romans 3:23 (CEV)

 

Offering:  One Great Hour of Sharing

 

Concepts:      

  • Jesus’ prophecies always come true.
  • We may deny our faith in Jesus, but Jesus is always faithful to us.
  • Like Peter, we can recognize our mistakes.
  • It is better to be a follower who fails than one who fails to follow.
  • Even though we all make mistakes, we can still do great things to honor God.

 

Objectives:   

1.     Children will view the video Larry-Boy! & the Fib from Outer Space.

2.     Children will discuss what makes someone not want to tell the truth, what happens when we lie, how to recover from lying, and compare two instances of this from the Bible story and from the video.

 

Procedure:                

Welcome and Introductions:

1.     Greet the children and introduce yourself.  Wear your nametag. Make sure the children are wearing nametags. If not, ask the shepherd to supply a temporary badge. Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week that may not know you.

2.     Explain to the children that the purpose of this workshop is to understand that Peter learned to tell the truth even when he was scared and that we can too.

 

Scripture/Bible Story:

Read the Bible story using the CEV.  Ask whether anyone knows what a “denial” is.  In Peter’s case, he denied he knew Jesus.  This means that Peter lied and said he did not know Jesus.  Tell them to focus on Peter as you read the story.  Encourage the children to open their Bibles to Matthew 26:31 and follow along.  Tell them when you are moving to Matthew 26:57.  In weeks 3-5 when the children are more familiar with the story, you can just summarize the story or read the passage as you did in the early weeks.

 

Application:

1.     Show the video. It’s 22 minutes long if cued to after Bob and Larry (Tomato and Cucumber) talk and the real story begins and stopped after this story but before Bob and Larry come back on.

 

2.     When the video is over, turn the lights on.  

 

Discussion: (feel free to add any questions you may think of)

  • Why do you think Junior Asparagus decided to lie about how the plate was broken?  May be lots of different answers, but try to leave the conclusion that Junior Asparagus was afraid of what might happen to him if his father knew he broke the plate.
  • Why do you think Peter lied about knowing Jesus?  He also was afraid of people finding out the truth that he was with Jesus—he was afraid he might be hurt or killed.
  • Did anyone count the number of times Junior Asparagus was asked about the plate—and the number of times he lied?  It was three times—just like Peter’s three denials of knowing Jesus.    The first time he said his friend Laura broke the plate; the second time he said Laura’s brother Lenny broke the plate; the third time he said aliens from outer space broke the plate. 
  • How do you think Junior Asparagus felt about lying?  At first he seemed relieved that it was so easy to cover up for breaking the plate, but then he started to feel badly because the lie was out of control. 
  • How did Peter feel about lying about Jesus?  He initially felt OK because he continued to lie two more times.  Then when he realized what he had done, he wept bitterly, which shows how badly he felt. 
  • How did Junior Asparagus make everything better?  He told his father the truth and said he was sorry. 
  • How do you think Peter made everything better?  This wasn’t part of our Bible story, but maybe Peter prayed and told God he was sorry while he was crying and asked to be forgiven. 
  • Do you think Junior Asparagus learned that it is better to tell the truth instead of lying?  Yes
  • Did you know that after Peter’s denial of Jesus that night that he NEVER lied about Jesus again?  In fact, he told everyone he could about Jesus—who Jesus was and what he did for us—that Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins so that God could forgive us for anything bad that we do.  Peter NEVER denied Jesus, even later in his life when bad leaders told him to stop talking about Jesus. 
  • Do you think God let this happen to Peter so that he would learn a lesson to make him never want to lie about Jesus again?  Accept reasonable answers.

 

Reflection Time:

After the video and the discussion, if there is time shepherds can pass out the journal pages and pencils/markers.  

 

Suggested prompts for journal writing include asking the child to write about or draw their favorite part of the video.

 

At 10:45 ask the students to close their journals and sit quietly for prayer.

 

Closing:

Prayer: Dear God, Thank you that you have always told us the truth.  Thank you that long ago you taught Peter to tell the truth about Jesus so that even today people still are telling the truth about Jesus.  We pray in the name of our savior, Jesus.  Amen.

 

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help clean up popcorn before they leave Holywood.  Wait until after children leave to pile up the beanbag chairs—don’t enlist their help as they tend to throw them. Wipe out popcorn machine thoroughly, do not use water.  Feel free to clean the machine during the movie.

 

Teacher preparation in advance:

1.     Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.

2.     Prepare a closing prayer for your lesson.

3.     Pray for God to help you teach this lesson and fill you with patience and a gentle spirit to share with the children.

4.     Check out the workshop room before your first Sunday so that you know where everything is located.

5.     PRACTICE OPERATING THE POPCORN MACHINE.

6.      

Supply List

·        The video will be given to you at the Workshop Leaders’ Bible Study.

·        Journal pages will also be provided at the Bible study or the first Sunday of the rotation.

 

References

Lori Houck, Kirk Faith Quest Bible Study Leader

VeggieTales, Vol. 8 Larry-Boy! & the Fib From Outer Space! A Lesson in Telling the Truth VHS (1997). Big Idea Productions.