Matthew 13 v 1 – 9, 18 – 23

Mark 4 v 3 – 9, 13 – 20 Luke 8 v 5 – 8, 11 – 15

Lesson Aim To understand that people respond to God’s word in different ways, some by believing while others reject Christianity.

Hook 1: Sheets of paper, basket, seeds

Have some large sheets of paper joined together and spread out on the floor. On the paper mark out a path with birds on it, a stony area, an area of weeds and some good soil. If your drawings are poor, it does not matter if you write on the area in words to indicate what the areas are.

When you tell the story have the paper spread out before you are scatter seeds from a basket so that some lands on each area. The children will soon realise what happens to the different seeds.

Hook 2: Miniature garden

Create a miniature garden on  a tray with real soil, make a path out of small stones, pebbles for the rocky area and transplant a few weeds from your own garden (yes, we all have them growing). Scatter some seeds as you tell the story.

Hook 3: Questions

Have you ever wondered why some people trust in Jesus and some people do not trust him? To Christians Jesus is the most important person in their life, while Jesus means nothing to others. Jesus told a story to help us understand this.

Story tips:

There is a lot of symbolic meaning to this parable. Do not take too long over this, keep your story flowing. Does it really matter whether or not the children understand the difference between the seed that landed on the stony ground and the seed which landed in the weeds. The significant point is that they rejected the gospel and did not believe in Jesus.

Application

Through this story Jesus was teaching us that people react to him and to the Bible in different ways. Some people reject him and do not trust in God’s word. Other people believe the Bible, they trust in Jesus and give their lives to him. Which type of person are you?