Matthew 7 v 24 – 27

Luke 6 v 46 – 49

Lesson Aim To understand that people who respond to God’s message are the wise people in life.

Hook 1: A large container to hold water, a jug of water, a large rock, sand, a toy house.

If it is possible use a see-through container like an aquarium, if not then a washing up bowl will do. As you begin to tell the story, place in the bowl a large rock and attach a ‘house’ to it with Blu tack. The house can be a wooden block with a door and windows drawn on the side. Gently pour in the water for the flood. The house should remain attached to the rock.

Empty the bowl and this time pour in some damp sand. Mould the sand into a small hill. Place the house with the Blu tack on top of the hill. As you pour in the water the second time, make sure that you aim the water to the part of the hill just below the house. The house should then move and fall over.

It is worth practising this before you demonstrate it to the children!

Hook 2: Lego

Use Lego to build a house or tower. This can be turned into a competition between two children. Fix the finished house to a Lego board. The house can be waved around in the storm or water can be poured over it and it should remain fixed to the board. Then place the house onto a wooden board. Very slowly tilt the board up until it begins to slide off the board.

Emphasise that one had a good foundation while the other had none.

Hook 3: Questions

Have you ever watched builders build a house? Before they start to lay bricks what do they do? They dig down and down and fill the hole with concrete. What do we call this? Our story today is a story that Jesus told about two builders, a wise builder and a foolish builder.

Application

Jesus told this story about builders, but he was really speaking about people’s lives. The wise builder, who had a good foundation, is like people who trust in him. People who give their hearts to Jesus, have a good foundation to their life. The foolish builder who did not have a foundation is like the person who does not trust in Jesus. They have nothing to help them when they have difficulties in life.