Category: Kids Bibles

“But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love and mercy.” Nehemiah 9:17b, NLT

From the Hands-On Bible

The Israelites kept a little pattern going that went like this:

1. Everything was OK
2. They’d start worshiping false gods
3. Things would go bad
4. They’d ask God for help
5. Everything was OK

This little pattern had been going on for more than 1,000 years. (If you were sitting in the care for 1,000 years, you could drive across the United States more than 90,000 times.) But God never stopped loving, forgiving, and waiting for the Israelites.

Read Nehemiah 9:17b again to see just how patient God is!

Let’s see how patient you are!

1. Fill a plastic cup with potting soil, and drop in a few seeds.
2. Cover the seeds with soil, and add water.
3. Watch the cup until you see the seeds start to grow.

When a plant comes up, remember that God always watches over, forgives, and waits for you!

Learn more about the Hands-On Bible

“Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.

For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.

He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.

The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.

Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!”
Psalm 95:1-7, NLT

Note from the Girls Life Application Study Bible

How to Worship

Think about a super-popular band. Their followers are pretty crazy about them, right? God wants us to feel that way about him—to know him, love him, listen to him, obey him, and tell everyone about him. That’s what worship is all about. Singing, reading the Bible, and preaching are all parts of worship. But the real heart of worship is the heart—connecting your heart to God’s. These three Rs can help:

Remember what God has done for you. This affects your attitude in worship. Approach God with a sense of gratitude and reverence. The songs will remind you of his greatness— that he is worth praising. Many worship songs are based on Bible passages that talk about God’s great deeds and his love for his people. They’re also about his faithfulness to keep the promises he has made. Think of all worship—including readings, prayers, special music, offering, Communion, testimonies, and sermons—as a celebration of who God is and what he has done.

Reflect the glory of God. When you sing a worship song or tell someone about God, you’re honoring God by spreading the truth about him. Even telling someone, “I saw a beautiful flower the other day,” can be a way of praising God, because creation itself shows God’s glory (see Psalm 19:1).

Respond to God’s grace. Worship is a response to the truth of God. Giving money in the offering is a response; so is following along in your Bible during the sermon. Responding often involves prayer—thanking God for who he is, confessing sin, or asking for help. And it also means applying the Bible lesson to the way you think or act.

Take a look inside the Girls Life Application Study Bible

Activity from the Hands-On Bible

Read Matthew 21:1-11

As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2“Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”
4This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
5“Tell the people of Jerusalem,
‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.’”
6The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. 7They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
8Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
10The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
11And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.

Parade of Praise

The people in Jerusalem had a parade-like gathering to honor Jesus. What can you do to honor Jesus? Think of a few ways and write them down.

The people cheered Jesus. They laid their coats in the road and shouted praises. Thin of ways you can praise Jesus and write them down.

Now, that you’ve made a plan, get going! Show Jesus he’s more important than anything else in your life.

Get your family together and have your own Jesus-honoring parade. You could even get people who are far away involved by having a video conference call and all being in the parade together!

What are some of your ideas?

Look inside the Hands-On Bible

Read all of Psalm 91

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
3For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
4He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
9If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
11For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
16I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

Activity from the Hands-On Bible

Read Psalm 91:11 out loud. How do God’s angels protect us? Maybe like this!

1. Grab two large plastic or paper cups, some newspaper, a raw egg, and some tape.
2. Stuff the cups with newspaper to act as padding, leaving room for the egg.
3. Put the egg inside the newspaper padding, and tape the two cups together with lots of tape!
4. Drop the cups from the height of your shoulders!

If you used plenty of padding and taped the cups well, your egg should be safe and sound! God has ways to keep us safe and sound too.

Read Psalm 91:11 again. Because God loves you so much, he sends his angels to protect you!

The next time you’re scared or worried, remember that God sends his angels to protect you, just like you protected the egg. (Know what else? God’s protecting you even when you’re not scared and worried! GOD’S AWESOME!)

Take a look inside the Hands-On Bible

Sometimes we forget how powerful God really is. Here is a great activity from the Hands-On Bible that goes along with 1 Kings 18. Read it together and then try this activity.

Want to learn more about the Hands-On Bible and try a few more ideas? Take a look inside.

Here is a great way to help the kids in your life engage with Psalm 23. Read through the Psalm together and then try this activity from the Hands-On Bible.

Want to learn more? See additional features in the Hands-On Bible? Take a look inside

“Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to the Jews near and far, throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes, calling on them to celebrate an annual festival on these two days. He told them to celebrate these days with feasting and gladness and by giving gifts of food to each other and presents to the poor. This would commemorate a time when the Jews gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy. ” Esther 9:20-22, NLT

Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates when God saved his people from the evil Haman. I’m not Jewish, but growing up my parents always had special ways for us to remember the story of Esther during this time of year.

Here are a few ideas of how to celebrate:

1. Have a fancy family dinner and read the Book of Esther. The story of Esther has a lot of getting “fancy” in it. Esther becomes queen because of a beauty pageant, when she bravely goes to the king’s court she is wearing her royal robes, and later in the story she invites the king and Haman to a special banquet. Have fun finding something fancy to wear and then talk about the story during family dinner,
2. Make Purim Baskets. Part of the celebration in Esther 9 says to give gifts to each other. Purim baskets can be filled with food, candy, and other small gifts. Consider making these for your neighbors. They are a great way to start a conversation. Or you can make them for your pastors, friends, family members – anyone who needs a smile
3. Give to the Poor. Throughout the Bible we see that the poor are near to God’s heart. This is a great time to find a way to be intentional about how you as a family can give to those in need. It doesn’t have to be a monetary gift. Maybe you could volunteer at a shelter, donate food items to a food pantry, cleanup a local park, or spend some time with elderly neighbors who may need help with chores or outside upkeep. We also have people in our own circle of friends who may need an extra hand or help. This gives you an excuse to reach out.
4. Tell the Story of Esther in a Creative Way. In my family we loved putting on a play of the story Esther. We would make funny costumes and act out the story. Maybe play acting isn’t for you. Don’t let that stop you. Get your creative juices going and find a fun way to tell the story of Esther. You could create a storybook, illustrate a comic book, come up with a game, write a poem, make a movie trailer or find another activity that is out-of-the-box and fun for your family.

Looking for more ways to engage in the Bible as a family. Check out the Hands-On Bible.

“About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem. Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, ‘Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them. Then a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.’ When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.” Luke 9:28-36, NLT

Peter, James, and John had such an amazing time with Jesus up on a mountain that they didn’t want to leave. Have you ever been to a youth retreat or had a time with God that was so cool you didn’t want it to end?

Being away from the reality and problems of our daily life can seem inviting. But we can’t stay on a mountaintop forever. Instead of becoming spiritual giants, we would soon become giants of self-centeredness.

We need times of retreat and renewal but only so we can return to help build up our family and friends. Our faith must make sense off the mountain as well as on it.

Note from the Girls Life Application Study Bible

Taken from the Boys Life Application Study Bible

Is it okay to make fun of someone who deserves it? This question has a simple answer: No.

Do you want some proof?

“You should not have gloated when they exiled your relatives to distant lands. You should not have rejoiced when the people of Judah suffered such misfortune. You should not have spoken arrogantly in that terrible time of trouble,” Obadiah 1:12, NLT

“Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble. For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them,” Proverbs 24:17-18, NLT.

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged,” Matthew 7:1-2, NLT.

It’s so easy to make fun of others—to gloat over someone who’s been mean to you and to laugh when someone you don’t like gets embarrassed or hurt.

But in Obadiah 1:12, God rebuked the people of Edom for laughing when his people were in trouble. God didn’t laugh with them. In fact, God punished the Edomites for laughing at his people. When you’re tempted to make fun of someone else, first imagine yourself in that person’s shoes. Think about how it would feel if people were laughing at you. Then choose to be quiet and kind.

Glenn Paauw, Institute for Bible Reading

Many adults are struggling to read the Bible. We know this. At some level it’s understandable because the Bible is a big, complicated, and very ancient book. Yet the Bible is where Christianity gets its story, so the faith community needs to be deeply committed to knowing it well regardless of the challenges.

If adults are struggling, what should we expect from kids? If the Bible is tough going for the grownups, it’s going to be even tougher for young readers, right?

In a word . . . yes. But maybe it’s time to look at how we’ve been trying to introduce kids to the Bible. What, exactly, has been our goal? What’s the right expectation for kids reading, knowing, and understanding the Bible? And what would the path to solid Bible fluency look like for kids?

Where We’ve Been

Simply from looking at our standard Bible curricula, it would seem that what’s actually happening is that we have other goals besides fluency (spiritual formation, teaching morals, building faith, etc.) that cause us to use the Bible in certain ways. The intended purpose is not often to foster a deep engagement with Scripture itself. As a result, within any given lesson the Bible is encountered merely as either a theme verse or two, or a safely paraphrased version of a “Bible story.”

Perhaps this approach is seen as a good and necessary adaptation of the Bible for readers who are young and not yet proficient. That makes sense, right? Well. . .

The problem with giving children only a verse or two is that this approach tends to stick around as readers get older. Even into adulthood we continue to show and teach the Scriptures by referring to select Bible verses. The consequence of this is that many people persist in thinking the Bible is in fact a collection of these verses (and if they are honest, admitting that some verses are better than others).

And the problem with an ongoing diet of paraphrased Bible stories is that such narrations are not actually the Bible. They are typically told with any age-inappropriate elements toned down or taken out. And of course, any paraphrase represents someone’s interpretation of the essence of a particular story.

All of this is appropriate in a sense, but there’s also a danger here. Many of these “safe” versions of the stories are never replaced with the actual biblical texts as kids turn into teenagers and then young adults. This means that young readers often wind up not learning the way biblical language actually sounds and actually works. And older kids never learn to engage with the stronger, stranger, more complex versions of these stories that the Bible actually tells.

When do we get around to teaching young adults how to handle the real Bible?

Furthermore, these collections of paraphrased stories are often treated as stand-alone lessons, so kids don’t ever learn how the stories are connected and how they build on each other to tell the bigger biblical narrative. And rarely are different kinds of literary writings acknowledged. A curriculum constructed of “Bible stories” will naturally have difficulty incorporating letters, songs, wisdom sayings, and other literary varieties in Scripture.

So are we discipling kids into not being Bible readers?

What would the average child take away from their long-term experience with the Bible in our current teaching approach? Have they taken the first steps toward receiving the Bible on its own terms? Or have they been taught to use the Bible in simplistic and misleading ways?

I’m reminded of a conversation we had with a prominent publisher of children’s Sunday School resources and Bible curricula. After reviewing their programs and comparing them with our perspective on Bible engagement, one of their executives, deep in thought, looked up and said, “So you’re telling me that if our programs are successful, we are actually producing generations of non–Bible readers.”

Are kids growing up learning that the Bible is a book to be read? Do kids have any inkling of the big story? Are they falling in love with Jesus—that is, with Jesus as understood in the context of the overall narrative?

What To Do?

At the Institute for Bible Reading, we’re working on answers to these reading problems. As young people within the church grow up, graduate, and head out on their own in various ways, a healthy and hearty appetite for Bible reading doesn’t seem to be going with them. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that there is a low number of adults in the church who are engaged in Bible reading and comprehension. People are following the path that’s been laid out for them, and then we scramble to convert adults into Bible readers. We are failing to show them the way in the first place.

So what would change look like?

The downward trajectory of Bible engagement in the church needs to be reversed if we are to fully receive the profound gift that we have in God’s Word. A Bibleless Christianity won’t be a vibrant and affective Christianity.

Let’s chart a course for a new future for kids and the Bible, so that kids know the Bible the right way at the right age and stage, and appropriately grow into the Bible. We want kids who not only love the Bible but also learn how to read it intelligently and well, so they don’t turn away from it the first time they encounter its opponents.

Read more about Bible engagement from the Institute for Bible Reading

Learn more about Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience

Hear what happens when a group of high school students read the New Testament