VERSES: John 6:22-71
MEMORY VERSE: "I am the bread of life." (John 6:35)
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Review all 27 books of the New Testament as a class.
PRAYER: Thank God for sending His only begotten Son to this earth to die on the cross and save us from our sins.
SPECIAL SONG: No, Not One (see June - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #6. Click on orange circle for tune.)
VISUAL AID: Bible Map, showing the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, and Capernaum. Draw five large loaves of bread on the white board or chalk board. Number the loaves outside of the loaves. Write the words that match up to each loaf. See Activity below for guidance.
LESSON POINTS:
- Life was changing a bit during the life of Jesus and His disciples. When Jesus was healing the sick people and feeding them with two fish and five barley loaves, almost everyone loved Jesus. Great multitudes or crowds of people had been following Jesus around, listening to Him and watching Him perform miracles. People knew that there was something different about Jesus. He could make blind or lame people they had known for years see and walk again! He could feed people with almost nothing. They wanted to find Jesus, but He wasn't where they thought He should be, so they went looking for Him. The people had different reasons for wanting to see Jesus again. Some wanted to simply have another meal or see another miracle, perhaps for entertainment, but Jesus knew their motives or why they were there with Him.
- The day after Jesus had fed the 5,000 with a boy's simple lunch of fish and bread, and after Jesus had walked on the water on the Sea of Galilee, the people could only see one boat on the side of the shore and that was the one that Jesus' disciples had been in, but Jesus was not there, so they went searching for Him. In fact, other boats from Tiberias came close to the place where Jesus had fed the 5,000. Finally, they found Him in the synagogue in Capernaum.
- When they saw Him, they asked Him, "Rabbi or Teacher, when did you come here?" Jesus said, "It is true that you seek me, not because of the miracles that you have seen, but because of the bread you ate and were full. Don't work for the physical food that decays, but work for the food that lasts unto everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you." So, Jesus and the people had a conversation about what work they should be doing. Jesus told them that they should believe on whom God sent, but the people asked for signs and thought He was talking about physical bread. When Jesus told them three times that He was the bread of life and that He had come down from heaven to do God's will, they did not understand. They were still interested in bread, but they thought it was real, physical bread, but Jesus was talking about spiritual bread. The Jews and the Pharisees, who were educated men, tried to find fault with Jesus because He had said He was the bread of life. They talked among themselves and said, "Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He say that He came down from heaven?" They did not yet understand that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus knew that some did not believe He was the Son of God. Some of His disciples left Jesus and did not walk with Him anymore.
- Jesus asked the twelve disciples, "Will you also go away?" Peter answered first. He said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus answered, "Have I not chosen twelve of you, but one of you is a devil." Jesus was talking about Judas Iscariot because Judas was going to betray Jesus soon.
- We can see from this lesson that Jesus knew the hearts of men. He knew that some of the people in the crowd were only wanting to find Jesus, so He could feed them again. He also knew that some did not believe He was the Son of God.
- Turn to John 6 and find the three times that Jesus said that He was the bread of life. (Verses 35, 48, and 51.)
- Sometimes when people do not understand, they get upset and try to find fault. This is what happened in our lesson. (John 6:41, 42, 52, 64, 66.)
Materials needed: 6" x 12" light brown paper, scissors, crayons.
- Hand out light brown paper.
- Fold in thirds.
- Round top corners only. This should resemble a loaf of bread.
- On the outside of the folded up paper, write "What JESUS said to the people..." (See picture above).
- Unfold up one 'flap.'
- On the bottom flap, write "3 times, He said..."
- Unfold paper all the way.
- On top flap, write "I am the bread of life." and "John 6:35."
- On the middle flap, write "I am that bread of life." and "John 6:48."
- On the bottom flap, write "I am the living bread." and "John 6:51."
- Fold paper back up, so the students can take the project home.
