Dear Parents, This week in New Life Kids, kids will learn about the parable of the wedding feast. Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast is more than a simple story about a king’s rude guests. The parable reveals the King (God the Father) who seeks to honor His Son (Jesus) with a banquet. Though many people are invited to the kingdom of heaven, few will choose to come. When Jesus told this parable, He had been teaching for three years. Many people who heard Jesus opposed Him, including the religious leaders. It was to this audience that Jesus told such a shocking ...

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Dear Parents, We are finishing our 5 week series on "Jesus is Powerful". This week's Bible story, Jesus received word that His friend Lazarus was sick. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha. They lived in the town of Bethany, about two miles away from Jerusalem. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus, likely expecting Him to come right away. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. (John 11:5) Yet He stayed where He was, and Lazarus died. Why would Jesus do such a thing? Jesus said that Lazarus’ sickness was “for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may ...

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Dear Parents, This week our students will learn about how Jesus displayed His power over evil. In the midst of His public ministry, the Jewish religious leaders began plotting to kill Jesus. (See Mark 3:6.) So one day, Jesus went to a land on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, where Gentiles lived. In that land was a man who needed help. (Note: The Gospel of Matthew describes two men.) An evil spirit was inside the man, and he suffered greatly. The people had tried to control the man by tying him up with chains, but the man broke free. So he lived alone in the tombs, ...

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Dear Parents, This week's Bible story takes us to the outskirts of Jericho where a man named Bartimaeus sat by the side of the road begging. You see, Bartimaeus was blind. As Jesus traveled from Jericho, He passed Bartimaeus. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out to Him, using a messianic title: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Socially, Bartimaeus would have been considered unimportant—certainly not important enough for the attention of someone as popular as Jesus. Perhaps Bartimaeus was used to being ignored by passersby, but Jesus ...

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Dear Parents, We have been studying the life of Jesus Christ with our students this semester. Over the next five weeks, kids will discover that Jesus is powerful. In today’s Bible story, Jesus showed His remarkable power over creation. After a long day of teaching, Jesus and His disciples got into a boat to cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. When their short sailing trip was interrupted by a violent storm, the disciples found themselves in danger with nowhere to turn, except to the One who created all things. The Sea of Galilee is actually a ...

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Dear Parents, Have you ever heard a pastor say that Jesus was seeking the lost? Who is “the lost”? What does it mean to be lost? In Luke 15, Jesus told three parables to the crowd of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and scribes. Jesus’ teaching brought gospel truth to the tax collectors and sinners—those whose unrighteousness separated them from God—and to the Pharisees and scribes—those whose relied on their own righteous efforts for salvation. The first two parables are similar. In one, a man loses a sheep. He leaves his flock to find the missing ...

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Dear Parents, This week we will be teaching our students about the parable of the sower. The Gospels record dozens of Jesus’ parables. A parable is a story Jesus told to help people understand the kingdom of God. Each parable taught a lesson and revealed secrets of God’s kingdom for those who would understand. (See Matt. 13:10-13.) The parable of the sower would have resonated with those listening because they would have been familiar with the practice of sowing or planting seed. But the parable had a deeper meaning. It contained a lesson about God’s Word and ...

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