This lesson teaches that ALL Scripture is inspired by God and is useful equipment for all He wants us to do! The skeptics among you might wonder about the logic of Scripture itself stating that it is inspired by God, so the first part of this lesson outlines the authority of that claim. In a nutshell, Jesus spent a lot of effort to establish the Church. He taught doctrine, established the Sacraments, and set up authority and hierarchy which would allow the Church to endure for all time. Part of this was naming a Pope and giving him the promise of infallibility. When the Pope teaches some truth about faith and morals, the Holy Spirit guarantees that what he teaches is trustworthy and true! So when the Church teaches that “the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach [the] truth …” we can trust that it is, indeed, true!

The next part of this lesson focuses on the idea of equipment. Even your youngest kids will be able to relate to this idea and if your student audience is on the 2nd-grade-and-under side, I’d recommend starting here. Everyone has jobs to do and every job requires some kind of tools. God also gives us jobs AND he promises to provide all sorts of help. One of those greatest helps is found in becoming more familiar with the Bible, and you’ll find practical advice in this lesson for getting started.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• Doing this lesson is an automatic head’s-up on learning this month’s memory verse so take advantage of the opportunity to help your kids get started on memorizing it! Use the Memory Verse sheets in your Home Lesson packet which can be posted in some convenient place in your house. There are many wonderful reasons to memorize Scripture and, while it may seem a little tedious to adults, children typically have an astounding capacity to memorize, and the things they memorize often stay with them for life.
• When making the Lamp for your candle, I highly recommend you fold the paper before cutting. Once the windows are cut out, the paper loses just enough of its structural integrity that it’s a bit of a challenge to fold on the lines.
• You’ll need a small glass jar for each of your kids to decorate.  If you want to buy something, you’re sure to find it at a dollar store.  If not, just keep an eye on your recycling in the upcoming days.  Any small glass jar that will hold a votive candle will be perfect.

AND FINALLY:

How is this lesson about Jesus?

The key lies in the fact that through Baptism we become co-workers with Christ and are called to do our part to help bring about the kingdom of God.  His Word gives us lots of advice to do this work, but the best “equipment” we could possibly have is a relationship with Him and one of the best ways to establish that relationship is by learning about Him through the Scriptures.