66 Books in the Bible

66 Books in the Bible

The aim of this series of Sunday School lessons is to enable our children to know not only the names of the various books of the Bible but also an overview of what each book is about. Knowing an overview of the book helps us to find scripture when needed. For example if you know that Psalms is about praise, praying and singing you would know where to go for inspiration for your own prayer life. Another example is that Proverbs is a book that contains wise sayings, deals with wisdom so you could go there for advice about life etc.

As we are dealing with children aged 5 - 11 in our Sunday School we are keeping the overview fairly basic but you could add to it for older Children or even adults.

Sunday School Lesson 1 - Bible Overview

For this lesson you will need:

1) Heading letters and cut out books and scrolls see print sheet here. The Heading is 66 Books Bible. Just use one Scroll and one Book each for the Teacher and each student. Printable Template Here

2) Curtain ring or key ring that opens. Each week we will 'make' a new book/books of the Bible as we learn about them. The children will be able to add them to the ring to keep them together and this will become a learning tool. It may be a good idea to laminate the books or cover with contact or alternatively you could use high quality coloured cardboard.

3) Coloured card/paper, texta, pens, holepunch.

Lesson overvew. There are three main aims.

1) To think about why God wrote the Bible and did not leave it to memory as some cultures have handed down their
beliefs.
2) Why so long and why so many books? Why God made the Bible the way He did.
3) Discuss why there are 66 books in one book and why we break it up into Old and New Testaments.

We begin our Sunday School with a time of prayer and worship. For this term our 'focus song' will be the 66 Books,
and a couple of other praise songs. (We cannot find the original tune for this song, so Margaret is going to write the music from memory. Music sheet will be available soon. Email me jackie@outbackjack.info for update and music sheet if not posted here.)

Next we usually play a game or two that is related to the theme.

Game 1 Raiders of the Lost treasures. I cut out images of books, scrolls and the heading letters for the terms theme and then hid them around the Church building. The Children don't yet know the theme and have to hunt for the 'treasures'. We then bring them together and work out what the lesson is going to be about. Printable template HERE

Why did God write the Bible for us? Talk about how some cultures pass on important information to each generation. You could get some pictures of Egyptian/Babylonian Hieroglyphics and pictures of Aboriginal cave art.

Game 2 Pictionary The object of this game is for one person to have to draw out the written secret clue. The others have to guess what the picture means. Example David kills Goliath, Jesus feeds 5 thousand etc.

So we can see that it is hard to convey our message in picture form. Play game three next.

Game 3 Chinese Whispers. We use this to illustrate just how easy it is to muddle messages if not written down, this helps reinforce why it is good that God 'wrote' the Bible.

We also now understand how a message can get muddled by word of mouth passing on. Aren't we glad God wrote the Bible and didn't just leave it our memories!

Two Sections, 66 Books and a whole lot of years! Why didn't God just write the whole thing down and hand it to Adam and Eve as they were leaving the garden of Eden? Discuss each of the following sections with the children.

a) The Bible is rather a complex book . Whilst we see it as a whole book because we now know the fullness of God's mystery, that is the purpose of Jesus to effect God's plan of salvation, most of the authors along the way did not know this or know it in great detail. God revealed His plan in stages and used History in part to do it. The original passover was a fore-shadow of what was to come ie Jesus sacrifice.

b) God is also a very complex being. There are many sides to His personality. He is Holy, He acts as a righteous Judge, God gets angry, God is merciful, God is love. These concepts are hard to understand, most have to be experienced to be understood. For example we know we are sinners but how often will we admit the depravity of our sinfulness? By viewing history, by watching even God's people throughout the ages we get a much clearer view on just how wicked humanity can be. So God used a few thousand years to give the world practical experience of Himself. Think about the difference between someone telling you they love you and then doing something for you because they love you. You know your Mum and Dad love you because they not only tell you but do things to show it, provide a home, food, hugs etc.

c) Sinful humanity often has to learn the hardway. Adam and Eve had already shown that they were not that good at remembering or obeying even one rule. How much then did the rest of humanity have to learn the hard way? Some of the Bible is just about that; the history of people learning to obey God by experiencing the effects of disobedience. So maybe God knew that it was all going to take a long time. (You can read a story if time permits. See story - A box of Matches)

This then in part explains the years factor and since people only live for a little while, God would have had to use a few different people so each person sort of got a book or two or three to themselves. But there are also two different sections the Old and New Testament. Why did we split it into two pieces. Jesus is the answer.

The Old Testament tells us about God, the need to obey Him and the consequences of disobedience which is ultimately death. God however is a loving God and wanted us to understand that whilst He must punish sin He also wants to love us. The Old Testament People did not know how God was going to reslove this. Even the Angels couldn't figure it out. Then at just the right time God comes to Earth to give us the final Word on the whole issue - JESUS. So the New Testament starts with the preparation and arrival of Jesus and goes on to tell us about what Jesus taught and did and how then the Church began.

Bible sections. The Bible has different types of books.

History focused - e.g. Kings, Acts
God's specific commands and directionsfor living and pleasing Him - Deuteronomy, Leviticus
God's special revelations (Prophetic focused) - Hosea, Isaiah, Revelations
People sharing their views on God and life - Proverbs, Song of Songs
People's prayers, praise, worship - Psalms

Summary.

The Bible is a book of books, writen by people but directed by God. Through the Bible we come to know God's plan, God's personality and how we should live before God. We have the benefit of reading about other people's journey and experience with God for our own lives. The Bible also still has much to say about what is going to happen in the rest of history, but that is another story.

Craft Time. Get the Children to cut out the scroll you can write or paste pre-printed words on the scroll - Bible 66 Books. Cover the cut out with contact or laminate, Punch a hole in the top right hand corner and place on curtain/shower/key ring. You could also cut out extra books/scrolls and make a frieze/wall banner with them on to stick up in the class room.

Next lesson the Pentateuch / Torah- First five books of the Bible. Coming August 2008

Lesson written and complied by Jacqueline Hancock July 2008