Lesson Continued...

Jesus saw that they were struggling to handle the boat in the tough weather, and began walking on the water to go meet them. The disciples saw Jesus approaching and thought it was a ghost (wouldn't you!). Jesus called out to them and told them to be brave. "'Lord, is it you?' Peter asked. 'If it is, tell me to come to you on the water.' (Matthew 14:28) Jesus told him to come, so Peter stepped out of the boat and began to walk on the water towards Jesus. As Peter began fearing the winds and the waves, he began to sink. But Jesus picked him up and helped him into the boat. Jesus told Peter that he shouldn't have been afraid, and that he should have trusted him.

We learn from the account in John that as soon as Peter and Jesus got into the boat, it immediately arrived to the other side of the Sea of Galilee - an aspect of this miracle that is often left out.

(This story also appears in Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21. Note that the Matthew account is the only one that explicitly mentions Peter walking on water along with Jesus. We strongly encourage you to read all 3 accounts to get a full picture of this story.)

Warm Up get your kids talking and engaged

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Today, we are going to learn about a time in the Bible when Jesus walked on water!

Teach the Story

Comprehension Questions

• What happened right before this story?

Jesus fed the 5000

• What body of water were they on in the boat?

The Sea of Galilee

• Where were they heading?

Capernaum

• Where was Jesus?

In a remote place, praying by himself

• What happened in the middle of the night while the disciples were on the boat?

A storm popped up

• What did Jesus do next?

He walked out on the water to meet them

• Who the disciples think Jesus was when they saw him walking on the water?

A ghost

• What did Peter ask Jesus?

If it truly was Jesus, to tell him to come out on the water to meet him

• When did Peter begin to sink?

When he became fearful of the winds and the waves

• What happened when Jesus and Peter got into the boat?

It immediately arrived in Capernaum

Faith Questions

• In this story, we learn that Peter needed to trust Jesus and not be afraid of what was going on around him.

• What is going on in your life right now that you need to trust Jesus about?

Memory Verse

Don't worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Philippians 4:6

Directions

Preparation:

1. Cut the blue and white tissue paper into small squares, maybe 2″x2″

2. Cut the yellow construction paper into triangles, 4″ tall by about 3″ wide

3. Hold each triangle so that the right angle is at the bottom. Using the hole punch, punch 2 holes in each – one an inch from the top and on an inch from the right angle at the bottom.

Instructions:

Have students follow these instructions:

1. Cut down the sides of the bag so that they are only about an inch high. This is the boat.

2. Put the piece of clay close to the front inside the boat.

3. Put the straw inside the clay so that it stands straight up. It will be the boat mast.

4. Poke the sail through the straw, carefully threading the straw through the punched holes and guiding it down.

5. Apply generous lines of stick glue to the paper plate.

6. First, put the boat in the center.

7. Scrunch up pieces of blue and white tissue and apply them on top, so that the result looks like choppy water.

8. Make Jesus out of the wooden clothes pin. Make sure the pinchy part is down.  On the top draw his face and some clothes beneath.

9. Pinch Jesus to some of the tissue paper so that he stands, but “floats” a little as the plate moves back and forth.

Directions

1.  Give each child a paper plate and some blue/white tissue paper pieces. Let them glue on the tissue paper to the paper plate to make the water.
2. Next let them draw (or draw a boat for them) and cut it out. 
3. Lastly, have them draw Jesus and cut it out and paste to the paper. 

Directions

1. Have each child cut out BOTH of their footprints on construction paper. 
2. You make TWO footprints extra.
3. Divide them into two teams. 
4. Have them get in a single file line and put their footprints underneath them. 
5. Give each line leader an extra footprint. 
6. When you way go, each team has to lay down the extra footprint and take a step forward. when the last person in line takes a step, they pass the extra footprint to the front of the line to repeat the process. 
7. The first team to reach the end of the room wins. 

Directions

1. Divide the children into two teams. The teams will take turns running to the far side of the room and putting pool noodle around their waste and run back to their team. The next player will be handed the pool noodle and will put it on and then run to the far side of the room and take the pool noodle off and run back to their team, where the next player will run to put on the pool noodle and continue to play until all the players have run.