NICODEMUS TALKS TO JESUS

by Kimber Bailey Scott

John 3:1-2

SING:

I Love Jesus

(tune: Jesus loves me)

I love Jesus, I can say; I will love Him every day!

While I work and while I play, I will love Him every day!

Jesus is alive I know, for the Bible tells me so.

He is with me every day, and He hears me when I pray

Yes, Jesus loves me. (3x)

The Bible tells me so.

RHYME:

When I pray, I fold my hands (fold hands)

And close my eyes (close eyes)

I think about God and He hears me.

-Jean Katt

PRAY:

The Bible says, “We love Him.” We love Jesus. We like to talk to Him. Let’s pray to Him.

Jesus we love You. We like to talk to You. Thank You for listening to us when we talk to You. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

LESSON:

Do you see someone in this room who is happy when he talks to Jesus? Point to someone who is happy to talk to Jesus. _______, ________, and ________ are happy when they talk to Jesus. (name each child) We’re going to meet a man from our Bible story who was also happy to talk to Jesus. (open your Bible and point to the text) This man’s name was Nicodemus. Let’s welcome Nicodemus.

(Pull out a man puppet from your magic bag.)

Hi, boys and girls. My name is Nicodemus. I know that all of you like to talk to Jesus. I want to tell you about one time when I talked to Jesus.

It was nighttime. Do you talk to Jesus at night? Nighttime is a good time to talk to Jesus.

Because it was nighttime, the city was quiet. Everyone was home and the children were asleep. I felt happy because I was going to talk to Jesus. Are you happy to talk to Jesus? Show me what you look like when you are happy. Yes, we smile and laugh when we are happy. I was smiling as I was walking to the house where Jesus was staying.

At the house, I knocked on the door. Knock Knock Knock. I want to talk to Jesus I said. Jesus and I went up on the roof of the house to talk. We were alone. Do any of you talk to Jesus when you are alone? Anytime you are alone is a good time to talk to Jesus. I asked Jesus some questions. Jesus said “God loves you, Nicodemus.” Jesus told me many important and wonderful things. I felt happy to talk to Jesus.

Let the children ask Nicodemus questions. Have them tell the puppet goodbye and put it back into your magic bag.

APPLY:

Show me how Nicodemus felt when he talked to Jesus…Show me how you feel when you talk to Jesus.

Show me how Jesus listened to Nicodemus. Show me how Jesus listens to us when we talk to Him.

Nicodemus was happy when he talked to Jesus and Jesus listened to him. We are happy because we can talk to Jesus and Jesus hears us when we talk to Him.

MEMORY VERSE:

The Bible tells us that God made the world. The Bible says, “We love Him“ Can you say those words with me? Say them louder. Say them softer.

Give each one a Bible (or share) & ask each to say, “We love Him” 1 John 4:19

ACTIVITY:

Our memory verse says “We love Him.” Have them chant and clap to the following chant:

We love Him. We love Him.

Everybody here says, “We love Him.

PRETEND:

Drape blankets over tables to make a large house. Set up the picture of Jesus inside the house.

Nicodemus was happy. He was on his way to see Jesus. He was going to talk to Jesus. Let’s pretend to be Nicodemus. We are going to the house where Jesus is. We are going to talk to Jesus. What will we say to Jesus when we see Him? Our memory verse says, “We love Him.: We could tell Jesus that we love Him.

Have children walk to the table house and knock. Knock Knock Knock. We have come to see Jesus. May we talk to Jesus? Have them talk to the picture of Jesus.

ART/CRAFT:

Write each child’s name on the outside of a Ziploc bag. 

Nicodemus liked to talk to Jesus about many wonderful things. How does Nicodemus feel to be talking to Jesus?...Yes, he is happy.

How do you feel when you talk to Jesus? …I feel happy too. Because Jesus is alive, we can talk to Him about wonderful things. Let’s take a walk and look at some of the wonderful things we have to talk to Jesus about.

Take a walk outside and name things to talk to Jesus about. Let them gather a few small items such as twigs, leaves and grass to put in their bags.

We can talk to Jesus about the things in His world. We can talk to Jesus about anything. We are happy Jesus is alive and we can talk to Him. Let’s talk to Jesus. We love You, Jesus. We like to talk to You. We like to talk to You about things in Your world. Thank You for listening to us when we talk to You.

NEED:

Bible

Man or sock puppet

Magic bag/sack

Folding tables

Blankets

Ziploc bags

Perm. marker