Kids: Bible Story Time

Teacher Note: Today’s Treasure Story is Romans 1:1-23. Encourage your students to find the passage in their Bibles. They will have several opportunities throughout the Bible Story Time to read verses from the passage.

                  Have you ever written a letter to someone? What was your letter about? Allow time for a few students to share their answers.

Our lesson today is from the book of Romans, which is a letter Paul wrote to a church in Rome. God’s message of forgiveness and love was already spreading far from Jerusalem, and new churches were being formed in faraway places. Paul had heard about some Christians in Rome, and he was very excited to know that they were meeting together to worship and learn more about Jesus.

Paul wanted to visit the Roman church, but he was not able to get there as soon as he would have liked. While he was waiting, he wrote the church a letter. This letter is recorded in the book of Romans in the New Testament.

                  How do you usually begin a letter? (Allow time for a few students to answer.) Paul began his letter with a greeting to the people. The greeting Paul used is a much longer greeting than the simple “Dear friends” greetings we are used to.

                  Read Romans 1:1-7 to your students. That was one very long sentence! Look back at verse one. What did Paul call himself in that verse?

Paul called himself “a servant of Christ Jesus.” Paul’s entire life was spent serving Jesus and doing His will. Paul thought it was a privilege to serve God by telling as many people as possible about Jesus.

Paul used his greeting to introduce himself and to remind those reading his letter exactly who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

Paul was very thankful for the Christians in Rome, and he told them so in the next section of his letter.

                  Ask a student volunteer to read Romans 1:8. Why was Paul thankful for the Roman Christians?

Paul was thankful for the faith of the Christians in Rome. Their faith was proof that God’s message of salvation was starting to spread throughout the world. The message of Jesus’ forgiveness and life was spreading to the Gentiles just as God had commanded.

Jesus did not come just to save the Jews. Jesus came for all people—all nationalities, all skin colors, all sizes, and all abilities.

                  Ask student volunteers to read Romans 1:9-12. What did Paul ask God in his prayers?

Paul spent a lot of time in prayer asking God to provide a way for him to get to Rome. Paul wanted to encourage the new church, but he also knew that he would be encouraged by the Christians there. Paul would eventually get to Rome, but now he was just writing them a letter and waiting on God’s timing.

                  Ask student volunteers to read Romans 1:13-15. Why was Paul eager to go to Rome?

Paul loved to preach the Gospel, and he wanted to preach the Gospel in Rome. When he said that he wanted to “reap some harvest among you” (Romans 1:13), he was saying that he wanted to be a part of people believing in Jesus.

                  What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The Gospel is the account of who Jesus is and what He has done so that all people have a chance to receive eternal life through Him.

Paul wanted to tell as many people as possible about the Gospel, and he especially wanted to do so in Rome, where many people did not even know about God.

                  Ask student volunteers to read Romans 1:16-17. What was Paul not ashamed of?

Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the only way that people can be saved from sin. Paul knew the only way to have eternal life with God is through believing the Gospel. Paul reminded those reading his letter that the Gospel is for everyone: the Jews (descendants of Abraham who had been given God’s Law and promises) and the Gentiles (anyone who is not Jewish).

                  Ask student volunteers to read Romans 1:18-20. What does “the wrath of God” mean?

“The wrath of God” means God’s holy anger at sin. God hates sin, but He loves the people who sin. Sin seeks to destroy that which God created and to separate God from His people. For that reason, God hates unrighteousness, which is sin.

God wants us to choose Him over sin, and He has provided ways for everyone, even those without a Bible, to get to know things about Him. He has revealed things about Himself in His creation. He created the universe in such a way that we can see His perfection and His power, His creativity and His compassion, His awesomeness and His authority. However, some people choose to ignore God. They decide that the world just happened to form itself. Or they allow themselves to get so busy and distracted that they miss what God is showing them. God has provided a way to escape His wrath, but we must be willing to see the clues and path He has given us.

                  Ask student volunteers to read Romans 1:21-23. Instead of worshiping God, what did people begin to worship?

Verse 23 tells us that people chose to worship created things instead of the Creator. When we sin we make ourselves and other created things more important to us than God. We begin to see created things as being worthy of our worship. But God the Creator is the only one worthy of our worship.

Every person is born into sin. This means that we are all sinners from birth. Sin is like a horrible and deadly disease that we cannot cure on our own. The only cure for sin is Jesus. Jesus is the only one who can free us from sin and give us life with God. God forgives the sins of anyone who repents and trusts in His Son. This does not mean that Christians never sin, but it means that our sin is forgiven and can no longer separate us from God for eternity.

Paul was anxious to get to Rome to teach the people there about the forgiveness and life Jesus offers. Are you like anyone in this lesson? Are you like the people in Rome who still did not know Jesus? Are you like the new Christians in Rome who had recently come to know Jesus and needed to learn more about Him? Or are you like Paul, boldly telling others about Jesus? Jesus came for all people, and He wants you to know Him and tell others about Him. If you would like to talk more about knowing Jesus, please talk to one of your teachers before you leave today.