YEA Lesson Library
A Wise Builder
About This Lesson
Using the story of the Three Little Pigs and Jesus’ story of the wise man and the foolish man, this lesson teaches the importance of Bible study, obedience, and prayer (seeking God in all things).
Scriptures
Psalm 11:3-5
Isaiah 28:16
Matthew 7:24-27
Luke 6:46
Luke 6:46-49
Acts 20:32
1 Corinthians 3:10-13
Ephesians 2:19-22
2 Timothy 2:19
Words to Know
FOUNDATION - a hard base upon which houses are built
INSTRUCTIONS - words that teach us how to do something
The Lesson
Do you remember the story of the Three Little Pigs? One of the pigs built his house out of straw. One built his house out of sticks. The third little pig built his house out of bricks. The pigs were happy in their houses. Then one day the big bad wolf came along. He knocked on the door of the straw house. The little pig wouldn’t let him in. Then he blew really hard on the house. All at once, the straw house fell down flat! Next he went to the house made of sticks. He knocked on the door. He shouted for the pig to let him in. The second little pig wouldn’t open his door. So, the wolf huffed and puffed on that house. Down it fell. Finally he went to the house built out of bricks. Once more he knocked for the pig to open the door. Again the pig said no. So the wolf huffed and puffed. Nothing happened. He huffed and puffed some more. Still nothing! The wolf could not blow that house down. What important lesson do we learn from the pigs? It matters how a house is built!
Jesus had been up on the mountain teaching His disciples. Many other people came to hear Him teach. Soon there was a great crowd of people gathered. Jesus often used stories when He was teaching. Some people came just came to hear His stories. Others came because they wanted Jesus to heal them. Jesus wanted the people to understand how important it was for them obey His words, not just hear them. He used the story of the wise builder to help them understand the difference.
Jesus said that the person who hears and obeys His words is like a wise builder. The wise builder does not just put a house up anywhere. He checks the ground to make sure it is solid. Then to make it even more solid, he digs a hole and pours a concrete foundation. That will make his house strong and ready to face storms and hard winds. It will not be harmed.
Jesus also told about a man who built his house on the sand. He didn’t bother about a foundation. He just put the house right on the beach. Storms came to that house, too. The house on the sand began to move when it started raining. The wind soon completely destroyed the house. Have you ever built a sand castle on the beach? The castle fell flat when the tide came in and got it wet. That is what happened to the foolish builder’s house. Which one of these two houses would you rather live in?
We are like the builders of these two houses. We are all building our lives. Every year we learn new things to help us become more like Jesus. Our Bible is like the strong foundation of the house. God has given us instructions for how we should live. We want our lives to be strong like the house with the foundation. That is why we should follow His instructions and obey His words. Troubles may come in our lives. We may get sick, but Jesus is the Great Healer. He tells us to bring our problems to Him in prayer. You may need help studying for a test in school. The Bible says that if we don’t understand something, we should ask God to help us. Everyone has problems, but they will not hurt us. We will be wise because we have built our lives on the strong foundation of God’s Word. We can trust God to love us and take care of us.
The person who doesn’t read and obey God’s Word is like the foolish builder. His life will not have a strong foundation. He will not know what to do when trouble or sickness comes to him. He will be frightened and angry. His life will end up in a mess, just like the house built on sand.
Student Prayer
Dear Father, Thank you for giving me your Word to build my life on. Help me to not only hear your words, but to obey them. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Daily Devotions
Sunday - Matthew 7:24-27
Monday - Ephesians 2:19-22
Tuesday - Acts 20:32
Wednesday - Isaiah 28:16
Thursday - 2 Timothy 2:19
Friday - 1 Corinthians 3:10-13
Saturday - Psalm 11:3-5
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Tell that sometimes Jesus used stories to help us understand His Word better.
2. Understand that it is important that we obey God’s words, not just listen to them.
3. Explain why the man who built his house on sand was not wise.
4. Discuss how the Bible, God’s Word, is like the foundation of the house on the rock.
5. Recite the memory verse.
Topics & Themes
Bible Study
God’s Love
God’s Provision
Jesus, His Ministry
Obedience
Prayer
Sermon on the Mount
Wise Man/Foolish Man
Preparation
Children love to build things. They build castles and towers out of blocks. They build forts out of snow. They build playhouses with cardboard boxes. They build sandcastles on the beach. In this lesson we want to take their limited knowledge of building and expand on it. Our aim is to teach them how to build a godly life.
In keeping with the theme of this book, Home Sweet Home, you may want to bring magazine pictures of different types of houses to show the children.
Before class, place about three inches of play sand into a plastic tub and moisten it with water. Provide children with different sized plastic cups for building a sand castle. Spread newspapers on the floor to prevent the sand from being scattered. Build a small sand castle in the tub as an example for children to build their own later in the lesson.
How to Teach This Lesson
Have the children look at the pictures of the different types of houses. Ask them to find one that looks most like their own. Point out that there are many different kinds of houses. Some are large and some are small. But what matters most is how well the house is built.
Your children may already be familiar with the song about the wise and foolish builders. They will be able to visualize the house built on sand when the rains came down. Teaching them the concept that our life is like a house will be more difficult. Jesus often used parables in teaching the people. He began with something they understood, and went on to teach them principles that were more difficult to understand. We used the story of the Three Little Pigs to introduce this lesson because most children are familiar with it.
Ask: Why do you think the wolf was able to blow the straw house down? Why did the brick house not fall down? Explain that it is not only important what you use to build the house with, but also where you build the house. In today’s lesson, one man had his house built on sand, and one built his on a solid rock foundation. Ask: Why do you think the house on sand fell down when the rain came? You can demonstrate with your sand castle how sand moves when it gets wet. Pour a small amount of water over the sand castle to simulate the rain. Explain that it is not a good idea to build on sand.
The wise man who built his house on the rock was very careful about its foundation. Ask: Why do you think his house didn’t fall when the rains and wind came? Explain that the rock doesn’t move when it gets wet as sand does. Anything that is built on a rock foundation will be strong.
Ask: Why do you think Jesus used this story to teach us that we should obey God’s Word, not just listen to it? Explain that God gives us instructions in His Word that tell us how we should live. When we obey His instructions, it makes us strong. Ask: What part of the house is the Bible like? God’s Word never changes. It is something we can count on. When He says that we should obey our parents, He doesn’t mean sometimes. He says it is better to obey than to give gifts (1 Samuel 15:22).
Teacher-Directed Activity
Allow the children to build sand castles. Depending on the size of your class, you may need more than one tub of sand. Provide different sized plastic cups for the children to build with. The sand should be moist in order to hold together. The castles may be shown to the parents when they pick up the children.
REACH Activity
Special Materials:
building blocks, two kitchen timers, felt or strong fabric, foam or sticky-back letters and numbers, glitter glue, hot glue gun or iron-on hemming, dowel rod, sand, rocks, and/or small pebbles, two small flat containers
1. Before the lesson, answer the questions: What does it mean to be “wise”? What does it mean to be “foolish”? Use your Bible and Bible dictionary to find both meanings. Write them in your Bible notebook. Share your answer with family and friends.
2. How can you become a wise person, or have “wisdom”? Use your Bible and concordance to find Scriptures on how to get wisdom. Write them in your Bible notebook and share them with family and friends.
3. With an adult to help, create a banner with a verse you found from #2. Use a piece of felt or other strong fabric about 8 x 11 inches, foam or sticky-back letters/numbers, glitter glue, hot glue gun or iron-on hemming, and an 8-inch dowel rod. Place the letters of the verse on the fabric before securing them. Turn over a half inch hem at the top. Use glitter glue to create a border, if wanted. Slip the dowel rod through the hem. Hang where you will see it often to remind you how to be wise.
4. Use your Bible and concordance to find “wise” people in the Bible. Write information about two “wise” people in your Bible notebook. Share your information with family and friends.
5. How did we get the saying “as wise as an owl”? Find out more about this saying and share it with family and friends.
6. Get enough sand, and rocks or small pebbles, to fill two small, flat containers. Put containers outside. If rain is scarce, get the hose and spray the containers. What happened to the rock and sand? How long did it take the sand to start moving? Are you like rock or sand? Are you easily moved from what is right and persuaded to do the wrong thing? Or are you as steadfast in the truth as a rock? Write about this activity and its results in your Bible notebook.
7. Use construction paper, card stock, glue or tape, color tools, and scissors to “build” a rock wall. On red and brown construction paper, trace the outlines of rocks. On each rock write ways to build a strong foundation of God’s word. Glue or tape the rocks on card stock to make a rock wall. Write Matthew 7:24-25 on the card stock. Hang your rock wall to remind you how to be a wise builder of God’s word.
8. The Bible is the tool that will help build God’s Kingdom. What kind of tools does a builder use for earthly homes? Use an encyclopedia to find out. Share the information with family and friends.
9. Compare your house with other types of buildings: church, school, etc. Create a Venn diagram in your Bible notebook to compare and contrast two different kinds of buildings. Do you think they used different tools? Why or why not?
10. Find out if there is a Historical Society where you live. They will have a list of homes and buildings that have been “preserved.” If they offer tours, try to take one to see how buildings of yesterday compare to buildings of today. Write in your Bible notebook about your experience and the information you learned.
11. What do you think buildings of the future will look like? Draw three different kinds of “future” buildings in your Bible notebook. Share with family and friends.
12. Memory verse: Create a clapping rhythm for the verse. Practice until it is memorized.
13. Sing: “The Solid Rock” on page 5 of the CEM Hymnal.
14. Build a house of building blocks on the couch. Then build one on the floor. When finished, set a timer for each house to see how long it lasts before it falls down. Note: You have to let your family interact in the living room/family room as they normally would.
15. Make a list of the kinds of things we could build a house from, i.e. marshmallows, toothpicks, playing cards, sticks, books, etc. What would be the best material to use for building? What would happen if we built a house from the best material on top of a swamp or a volcano? How long would it last?
16. Divide a piece of paper in half. On one side, draw a picture of the wise man. On the other side, draw a picture of the foolish man (Matthew 7:24-27).
17. Sing: “The Wise Man and the Foolish Man” on page 96 of Kids Classics Collection. Add appropriate actions for the words.
18. Make a family plan for Bible study and discussion. Time spent together reading and talking about God’s word is more important than soccer practice or your favorite TV show, so include Bible study in your family life. You want a strong foundation for your family.
19. Did you know that Mexico City is sinking? The city was built on top of a lake. It doesn’t have a firm foundation. Can you imagine the problems the people of Mexico City will face as the ground underneath them continues to sink? Building structures will be weakened. Cracks will appear. Old buildings will become unsafe. Roads will crack and get potholes much faster than they usually do, which is bad enough. And Mexico City is home to millions of people. Think about how Mexico City is like all of the people around us who don’t know Jesus and who don’t base their lives on Him and His ways. What kinds of problems do they have?
20. Do a sword drill with this week’s Daily Devotionals.
21. Sing: “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation” on page 31 of the CEM Hymnal. Then talk about the words and what they mean to you.
22. Sing: “Higher Ground” on page 148 of the CEM Hymnal. Talk about the words and what they mean to you. Draw a picture showing the higher ground.
23. Sing: “The Church’s One Foundation” on page 25 of the CEM Hymnal. Use the words of the song to answer these questions: Why is Jesus the foundation? What does He do for the church? Because Jesus is the foundation, what does the church do when there are problems? What promise does the church have for the future?
Song
“Wise Man and the Foolish Man” is on page 96 of the Kids Classics Collection.
Add this verse to the ones in the songbook: Verse 3
So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ,
And the blessings will come down.
The blessings will come down
as the prayers go up.
The blessings will come down
as the prayers go up.
The blessings will come down
as the prayers go up,
So build your life on the Lord
Closing Prayer
Have one of the older children lead in prayer, thanking God for giving us His Word, and asking Him to help us to obey it.
Printable Pages
