Ananias & Sapphira

This is such a good lesson! It can really make the kids think about consequences for their actions.

Introduction: We are going to be studying the book of Acts. That is in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and then Acts. Luke was a doctor, and he is the one who wrote this book. Luke wrote it 40 days after Jesus rose from the dead. We will look at some of the early Christians and what they had to suffer for Jesus. These will lead to our lessons about Paul. Acts has 30 years of information for us to study.

Today's lesson is found in Acts 5:1-11. We acted out this lesson. You will see where we moved to different areas in the classroom during the lesson. The Christians have been teaching as many people as they can, and there were a lot of baptisms. They were performing miracles and healing people.

Acts 4:34-37: The people that had land or houses, sold them and brought the money from the sale to the Apostles and they gave to the poor and needy.

I printed the deed on "granite paper"

You can print the "land deed sale" here.

(Everyone stands at the money station. There is a document that states they sold land and get a bag of money for the sale.) (The kids take these home)

Today we are learning about a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira had some land they could sell. (Acts 5:3)

They saw that the Christians were giving money to Peter and Peter was a follower of Jesus. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could impress Peter by giving money too.

They sold some land and they both decided to keep SOME of the money for themselves and give the rest to Peter to help the poor.

 (Do land deed transfers and hand out money)
We dated, stamped, scribbled a signature, and rolled up the deed with a ribbon.

(Now, we move to another part of the room, to the 'Temple' area.)

Ananias took the other part and took it to the disciples and laid it at their feet. “Look!” Ananias told them, “I sold some of my land and here is all the money I made!”

Peter said to Ananias: Why have you kept part of the money from the sale? It was your money, under your own control, so why have you come up with this lie in your heart? You haven’t lied to men, but to God! And do you think God wants us to lie?

Well, right after Ananias heard this from Peter, he fell down dead! Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t strike us down instantly now?

The headstones for A & S were purchased at Dollar Tree a couple of years ago. They are Styrofoam, so I used a craft knife, and scraped off the stuff I didn't want on it, then used paint to blend in the colors and add their initial so it wasn't obvious that I had cut on it.

(We all moved to the 'Graveyard" station.)

Some men came and carried the body of Ananias out of the temple. They were amazed, and a little scared by what had happened.

(Back to 'Temple' station.)

About 3 hours later (Acts 5:7), Sapphira, came into Peter. She hasn’t heard what happened to her husband yet. Peter asked her, "Is the amount that Ananias donated what they sold the land for?"

She answered: “Yes, that’s how much we sold the land for.” Peter asked her why they agreed together to test God? Peter told her to look at the feet of the men that buried her husband because they will carry you out too!

(We moved to the 'Graveyard' station.)

IMMEDIATELY, Sapphira died, and the men came to carry her out and they buried her by her husband.  

People heard about Ananias & Sapphira from far, far away! They heard about how they had lied to Peter, and most importantly they lied to God. And, they both died instantly because of their lies!

(Acts 5:11: A great fear came upon all the church (the people) and upon all who heard these things.)

And many Christians learned that day that God sees and hears everything that we do.

Extra project: Give each child a 3x5 white index card. We are transparent to God. Have them draw a heart and write their names on the card with white crayon. Discuss how we can’t see what is on the card. But God can. Take a marker and color over the cards. Explain that God can see what we cannot. We can’t see each other’s hearts, but God can. I had the students make a heart with sin, lies, and/or love on each. Original idea found here.

 Click here to download the worksheet.

You can find all the Acts worksheets here.

Click here to download the lesson.  

Click here to download the visuals.
Not all are shown.
These have been updated with a cleaner look as shown.

 

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(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

Bible Verse: Acts 5:4

                       

Passport: Jerusalem



Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.