Ananias and Sapphira

This is a great lesson for kids! The obvious application is do not lie! I have updated the lesson, application printable, added visuals and pictures to color. This also includes an introduction to the book of Acts that can be used for any lesson in Acts or review.

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. And the book of Luke.

 Click here to download.

Open your Bibles to Acts 1:1. Look at the title. It says The ACTS of the Apostles. What does this mean? What does it mean when you act on something? That means that you do something. So, Acts tells us about what the Apostles did after Jesus returned to heaven. The first chapter tells us about Jesus going back to heaven.

Click here to download.

The title states it is the ACTS of the Apostles. Jesus picked 12 men to follow Him. What were they called? Disciples means followers of Jesus. After Jesus went back to heaven, those 11 disciples (not Judas, but Matthias was selected to be a disciple) were called Apostles because Jesus sent them out.

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.

The Christians had been teaching as many people as they could, and there were a lot of baptisms. They were doing miracles and healing people. 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. (Acts 4:34-37)

Our Bible scripture for today's lesson is Acts 5:1-11. 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 he 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.

Ananias took the other part and took it to the disciples and laid it at their feet. “Look!” said Ananias, “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! How does God feel about lying?

Ananias instantly fell down dead when he heard the words Peter spoke! Some men came and carried the body of Ananias out of the temple. They were amazed, and a little scared by what had happened.

About 3 hours later (Acts 5:7), Sapphira, went to see Peter. She hadn’t heard what happened to her husband yet. Peter asked her, "Did you sell the land for the amount that Ananias donated?"

She answered: “Yes, that is 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 would carry her out too!

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! People were afraid when they heard these things. (Acts 5: 11) And many Christians learned that day that God sees and hears everything that we do.

       

The land deed that we signed and tied with a ribbon is written with the Old English Text font. To save ink, I print the plain deed onto granite paper. Click the picture to print.

Click here to print in Color

Click here to print in B/W.

I typically like the project for the lesson to be a review or a main point to talk about and apply to the students. They have something to take home and maybe the parents will question them and help them remember the lesson better. This printable can be printed in color or black & white. I printed the black & white onto construction paper. It has more texture than cardstock or paper. I cut the paper to 8.5x11 to print. I put the bags in order, then I tied a ribbon around them to hold them together. Cute bow and all! Click here to download both. (BTW, the kids really loved these!)

The kids do love the bags, but this is a worksheet with the same questions for easy printing and no assembly needed. This includes the color and black & white worksheet and a scripture poster about telling lies. Click here to download (without logos).

 Click here to download the worksheet.

Extra project: Give each student 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.

Bible Verse: Acts 5:4 

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

Used by permission.

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.

Click here to download the pictures to color.
(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

Click here to see the posters for Acts including Luke at the top.

Click here to see all the worksheets for Acts.