The Good News of Jesus Christ - Peter's Message to Cornelius for Kids New

Peter gave Cornelius and his household one of the clearest explanations of the Good News of Jesus in the New Testament. He had been sent by God to preach to the Gentiles and Acts 10:34-43 records his message to them. Here is the message of the Good News:

Jesus makes it possible for us to be at peace with God. God sent Jesus to earth to live a perfect life and show us how much God loves us. But the people he came to rejected him and his message and put him to death on a cross. God raised him from the dead on the third day to show that he has power over sin and death. Everyone who believes and trusts in Jesus will have their sins forgiven and given eternal life with him forever.

Where This Picks Up from Peter and Cornelius

We learned in the last story, Peter & Cornelius, about the background to this lesson. We learned about Cornelius, a non-Jewish person who also had a vision of an angel who instructed him to call for a man named Peter. We learned about Peter's strange vision of unclean animals being lowered down on a sheet and being told to each them. Then we learned about their meeting and how the church broke out from the Jews to include the Gentiles. This lesson breaks out from that story to focus on the actual message that Peter shared with Cornelius. If Peter were here today and gave us this same message, what should our response be? 

What Is the Good News? Peter Says It in One Sentence

We prefer the New Living Translation for Acts 10:36 because it gives you a short but complete sentence that defines the Good News or Gospel: "There is peace with God through Jesus Christ." Kids can memorize that sentence. You can help them be ready to answer anyone who asks what their faith is all about. "There is peace with God through Jesus Christ!" That's it!

We are approaching the end of our journey through the stories of the Bible. These aren't just interesting stories about an obscure group of people in a particular part of the world in a certain period of history. They are collectively the Story of God seeking to redeem humanity through his chosen people and through his Messiah. It does us no good to just learn the stories but not respond to them personally. The more we learn about Jesus and what he did, the more we learn about God and how he made it possible for people who mess up to still be at peace with God. Peter's message to Cornelius makes us answer the question: "Do you have peace with God?"

(We use the words "Good News" instead of "Gospel" as we are teaching this to kids. Gospel is a great word for kids to know, but they must be taught what it means. So we start with Good News and teach them that they might hear it referred to as the Gospel.) 

Jesus Went Around Doing Good

Sometimes we think about the Gospel as only about the two big holidays, starting at Christmas and ending at Easter. Jesus was born as God become flesh, and then he did and rose again. But what about all the stuff he did in the middle of those two big events? Does any of that matter? Peter's message includes a summary of Jesus' life: "Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." (Acts 10:38) Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life because he was God become Man. The was the perfect Man who showed us what God's plan was from the beginning. 

They Put Him to Death and God Raised Him on the Third Day

We spent 7 lessons in the "Crucifixion and Resurrection" section learning about this, and Peter just says it in one short sentence: "They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him to life on the third day." (Acts 10:39-40) Jesus became the Passover Lamb to deliver us from death. Lots of people have died (nearly everyone in fact! We won't get into Enoch and Elijah here...) and lots of people were put to death on a cross by the Romans. Jesus' resurrection is what separates him from all of those people. Not only did he die for our sins, but he made it possible for us to have his eternal life!

Everyone Who Believes in Him is Forgiven

How do you get this peace with God? Peter answers the question this way: "Everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name" (Acts 10:43) It is important to understand that the word "believe" in the New Testament is not just about answering the question, "Do I think this happened or not?" It means "Am I willing to place my trust in this fact?" Whether Jew or Gentile, Peter helps us understand that we can put all our trust in Jesus to forgive our sins and make us at peace with God.

Sharing the Good News with Kids

We put together a resource called "Sharing the Gospel (Good News) with Kids" that you can use to guide kids through this message and help them understand how they can respond to the Good News. Download the Conversation Guide and the Response Card as a starting point for your ministry. You can tweak any words or phrases that don't quite align with the language of your church or denomination, add logos, contact information, etc. 

After teaching about the message that Peter shared with Cornelius and his household, you can turn to your students and say, "Just like Peter shared the Good News with Cornelius, I want to share the Good News with you!"