Series 1 – Salvation • Lesson 1The Old Sinful Nature
Understanding Sin and its Hold
Welcome to Trailhead 1 of the Salvation Trek! Explore the complete interactive Teacher’s Guide, Presentation Slides, Object Lessons, Memory Verses, and Printable Craftivities for both Beginners and Primary trekkers.
🌱 Beginners Trail: Ages 4–6
🎯 Primary Trail: Ages 7–15
Key Verses: Romans 3:23 • James 2:10
Session: ~60 Mins
Trek Mission: What Trekkers Will Discover
Along this trail expedition, young trekkers will discover that:
1. What Sin Is & What It Does
- Is any thought or behavior that is contrary to the Word of God or His character.
- Is when we do things our way instead of God’s way.
- Hurts us and other people.
- Separates us from God.
2. Universal Need for a Savior
All have sinned. No matter how hard we try, we cannot change our sinful nature by our own good works.
3. God’s Standard of Perfection
There are no small sins and big sins.
CHOOSE YOUR AGE GROUP TRAIL OR PRINTABLE PACK BELOW:🌱 Beginners – Teacher’s Guide (Ages 4–6)
Series 1 – Salvation: Lesson 1 – Sinful Nature
Complete step-by-step lesson trail: Worship, Mia & Penny Story, Pick & Stick Hearts, Romans 3:23 Memory Verse, and Salvation Crown Craftivity.
Trail Stop 1
🎵 1. Worship Time
Slide: “Lets worshipJesus!”
Begin with worship, motions, and singing aloud to Jesus. Help children follow motions, pick a beat, clap their hands, or just follow along.
📁 Songs are in a folder named ‘Worship Jesus’
Trail Stop 2
🐷 2. Story Time — Mia & Penny the Pig
Slides 3–10
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Mia who had a pig named Penny. Mia had a special plan for Penny – she wanted her to participate in the grand fair. Determined to make Penny the cleanest pig at the fair, Mia fed her pig delicious treats and meticulously scrubbed her until she sparkled.
On the day of the fair, Mia carefully led Penny by a leash, beaming with pride. They strolled along the path, excited for the festivities ahead. But as they passed a muddy puddle, Penny’s eyes twinkled mischievously. In an instant, she darted towards the puddle, splashing into its muddiness with glee. Mia gasped and tried to stop Penny, calling out desperately, "No, Penny, stay clean!" She pulled on the leash, but it was too late. Penny reveled in the joy of being a pig, rolling and twirling in the mud, leaving her sparkling appearance far behind.
Mia felt a pang of disappointment, realizing that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t change Penny’s pig nature. You see, pigs will be pigs, and their nature cannot be changed. Much like us. We are all born with a Sinful nature. No matter how hard we try, we would still lie, cheat, gossip, steal, talk back, and be selfish. We would sometimes get upset and pout too. No amount of washing with soap or going to church, or doing good, or making promises could change what is inside our hearts. Our hearts still have a nature that leads us to do wrong things. It isn’t something we could just scrub away or fix with decisions.
Slide Highlights: “Mia had a special plan for Penny – she wanted her to participate in the grand fair” • “Mia was determined to make Penny the cleanest pig at the fair” • “No matter how hard Mia tried, she couldn’t change Penny’s pig nature. Pigs will be pigs!”
💬 Questions to discuss:
- What is Sin?
- Sin is the bad stuff we do that makes God sad.
- Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way.
- (From Presentation Slide 7): No matter how hard we try we cannot change our sinful nature
- Did you know that God has a certain way he wants us to live? He does and he gives us the Bible to know how to do it! God gives us the rules and our job is to obey them. After all, He created us and knows what is best for us.
And these are some of the very first rules God gave His children (Slide 8: “God gave us rules to keep us safe!”):
- Put God first.
- Worship God only.
- Say God’s name with love.
- Make the Sabbath a special day.
- Respect, obey, and honour your parents.
- Do not hurt others.
- Do not take something that is not yours without permission
- Tell the truth.
- Do not become jealous of what other people have.
★ All have sinned!
Sounds easy enough. Well, think about your day today. Did you lose your cool and yell or hit your sibling for taking your stuff? Did you disobey your parents by not cleaning your room? Did you sneak a cookie when your Mom said no dessert? All of those examples are sinful because they go against what God wants for us. He wants us to obey our parents, to be kind to our siblings and not take stuff that doesn’t belong to us. So, maybe you haven’t done those things today but you probably have in the past.
🖤🤍 I have two hearts here with me. A sinful heart and a pure heart. Let’s see what makes a sinful heart.
Interactive Classroom Game • Slide 9: “Pick & Stick”
🖤🤍 Activity: Pick and stick (black heart/ white heart)
Instructions: Paste a black and white cutout of a heart on the wall. The black cutout represents a “Sinful heart”. The white cutout represents a “Pure heart”. Take a printout of pickandstick-S1L1.pdf and cut the chits. Stick double-sided tapes at the back of the chits. Ask the kids to stick the appropriate chit in the appropriate heart.
All 27 Printable Chits Included in Pick & Stick Sheet:
🖤 Sinful Heart Chits (13): COPYING, STEALING, BULLYING, KILLING, BEING SELFISH, LYING, DISOBEYING, ARGUING WITH PARENTS, CHEATING, GOSSIPING, FIGHTING, BEING RUDE, USING BAD WORDS.
🤍 Pure Heart / Good Chits (14): SHARING THE GOSPEL, SHARING, HELPING, GIVING TO THE POOR, PRAYING, READING THE BIBLE, OBEYING, GOING TO CHURCH, CARING, BEING HONEST, COMING FIRST, BEING PART OF THE CHURCH CHOIR, GOING TO SUNDAY SCHOOL, RESPECTING PARENTS.
📌 Points to make (Slide 10: “What does sin do?”):
- All have sinned. There are no small sins and big sins.
- Sin hurts us and other people
- Sin separates us from God
But God loves us way too much to leave us in this broken state. He made a way! Let’s see that in the next class.
Trail Stop 3
📖 3. Memory Verse Time
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” — Romans 3:23
(You may follow the actions in the video above/below to teach the memory verse)
Trail Stop 4
👑 4. Craftivity – Salvation Crown (Slide 12: “Crown of Salvation”)
Take printouts of the PDF “BeginnersCrafitivity – S1L1”. Give each child one heart and a strip of paper for the crown base – The heart that says “See my dark heart stained with sin. I must ask Jesus in.” Ask the kids to color the heart black and stick it to the leftmost side of the strip.
(The remaining hearts to complete the crown will be stuck in the subsequent weeks)
🖤
See my dark heart stained with sin. I need to ask Jesus in.
All 4 Crown Hearts on the Printable Sheet (for Weeks 1–4):
- Week 1 (This Lesson): “See my dark heart stained with sin. I need to ask Jesus in.”
- Upcoming Weeks: “Jesus died and shed blood for me So my dark heart could be clean” • “Jesus will help me learn and grow.” • “One day I’ll walk streets of gold”
Trail Stop 5
🙏 5. Prayer Time
Slide 13: “Lets talk to God”
Lead the children in prayer — talking to God and thanking Him for loving us and making a way to help our hearts.
Trail Stop 6
📝 6. Summary and Takeaway (Slide 14: “Lets Recap”)
- What is Sin?
- Sin is the bad stuff we do that makes God sad.
- Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way.
- No matter how hard we try we cannot change our sinful nature
- All have sinned. There are no small sins and big sins.
- Sin hurts us and other people
- Sin separates us from God
🏠 Take-home Activity (Slides 15–17: “Take-Home Activity Sheet” & “Take-Home Coloring Sheet” • “God Bless!”)
Take-home Activity – Give each child a printout of “Activity Sheet – Beginners” and ask them to solve it at home.
Activity Sheet – Beginners (Series 1 – Salvation | Lesson 1 – Sinful Nature):
- Sin is when we: ☐ Obey God ☐ Disobey God
- Sin makes God: 🙂 / ☹️
- Does Sin hurt us and other people? ______________
- Have you ever sinned? _____________
- Can we save ourselves from sin? ☐ Yes ☐ No
🎯 Primary – Teacher’s Guide (Ages 7–15)
Series 1 – Salvation: Lesson 1 – Sinful Nature
Complete lesson trail: Rich Young Ruler Bible Story, “Hit the Target!” Object Lesson, Romans 1 Deep-Dive, James 2:10 Memory Verse, and Target Wall Hanging Craftivity.
Trail Stop 1
🎵 1. Worship Time
Slide 2: “Lets worshipJesus!”
Begin with worship, motions, and singing aloud to Jesus. Help children follow motions, pick a beat, clap their hands, or just follow along.
Trail Stop 2
📜 2. Story Time — Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler
Slides 3–10
One day a rich young ruler came running up to Jesus and knelt before Him. He asked Him a question. He asked, "Good Master, what good thing should I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said, "Only God is good. You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery (being married and having girlfriends or boyfriends). Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother." The rich young ruler said that he had kept all those commandments since he was a youth.
Jesus knew how the rich young ruler felt about being rich. Jesus said, "You lack one thing. Go and sell all that you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me." But when the rich young ruler heard this, he was very sad because he was very rich and left.
The rich young ruler thought he had kept all the commandments whereas, he had failed in the very first one – “To put God first”. It is impossible for anyone to keep all the commandments. Even if we have failed one, we are guilty of breaking it all.
• Slide 4: “Good Master, what good thing should I do to inherit eternal life?”
• Slide 5: “You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother.” / “I have kept all these commandments since I was youth”
• Slide 6: “You lack one thing. Go and sell all that you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.”
Slides 7–8 • Object Lesson — Hit the Target!
🎯 Object Lesson – Set Up
Your target can be a standard bulls-eye target. Make the kids write down their ideas of good works on a sheet of paper. For example, obeying your parents, being kind to others, telling the truth, etc. Then ask them to fold them into paper arrows.
🏹 How to Play
Designate a throw line. Place the target about 15-20 feet away. It is essential to make it impossible for anyone to hit the target. Tell the kids that the target represents God. The arrows represent our good works, and the distance between the throw line and the target represents our sin, which separates us from God. Tell the players they must attempt to throw their arrows as close to the target as possible. Allow everyone to take a turn, but leave the arrows on the ground as you go; then explain the following object lesson.
💡 Explanation (Slide 8: “Hit the Target!”)
The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). One of the definitions of sin is to miss the mark of perfection. God is perfect and we are not, which means we cannot get to God by our good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). In our game some of the players got closer to the target than other players. Likewise, some of us do more good things while we live on Earth. But still, all those good things aren’t close to making us perfect like God is perfect. We still miss the mark! We still have sin in the way! (Point out the great distance between the position of the spaceships and the goal.)
💬 Questions to discuss (Slide 9: “What is Sin?”):
- What is Sin?
- Sin is any thought or behavior that is contrary to the Word of God or His character. It is anything one thinks, says or does that is displeasing to God. (See Rom. 3:23; James 4:17; 1 John 3:4.)
- Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way.
- All have sinned. There are no small sins and big sins.
⚠️ WHY SHOULDN’T WE SIN?
Slide 10 • Read: Romans 1: 21 – 23 & Romans 1: 28 – 32
Sin seems fun for a little while, but there are always consequences that hinder our relationships with Christ.
1. Ask the class to turn to Romans 1 in their bibles. Talk about a time in your life when personal sin had a very real consequence, such as being grounded for being disrespectful to your parents. Say, “When we don’t learn from our mistakes, God’s word is very clear that our sinful actions will only get worse. Sin left unchecked results in denying God’s power over our lives.” Ask for a volunteer to read verses 21-23 and summarize the verses’ message. Ask, “What happened to those who ‘neither glorified God nor gave thanks to him (their thinking became useless and their hearts were darkened)’? What did these people ‘exchange [for] the glory of the immortal God (idols)’?” Emphasize that an idol is anything we love or give allegiance to over God, so idols are very cheap and imperfect substitutes.
2. Next, read Romans 1:28-32 to the class. Ask, “What will happen if we fail to ‘retain the knowledge of God’ (we will do what’s wrong, be filled with evil, have no love, etc)?” Point out the warning in verse 32 that approving of others’ sin is a sign of regressed progress in our relationship with the Lord. Use examples of culturally acceptable practices (such as homosexuality, gossip, disrespecting authority, and treating others poorly) that Satan uses to try and alter, or bring down, our relationship to Jesus Christ.
📰 ACTIVITY:
Distribute newspapers to all the kids. Instruct the kids to circle portions where they identify sin and engage in discussions about those identified parts.
📌 Points to make:
- Sin has consequences. It hurts us and other people
- Sin separates us from God
Conclude by saying, “God is so good and no one is good enough to reach Him. We can’t please Him or obey Him any more than the people in the Old Testament could. No one is good enough. But God loves us way too much to leave us in this broken state. He made a way!
Let’s see that in the next class.
Trail Stop 3
📖 3. Memory Verse Time (Slide 11)
Are there little sins and big sins?
The short answer is no, sin is sin. James 2:10 – describes all sins as being equal:
The short answer is no, sin is sin. James 2:10 – describes all sins as being equal:
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” – James 2:10
Trail Stop 4
🎨 4. Craftivity — Target wall hanging (Slide 12)
Give each child a paper plate. Ask them to color it to make it look like a target. Make them write the memory verse on it. They can tie a ribbon to make it hang on a nail.
On the Plate Target Rim: Mark X next to Helpful, X next to Obedient, X next to Humble, and X next to Truthful, with the verse in the center:
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” – James 2:10
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” – James 2:10
Trail Stop 5
🙏 5. Prayer Time
Slide 15: “Lets talk to God”
Lead the class in prayer — talking to God honestly about our need for His grace and forgiveness.
Trail Stop 6
📝 6. Summary and Takeaway
- What is Sin?
- Sin is any thought or behavior that is contrary to the Word of God or His character. It is anything one thinks, says or does that is displeasing to God. (See Rom. 3:23; James 4:17; 1 John 3:4.)
- Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way
- All have sinned. There are no small sins and big sins.
- Sin hurts us and other people
- Sin separates us from God
🏠 Take-home Activity
Take-home Activity – As homework, ask the kids to identify the areas in which they are struggling in their own lives and write it on the “Target craft” and bring it to the next class.
🧠 Class Review Questions (Slides 13–14 & Slide 16: “God Bless!”)
1. What did the rich young ruler ask Jesus?
The rich young ruler asked Jesus, "Good Master, what good thing should I do to inherit eternal life?"
2. What did the rich young ruler reply when Jesus told him about the commandments?
The rich young ruler replied that he had kept all the commandments.
3. Is it possible to keep all the commandments?
No.
4. What is sin?
Sin is any thought or behavior that is contrary to the Word of God or His character. It is anything one thinks, says or does that is displeasing to God. Sin is when we do things our way instead of God’s way.
5. What does sin do to us?
Sin hurts us and other people. It separates us from God.
6. Can we save ourselves from sin?
No.
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