This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.
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Lesson Icebreaker Question
When you were a child, what made you feel safe and happy?
Lesson Highlight
In this lesson, we will learn how Jesus welcomes children and teaches about entering the Kingdom of God. We will also hear a story about a rich man and learn what is most important in life.
Vocabulary List (GNT)
- Adultery — When a married person has a romantic or sexual relationship with someone who is not their husband or wife.
- Assure — To promise or tell someone something to help them feel sure and safe.
- Babies — Very small children who cannot walk or talk yet.
- Belongs — To be owned by or be a part of something.
- Brothers — Boys or men who have the same parents.
- Called — Asked someone to come or spoke to someone.
- Camel — A large animal with a long neck and one or two humps that lives in the desert and carries heavy things.
- Commandments — Important rules from God about how people should live.
- Disciples — The special friends and followers of Jesus.
- Eternal Life — Life with God that never ends, even after death.
- Eye Of A Needle — A very tiny hole in a needle where the thread goes through.
- Falsely — In a way that is not true; telling a lie about someone.
- Heaven — The special, holy place where God lives.
- Impossible — Something that cannot be done by people.
- Kingdom Of God — God’s perfect place where he is King and everything is good and right. It is a real place in heaven, and it also lives in the hearts of people who love and follow him.
- Murder — To kill someone on purpose.
- Obeyed — Did what someone told you to do.
- Parents — A mother or father.
- Poor — People who do not have much money or things.
- Possible — Something that can be done.
- Present Age — The world and life we live in now, before heaven.
- Receive — To get something that someone gives to you.
- Respect — To show kindness, honor, and care for someone.
- Rich — Having a lot of money and many things.
- Sad — Feeling unhappy.
- Saved — To be made safe by God and given new life with him.
- Scolded — Spoke in an angry way because someone did something wrong.
- Wife — A woman who is married to a husband.
Summary of the Passage
This passage has two important stories about how to enter the Kingdom of God. In the first story, people brought their little children to Jesus. They wanted him to touch and bless them. But Jesus’ disciples told them to stop. Jesus did not like this. He called the children to him and said that the Kingdom of God belongs to people like these children. He told everyone that people must trust God like children do. If they do not, they will not be part of God’s Kingdom.
In the second story, a rich man came to Jesus with a big question. He asked what he must do to have eternal life with God. Jesus reminded him about God’s commandments — rules about not stealing, lying, or hurting others. The man said he had followed these rules all his life. But Jesus told him to sell everything, give the money to the poor, and follow him. The man was very sad because he was very rich and did not want to give up his things.
Then, Jesus said it is very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God because they often trust in their money, not in God. People asked who could be saved. Jesus answered that what is impossible for people is possible for God.
This passage teaches us that the Kingdom of God is for people who trust God with simple, child-like hearts. It also teaches us to love God more than our money or things. God can save anyone who comes to him.
Read The Passage
Jesus Blesses Little Children
Luke 18:15-30 (GNT)
15 Some people brought their babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. The disciples saw them and scolded them for doing so,
16 but Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17 Remember this! Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
The Rich Man
18 A Jewish leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother.’”
21 The man replied, “Ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.”
23 But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
24 Jesus saw that he was sad and said, “How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!
25 It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”
26 The people who heard him asked, “Who, then, can be saved?”
27 Jesus answered, “What is humanly impossible is possible for God.”
28 Then Peter said, “Look! We have left our homes to follow you.”
29-30 “Yes,” Jesus said to them, “and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will receive much more in this present age and eternal life in the age to come.”
Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:
- Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 18:15-30 (NIRV)
- Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 18:15-30 (GNT)
- Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 18:15-30 (NLT)
- Hard: New International Version: Luke 18:15-30 (NIV)
- Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 18:15-30 (ESV)
Comprehension Questions
- Who did the people bring to Jesus?
- What did the disciples do when the people brought the children?
- What did Jesus say about the children?
- What question did the rich man ask Jesus?
- What commandments did Jesus remind the man about?
- How did the man say he had lived his life?
- What did Jesus tell the man to do with his riches?
- How did the man feel after hearing Jesus’ answer?
- What did Jesus say about rich people and God’s Kingdom?
- What did Jesus say about what is possible with God?
- What did Peter tell Jesus the disciples had left behind?
- What did Jesus promise to those who follow him?
Application Questions
- Why do you think Jesus loves children so much?
- What are things people sometimes love more than God?
- Why is it hard for people with many things to follow God?
- What is one thing you can do this week to trust God more?
- How does it feel to know God can do what is impossible for people?
Theological Insights
- God’s Kingdom is for people who trust him like little children.
- Jesus wants us to love God more than money or things.
- Only God can save people and give them eternal life.
- Following Jesus sometimes means giving up hard things, but God promises great blessings.
- God loves people of every age, rich or poor.
Closing Prayer
Dear Father, thank you for loving children and all people. Help us to trust you like little children and to follow you with our whole hearts. Amen.
ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke
More ELL Resources
You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.
Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Joyful Moments in Christ 