Opening Prayer

Dear Jesus, you are alive! Thank you for Easter. Open our ears to hear your good news this morning. Amen.

Scripture: Acts 10:34-43

Peter stood up in a Roman soldier’s house and told everyone what had happened:

“God doesn’t play favorites. He loves people from every country and every family. You know the story of Jesus — how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit, and he went around doing good and healing people who were trapped by the devil. We saw all of it.

“Then they killed him. They hung him on a wooden cross.

“But God raised him on the third day! And he showed himself to us. We ate and drank with him after he came back from the dead. He wasn’t a ghost — he ate breakfast with us!

“And he told us to tell everyone this: whoever believes in Jesus has their sins forgiven. Every single person.”

What This Means

Imagine you had the most amazing thing happen to you. Maybe you saw a huge whale jump out of the ocean, or you watched a house get picked up by a tornado. You’d want to tell everyone, right? You wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it.

That’s Peter in this story. He saw something no one had ever seen before. His friend Jesus — the one the soldiers killed on a cross — was alive again. Not alive like a ghost floating through walls. Alive like a person who sits at the table and eats fish for breakfast. Peter ate with him. He could see the scars on Jesus’s hands while Jesus passed him the bread.

Now Peter is in a place he never expected to be: the house of a Roman soldier named Cornelius. Peter was Jewish. He grew up believing God’s promises were only for Jewish people — his people, his family, his country. But God showed Peter something new. God said, “My love isn’t just for one group. It’s for everyone.”

So Peter opens his mouth and tells this Roman soldier the best news in the world: Jesus died, God raised him, and anyone — anyone — who believes in him is forgiven. Not just Jewish people. Not just good people. Everyone.

That word “everyone” is the Easter word. It means you. It means your friends. It means the kid at school nobody likes. It means the whole world.

Let’s Talk About It

Eberley: Peter grew up thinking God’s promises were only for his people. Then God changed his mind. Have you ever been really sure about something, and then found out you were wrong? How did that feel? Why do you think it’s hard for us to believe God’s love is bigger than we thought?

Eberley: Peter says “we ate and drank with him.” Why does it matter that Jesus ate real food after he rose from the dead? What would it mean if he were just a spirit?

Sonja: Peter was afraid to go to Cornelius’s house at first, because Cornelius was different from him. But then he went anyway. What happened when he got there? Have you ever been nervous to talk to someone new?

Sonja: What’s the big news Peter told everyone? Can you say it in your own words?

Dahlia & Freddy: Did Jesus stay dead? (No! God raised him up!) Did Jesus eat breakfast with his friends? (Yes!) Does Jesus love just some people, or everyone? (Everyone!)

Remember This

Jesus is alive, and he forgives everyone who believes in him.

Closing Prayer

Dear God, thank you that your love is for everyone — not just some people, but all people. Thank you that Jesus really rose from the dead and ate with his friends. Help us tell others this good news, just like Peter did. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Memory Verse

“Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.” — Acts 10:43