---

"Mother," Randy cried, running into the kitchen. "A new boy has moved into the house down the street. He is just my size. May we ask him to come and play?"

"Yes," said Mother. "I'll write a note to his mother."

Randy and Debbie took the note and raced down the street.

The new boy was sitting on the steps. He looked sad.

"Hi," said Randy. "What's your name? Will you come and play with us?"

"My name is Peter," the boy said. "Sure, I'll go. If Mother will let me." Peter's mother came to the door. Randy gave her the note. "Yes, run and play with them, Peter," she said.

The children played with their red ball. They played with Scrappy. At last they sat down in the shade of the trees for a rest.

"Where did you live before, Peter?" Randy asked. "Is it very far from here?"

"Miles and miles," Peter answered. "At first Daddy looked at the map a lot. Then he thought he knew the way so he didn't look any more and we got lost."

"Oh!" said Debbie. "What did you do then?"

"Well, Daddy looked at the map again. Then we found the right road," Peter said.

"Your map told you how to get here, just like the Bible tells us how to get to Heaven," said Randy.

"The Bible?" Peter asked, looking puzzled. "What's that?"

Debbie ran into the house. She brought out her Bible and Randy's Bible storybook. "Look! Peter," she said, showing him her Bible.

"This is God's Book. Mother reads it to us. It tells us all about Jesus, God's Son, and how He died for us so we can go to Heaven."

Randy opened his storybook. "See, Peter, these are stories from the Bible. They are easy ones. I can read them myself."

"I know how to read," Peter told them eagerly. "Let me read one, Randy." Randy let Peter read the story of Jesus loving the little children.

When Peter had finished, he asked, "Does Jesus love me, too?"

"Of course He does," said Debbie. "Jesus loves everybody in the whole world. It says so in the Bible."

Just then Mother came across the yard. She brought them some milk and cookies.

"Mom," Randy said as he drank his milk. "God wants everybody to read the Bible, doesn't He?"

"Yes," Mother answered. "There are three important things that God wants us to do with the Bible.

"The first one we do with our eyes.

"The next one we do with our heart.

"And the last one we do with our whole body—our heart, our hands, our feet."

"Oh, goody!" said Debbie. "Tell us about them, Mom."

"I know the first one," Randy said. "We read the Bible with our eyes."

Mother nodded. "Yes, God wants us to read the Bible because in it He tells us how we can take the Lord Jesus as our Savior. He tells how we can please Jesus and grow more like Him day by day. He tells us about our home in Heaven."

"What's the next one—the one about the heart?" Peter asked.

Mother smiled at the children. "When I tell you something that is true, what do I want you to do?" she asked.

"Believe it!" Randy and Peter shouted together.

"That's right," Mother agreed. "And God wants us to believe the Bible. Not just in our head, but in our heart."

"The third thing," Mother continued, "is very important. God wants us to obey His Word. That means to do what the Bible says."

"But, Mom, how can we do that with our hands and feet?" Debbie asked.

"Well," Mother told her, "God tells us in the Bible to be kind to one another. You can obey that by doing something kind and helpful."

"Like helping with the dishes? And picking up my toys?" asked Debbie.

"Yes," said Mother.

"With my feet, I can run errands for my mother," Peter said.

Randy was thinking hard. "Mom," he said. "I know something else that God wants us to do with the Bible. He wants us to learn verses from it."

Mother was pleased. "Yes, Randy," she said. "I'm glad you thought of that. The Lord Jesus knows that when we have His Word in our heart it will keep us from doing wrong. Here is a verse that tells us this. You can learn it right now.

When the children had learned the verse, Peter said, "I wish I had a Bible to read."

Randy whispered something to Mother. She nodded, and Randy said, "Here, Peter, you can have my Bible storybook. I have another one almost like it."

"Oh, thank you!" Peter said. His face looked happy as he ran home.

Randy and Debbie were happy too. They knew that Peter would soon learn to love the Lord Jesus and His Word.

---

Here is the Memory Verse for this Lesson. Add it to the list of memory verses that you have been keeping.

---

Many people came to Jesus to hear Him teach. One day Jesus told them about a man who went out to plant some seed. The seed fell on four different kinds of ground.

Some seed fell by the roadside and the birds ate it. Other seed fell on rocky ground. It started to grow, but it had no root. When the hot sun came out, it died. Other seed fell among weeds and thorns. It tried to grow, but the weeds and thorns kept it from having any fruit. But some seed fell on good ground. It grew and had much fruit—a hundred times what was planted!

Some boys' and girls' hearts are like the roadside. They hear God's Word, but they don't really listen. The Word of God does not get down into their hearts.

It is like the seed which fell by the roadside which the birds came and ate. When we don't really pay attention to God's Word, the devil comes and takes the Word from our hearts.

Other boys and girls have hearts that are like the rocky ground.

They hear God's Word and are happy for a time. But then trouble comes. Maybe they get sick or maybe someone makes fun of them because they believe on Jesus. They turn away from Jesus.

Then there are boys and girls whose hearts are like the ground with the weeds and thorns.

The Word of God comes into their hearts, and it starts to grow. But it does not have any fruit because other things crowd it out—like watching TV too much. This makes the Lord Jesus sad.

But some boys and girls make the Lord Jesus happy. Their hearts are like the good ground. They hear God's Word and pay attention to it.

They love God's Word and they want to obey it. They tell others about the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is pleased with them!

Now that you have heard about these four different kinds of hearts, what kind of heart do YOU want to have? Do you want your heart to be like the good ground? Of course you do! Then remember to pay attention to God's Word, to love it, to obey it, and to tell others about the Lord Jesus. (See Matthew 13)

---

^top

---