The Storying Cloth

by Lifeway
The original storying scarf was developed in 1999
by Blair Faulk. A few years later Lifeway
developed a similar storying cloth with a different
set of stories. After producing this cloth for several
years they stopped production. They offered the art
work to The Storying Scarf ministry in case there
were people who found this story set more
appropriate for the people they are working with.
Dale McCleskey is the contact person at Lifeway
we worked with on this project. We appreciate
their willingness to share this artwork in order to
further God’s Kingdom. All of these designs and
artwork were done by Lifeway.

These instructions were also developed by Lifeway.

Story-Cloth Instructions
The Gospel story cloth is a means to tell the central story of
the Bible in a way that hearers can understand. It helps
persons to see the relationship between the different parts of
the message.

The following outline is intended to assist you. It particularly

seeks to help you make the transitions between the parts of
the story. As you tell the stories you will add detail as you
choose and as the Spirit leads you. Remember people will
learn much more from a dialogue than a lecture. Involve your
hearers by asking questions and reviewing the previous
pictures. The goal of the story cloth is to show that Jesus is
the Son of God, Messiah, and Savior. At the end of the cloth
presentation you will need to use your testimony or other
means to tell hearers how they too can receive Christ.

Creation: Gen 1:1-31

Story-Cloth Gospel Presentation
and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). He created everything that exists.
The Bible is God's book. It tells about God's works in the He created the world, all the plants and animals. Finally He
lives of many people. All of these stories fit together to tell us created the first man and woman. All people (including you
the most important story of all. Have you ever heard the story and me) are the children of that first man and woman.
of the Bible? This cloth has pictures that tell that story.
God created people for a reason. He wanted to love them and
The story begins with the picture of the lion and the lamb. for them to love Him. He wanted to have a family
The Bible says "in the beginning God created the heavens relationship.

The message is that God loves you. He created you so that

He could love you [picture 1]. But because we have all
sinned, someone had to pay for our sin. Jesus came to be that
perfect sacrifice. [pictures 4, 7, 19]. He died on the cross to
take the penalty you and I deserve.

Finally, Jesus offers us all a choice. It's the same choice we

saw in the life of Moses. [Picture 9] The people had to
decide who they would trust. Those who trusted God and
looked to the brass serpent were healed of their snakebites.

Today God offers us the same choice. We have to decide if

we will trust His perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross or if
we will trust ourselves.

To trust Jesus you must make a choice. You must decide to

believe in Him. He is God's perfect sacrifice. In Jesus God
became a man to pay for our sins. You must choose to trust
Him instead of trusting in yourself.
Ascension: Acts 1:2-11
Then Jesus took the disciples out to the mountain and went up Then you must pray and ask Jesus to be your Lord and
into heaven. But before He left, He told them two final things. Savior. (Romans 10:9-13).

He told them that the same way He went away, He will come
again. One day Jesus will come and every person on the earth
will see Him.

He also told them what to do. He told them to go into all the
world and tell every person about Him. That is why I am here
with you today to share the message of Jesus. 15
 So this picture shows what happened next. A rich man
named Joseph of Arimithea gave his tomb for Jesus body to
be buried.

Because Jesus had taught that he would rise from the dead,
the religious leaders got the Romans to roll a huge stone over
the grave and place a guard on the tomb. Do you think the
guard did any good?

No, the guard couldn't keep Jesus in the grave. On the third
day, the disciples came to the grave and found the stone
rolled away because Jesus had come back from the dead.

For the next 40 days Jesus appeared to his followers. They

touched Him. They ate with Him. He explained to them that
He had come to be the perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of
the entire world. He came to die for my sins and for your
sins

Empty tomb: Luke 24:1-9

14

that if they would disobey God they would become like God
themselves. They chose to disobey, by eating the fruit

The very moment they ate from the fruit everything changed.
The peace of the world was destroyed and the animals began
to kill each other [point back to picture 1]. The ground began
to grow weeds and thorns. But the most terrible result of
their sin was inside the hearts of the man and woman.

The man and woman no longer had a love relationship with

God. Suddenly they were separated from God. When God
came to talk with them they hid themselves from God.

Because they had broken the fellowship with God, God sent
them out of the garden and told them that the would grow
old and die. Even that was not the worst result of their sin.
After they were sent out of the garden they had children and
their children were also affected by their sin. So their son
Cain killed their son Abel.
Adam and Eve: Gen 3:1-8
From that day to this every son of Adam has been separated
God created a beautiful garden for the first man and woman. from God by sin. And because we are sinners we do all the
He came and talked with them there. He gave them the job to evil things in the world.
care for the garden.
If this was all the story, there would be no hope. We would
In the garden God provided every kind of fruit tree. He told all fight and war with each other. We would be separated
them they could eat from any of the trees but one. He told from God and when we die we would all be separated from
them they must not eat from that tree. The serpent told them God for eternity. But God had a plan to remove the problem
of sin.
3
 Abraham & Sarai: Gen. 12:1-5 Binding of Isaac: Gen 22:1-18
God's plan involved a man named Abraham. Abraham From the story of Abraham and his son we see two very
grew up in a land called Ur. important things about God's plan.
The people there worshipped many Gods. God told First we see that sin can only be paid for with a blood
Abraham to leave his family and go to a land God would show him. sacrifice. Since Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden,
So Abraham believed God and obeyed. God promised Abraham his the penalty for sin has been death and eternal separation from God.
children would be a blessing to the whole world. Only the blood of a perfect sacrifice can pay for sin.
God gave Abraham a son, but then to prove his faith God The second thing we learn from Abraham is that God
asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. Abraham took his son to Mt. provides the perfect sacrifice. God provided the ram. This is a
Moriah and prepared to sacrifice his son. Just before picture of the rest of the story of the Bible.
Abraham plunged the knife into his son, God sent an angel to stop
him. God provided a ram caught in the thicket as a substitute
sacrifice. 4

He was beaten, and mocked, and spat upon. Finally they

nailed him to the cross [Picture 20] where He hung for 6
hours until finally He died.

The question is, how did they overpower and kill Jesus?
They had tried before, but Jesus power was too great. How
do you suppose it happened?

The Bible tells us that Jesus knew the time had come (John
13:1). Jesus said no one could take His life from Him, he
came to lay it down. (John 10:18). Jesus said he did not
come to be served but to give His life as a ransom for many
people (John 10:18).

So Jesus hung on a cross and He died. Some people have

said that it wasn't really Jesus, but his mother was there.
When he was dead she helped take the body down from the
cross. She knew her son.
Crucifixion: John 19:23, Background John 19:16-37 Some have also said that Jesus wasn’t really dead, but the
Roman soldiers thrust a spear into his side to be sure that He
That night the religious leaders had Jesus arrested. They was truly dead.
brought him to the governor.

13
 Pharisees plotting against Jesus: Matt. 12:14 Finally Jesus made a final trip to Jerusalem. He gathered
Background John 11:49-53 his disciples for a final meal together. He told them what He was
about to do. Jesus took the bread and broke it and said "This is my
Many people followed Jesus because they saw His miracles, but the body given for you" (Luke 22:19). He took the cup and poured it
religious leaders became jealous of Jesus because they wanted to out and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is
control the people. They were afraid they would lose their power poured out for you." (Luke 22:20).
over the people. So they decided they must kill Jesus. Look for a moment at all the pictures on the cloth. I told
you that they all tell the one most important story. What do you
The religious leaders tried to kill Jesus, but how could you kill suppose Jesus meant when He said His body was going to be
someone with the kind of power to still the sea, cast out demons, broken and His blood was going to be poured out?
and to raise the dead? When they tried one time to throw Jesus off a Do you suppose it has anything to do with the teaching in
cliff, Jesus just walked through the crowd. (Luke 4:29) because the this picture (picture 4): that God would supply the sacrifice for out
time for His death had not come. sins? Do you suppose it has anything to do with (picture 7) that the
lamb's blood would protect the people from the judgment of God?
What about what John the Baptist said: "behold the lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world."? Do all of these stories in
12 the Bible fit together?

Moses found by Pharoh's daughter: Ex. 2:3, Moses and burning bush: Ex. 3:1-10
Background Ex. 1:8-2:9
When Moses grew up God appeared to Moses in the flames
Abraham's children multiplied and traveled to Egypt. Because of a burning bush. God said He was going to deliver the
the people of Egypt were afraid of the children of Abraham, people from slavery through Moses (Ex. 3).
the Egyptians made slaves of them. The people were suffering
as slaves and God sent a baby. That baby was named Moses. So God sent a whole series of plagues to make the king of
The Egyptians were killing the boy babies of the children of Egypt release the people from their slavery. The Egyptian
Abraham but God protected Moses king refused to release the people until God sent a final
plague.
5
 Blood on the doorpost: Ex. 12:1-23 Moses parting the Red Sea: Ex. 14:10-28
The last plague was the death of the firstborn son of So God delivered the people from Egypt. Moses led
every family in Egypt. God had Moses tell the people that the the people and God parted the waters of the Red Sea so that
death angel would pass over all Egypt and kill every first born the people could escape.
son. They could be protected in only one way. Every family Then God led the people to Mt. Sinai where He gave
would have to kill a lamb and paint the blood of the lamb on them the law. God gave the law, but all people break the law
the doorpost. of God. God gave commands for them to offer sacrifices, but
Remember what we learned from Abraham? All of the sacrifices could not take away their sins.
these stories in the Bible fit together to make one message. All people still continue to sin, and God is holy, He
What does it take to cover sin? The blood of a perfect must punish sin. Do you remember what the punishment for
sacrifice. To prevent the judgment of God required the death sin has always been? Yes, the punishment has always been
of the sacrifice lamb. death.
6

Jesus raises Jairus' daughter: Luke 8:40-56 Feeding 5,000: John 6:9-10 Background Matt.
When Jesus went back across the lake, a man named Jairus 14:15-21
came and asked Jesus to come and heal his daughter. But a
they were going to heal the girl messengers came saying This picture shows another time when Jesus had been
"Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher teaching many people. There were 5,000 men plus their
any more." (Luke 8:49). wives and children. They had nothing to eat. One little boy
had a lunch of bread and fish. Jesus took the lunch, blessed it,
What do you see in the picture that Jesus did? Yes, He spoke and fed all the people. (story Matt. 14, Mk. 6, Lk. 9, John 6).
to the dead girl and said to her: "My child, get up!" (Luke
8:54). Jesus raised the girl from the dead. Again, we see that
Jesus has power even over death. 11
 Jesus in the boat: Luke 8:22-24 Jesus with Demoniac: Luke 8:26-37
Jesus went on to minister for about three years. He did When they got to the other side of the sea, a man came
many, many miracles. Here are some of them. This pictures the time out to confront them. This man was demon possessed. He was
when Jesus was crossing the sea of Galilee with His disciples. Jesus naked because he would tear off his clothes. Many times people
had taught and healed people all day, so He went to sleep in the boat. had tried to tie him up but he would break the chains or ropes. No
A storm came up on the sea and the disciples feared they would all one could control him.
drown. Jesus had no reason to fear, because He knew who He was. "When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet,
The disciples woke Jesus up and said, "Lord, save us! We're going shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus,
to drown!" (Matt. 8:25 ). But Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" (Luke
and they became calm (Luke 8:24). 8:28). Jesus rebuked the demons in the man and sent them off into
Now may I ask you another question? Since the beginning the herd of pigs. The pigs ran off into the sea and were drowned.
of time, has anyone but Jesus been able to speak to a raging storm Since the beginning of time, has anyone else been able to
and make it become still? Why do you suppose Jesus was able to just speak to many demons and command them to leave a man?
exercise such power? Why do you suppose only Jesus has ever had this kind of power?

10

The people did what we often do when we have trouble, they

cried out to God for help. God told Moses to do a very odd
thing. He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put in on
a long pole. Then He told Moses to put the pole up in the
middle of the camp. Anytime anyone was bitten by the
deadly snakes, they were to look to the pole and trust God,
and God would heal them.

So everyone who trusted God and looked to the serpent on

the pole was saved from the deadly snake bite.

Remember, all of the stories in the Bible fit together to tell

the story of God's great plan.

Wouldn't it be great if we could have something like that

snake on the pole today? We are all sinners just like Adam
and just like the people in Moses day. Wouldn't it be great if
we could look to something and have our sin taken away?
Serpent in the wilderness: Num. 21:4-9

So this picture shows the people in the desert. They sinned by

grumbling against God and against Moses. So God sent
deadly snakes among the people. Every time a snake bit
someone, that person would die.

7
 Review
The Bible tells many more stories about Abraham and
Moses and their descendants.

It is a sad story because all people are sinners. They tried

and tried to overcome their sin problem, but again and
again God had to send judgment on the people, because
God must punish sin.

So lets review a moment. We have learned these things

from the stories in the Bible. 1. God created us and loves
us very much. He created us so He could have
fellowship with us. [Picture 1-2]

2. But our first parents sinned against God and brought

death and judgment upon all of us. Gabriel appears to Mary: Luke 1:26-33

3. God must punish sin, and the punishment must be Finally God sent His angel Gabriel to a town called
death. Nazareth to a young virgin girl named Mary. The angel
told her that she would bear a child. Mary didn't
4. But God has always had a plan to send a substitute to understand. She asked how could this be because she
die in our place to take away our sin. [Pictures 4, 7] was a virgin, the angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
How could God's plan ever come to pass? overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be
called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
8

Mary and baby Jesus: 2:1-12 Baptism of Jesus: John 1:29, Background Matt. 3:11-17
God has performed many miracles, but this pictures the greatest Jesus grew up to be a man. When he was about 30 years old He
miracle of all, greater even than creating the world. God showed began His public ministry by going to the prophet John the Baptist.
how much He loves us when he became a baby named Jesus. God had sent John to prepare the way for the Messiah. When John
looked up and saw Jesus, he said: "behold the lamb of God who
Remember when Adam and Eve sinned, they passed that sin on to takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29).
their children.
John baptized Jesus in the Jordan river. Then John saw heaven
But Jesus was the only person who ever lived who never sinned opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and
because God was His father. lighting on Jesus. And he heard a voice from heaven say, "This is
my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:16-
17).

Now can I ask you some questions? Why do you suppose the
prophet John said Jesus is the Lamb of God? And why do you
9 suppose the voice from heaven said Jesus was God's beloved Son?