Saturday, March 28, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
March 22: Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-6)
March 22: Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-6)
When everyone had a turn, each team added their coins. I made a big deal about one kid earning 51 coins in one turn, and so he must really deserve a big reward. Then, I let the team that came in 4th place choose a prize from the prize box. I made sure to tell them that they did exactly what I asked of them, so they earned the reward. Then I asked the class, "If the team with the least amount of points earned a prize from the prize box, how many prizes should the 3rd place team get? 2nd? What about the 1st place team!?" Then, I gave each person a prize from the box. Then, I told them this story.
Supplies:
-Small swimming pool
-plastic balls
-gold coins
-prize of equal value for each child
-plastic balls
-gold coins
-prize of equal value for each child
1 Coloring sheet for each child
Activity Before Story:
We had 15 kids today in Children's Church so let the kids split themselves into 4 groups of 4 each (we had one teen helping out so she became player #16). 1 Player from each team kneeled over the ball pit and I set the timer for 20 seconds. The goal was to collect as many gold coins as possible without letting any balls fall out. 1 point was awarded for each coin, while 1 point was subtracted for each escaped ball. We played the game 4 times so every player from every team had the opportunity to collect coins.
When everyone had a turn, each team added their coins. I made a big deal about one kid earning 51 coins in one turn, and so he must really deserve a big reward. Then, I let the team that came in 4th place choose a prize from the prize box. I made sure to tell them that they did exactly what I asked of them, so they earned the reward. Then I asked the class, "If the team with the least amount of points earned a prize from the prize box, how many prizes should the 3rd place team get? 2nd? What about the 1st place team!?" Then, I gave each person a prize from the box. Then, I told them this story.
Story:
Jesus
told a story about a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to
work in his field. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them
into his vineyard. Around lunchtime, he saw others standing in the same place.
They agreed to work in his field, too. Later in the afternoon, he hired a few
other workers.
At
the end of the day, the owner called all of the workers together. As he began
paying each worker a denarius, some began to complain. The workers were angry
that the owner paid everyone the same amount, even though some worked all day
and others started at lunch, and a some only worked a couple of house in the
afternoon.
The
owner said to the angry workers, “I am not being unfair. This morning, you
agreed to work all day for a denarius.”
Jesus
explained the moral of His story. The landowner paid everyone the same amount
because he was very generous. God loves each of us the same, even though some
people are nicer, work harder, and behave better. God is very generous and wants
to bless all of us, whether we pray regularly and go to church or not.
Summary & Questions:
How is our game like the parable of the
workers in the vineyard? Some of the workers worked longer than the others. In our game, some players earned way more coins than the others. They worked harder. Was our game fair or unfair? Why? What
do you think this game will help you remember about the parable of the workers
in the vineyard? None of us deserve to go to heaven. It is not the amount
of work we do for God or how long we have followed Him, but is God’s undeserved
favor, His kindness and love, to die in our place, that allows us into His
presence for eternity.
Activity After Story:
Have
students color worksheet. Continue playing game giving each group an equal
amount of time. Consider giving different options (must skip, must keep one
hand on the ground, etc.) to make the game more challenging!
Saturday, March 14, 2015
March 15: The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-27, Mark 10:17-30)
March 15: The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-27, Mark 10:17-30)
A
man asked Jesus, “What must I do to go to Heaven?” Jesus told him, “You know
the 10 commandments.” The man answered, “Yes, I have followed them since I was
a boy.” Jesus said, “You still need to do one more thing. Sell everything you
have and give to the poor. Then you will have treasure in Heaven. Come and
follow me.” The man became very sad, because he was rich.
Jesus
looked at him and said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The man asked, “Who,
then, can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible
with God.”
Is it impossible to be rich and still go to heaven? What was the young man supposed to do with all of his wealth? How do you think God feels when we turn to money instead of to Him to provide for us? If Jesus loved the man, why was He so hard on him? Why do you think Jesus told the man to give away the money to the poor instead of telling him to give it to the church?
This story kind of reminds me of Zacchaeus. Remember him from a few weeks ago? He was selfish and took more money than he was supposed to as a tax collector. I think the difference in this story is that when Jesus told Zacchaeus that he needed to ask for forgiveness for his sins, Zacchaeus immediately did that! He felt very sorry that he stole money and said he would donate half of his possessions to the poor and give back four times the amount of money he took from the people in Jericho.
This story ends a little differently, though. Did the rich man ruler apologize for being selfish? Did he ask Jesus to forgive him for putting money above his love for God? No, it says the man became very sad, because he was rich. This man didn't want to give up everything He had for Jesus.
I think when we are young it is easy to give our life to Jesus. We know that He will always take care of us and we want to make Him happy. Unfortunately, as people get older sometimes they forget to put God first. This man wasn't old, but he was old enough to have a lot of money. His money made him forget how much God loved him and how we can trust God to take care of all of our needs.
For this activity, the kids each had a strip of non-glossy poster board. Using pencils, we first drew a bird at the top of our page. Then we drew long legs. Along the leg part, with a black crayon, we wrote "God Will Meet Your Needs." Older kids added "Phillipians 4:19" at the bottom. Then the kids traced their bird with old crayons, pressing down pretty hard. Then we painted the bird a cool color (blue, purple, green) and the background a warm color (red, orange, yellow).
The idea for this project came from this awesome blog about Dali style artwork.
For this activity, the kids each had a strip of non-glossy poster board. Using pencils, we first drew a bird at the top of our page. Then we drew long legs. Along the leg part, with a black crayon, we wrote "God Will Meet Your Needs." Older kids added "Phillipians 4:19" at the bottom. Then the kids traced their bird with old crayons, pressing down pretty hard. Then we painted the bird a cool color (blue, purple, green) and the background a warm color (red, orange, yellow).
The idea for this project came from this awesome blog about Dali style artwork.
Friday, March 6, 2015
March 8: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
March 8: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
Activity Before Story:
Make a list of sins and decide how "bad" each one is. (Most students will say that lying isn't a bad as killing; stealing falls in the middle). Ask students if they should be punished the same way no matter what the sin is and discuss.
We're going to make a sin cityscape today using construction paper. A cityscape is a view of the skyline when you're standing at a distance from the city.
Use 1 1/2" construction paper rectangles to create a cityscape using each sin. The taller the building, the "worse" the sin. Students' cities will likely look a little different.
Jesus told a story about two men who went into the temple to pray one day. The first man was kind of like our cityscapes. He was a Pharisee, and when he stood up to pray, he said things like, "God, I thank you that I am not a bad person. I am not like other men- I'm not bad like robbers, or evil-doers. I don't sin very much. I don't sin nearly as much as other people do. I give money to the church and mostly do what I am supposed to do."
This Pharisee in Jesus' story thought that because he only sinned a little, it wasn't a big deal. He thought as long as he wasn't doing any of the "big" sins (like killing people) then he was good. Do you agree?
Now we're going to use 1 1/2" squares to make a second cityscape. This one, however, isn't from a slight distance, like our first one. This one is from up high, in the sky. If we look straight down, as if we were in an airplane, all of the buildings would be square shaped. So for this cityscape we will be using squares. Put a square for each sin, just as you used the rectangles at the beginning.
The second man who went into the temple to pray, Jesus says, stood away from the altar. He wouldn't even look up to heaven. He said, "God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner." This man did not boast that his sins weren't very bad. He recognized that he made mistakes and didn't follow God's teachings, even if they weren't big sins.
Let's compare our two cityscapes. From our position, on earth, we usually see sins like the Pharisee. When we're down on the ground, our sins don't look as bad as other people's. Sometimes we might not ask for forgiveness or recognize that we've made God unhappy because we are too busy comparing ourselves to others.
From God's point of view, however, things look a bit different. If you imagine Him looking down on us from above, each of our cities look the same! A sin is a sin, no matter how big or how small. We need to remember that when we tell a little lie to our moms, it's going against what God wants for us, just like killing someone would be. We need to ask for forgiveness whenever we sin, and try not to do it anymore!
Here is what their cardstock background looks like:
And the final project:
We just got in some new construction-paper crayons so the kids can draw colorful lights in their cityscape.
Make a list of sins and decide how "bad" each one is. (Most students will say that lying isn't a bad as killing; stealing falls in the middle). Ask students if they should be punished the same way no matter what the sin is and discuss.
We're going to make a sin cityscape today using construction paper. A cityscape is a view of the skyline when you're standing at a distance from the city.
Use 1 1/2" construction paper rectangles to create a cityscape using each sin. The taller the building, the "worse" the sin. Students' cities will likely look a little different.
Jesus told a story about two men who went into the temple to pray one day. The first man was kind of like our cityscapes. He was a Pharisee, and when he stood up to pray, he said things like, "God, I thank you that I am not a bad person. I am not like other men- I'm not bad like robbers, or evil-doers. I don't sin very much. I don't sin nearly as much as other people do. I give money to the church and mostly do what I am supposed to do."
This Pharisee in Jesus' story thought that because he only sinned a little, it wasn't a big deal. He thought as long as he wasn't doing any of the "big" sins (like killing people) then he was good. Do you agree?
Now we're going to use 1 1/2" squares to make a second cityscape. This one, however, isn't from a slight distance, like our first one. This one is from up high, in the sky. If we look straight down, as if we were in an airplane, all of the buildings would be square shaped. So for this cityscape we will be using squares. Put a square for each sin, just as you used the rectangles at the beginning.
The second man who went into the temple to pray, Jesus says, stood away from the altar. He wouldn't even look up to heaven. He said, "God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner." This man did not boast that his sins weren't very bad. He recognized that he made mistakes and didn't follow God's teachings, even if they weren't big sins.
Let's compare our two cityscapes. From our position, on earth, we usually see sins like the Pharisee. When we're down on the ground, our sins don't look as bad as other people's. Sometimes we might not ask for forgiveness or recognize that we've made God unhappy because we are too busy comparing ourselves to others.
From God's point of view, however, things look a bit different. If you imagine Him looking down on us from above, each of our cities look the same! A sin is a sin, no matter how big or how small. We need to remember that when we tell a little lie to our moms, it's going against what God wants for us, just like killing someone would be. We need to ask for forgiveness whenever we sin, and try not to do it anymore!
Here is what their cardstock background looks like:
We just got in some new construction-paper crayons so the kids can draw colorful lights in their cityscape.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
March 1: Zacchaeus
March 1: Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)
I have a {worksheet} that I use to start the lesson off. Students find ten differences between the two pictures of Jesus talking to Zacchaeus. After they're giving a few minutes to search, I ask them what the picture is about.
Jesus liked to travel to different places to talk to others about Him. One place He went was Jericho.
Now people in Jericho at the time hated to pay taxes. It wasn't because they didn't have any money to pay. It wasn't because they didn't support the government. They hated to pay taxes because of one man: the Tax Collector. His job was to collect the money to give to the government, but he was dishonest. He would tell the people in Jericho that they owed more money than they really did, and they would have to pay or go to jail. The people would pay Zacchaeus the money, and he would keep the extra profit for himself. People knew that he did this, but they couldn't stop him. If they didn't pay what he said, they would go to jail!
When Jesus was passing through Jericho, it was very crowded. Many people wanted to see Jesus, so they pushed and shoved in front of one another to be first. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, too. He was too short to look over the people, and people wouldn't let him through since he was mean to them, so he decided to climb a tree and look down at Jesus as he walked by.
When Jesus came closer, Zacchaeus was excited! He was even more surprised, though, when Jesus stopped and started talking to him.
"Zacchaeus," Jesus said. "I will go to your house to eat this evening."
Zacchaeus didn't know what to say. He was shocked. "Okay," he finally replied.
The people who saw this couldn't believe it. Jesus was going to Zacchaeus' house. He was a sinner. Why would Jesus want to go there? Jesus told them that He came to save the lost, and Zacchaeus' heart was lost.
After Jesus and Zacchaeus talked, Zacchaeus understood that it was wrong for him to cheat people out of their tax money. He was ready to stop sinning and start following Jesus. He told Jesus, "I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and I will pay everyone back four times the amount I cheated from them."
Jesus was happy that Zacchaeus changed. The people were, too. They watched as he started to live his life for God. Jesus told them, "Today salvation has come into this house."
I have a {worksheet} that I use to start the lesson off. Students find ten differences between the two pictures of Jesus talking to Zacchaeus. After they're giving a few minutes to search, I ask them what the picture is about.
Jesus liked to travel to different places to talk to others about Him. One place He went was Jericho.
Now people in Jericho at the time hated to pay taxes. It wasn't because they didn't have any money to pay. It wasn't because they didn't support the government. They hated to pay taxes because of one man: the Tax Collector. His job was to collect the money to give to the government, but he was dishonest. He would tell the people in Jericho that they owed more money than they really did, and they would have to pay or go to jail. The people would pay Zacchaeus the money, and he would keep the extra profit for himself. People knew that he did this, but they couldn't stop him. If they didn't pay what he said, they would go to jail!
When Jesus was passing through Jericho, it was very crowded. Many people wanted to see Jesus, so they pushed and shoved in front of one another to be first. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, too. He was too short to look over the people, and people wouldn't let him through since he was mean to them, so he decided to climb a tree and look down at Jesus as he walked by.
When Jesus came closer, Zacchaeus was excited! He was even more surprised, though, when Jesus stopped and started talking to him.
"Zacchaeus," Jesus said. "I will go to your house to eat this evening."
Zacchaeus didn't know what to say. He was shocked. "Okay," he finally replied.
The people who saw this couldn't believe it. Jesus was going to Zacchaeus' house. He was a sinner. Why would Jesus want to go there? Jesus told them that He came to save the lost, and Zacchaeus' heart was lost.
After Jesus and Zacchaeus talked, Zacchaeus understood that it was wrong for him to cheat people out of their tax money. He was ready to stop sinning and start following Jesus. He told Jesus, "I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and I will pay everyone back four times the amount I cheated from them."
Jesus was happy that Zacchaeus changed. The people were, too. They watched as he started to live his life for God. Jesus told them, "Today salvation has come into this house."
March 2015 Lessons
March 1: Zacchaeus (Luke 10:1-10)
March 8: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14
March 15: The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-27, Mark 10:17-30)
March 22: Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-6)
March 29: Palm Sunday
March 8: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14
March 15: The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-27, Mark 10:17-30)
March 22: Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-6)
March 29: Palm Sunday
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